“Right here, baby,” he answered, and climbed on top of her.
He had to guide her since she had no idea what to do, but she was a quick learner. Oh, heavens yes, she was quick. And after his first slow entry, he was beginning to believe she was possessed of a very natural talent.
He kissed her lips and he kissed her breasts as he made long, slow strokes. She was right: she had exercised a great deal in her life and her body was strong and agile and she followed his lead easily. Once he even had to hold her back, but then he could no longer hold himself back.
He finished in a satisfying explosion that shuddered through his body and he collapsed on her, pulling her into a tight little roll in the tangle of his arms and legs.
It took him quite a while to recover. “Are you okay?”
He felt her nod under his chest and he smiled. “Can you breathe?”
She shook her head and he chuckled, then moved just a bit so she could get some air. He held their sweaty bodies close together as outside the rain began to fall.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked softly.
“A little sore,” she said, “but not terribly. I…I liked that.”
He had been a little afraid to look at her, afraid of what would be in her eyes
, but now he pulled back to see her face. She was more beautiful than he remembered. Her hair was soft about her head, with sweaty tendrils clinging to her cheeks. Softly, he kissed her mouth.
“How about a bath?” he asked. “Together. The two of us in a tub.”
She opened her eyes wide. “Is that…done? Do men and women do that?”
“This man and woman are about to.” He stood and she turned away modestly from his nudity. She searched for her nightgown while holding a sheet over her breasts.
J.T. pulled her out of bed. “No coverings. I want to look at you.”
“Oh,” she said, blushing, eyes downcast.
He stepped back, still holding her hand, and gave a low whistle. “You, lady, are a sight to behold. No, not lady, I mean, Your Royal—”
She stepped forward so the tips of her breasts were touching his chest and put her finger to his lips. “You may call me baby or honey or lady or whatever you want tonight.”
“Keep talking to me like that and we’ll never get bathed. Come on, sweetheart, let me wash you.”
Chapter Eleven
WELL, you’ve done it now,” Bill Frazier said. He and J.T. were sitting in one of the many sleazy beer joints on Duval Street, working their way through their fourth beer. “How are you going to hand her over to her prince?”
“He’s not a prince, merely a count, and he doesn’t have any money, and he also happens to be shorter than she is.”
“I can tell you weren’t interested enough to do any research on the man.”
J.T. downed the beer and held up his hand to the waitress for a fifth one.
“The SPs will have your hide if you’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” J.T. snapped. “Although I’d like to get drunk. How could I possibly involve myself with an overbearing woman who keeps ordering me from her presence?”
“You get those circles under your eyes from her being overbearing last night?”
J.T. smiled. “She isn’t useless after all.” He stopped smiling. “That isn’t the problem. Look, she’s been raised to marry somebody she’s never met, so she’ll do fine with her Count Julie. Besides, I hear that all those royals take lovers.”
“So stay around and be her lover.”
J.T. slammed the beer mug down so hard half of it sloshed onto the table. “Like hell I will. She may regard this marriage as a lark but it’s not that way to an American.”