Chapter Six #2
Her fingers curled into his loosened cravat. “Perhaps a bit. I adored having a bevy of attention on me, but there is more to it.” Another blush sneaked into her cheeks.
“Such as?” One of his eyebrows rose.
“When I was newly married, I only had two months with my husband, so I didn’t have an opportunity to experience intimacy as much as I’d wished.
Or anything with him for that matter.” As she pressed her lips together, the urge to kiss her senseless slammed through him.
“I’d like to marry again for that reason…
as well as to perhaps start a family. I rather think I might be brilliant as a mother. ”
“As much as you adore that cat of yours, I don’t doubt that.” Turning his body toward her despite the clash of their knees, he cupped her cheek. “I can help with one of those things.” Then, he claimed her lips with his, and ran the risk of being immediately lost.
“I’d wondered when you would try to kiss me tonight.
” She wriggled closer, if that was possible.
The fragrance of lilies wafted to his nose just before she laid a hand to the side of his neck just above his collar.
“I rather adore the feel of being in a man’s arms again, and I’m glad that it’s you.
” When she leaned forward and bussed his cheek, shock went through him to mix with growing arousal.
It was an innocent act to be sure, but there was something damned erotic about the soft brush of her body against his and the heat of her fingers that lingered on his skin.
It shoved his grip on control past his reach where it was promptly forgotten.
With a growl, he snaked a hand to her nape, dragged her the rest of the way into him so that she lounged half on and half off his body, and then claimed her lips again.
After a few moments of intense kissing, Constance gasped and pulled slightly away. The hand resting on his chest trembled; the fingers fairly seared into his skin despite his shirt and waistcoat. “Can I assume you approve of me as a mistress, or are you merely bored?”
He couldn’t help his laugh, though it was a touch breathless. “Absolutely, I approve. I knew my instincts weren’t wrong.” The desire to claim her body as he’d done her lips grew overpowering, but he cautioned himself to go carefully. Though she was a widow, she was still very much na?ve.
“That is good to know, and gives me confidence,” she said in a whisper that went straight to his stones.
“Happy to help.” Because he could, Gregory repeated the kiss, only this time he settled her more comfortably in his arms and held her as close as he dared while exploring those two pieces of petal-soft flesh.
When he drew one hand down the length of her spine, he paused at the curve of her arse, for the distraction of her lips well and truly occupied his attention.
Though she wasn’t an untried novice when it came to kissing, she didn’t have the skill of a courtesan, but then, it wasn’t needed.
As she curled the fingers of one hand into the folds of his cravat, she slipped her other one to the waist of his breeches.
The second she freed the shirttails from them, she sneaked her hand beneath the fabric.
The touch of her fingers to his skin was electric, and still she returned his kisses.
With a barely audible growl, he applied himself to the luxury of exploring her mouth.
Each time he nipped and nibbled at the corners or her lower lip, she mimicked those gestures.
Instantly, tiny fires ignited in his blood.
His length responded in kind until it pressed painfully against the front of his evening breeches.
It was all too easy to lose himself, and for the moment, he wanted exactly that, so he nudged Constance onto her back, cradling her head in the crook of his arm as they both lay on the sofa.
Kissing her was like having a breath of fresh air in the Lake District or stepping into the sun after weeks of rain.
His shaft was fully engorged and twitched insistently into her hip.
Did she feel the evidence of his desire?
If she did, would she welcome being bedded tonight?
Not knowing, he ignored the pulsing discomfort in favor of learning the secrets of her mouth.
Of course, that wasn’t nearly enough, so he dragged his lips down the side of her neck.
That silky, fragrant skin urged him onward as did Constance herself as she caressed her fingers over his chest and shoulders.
That glancing, tentative touch accelerated his heartbeat and had another wave of awareness rippling through him, stronger this time.
He kissed and licked a path to her collarbones then followed the edge of her bodice as he eased partially down her body.
Lifting her head, she found his gaze in candlelight and shadows. “Why did you stop?”
Bloody hell.
“Do you wish for me to continue?” Damn but he wanted to feel the heat of her modest breasts in his hands.
