It was only when she began to move that he followed her lead and very slowly began to make love to her.
There was no pain as Lee made slow, gentle strokes and Blair, awkward at first, moved with him. After a few moments, the slowness left them both and their passion showed itself in a frenzy. They could not get enough as they arched against each other, clinging, clutching, trying the impossible of getting closer until at last they exploded together.
Blair held on to Lee as if she were afraid to let go. Their sweaty bodies stuck together, even their skin melded into one.
“I love you,” Leander whispered into her ear. “I’m not sure I did before. I’m not sure I knew you before tonight. I’m not sure either of us is the same person as yesterday, but I do know that I love you and, Houston, I’ve never loved another woman.”
For a moment, Blair couldn’t understand why the man in her arms had called her by her sister’s name.
Remembrance came to her all too swiftly. With a feeling of sheer horror, she started to pull away from Lee. “I have to go home,” she said, and her voice showed all that she felt.
“Houston,” Lee said, “it’s not the end of the world. We’ll be married in two weeks, and then we’ll spend all our nights together.”
“Let me up! I have to get home.”
He looked at her for a long moment, as if he were deciding whether or not to be angry, but at last he smiled. “You can be as shy as you want, sweetheart. Here, let me help you with that.”
Blair couldn’t even look at him. It had been the most wonderful experience of her life, but it hadn’t really belonged to her. She had cheated her sister, cheated the man she was to marry, and lied to this man who …who…
Under her eyelashes, she looked at Lee as he helped her with her corset strings. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be back in his arms and, if he asked her, she’d probably board the next train with him and forget all about her obligations to other people.
“You certainly seem to know your way around a woman’s underclothing,” she snapped at him.
Lee chuckled as he held the taffeta petticoat for her to step into. “Well enough, I guess. Shall I do your garters for you?”
Snatching her hose out of his hand, she sat on a chair and began to roll them onto her legs, trying her best to ignore him. What in the world had she done? Houston was going to hate her. And what would Lee say when he found that his bride was a virgin—again? And what would Alan say if he knew? How could she explain to him? Would anyone believe her if she said that he’d touched her and after that she’d had no more control over her own body? Maybe all the things that Duncan Gates said about her were true.
“Houston,” Lee said, kneeling in front of her. “You look as if you’re about to cry.” He took her hands in his. “Look at me, sweetheart. I know how you’ve been raised, and I know you meant to stay a virgin until we were married, but what happened tonight was between us and it was all right. I’ll be your husband in very little time, and then we can enjoy each other as often as we want. And if you’re worried about the morality of what we did, I’m a doctor and I can tell you that many, many women who enter marriage have spent some time alone with the men they love.”
He was making everything worse. The man she loved was not the man she’d just made love to, and the man she was to marry had not taken her virginity.
She stood. “Please take me home,” she said, and Leander obeyed her.
Chapter 6
“Good morning,” Leander said with uncharacteristic jubilation to his father and sister, Nina, who sat at the breakfast table.
Nina, twenty-one and very pretty, paused with her coffee cup on the way to her mouth. “Then it’s true what I heard,” she said.
Lee helped himself to an enormous plateful of food from the sideboard.
“Sarah Oakley called first thing this morning and told me that last night at the reception you and Houston couldn’t take your eyes—or hands—off each other. She said that she’d never seen two people so in love.”
“Did she now?” Lee asked. “And just what was so unusual about that? I have asked the beautiful lady to marry me.”
“But there have been times when you looked as though you wanted to run away rather than stay with your lovely bride.”
Lee smiled at his sister. “When you grow up, baby sister, maybe you’ll know a little more about the birds and the bees.” As he put his plate down across from her, he reached over and kissed her on the forehead.
Nina nearly choked on her food. “That does it,” she said, looking up at her father. “He’s either mad or he’s finally fallen in love.”
Reed was leaning back in his chair and watching his son with great interest. When Lee looked up at him and winked, his worst fears were confirmed.
“You sure know a lot about women, Dad,” Lee grinned and Reed burst out laughing.
“I don’t think I want to know what that little exchange was about,” Nina said primly as she rose to leave. “I think I’ll call Houston and give her my condolences.”
“Tell her I’ll pick her up at eleven,” Lee said with his mouth full. “And I’ll bring a picnic basket.”