“Then make love to me as you want to.” It took a tremendous effort to keep her nerves from her voice. She would not give him a reason to retreat. Not now. Not when she longed for the closeness of his body.
They stared into each other’s eyes, and the warmth she saw stole her breath.
“I cannot promise it will be comfortable, not here, not without the luxury of a bed.”
“It will be perfect.” She trusted that fate would make it so.
Holding her securely, Devlin swung her around, and after a moment’s pause carried her to the piano. “Lift the prop stick and lower the lid.”
“Is it heavy?”
“On second thought, hold on to my neck and I shall do it.”
It was heavy. The dull thud reverberated through the instrument. But Juliet had no time to consider the matter further. Devlin lifted her up on top of the piano.
He kept his heated gaze fixed on hers as he stepped back, tugged on the knot in his ivory cravat, unravelled the material and threw it to the floor. His burgundy waistcoat followed. And then he gathered the hem of his shirt and dragged the garment up over his head.
Juliet watched, awestruck. All the air left her lungs.
She tried to take in the full magnificence of the man she’d married. A dry mouth left her licking her lips. Lord, no doubt she held the same ravenous look that lingered in his eyes. Her gaze flicked frantically back and forth, drinking in the glorious sight. Devlin Drake was like a living monument to the gods of Olympus. Every muscle, every sculpted contour screamed of power, of strength, of an ability to command anyone, anything. And yet there was something graceful, something sleek about the way the muscles worked together, about the way his bronzed skin contained such raw masculinity.
Her fingers thrummed with the need to touch him, to push through the dark hair on his chest, to follow the teasing trail that led down beyond the waistband of his breeches.
“Judging by your wide eyes and open mouth, am I to assume this is the first time you have laid eyes on a man’s bare chest?”
“I have only ever seen a man in his shirtsleeves, though nothing could have prepared me for the sight of you, Devlin.”
“Is that a compliment?” He sounded unsure.
“Of course it’s a compliment. Look at you. I have never seen a more breathtaking sight in my life.”
The corners of his mouth curled up into a sinful grin. “Does that mean you’d like to see the rest of me?”
“The rest of— Oh, you’re referring to …” She couldn’t say the words and so pointed to his breeches. “Do you think an innocent might handle the shock?”
“Juliet, innocent or not, I think you can handle anything.”
Yet more praise. The comment forced her to straighten her back, gave her the confidence to say, “Then, by all means, let me see you in all your naked glory.”
The bulge in his breeches told her he was aroused, and she wondered if her mother had made another mistake when she described a gentleman’s manhood as the rod of Satan.
The thought was fleeting. Devlin unbuttoned his breeches and pushed the garment down past his hips and over his thick thighs. Oh, heavens. He was aroused, highly so, and though she wondered how on earth she could join with a man so large, it wasn’t at all as grotesque as her mother had made out.
It took three attempts before her eyes accepted that she could look at his manhood for longer than a second. He stood proudly, no longer bore the countenance of a man who thought himself large and beastly. Did that have something to do with her hum of approval?
To tease her, Devlin ran his hand down the solid length. “Now you have seen everything I have to offer it is only fair you reciprocate.”
“But I am seated on top of a piano.” It was more than a plausible excuse.
He closed the gap between them. Stepped so close she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. “I’m a man who knows how to turn a situation to my advantage.” Taking hold of her foot, he removed her shoe and threw it onto the pile of clothes on the floor.
“Do you mean to undress me, Mr Drake?” she said with a giggle.
“I mean to undress you, pleasure you, thrust inside you until you’re panting my name.” He moistened his lips. “Do you think you might bear that, Mrs Drake?”
Juliet swallowed down the hard lump in her throat. “Yes, I think I might bear it very well.”
“Then let us begin. You’ll need to lie down.”