“What should I do?”
“Undress, to begin with. We have on too many clothes.”
Untangling himself, he rose from the bunk and helped her up, then drew back the sheet and blankets that covered the bunk.
Kate had started to remove her gown, but when he made to assist her, she allowed him to undress her, remaining mute during his ministrations. He could have hurried, but instead Brandon drew out the moment, trailing light kisses over all the alluring places he uncovered…the column of her neck, the curve of her shoulder, her upper arm.
Her corset came next, so that she was left standing in her chemise. Holding her gaze, Brandon reached up to cup her breasts, feeling their fullness beneath the cambric. When he stroked his thumbs gently over her pebbled nipples, Kate inhaled a shallow breath and shut her eyes briefly in surrender.
He knelt at her feet then, to remove her slippers and stockings, and finally rose to pull her chemise over her head.
Kate remained totally still as he took her in. The sight of her nude body, so pale and beautiful, brought all his vivid dreams to life, yet Brandon determinedly banished them from his mind. This time was about Kate. Her awakening. Her pleasure. Her desire.
Stepping closer, he bent his head to taste her lips and lingered there to savor her before teasing a delicate path across her cheek and lower, beneath her ear. When he pressed his lips into the soft skin, she gave a sigh but shivered.
“Are you cold?” he murmured.
“No…you make me hot….”
Just that simple admission set his blood on fire.
Brandon drew back to study her. “Are you still certain?”
“Yes. I have never been more certain of anything.” Her voice was firmer, her gaze entirely steady. “I want you, Deverill….Please.”
In response, he led her to the bunk and pressed her down. Reclining there on the mattress, she watched wide-eyed as he hastily shed his own garments.
In short order he stood before her, his aching member pulsing and erect. Barely holding his savage need in check, Brandon stared down at her nude form, taking in her ripe breasts, slender waist, gently flaring hips, and long, shapely legs. Beautiful didn’t begin to describe her. The potent sensuality of her body called to everything male in him.
He had left her medallion around her throat, and the delicate gold disk reminded him of his task. The time had come for him to claim her. More crucially, he would make her forget her nightmares and replace the dark images with pure pleasure. Despite her professed certainty, she seemed especially vulnerable just now, even beyond her instinctive reaction to the storm. Brandon sat beside her on the bunk, determined to reassure her.
“I have pictured this. You wearing nothing, your glorious hair down, spilling around your incredibly lovely body.”
As he spoke, his fingers began making a slow, circular motion around the tip of her breast. The mere contact made Kate shiver, yet this time he knew it was from heat, not cold.
Leaving her breast, he slowly swept his hand down her length, drifting over her silken skin to her flat belly, pausing at the juncture of her thighs. When she stiffened instinctively, he returned a soothing murmur.
“Let me touch you, sweetheart. I need to make your body ready to receive me. Arousal will make it easier for you to take me inside you.”
She bit her lower lip but nodded trustingly.
Probing, Brandon found the small kernel of her sex already slick with moisture. The discovery sent a surge of fire rocketing through him.
Heaven help him, he wanted her. Her body made him burn from the inside out. But he forced himself to remain tender as he stroked and caressed her.
Eventually her eyes grew hazed. Bending, he covered her lush mouth with his own. As her tongue met his, he felt an emotion akin to triumph. It was beguiling, the ardor in her kiss, the excitement, the tender searching.
He tangled his fingers in the rich fullness of her hair and drank of her sweetness, showing her how to respond, to give, to take. She was making small sounds of pleasure by the time he moved between her thighs.
When she tensed automatically, he spoke softly. “Try to relax, love.”
She nodded, gazing up at him, still trusting.
Bracing his weight on his arms, he slowly, slowly entered her. He felt her wince when her fragile barrier rent, but Kate made no sound beyond a faint gasp. Brandon held himself still, letting her grow accustomed to his penetration while feeling the gentle kisses he was pressing over her face.
Finally, he paused to brush back a tendril of hair from her cheek. “Better now?”
“Yes.” She looked more at ease, as if her discomfort was fading. After another long moment, she even stirred her hips tentatively, testing.