His voice was so low and husky it tugged at her nerves.
Then he pulled the kerchief free from her bosom, casting it aside.
Chloris swayed unsteadily. “Please, you shame me.”
“I will need to lay my hands upon you. There is no shame in this. You are a woman, a woman who desires her fulfillment.”
Fulfillment. Deep in the pit of her belly a pang of need sprung loose in response to that comment. It was not bearing a child she thought of then, however, but a different kind of fulfillment. He stirred it in her. Was it because she had never heard a man say such things? Or was it because he was there, and he was undeniably alluring?
“Are you ready?”
She nodded.
He circled her and, as he did, he spoke in a tongue that she didn’t recognize. Chloris felt the heat in the room build. She turned her head to watch him and saw a man deep in concentration. His eyes were hooded, which only made him look more handsome.
Again he spoke, his tone growing more forceful.
The fire crackled, flames leaping high in the grate.
He moved closer to her. Dropping to his knees before her, he bent to place a kiss on her slippered feet, first the right, then the left.
Chloris stared down at him, astonished. All the while he chanted beneath his breath. A strange draft moved through the room and on it the scent of damp earth and sap. Instinctively, Chloris glanced over at the window, thinking it open. It was not.
Lennox lifted her skirts and kissed her knees, first the right, and then the left.
Mortified at the sudden exposure of her stockings and legs, Chloris’s hand went to her throat. “This is so untoward.”
Then her limbs tingled and heat pulsed through her.
“Close your eyes,” he instructed, looking up at her, eyes luminous, “allow yourself to be taken by the spell.”
It took a moment, for she was captured by the sight of him, but she did as he said. As soon as her eyes were closed she heard him chant again. Her skin tingled. Her head dropped back, her hair tumbling loose over her shoulders.
“What do you feel?”
Chloris struggled to find the right words. “A surge, as if something is rising up inside me.”
Lennox pressed his mouth to her belly through her skirts.
Like a rising tide inside her, she felt gloriously vital. She drew a deep breath and lifted her arms, twining her fingers together over her head.
“Oh, yes, you are like a young sapling reaching for the sky.” He rose, but as he did, he embraced her around the waist with both hands and bent to kiss the swell of her breasts at the edge of her gown.
Her eyes flashed open. Her breasts swelled against the confines of her corset and bodice, nipples chaffing. She trembled with the immense rush of sensation within her.
He stood before her, watching her. “I must kiss your mouth to complete the ritual, do I have your permission?”
The twinkle in his eyes made her pause. Struggling to make sense of myriad sensations she felt, and doubting the need for the kiss, she was about to query him. Then she looked at his mouth—so handsome, so lush and firm—and she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to know what it would be like.
Her head tipped back as she offered her mouth to him.
When his lips touched hers she froze, suddenly afraid, but he held her to him with one hand against the small of her back. Am I doing this because of his magic? she thought vaguely, but the question wisped away on the spring breeze he had conjured.
His mouth was firm and warm and persuasive.
Closing her eyes, she let it happen, too aroused to think clearly and too entranced to refuse herself this. When she melted and moved against him, his kiss became more provocative. He parted her lips with his. Exploring her, he kissed her mouth until her body arched against his, and then he demanded more by thrusting his tongue between her parting lips. The action was so suggestive that she tingled wildly at her center, the heat between her thighs building by the moment.
Pressed body to body, she responded by grasping his shoulders, and as she did, a hidden part of her blossomed inside. She gasped against his mouth as the strange feeling grew, becoming intense, and she felt dizzy with pleasure. Her entire body vibrated with the need for more. Her intimate flesh grew damper by the moment, her breasts aching for contact.