“Yes. Ever since that kiss beneath the bridge, I’ve thought of nothing else.” She nodded as if he hadn’t understood the verbal answer. “Please?”
That nearly broke him, but he nodded. Settling onto his side next to her, he tugged down the bodice of her gown with his free hand then freed her breasts from the fabric beneath.
When those mounds of flesh were bared to his gaze, a throb of need shot through his shaft.
“So damned beautiful.” Then he covered one of the breasts with his hand.
She sucked in a breath as he palmed the mass, weighed it, rubbed the hardened dusky pink tip of it with the pad of his thumb.
“Yes!” The need in that one word was more than obvious. She tightened her fingers on his upper arm as he grinned. “Feel free to play…” Whatever else she would have said dissolved into a moan of approval.
Gregory didn’t answer with conversation. It wasn’t needed. He continued to play with the breast while he closed his lips around the other nipple. Constance’s back arched, which put her more firmly into his care. While he teased and tormented that pebbled bud, he rolled the other one.
Each little sound she made at the back of her throat drove him closer to the edge of insanity.
Needing so much more, he slipped his hand beneath her skirting.
He caressed his fingers up her leg to pause at her hip.
That quick intake of breath as he brushed his fingers along the inside of her thigh, his knuckles barely touching the curls shrouding her sex, made him so hard that it took every ounce of willpower not to claim her right there.
“Gregory…” She squirmed beneath him. Clearly, she enjoyed what he did to her, and that stroked his ego all too much; they’d barely started.
“I know.” With his pulse pounding in his temples, he shoved the skirting upward to bare her lower body.
Her fingers dug into his arm. “Please, more.”
Damn.
That tiny bit of pleading worked to dissolve his already shaky hold on control.
“Gladly.” He lowered his head to her breast once more to worry the pebbled tip with his tongue and lips while he plucked and rolled the other one between his thumb and forefinger.
Pinpricks of pain where she lightly dug her fingernails into his arm and shoulder only enhanced what he did to her.
At some point, she moved a hand to his nape, furrowed her fingers in the hair there. Need spiraled down his spine, for it was such a trusting, erotic touch. “I have wondered what your skin, your hair would feel like,” she admitted in a soft, breathy voice. “It is a pity you aren’t naked.”
He nearly shot his wad right then. “Why?”
“I’ll wager you resemble a Greek statue.”
A chuckle escaped him. “Ha, I don’t know about that.
” He wasn’t exactly the fittest he’d ever been in his life, for working at a desk more often than not curbed his time for walking, but he wasn’t hideous.
While continuing to pleasure her breast, he trailed his hand along her chest, traced her collarbones, her shoulders.
Gooseflesh popped in his wake. Her porcelain skin practically begged for him to mark her.
Obviously, he wouldn’t without her permission, but Christ he wanted to show his possession.
“Tell me what you’re feeling, Constance. ”
Hearing her voice would take his mind off the need to explode, for he hadn’t had a woman in his bed for quite some time.
“I’m so very hot, as if I’ve spent too much time in the sun.
” Her breath came in quick pants. “I’m feeling need and pressure deep within that requires relief.
” She moved her head against his forearm as she guided his head once more to her breast. “Samuel only made me fly half the times we were together.”
“Do you want to now?” The thought of getting her off with his fingers stole his ability to think clearly, but he’d do it and give her a taste of what they would have together if she willed it.
“Yes.” With gentle nudging of her fingers, she brought his head up and then she kissed him with a hunger that fed his own.
It was all too erotic, and his member pulsed with urgency.
This time, he tangled with her tongue, exchanging thrusts and parries, which brought him more swiftly to the edge between reality and madness, but he didn’t care.
There was something about being so intimate with this woman that made him crave more.
Did that happen with mistresses?
As he proceeded to devour her with his mouth, he slipped his hand once more beneath her skirting then between her thighs. Immediately, she closed her legs on his hand. He chuckled against her lips. “Let me in. I can’t send you flying if you’ve shut me out.”
“It was a reflex. Out of the habit of letting a man touch me.” Slowly, she eased her stance, but her muscles were taut as if she would flee in a second.