Her fingers dug into his chest, holding on to him rather than pushing him away.
“Should I whisper my desires?” He pressed his body against hers. “I want to touch you, Matilda. I want to hear you cry out in pleasure tonight.”
She whimpered but did not seek to leave his arms.
Encouraged, William brought his mouth to hers and kissed her gently. Her lips moved against his, hesitant at first, and then she lifted her arms and twined them about his neck.
He broke the kiss and stared down at her. “Give me tonight. Let me make love to you.”
She gasped. “Our bargain?”
Of course. For a moment he’d become swept away, blinded by desire and Matilda’s response. “I will keep to our bargain and you will keep your innocence. I promise. Say you want me to touch you.”
She remained silent, drawing out the moment between them until it became clear she wouldn’t agree. As he straightened, intending to draw away from her and the temptation she presented, her fingers twitched on his shirt.
A chaste marriage it was to be, with the occasional discipline.
He nodded and turned away, intending to sleep elsewhere that night.
“Yes, William,” she agreed suddenly. “I would like you to touch me as you did that first time.”
He turned, utterly surprised he had her permission at last. A fiery blush of color consumed her face, and she seemed not to know how to stand still.
He returned to her, brought both hands up, and cupped her hot face. “Sweet Matilda,” he whispered. “You don’t know what you do to me.”
A strange sound escaped her. “I think I might.”
He stared into her eyes as her pupils grew rounder, her breath rushed. “I want to take you over my knee right now,” he whispered.
Her breath caught, undeniable excitement filling her eyes.
He nodded, sensing victory, swept up in the anticipation of pleasuring his wife at last. “But perhaps a few more kisses first?”
He captured her wrist and drew her toward a sturdy chair, and when he sat he pulled her down onto his lap. She balanced with her feet dangling an inch from the floor and a wild expression in her eyes. He caressed her face and then brought her lips to his to taste her again.
He kissed her slowly, thoroughly, until his face ached with the strain. He caressed her waist and held her trembling body still within his grip.
And then when he could wait no longer, when Matilda had begun to squirm in earnest and moan softly at the sweep of his tongue into her mouth, he gently rolled her until she lay prone across his spread thighs, her hip resting against his erection. “Hands touching the floor,” he asked of her.
He took a breath to center himself, to master his desire and devote his energies into her pleasures. He had waited so long for this moment and would not ruin it with undue haste.
He placed one hand at the small of her back, the other on her ankle, and firmly caressed her leg. As he touched her, he moved her gown higher up her limbs until her stockings were exposed; he listened to her rushed breathing and felt the tension rise between them.
He teased the crease of her knee and then her inner thighs. She parted her legs a little, a nervous flinch rather than an invitation, and her head dropped to hang between her outstretched arms.
When he at last pulled her gown beyond her bottom, he was panting and aching too. In all the times he’d been with other women, he’d never felt like this—in control and utterly trusted. He adjusted himself and then slipped the buttons at the fall of his trousers undone enough to ease the pressure.
Her buttocks clenched as he caressed the firm globes of her bottom, and when she relaxed he tapped her, a sweet and sharp strike that made his fingertips tingle. Matilda gasped as expected, a delightful sound that tested his resolve to make tonight a sweet memory for them both.
He brushed his hand over the reddened globe that filled his hand and then squeezed. His wife. She wanted him to punish her and had unwittingly given him a reason earlier. “Three more for not using my name.”
He struck her, smoothed her skin, and then struck again but harder.
A dark moan left Matilda’s mouth.
“You like that.”
She shook as she nodded. “Yes, William.”