Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Maggie shivered under the weight of Algernon’s heated gaze, but she had made her decision.
Algernon. She had chosen him a long time ago.
She grasped his hand when he smiled and pulled him firmly toward the door. “Come with me.”
“Maggie?”
“No questions,” she whispered, turning back to him. She stretched up and pressed her lips to his in a hard kiss, so he had no doubts what she intended for them for the remaining hours of the night. “No debate, either.”
“I can’t promise you that,” he answered, eyes lighting up with excitement that Maggie shared. “We tend to question everything.”
“We do indeed.” She tugged him along with her. Algernon followed her up the staircase without another word. At the top, she had a moment of indecision, though. His room or her smaller one. But Algernon led her to the room adjoining his—the duchess’ bedchamber.
It felt awkward to be in this room again, as it reminded her that Algernon had given up a fortune to avoid marrying Lady Kent.
But then he curled his arm about her from behind and kissed her neck, and her reservations fled.
Her decision to be with Algernon tonight had nothing to do with trying to compromise herself, or making a marriage with him, either. It had everything to do with wanting to belong. Here. With him. For as long as she ever could.
They had been circling each other and their desire since the moment they’d met again. Older, wiser, and more aware of each other physically. She wanted what she wanted.
Algernon. Kissing her.
The door shut behind them softly, and they were plunged into near darkness. What little moonlight came into the room from the window showed her where to go.
Algernon set his hands on her shoulders and steered her across the room toward the large bed. Then, before she could climb upon it, he pulled her back toward him and held her tightly. “We’ll discuss terms tomorrow.”
“Agreed,” she said. But there were no terms to discuss. She gave her love without strings and wanted nothing more from him but his affection.
He drew back suddenly. “We could wait. We don’t have to rush into bed together tonight.”
“When have you ever wanted to wait?” she whispered, reaching for his waistcoat buttons and undoing a few. “Especially when we want the same thing.”
“Yes, we do. We always have,” he whispered, cupping her face in his hands. He kissed her softly. “I’ll return in a moment.”
He vanished into his chamber. He was gone only a short time. When he returned barefoot, he carried a candle that he set about igniting others with, until the room glowed.
Maggie had been comfortable in the near dark, but there would be no hiding from desire in the light.
Algernon returned to her, and he captured her head again, his fingers dislodging precious pins left and right as he buried them in her hair. “Maggie, be mine,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered back. She stretched up for another, much deeper kiss to seal her vow. She would love him forever.
She slipped a hand between them, finished unbuttoning his waistcoat, and pushed it aside to run her hands over his torso. He was muscled and lean and blazing hot to the touch, but still too far away. She’d found the baring of his forearms distracting, but now she wanted to see the rest of him.
His cravat proved impossible to understand how to untie, and he was the one who stripped it away and undid the tiny buttons on his shirt hidden beneath.
She grabbed a handful of his shirt at his waist and tugged upward impatiently.
Algernon grunted. “One button undone on my breeches will make things easier, my dear, or you’ll wound me.”
Maggie bit her lip and found the two large buttons on his breeches, as Algernon helpfully sucked in his nonexistent belly to give her room to unbutton him. Once they were undone, his shirt slid upward more easily.
When it was gone, she was confronted by a broad expanse of muscled chest and chest hair she’d not expected to see. She laughed at her foolishness. Of course, Algernon’s body would have changed a great deal since he was a boy.
She placed her hand over his heart, and her stomach fluttered with renewed nervousness. She glanced up and saw Algernon smiling.
“Explore my body, Maggie,” he whispered. “Lovemaking is an adventure you’ve never experienced before. Nothing you do will be wrong, I assure you.”
Comforted by his words, she moved back a little and set about doing as she pleased. She toyed with the hair on his chest, noticed it continued downward into his breeches, but his sides and back were silky smooth beneath her trembling hands.
She walked around him and couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “You are beautiful.”
“I prefer handsome,” he replied, keeping track of her movements. “You are the beautiful one, my dear. Breathtaking. I was struck by instant desire the moment our eyes met across the crowded taproom.”
When she stopped, Algernon pulled her in for another long, heady kiss.
Maggie began to unbutton her gown.
“May I do the honors?” he asked, and she nodded, giving him permission. “I’ve dreamed of this moment since the day we met again.”
“So have I,” she replied, glad they could talk and distract her from nervousness. It was one thing to know she wanted to be made love to, but quite overwhelming now that it was happening. Algernon had done this before; she had not.
He ran his hands down her back, and up again, and then seemed to be searching. Failing to find them, he suddenly spun her around. “How does this accursed gown unbutton?”
“From the front,” she advised with a soft laugh. “I don’t have a maid to help, so I had to improvise.”
He turned her round again as she showed him the four simple fastenings that kept her breasts decently covered. There were other fastenings beneath, but all that was required was a hard tug at any bow.
He drew back. “Ingenious. I assume this is your design.”
“Yes.”
“Always clever, but you were made for more than needlework,” he reminded her, before kissing her again.
Her gown was slowly stripped away, her shoes and stockings removed, and then Algernon drew back the bedding and helped her sit on top. He framed her face one last time, and then his hands were at his waist, unbuttoning the last fastening on his breeches.
He watched her as he inched the material down a little at a time. Maggie gaped as his erection was revealed, and she could not tear her eyes away even if a library was on fire.
He was unexpectedly large, though she supposed that was a good thing when it came to lovemaking. He kicked away his breeches, standing proudly for her to view. He even twirled around so she could see all of him at once.
Maggie was breathless when he finally stood still.
He climbed onto the bed, lay down, but immediately rolled onto his side, facing her. Maggie fell back onto the pillows and faced him, too.
