Chapter 15 #4
“Thank God, you’re not or I would be dead right now, and not lying down next to the most arousing woman I have ever met. A much more inspiring proposition for a man, as I’m sure you’ll agree.” Releasing her hand, he kissed her on the lips gently. “Catrin. My love. My savior. My heart’s desire.”
Katherine’s throat had gone tight with emotion. She buried her face in the crook of Siaspar’s neck and let the beauty of the moment wash over her.
“I wish I had been strong enough to resist your suggestion we come to this clearing,” he said in a low growl, “and waited until we were in a proper bed to pleasure you.”
“No. This is perfect.”
It was. She would not have wanted it any other way.
They were in broad daylight, not in the treacherous darkness of their first encounters.
They had nothing to hide. Today there was no cheating, only honest desire; they were being themselves, and she was not dressed as something she was not.
It felt real, slightly awkward even. Just like a real first time with the man you loved should feel.
Not knowing how to express herself, Katherine gave Siaspar a scorching kiss, in which she put all her pent-up emotions.
“Me too,” he said when they drew back.
She smiled. He’d understood all she had not been able to say.
“Are these your sister’s clothes?” he asked, fingering the dress lightly.
“They are,” Katherine’s breath caught in her throat when he lifted the hem higher to make it ride halfway up her calf.
“I could tell. The dress is too short and too tight for you.”
She could only agree. Annette had always been more slender, but it had never really been an issue to swap clothes. Now apparently it was, but only because Katherine had been eating better than she ever had at Castell y Draig.
“Does it look so very terrible?”
“It does not, as it allows unscrupulous men a glimpse of your tempting ankles.” He brought the material higher up on her leg as if to illustrate the fact, “and of your perfect bosom.”
With those words he leaned to brush his cheek over the breasts straining against the low bodice.
His jaw was rough with the beginning of a beard.
She had already noticed that by evening, his face had usually lost the clean-shaven look.
This proof of his masculinity never failed to make her heartbeat quicken.
“Are you one of those unscrupulous men who make the most of the tightness of the dress?”
“Absolutely. Unscrupulous.” He kissed the top of her left breast. “Shameless.” He grazed the skin between the two soft mounds. “Ravenous.” He lowered the bodice to expose a nipple, such a shocking thing to do out in the open.
Katherine moaned when he bent his head and drew the nipple deep into his mouth. She wanted to tear the gown and allow him access to more than just her breast. But he had explained why he didn’t want to undress her here, out in the open so she simply enjoyed the delicious teasing.
“Did you leave the velvet dress at the cottage?”
“Yes.” She could not say more than this one word as at this moment Siaspar’s hand went past the top of her stocking to come and sear her bare skin.
“Are you not afraid that your family will have sold it during your absence?”
“No,” she breathed. Siaspar was keeping his voice light, his tone impersonal but his fingers were creating havoc on her sensitive inner thigh. He was stroking her with feather light brushes and coaxing her into opening her legs wider. She did not even try to resist the request.
He brought his mouth to her ear. Though there was no need for such secrecy in the meadow, she loved the intimacy of it.
“Katherine, there are many things I would like to do to you. I want to see you naked, I want to kiss and lick every inch of you.” He kissed her temple in the tender gesture she remembered.
She might have cried in joy if she had not been so aroused.
“But all that will have to wait for a more private and safe setting. Fortunately there is something we can do here, something I have been obsessing about since I realized I was in love with you. And I cannot resist doing it now.”
“What is that?” she asked breathlessly, already knowing she would accept.
“I want to see your face when I give you pleasure. I want to see you, you understand, not imagine you. I don’t want to ever make love to you in the dark again.
” He brought his hand higher up her leg and allowed a naughty smile to light his features.
“And I don’t want you to bite back your cries like you did before.
Moan for me, tell me what you need. I want to see you when I make love you, I want to watch everything and hear you when you cry out in pleasure. When you say my name.”
Katherine’s body almost exploded at the words because she wanted all that, as well. Now. But despite her breathlessness she couldn’t help but tease Siaspar.
“Who says I will cry out?”
“Me. I will give you no choice.”