He kissed her again, long and slow. “Excellent point.”
Threading her arms around his neck, she twined her fingers in his hair. “What shall we do with all this time?”
He chuckled. “I think some rest is in order after the day you’ve had.” He kissed her again. “I’ll have to tuck you into my bed straight away.”
He felt her tense for just a moment before she relaxed again. “That sounds lovely.”
Easing back from her a bit, he kept her on his lap, kept his arms firmly around her. “We can wait to be intimate, I simply want you next to me where I know you are safe. Where I can hold you in my arms.”
Her breath caught then, and she gave him another glowing smile. “That is…” The words caught in her throat for a moment. “So thoughtful.” She kissed him again. “But I want to be with you.”
He smiled against her lips before his kisses began in earnest again.
“But I should warn you,” she said pulling back a little. “You might have to hire a new staff.”
He chuckled, “They will be discreet.”
She hardly noticed when the carriage rolled to a stop nor could she have found her way to his bedchamber again. She had no idea if any of the staff saw them because, as he carried her in his arms, he continued his onslaught of kisses.
She did hear the door bang into its frame but it barely registered as it clicked closed again. The next moment, she was under him, a soft feather mattress cushioning her body as his weight pressed into her. It was divine.
She was aware at how deftly he undid the tiny buttons on her bodice, how easily he maneuvered the strings on her corset. “You’ve done this before,” she managed to say as she tugged at his cravat without much success.
His lips slowed then as he leaned back and cupped her face with his hands. “I must confess, in my youth, to indulging a time or two. But I want you to know that this is something different entirely.”
Tricia wondered if she should confess that she didn’t understand. But as his lips nuzzled at her neck, her collarbone, and his hand began to slide up her body, to remove her shift, she forgot the question.
Just before taking the garment off, he stood and stripped all but his breeches off. The sight of his lean, muscular torso nearly undid her, but she blinked several times, trying to focus.
“What makes this different?” she finally blurted out.
But she almost instantly regretted it, because rather than pressing against her again, he sat down next to her. “My feelings for you,” he said as he reached to caress her arm, her shoulder. “They make me far more concerned about giving you pleasure than receiving my own.”
“Oh,” she sat up then, her arms wrapping around his neck. “Show me everything.”
He pulled her tightly against him and the feel of his back against her bare arms was delicious. She wanted to strip the rest of the clothing between them and feel every inch of his skin.
“It’s going to take a while to show you everything.” He gave a low guttural groan from deep in his throat. “But I think I know where we might start.”
Then he lay her back down and stripped off the last of her clothing. As his lips trailed kisses down her body, the heat and need built inside of her.
He stopped to suck on each of her nipples and she thought she might perish from longing.
As he skimmed his lips down her torso, he massaged her thighs higher and higher until his fingers were desperately close to the most intimate place. She knew that she wanted him to touch her there. And without meaning to, she found herself pressing closer in need.
Finally, he skimmed his fingers along her seam and a moan escaped her lips. Then, he placed a kiss in the same place. Her hips bucked of their own volition and she was lost in her desire.
As he increased the tempo, the pressure, she cried his name as she broke apart, shattering as she dug her hands into his hair.
“Tricia,” he groaned as her waves of pleasure finally subsided.
She wanted to hold him close and so she found herself tugging on his shoulders to bring him back against her chest.
He fumbled with his breeches as he moved back up her body and the moment his chest pressed against hers, the tip of his manhood touched her seam. Rather than be frightened, she found it to be…exciting.
Without realizing what she was doing, she thrust her hips up to feel more of him and found that he slid inside of her. “Tricia,” he gasped this time and she nearly chuckled. He seemed incapable of saying anything else. She managed to hold it in, sure that laughter was not appropriate now.
But she wound her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Doesn’t this feel like the beginning? The start to the rest of our lives?”