Chapter 19 #2
He paused, reaching up to cup her cheek.
“In case I’ve not made things clear, let us have no misunderstandings between us.
I want to marry you, Izzy, to share my life with you, but I’m an impatient fellow, so perhaps you might allow me a taste of what’s mine, my delectable Miss Honey, just to stop me from losing my mind before we’re wed. ”
“You can have anything you want, Ben,” she said simply, pressing against him again as his hands fell to her hips. He groaned and shook his head.
“Dammit, stop doing that! And stop encouraging me. You’re supposed to be the sensible one.”
“Since when?” she demanded with a snort.
“A fair point, but I’ll not debauch you entirely on a settee in some dingy back parlour where anyone might discover us. I’ll take my time making you mine, Izzy, but I’ll have a taste to whet my appetite for what’s to come.”
Fitting action to words, he pulled her down once more and kissed her and Izzy shivered as her bare breasts pressed against the cool silk of his waistcoat and the icy touch of buttons.
His hands slid down her back, reaching for the fabric of her skirts and petticoats, hauling them up until she felt the brush of cold air against her thighs and backside.
His hands swiftly followed, gliding over her skin, squeezing the cheeks of her bottom as he pulled her more firmly against him.
Izzy sighed and pressed back, repeating the motion as he encouraged her into a rhythm. His breathing sped as hers did until he moved suddenly, lifting her and setting her down on the settee as he slid to the floor before her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in confusion, gazing down at him.
Again, the swift grin, a soft huff of laughter. “Not a thing, except if you get any more exciting, I’ll be in trouble, yet I’ve spent too long pretending not to be a gentleman to stop entirely. Will you let me pleasure you, love?”
Izzy’s eyebrows lifted as she stared into the face of the man who had come to mean everything to her. “Well, it doesn’t sound like an offer I ought to refuse,” she replied pensively.
He chuckled and leaned in, pressing a kiss to the inside of her knee. “Well, if you change your mind, you let me know, all right?”
Izzy nodded, curious now as his hands moved slowly up over her legs—and, oh, how warm and large and splendid they felt upon her skin, creating little shivers that ran over her, increasing in intensity as his lips followed the path.
He tugged gently, encouraging her to shift forward, further and further, until she was arranged in an ungainly sprawl, her thighs spread wide, making her feel deliciously wanton as he took a moment to stare down at her.
Izzy wondered if she ought to feel embarrassment, or even shame, but how could she, when his eyes glowed with admiration, with love, for her?
“So beautiful,” he whispered, the words spoken so reverently that she did not doubt he meant it. So, she closed her eyes and succumbed to his will, knowing that he wanted only to please her, to share that pleasure with her, and she trusted him with her whole heart.
Still, that poor, overwrought organ thundered behind her ribs as his lips and tongue designed patterns against her skin, moving up and up as his fingers sifted delicately through the small thatch of curls between her thighs.
Not being a complete ninny, she could guess his intent now, and whilst part of her brain wanted to expire from the shock of it, the larger part was riveted, impatient with eagerness to feel, to experience every ounce of the pleasure he had promised her.
The first touch of his tongue was so deliciously shocking that she almost flew from the seat, and Ben chuckled, a wonderfully wicked sound that thrilled her as his big hands clamped her hips, holding her still.
“Want me to stop?”
“Don’t you dare,” she exclaimed, sighing dramatically as he laughed again, his warm breath fluttering against her most intimate skin, and then she had not thought enough to speak, her mind dissolving in the delectable warmth of his mouth, his tongue, the gentle caress of his fingers.
She might even have forgotten to breathe if each decadent sensation hadn’t made her gasp and moan, writhing beneath his touch as his clever fingers tormented, and the slick press of his tongue drove her to madness.
Up and up she flew, higher into the velvety darkness, into a place where there was nothing to trouble her, nothing but the knowledge that this man loved her, that he wished to bring her pleasure, and that pleasure was the most intimate and indescribable delight she had ever known.
The peak came too quickly when she wished to linger in that sweet place for eons, but she fell anyway, glittering like stardust as she flew apart, disappearing into the waves of pleasure that surged through her, on and on until she was utterly boneless, sated, and vaguely surprised that the pieces of her had not somehow rearranged themselves in the light of such an experience.
It took her a while to open her heavy eyelids, the desire to slump to one side and fall into a blissful sleep, hard to resist. That would be rude, however, and ungrateful when Ben had treated her to such a delicious experience.
So, she forced her unwilling eyes to focus upon him, smiling serenely as she found him watching her, a smug smile curving his sensuous mouth.
She could hardly blame him. He was exceptionally good at that.
“Well done,” she said faintly. “Truly. Very well done.”
He laughed, leaning in again to kiss her knee. “Oh, that’s just the beginning, my sweet Miss Honey. But I cannot risk your reputation any more than I have done. We’ve been gone too long as it is. Come now. Let us rearrange you so you do not look as if you’ve been thoroughly ravished.”
Gently, he tugged her to her feet, holding on as Izzy swayed, rather startled at how weak and peculiar her legs felt. Once she had her balance, he turned her around and busied himself tugging her bodice back into place and doing up all that he’d recently undone.
“I need to speak to your father, of course, but as he’s not here at present, I had better put my request for your hand to your brother-in-law.” He paused, and Izzy sensed rather than heard his anxiety. “Do you think—”
“I think I will murder anyone who stands in our way,” Izzy said frankly, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Sylvester has become a little protective of me, but he was hardly a shining example of a gentleman until Clemmie took him in hand. He’ll not be able to say a thing against you, what with you being a hero and all. ”
Ben snorted and turned her back to face him. They gazed up at each other in silence for a long moment.
“I love you,” he said. “Just in case that bit wasn’t as clear as it ought to be. I’ve met no one like you in my life, Izzy.”
“Nor I you. So, we’d better marry each other at once. We are clearly too unique to consider looking elsewhere.”
He grinned. “True enough, pet. Let’s make that happen quickly.”
“At once,” she amended, and they hurried back to the ball in the hopes of doing just that.