Fifty-one

We spend the rest of the ride back in companionable silence, filled with stolen glances and touches, since I'm overly conscious of our surroundings, needlessly so. It's just two of us in the carriage and the coachman, who can't see us.

When we get back to the manor, Mason helps me out of the carriage and leads me up the steps, awfully silent. The night has been emotionally charged for both of us and no doubt, just like I do, he is analysing everything that has been said, drawing his own conclusions. The noise inside my head is loud enough to drown out the outside world.

At the sound of the door shutting behind me, I startle out of my reverie, finding myself in the living room, or the reception room as Ildi had called it. It is past midnight, and I'm feeling exponentially more tired than I've allowed myself to feel in the past few months.

The feel of his hands gliding up on my arms stokes the dying embers inside my body and soul. For some reason, his touch energises me in ways I cannot explain. His fingers wrap around the lapels of his jacket, tenderly sliding it off my shoulders. I've left my petticoat behind, but it won't be missed.

" We should get some rest and return in the morning," Mason softly suggests his voice just above a whisper, " I miss spending the night with you," He places a reverent kiss on my shoulder, easing some of the tension there, while his hands gather the cape to the side, to undo the laces holding the dress together.

Leaning into his touch, I relish the feel of his body so close to mine. We never have enough time. We never did. A race against time. One we will never win.

Swallowing the emotion clogging up my throat, " It's hard," I admit, all the while knowing that I'm not alone in this, but still, it feels good to say it out loud.

Sucking in a sharp breath, his chest presses against my back as he wraps his arms around my waist pulling me flush against him, " Things worth fighting for are never easy," He tenderly rubs his nose against the column of my neck, inhaling my scent. A groan rumbles deep in his chest as he reaches the soft spot below my ear and presses his lips there for a long second, his tongue swipes lazily against the sensitive patch of skin, while his hands cinch tighter around my waist.

" You smell divine. I find you intoxicating, unable to stop myself whenever you are around me or when we are apart. I'll make the arrangements to make our marriage official as soon as we get home," At the deep rasp in his voice every nerve ending in my body singes, burning effervescently, my mind goes numb at the onslaught of sensations taking control. Slowly his hands, brush the underside of my breasts, just a soft graze, a tantalising one. Knowing Mason, he is savouring this moment, reacquainting himself with my body. The book slips out of my grasp and falls on the floor with a quiet thud, that echoes of the dark walls in the silent room.

Our heartbeats, mine in my ears, and his against my back, thrum with a cadence that would put to shame a marching band.

Lost in the feel of him, I melt into him, leaning into his touch savouring every graze of his fingers against my skin, every brush of his lips, the feel of his warm breath caressing my cheek as he speaks.

" I wouldn't change you for the world, but I would change the world for you," He murmurs softly against my cheek, as he curls his hand around mine, threading our fingers together and splaying our joined hands against my stomach.

For once, time stills, or it feels like it has stood still.

Struggling to find my words I turn my head to look at him, catching his burning gaze with mine," My love for you knows no bounds...," In spite of the emotion that lies behind those words, my voice is just above a whisper," I will defy death, time, and anything that will stand in my way," Fear creeps into my voice as the memory of his death permeates the cracks in the walls I've built around a harrowing time in our lives. When he tenderly presses his lips against mine, I realise I'm panting like I've run a mile a minute.

Slowly pulling away, his eyes flutter open at the same time as mine do," I know, "He brings our joined hands to his lips and presses a tender kiss to the palm of my hand, " Defy logic, and you are a mad man. Defy the law, and you become a criminal. Defy love and you become its slave. I'm yours now, and when our time will end on this earth we will become nothing more than a memory of a distant past. When we will be nothing more than a molecule in the fabric of the universe. That part of me, albeit small, will still love you," I suck in a sharp breath at the sudden emotion filling my heart, expanding in my chest, brimming and spilling out of me in waves.

Smiling down on me, his face lights up like the sky at sunrise as he gazes into my eyes, " You take my breath away," He breathes against my lips, slowly slanting his lips over mine, his tongue slips into my mouth, inviting mine to dance with his. Willingly, I surrender to his touch like I've done a thousand times before, and embrace what we have, without question, without thought.

He kisses me deeply, passionately, keeping me close to his chest, our moans and sighs mingling into a melange of sounds, an ode to the love we carry for each other.

He picks me up in his arms- the book long forgotten- and carries me to the bedroom on the opposite side of the reception room.

Our lips never part, our bodies tightly coiled around each other, a mass of flailing limbs, as we begin discarding our clothes one item at a time.

He has offered me something that I've always wanted from him, clarity. The prospect of a future, and he might be a former thief, and a man of questionable morals when it comes to certain affairs. But when push comes to shove, he always delivers. And that holds a great deal of weight in my book.