As Penelope stared up at him, Crow did the same down at her. He couldn’t help but marvel how beautiful she looked in the candlelight, and he wished he’d thought of the gesture sooner. The low light gave her fair skin a warm glow and accentuated every detail and curve of her body with deep shadows. As she gazed at him with so much affection, he felt like the luckiest man alive. Not many others could boast of having such a gorgeous woman who looked at them the way she did.

Technically, he couldn’t boast about it either, since they were keeping their relationship a secret, but instead of letting himself be frustrated by that, he decided to let it drive him. Sneaking away from the party to be with her in the privacy of her bedchamber had been exciting. They were supposed to be making small talk with other nobles right now, not tangling themselves in the sheets. The stakes were high, but they only made it all the more thrilling to be with her tonight.

As she caressed his face, he leaned into her touch, taking in every stroke of her fingers against his jaw. He closed his eyes when she kissed him again and laughed when she nipped his bottom lip. Her playfulness was endearing. He wrapped one hand behind her neck and held her by the waist with the other, letting out a sigh as she moved to the sensitive skin of his neck. The breathy words that followed threatened to send him over the edge, and he bit his lip as a tremor seized his body. “Gods, you make me crazy,” he shook his head, smiling at her incredulously.

The moment Penelope removed his belt was when Crow lost his last thread of self-control. He pressed into her with fervor, kissing her roughly along her neck as his hands located the fastening of her dress. The clothing was flattering on her, but right now, it was in the way. He tugged the strings open and ran his hands over her chest without breaking the work he was doing on her collar. With every article they stripped away, his heart raced even more until he wondered if it might burst. If it did, at least he would have the pleasure of knowing he’d gone out in the best possible way.

Feeling sensual, he trailed his tongue from the base of her neck to her ear, which he took between his teeth before finding her lips again. He kissed her deeply while his fingers tangled in her hair, certifiably undoing the braid it had been meticulously styled into earlier that day. “It’s a good thing we met in your bedchamber,” he joked breathily as he took notice of the damage he was doing to her appearance. “I don’t think you could go anywhere in the castle looking like this.”