He kissed her softly and then drew back. “There’s still time to change your mind.”
“Once my mind is set, there’s no turning back for me. Or for you.”
“I know,” he said, and then kissed her again, with more passion than his first or last. Maggie wriggled until their bodies touched, and gasped at the feel of his hot skin sliding against hers.
Algernon radiated heat and excitement, and she couldn’t get enough of touching him. She wrapped her arms about his neck and held on, letting him lead them in this intimate dance.
His hands caressed her in soft, sweeping touches, making her shiver. His lips devoured hers until she could think of nothing but him.
As he rolled her under him and widened her legs, she had but one moment of doubt, as brief as it was belated. She was a virgin, and some said intimacy hurt a great deal the first time.
Suddenly, he moved off her again. “Lovemaking shouldn’t be rushed,” he muttered.
“Was that warning for me or yourself?” she queried, taking a moment to catch her breath, too.
He laughed softly. “Me. All I can think of is making you mine. You are delightfully open to lovemaking, but as a virgin, there could be discomfort if I rush.”
“I do know that,” she told him.
“I’m glad you do.”
He stroked down her torso, lingering to circle her breasts and then her nipples, until they grew almost too sensitive. “I can never get enough of touching you.”
She glanced down at her bosom. Her nipples had hardened to stiff peaks and, to her surprise, Algernon kissed one, and then captured it in his mouth and suckled.
Maggie moaned, a guttural sound that shocked her to have made. She writhed beneath him, but he soon stopped and took her other breast into his mouth. She moved restlessly beneath again and held his head there, unable to believe how good it felt.
When Algernon stopped, he wriggled lower, pressing kisses to her stomach. Unfortunately, it tickled so much she giggled out loud and squirmed away from him.
Algernon captured her again and drew her back into his arms. “Your laughter is a sound I want to hear more of but later,” he moved lower still and pushed her legs apart as he went. He kissed her thighs, lavishing them with his attention as he caressed them both.
She didn’t comprehend his plan until the first touch between her legs caught her by surprise.
A kiss, a touch, and the flick of a tongue low down made her moan again. Maggie leaned up to see what he was doing.
She was shocked to see his face buried between her thighs. His eyes were closed, and he looked to be feasting on her. An action that felt strange, and wonderful, too.
She fell back, though, as he teased a finger along her sex and back again. Maggie was stunned as he excited her until the point she began to writhe, begging for more. Much more. “Algernon…?”
“Now is not the time for discussion. Just feel and let me show you what I learned about lovemaking while we were apart,” he whispered.
The next moment, he kissed her sex harder.
Her hips rose to meet him of their own accord, and he wrestled her back down to the mattress, laughing softly. His fingers pressed against her body, and when the pressure increased too far, it almost immediately eased again.
Maggie thumped her head against the pillow, overwhelmed as Algernon turned her world upside down with his skillful lovemaking. She could barely keep still. She had never imagined making love would start like this, but how could it be wrong if it felt so good?
Each stroke of his finger inside her and flick of his tongue against her sex stole her wits. She could feel everything he did to her with a sensitivity she’d never experienced before.
She was about to burst out of her skin from what he was doing to her. When the sensations increased and grew too much to contain, Maggie squeezed her eyes shut and moaned as her body shuddered compulsively.
Suddenly, Algernon was above her, pushing her hair from her face, whispering, “My Maggie. So beautiful. So perfect.”
She looked up at him, dazed, and smiled weakly, only to receive a hard kiss in return.
Algernon positioned himself to enter her, and she didn’t feel pain at first, only a greater pressure than before.
A hard thrust made her gasp, though, and he froze for a moment, withdrew, and pushed into her once again.
He continued like that until he stopped to look down upon her, wearing a ridiculous grin.
He sank against her, brushing his fingertips across her lips. They remained connected, and Maggie liked that. “Are you all right, Maggie mine?”
She wriggled around him, testing the sensation of him inside her body. “I think so.”
Algernon cupped her face. “Maggie, I love you.”
She blinked.
“I do. I am in love with you. Probably since I was twelve.”
Maggie did not quite know how to respond to that admission. Children hardly understood love.
But she did now. She felt loved by Algernon.
He began to move again, and it felt wonderful still. And as he made love to her, she realized this was all she needed to be content. To have a man, to have Algernon, be part of her. Intimately part of her life.
Maggie wrapped her arms about his neck, sensing his excitement rising, and held tight to him as they made love.
He moaned, buried his face against her throat, and after a few kisses there, began to move with even more urgency.
Those feelings he created with his fingers and kisses between her legs stirred again. Maggie rocked with him, wrapped her legs about his hips, seeking to experience a similar release again.
Algernon suddenly shoved her legs wider apart and withdrew from her completely. She saw the glistening length of his cock in his hand and before his other covered the top. He moaned and pumped his length as he shuddered above her.
After a moment, he twisted to fall onto the bed at her side, panting hard and laughing softly. “My God, I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered. “So much.”
He kissed her hard but jumped out of bed the next moment, disappearing into his room again, his hands cupped at his groin.
Belatedly, it occurred to Maggie what Algernon had done. He had prevented his seed from filling her body and done all he could to avoid conception.
An odd ache settled around her heart at how loyal he was to their friendship, their love, and what she wanted for her life. Even in the heat of the moment, he’d put her needs first.
That was love, that was devotion…that was Algernon, her best friend and lover. Making love was enough for him tonight, but it might not always be so simple.
When he returned, he was wiping his hands on a cloth, which he tossed away before throwing himself back into her bed. He caught up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Now you really are mine, Maggie Black.”
“Yes,” she said, fighting a blush at how easy he was to love. She would never take him for granted. Maggie rolled toward him, threw an arm across his chest, and held tight to his love.