If you like this online read you'll enjoy Deborah Hale's books!

Married: The Virgin Widow
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Bought: The Penniless Lady
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His Compromised Countess
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The time had come.

Merritt entered the bedroom clad only in his dressing gown to find Rosemary sitting on his bed — their bed — in her virginal white nightgown. The firelight burnished her unbound hair to a cascade of silken gold.

Gingerly he settled himself beside her and after an awkward silence asked, "How much do you know about what must take place between us tonight — as husband and wife?"

"I admit appalling ignorance, my dear. Thorn tried his best to prepare me. I thought the poor fellow would expire of embarrassment, so I pretended I was well informed on the subject."

She spoke with such cheerful frankness, Merritt found himself laughing in spite of his apprehension. His laughter stopped abruptly when his innocent bride reached toward the neck of his dressing gown.

Her delicate fingers swiped over the thatch of dark hair on his chest. "I've always considered curiosity the best antidote for ignorance.

"Though he tried to stifle it, a sound broke from Merritt's throat — a deep purr of pleasure mingled with an even deeper growl of desire. He prayed his love for Rosemary would help him scavenge the restraint he'd need to proceed with her marital initiation at a temperate, gentle pace.

If she persisted in rousing him like this, he feared passion might overpower his self-control.

* * *

Not for the world would Rosemary admit she'd been more than a trifle frightened. First Thorn's gruff bashfulness, then Merritt's tender gravity had made her wonder what horrors might await her on their wedding night. In the end, she'd trusted in Merritt's kindness and in her love for him.

He had not disappointed her.

With the touching ardor of the boy he'd once been and the infectious passion of the man he'd become, Merritt tutored her in the art of love. Patient and gentle, he whispered that she made him eager and fierce. He touched her and kissed her in ways and places she'd never imagined until the moist heat of her femininity pleaded for something she could not name.

Even the passing pain when he claimed her virginity was perfect, for it obliterated her guilt over the pain she'd once caused him. After seven long years apart, at last they were together. At last they were one.

One in desire. One in ecstasy.

When she sprawled against him, lazy and sated, their bed a white cloud suspended in a black velvet sky, he whispered, "Remember you promised to love me for richer, for poorer?"

"As long as we both shall live."

"The truth is, I never lost my fortune."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to know that you truly loved me. I wanted you to also be sure of yourself. For you to know that you married for love and not for fortune."

"Now I have both," she said softly. Then, with a wanton chuckle, Rosemary kissed him deeply. "Make love to me again before morning and I'll forgive your deception."

In the dying fire's glow, Merritt's smile shone bright as the crescent moon.

"Is this how babies are gotten?" she asked.

When he nodded, Rosemary rested her head on his chest with a sigh of perfect contentment. "Then I believe I fancy the means even more than I fancy the result."

The End