The exhilarating encounter gradually concluded, and she was relieved to discover herself safely sheltered in his arms. He cradled her tightly until his erection finally began to wane, then he rolled to his side and held her so that her bottom was spooned against his front. Lazily he rubbed his hand in slow circles across her stomach, and she drifted off, thinking that there was nowhere else she'd rather be.
"I'll make you a great wife, Lucas Pendleton," she pledged
352
quietly, just as she had on the night he'd first proposed in her father's garden. "Just see if I don't."
"I know you will," he said, sounding smug.
She elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. Then fell asleep with a smile on her face.