“That’s a devilish provocative corset,” he said after a pause that made her skin tingle.
Her cheeks heated. She wore the most revealing of her new underclothes. A shift so fine, it was almost nothing. A corset lifting her breasts high for a man’s hands. For Jonas’s hands, she’d thought with a surreptitious thrill when Mrs. Bevan had laced her. Roses and lilies snaked across the corset, stirring brazen thoughts of limbs twined in lovemaking.
“It’s sinful,” she whispered, fighting the urge to cover her bosom with her hands.
“Exactly, bella.” She heard his amusement. The blindfold made her hearing so acute, she was alert to every shade of emotion in his voice. That beautiful baritone wrapped around her like a thick blanket on a wintry night.
Suddenly she needed her eyes. To check whether he was predatory or triumphant. Or perhaps worse, whether he regarded her like the one perfect rose in his garden. When she fought so hard to resist his power over emotions as well as senses, that was the most terrifying option of all. She rose onto her kn
ees. Her hands shook as she lifted them to the blindfold.
“No, Sidonie.” He caught her hands.
“Take the blindfold off, Merrick,” she demanded.
That low laugh stroked her nerve endings like thick velvet. Good God, his voice had her panting. How helpless would she be when he touched her in earnest?
“Not yet.” He brought her hands higher and glanced a kiss across each set of knuckles. A caress fleeting as a puff of summer wind. Her belly tightened with arousal. She inhaled, striving for clarity. If she insisted, he’d remove the blindfold. But he’d asked her to trust him. Even while she hated how the request twisted her into knots, she couldn’t deny him.
Poor Sidonie. Soon she’d be unable to deny him anything.
He still held her hands. Stupid girl, she drew strength from that clasp. She stiffened her backbone, feeling her breasts rise against the shift.
“Sidonie?” he asked softly, letting her hands fall into her lap where they opened and closed nervously in the crumpled skirt.
If he pushed or insisted or bullied, she’d withstand him. But he made her name an invitation to discover marvelous secrets.
After a pause, she reluctantly nodded. “Very well.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jonas released his breath and strove against identifying his reaction as knee-trembling relief. How he wished he could paint Sidonie now, kneeling in front of him, her lavish body draped in a whisper of silk. He wanted to keep her like this forever so he could relive this moment on cold, lonely nights.
What artist could recreate Sidonie’s sensuous beauty? No mere dauber could capture the feminine musk on the air. Or depict the soft, uneven pattern of her breathing. Her skin was flushed. A pulse fluttered in the hollow of her throat. Her lips were full and dark, although he’d hardly kissed her.
Over and over in the mirrors, she emerged from the loosened gown like a water lily from a lake. He loomed over her like a nightmare. Usually he derived twisted satisfaction from the contrast between a beautiful woman in his bed and his physical hideousness. He brushed aside one of the pink ribbons supporting the chemise. She jumped with nerves.
“Don’t be afraid, Sidonie,” he crooned, shaping his hand to her shoulder. She felt so fragile, yet she was stronger than the thick stone walls surrounding them.
“I’m not afraid.” Clearly a lie. He knew she was unsure, even afraid. The blindfold must strike her as strange and wicked. Her courage scoured his heart. She’d face down Satan himself with that arrogantly tilted chin.
“You’ve done this before, you know,” he said with a hint of teasing laughter.
“I could see you then,” she responded tartly.
Brava, bella. Don’t stop fighting. “Without sight, other senses take over.”
“You make me shy,” she said so quietly, he bent nearer to hear. He caught the haunting fragrance that was Sidonie’s alone. Shutting his eyes, he drew that essence into his lungs.
The need to be inside her crashed like rolling thunder. Still, he kept his touch light as he traced a path down one white breast to the lacy edge of her shift. If he kept her in his bed the next three days, if he drank her kisses until he was intoxicated, if he explored every mystery of her exquisite body, surely he’d be sated. Except he already knew his appetite would merely feed on its desire. He’d never have enough of her.
Gently he lowered the silk to reveal one hard pink nipple. Startled, she jerked back on her knees. When he cupped her breast, her breath escaped in a whimper. With unsteady fingers, he unlaced her corset and drew it away. Dear God, she was lovely. He could worship her body for a lifetime and still feel he hadn’t done her justice.
Careful not to dislodge the blindfold, he drew the red dress, then the shift, over her head. He extended her long legs, tugging her slippers off and rolling stockings over elegant ankles and feet. He dropped the scraps of silk to the floor and trailed his hands slowly up satiny skin, pausing just below her sex. “It’s a sin against nature to cover a woman so glorious. I decree you stay naked.”
Her laugh was husky as she leaned back on her hands for balance. “I’d shock Mrs. Bevan.”
Jonas’s hands ran along her thighs, feeling her muscles lengthen. Her position made her lush breasts jut. When he drew her nipple into his mouth, she trembled. She trembled more powerfully when he shifted his attentions to her other breast.