The Meaning of Love: Connected to Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Chronicles by Stephanie Laurens

The Meaning of Love: Connected to Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Chronicles by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens [Laurens, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Savdek Management Pty Ltd


Some time later, Julian managed to summon sufficient wit and strength to relieve Melissa of his weight. He grunted softly, disengaged, and lifted from her.

They disentangled themselves, then reoriented themselves on the bed, and he lifted the covers over them, and they settled.

Sleepily, she rolled on her side toward him, raised a hand, and traced her fingers down his cheek. She let her hand slide away and sighed, the sound redolent with contented satiation. “That was…amazing.”

He felt the same. He laughed softly, caught her hand, raised her fingers to his lips, and pressed a gentle kiss to the tips. “Amazing and…”

When he didn’t finish the sentence, she murmured, “Amazing and what?”

He stared up at the canopy and, eventually, said, “Amazing and glorious.”

“Hmm.” She was falling asleep.

He angled his head and brushed a kiss to her forehead. “It was perfect,” he whispered and meant it.

She softly humphed, but she was already sliding into slumber.

He studied her face, lit by the glow of sunset falling through the uncurtained windows.

He watched sleep claim her and, with his eyes, traced every feature.

Beloved.

That was what she was to him. He’d known that in the instant he’d first seen her all those years ago.

And now she was here, sharing her bed with him, and everything he’d thought he’d known of intimacy had changed.

He hadn’t lived the life of a hermit. Quite the opposite. He’d had more women than he could count, all of whom had been far more experienced than she, yet in terms of intensity, this encounter put every past interlude to shame.

He’d been going to say “Amazing and eye-opening,” but then she would have asked what had surprised him.

The difference love made—that being in love made—was what had accomplished that, but the understanding was new to him, and he wanted to dwell on it. To define and appreciate it—and to embrace it.

He was very aware that the togetherness he and she already shared and would share going forward was something few of their peers ever had the chance to claim.

That instinctive togetherness was what had already set them apart in the eyes of the more experienced in society.

The most important, most immediately relevant element in his newfound understanding was that their togetherness—their marriage and the love that was its foundation—was precious.

Precious and worthy of being protected at any and all cost.



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