Chapter Sixteen #3
She opened her eyes at the words, but in the same moment he parted her, finding the swollen nub at the very core of her.
He watched; her expression changed, her eyes widening, her lips opening as she felt his touch on her.
Something hot shimmered in her eyes, hot and disbelieving, almost accusatory as though she could not believe how he made her feel.
He flicked her tight little nub once, twice, in a smooth stroke, and she came immediately, helplessly, on a scream, her body jolting with the force of it.
He stroked her again and saw the pleasure catch her a second time, more fiercely than the first. The shock and disbelief in her eyes dissolved into sheer sensual delight and her body slumped, her eyes closing, and she lay boneless and gasping, sheened in sweat.
After a moment he lit the candle, then pulled the remnants of the innocent-looking white nightgown from her and cast them aside, drawing her into his arms, where she lay without protest. Her breasts still rose and fell rapidly against his chest, which was a particular torment, but one he felt he could bear if the result was witnessing such pleasure in her.
For there was no doubt he had taken her to the very edge of bliss and he had taken such enjoyment in watching her learn what it felt like.
He had had no idea that simply giving her pleasure would make him feel so frightfully pleased with himself. It was a startling discovery.
“What on earth did you do to me?” She sounded exhausted but recognizably like Lucy again. Her eyelids fluttered open. Her eyes were like dark stars, heavy with satiation.
“I showed you how good your body can make you feel,” Robert said. He suspected that Lucy associated the physical body only with pain and danger. Her experience had colored everything for her and now it was his turn to show her that the physical, the sensual, could bring pleasure beyond belief.
A slow smile curved the corner of her mouth. “So you did. I had no notion.”
Robert kissed her. Her response was different this time, open and accepting, weighted by the knowledge of pleasure.
He plunged his tongue deep in her mouth, allowing his desires full rein, mimicking the movement he wanted for his body by plundering her mouth instead.
She groaned deep in her throat and opened wider to him and suddenly he was within an ace of spilling his seed in his breeches, which he had not done since he was sixteen years old.
He rolled away, cursing his lack of control.
They had only been married for two nights and there was not a chance in hell that he would risk frightening Lucy by exposing her to his needs.
That would have to wait. She might look like a wanton angel, but she would turn back into a frightened virgin swiftly enough if he rushed his fences.
She was still lying sprawled on the bed in slumberous abandon, her hair ruffled, her eyes half-open, watching him.
The candlelight gilded her skin, picking out the freckles scattered over her shoulders.
She looked delectable, soft, rounded, ravished.
The hunger in him was like a ravening beast howling for satisfaction.
Never had he set himself so hard a task as keeping his hands from her.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
There was not a chance in hell that he was going to tell her that he was thinking of making love to her, that he wanted to spread her and take her and seal their bargain by making her his.
“I’m thinking,” he said, “that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to make you cry out your pleasure again.”
She looked shocked by his bluntness, and for a moment he thought he had gone too far.
Her trust was so fragile, always balanced against the fear of memory.
Yet she also possessed a healthy intellectual curiosity.
And she was passionate through and through, and had just started to understand where that passion might take her.
He waited.
Her gaze flickered up to meet his, a little shyly. “Is that possible?” She sounded detached, rational. “I mean, is it possible to experience the same degree of pleasure over and over again—”
“Why don’t we find out?” Robert said politely. He did not move. This was for her to choose, to decide how far she wanted to go.
She stared at him. He could see the pulse beating hard in her throat. Her voice was husky. “You mean you are asking me—”
“If you would like to find out. Yes.”
She bit her lip, looked down. He knew it was hard for her; reality was creeping back now here in the light, as sensual bliss receded. Which was all the more reason to conjure it again. The night was still young. Downstairs the inn taproom was turning rowdy.
“Trust me a little further,” he said. “Indulge your desire to learn.”
She smiled at that. “I confess I have always been keen to learn new things.”
He smiled too. Good. Because if he could not indulge his own pleasure tonight, then driving Lucy to the extremes of carnal lust seemed like a very fair revenge.
* * *
LUCY SAW ROBERT’S smile and wondered why on earth she had agreed.
The first time she had had an excuse; she had wanted to build on the intimacy they had already established and show that she was committed to their future.
She had wanted to demonstrate her trust in him.
That trust had led to such sensual bliss she could not have imagined.
Even now, as the tide of it lingered in her body, she was still disbelieving it could have been so good.
And now he was offering to do it all again.
Differently. Which would be simple self-indulgence, but oh she wanted to indulge herself.
She wanted it quite desperately. And it would be safe because he had promised that tonight was all about her pleasure.
She did not have to worry about him bedding her or the dangers of consummation.
She could release herself from the hold of the past and live only in the present.
Robert had asked her to put herself in his hands, and really it would be an insult to refuse.
Oh, she could convince herself that black was white, that silver was gold, tonight.
Yet even so she was anxious. Her heart was battering her ribs, and her tension was growing with each beat.
“Here.” He had strolled across to the table by the window, struck a light for another candle and poured two glasses of wine. He brought them back and handed one to her, clinking his glass softly against hers. “Drink.”
“This requires wine?” Lucy said.
He laughed. “Perhaps. You seem a little tense. The key is to have just enough wine to relax you but not too much to make you insensible.”
“I’ll remember,” Lucy said. She took a gulp, then another, almost emptying her glass.
It was a fine wine, smooth as it slipped down her throat.
Robert took the glass from her hand and placed it on the dresser.
A moment later she tasted wine again on his lips as he kissed her.
He was right; her head spun now, deliciously, sensually, and she was not sure if it was the claret or the kiss that made her feel so faint.
Warmth tingled down her spine and along her skin.
“Lie down.” His soft instruction had her heart racing.
She lay back on the bed, suddenly shy, wanting to shield herself from his gaze, but he spread her arms wide and sat back on his heels looking at her.
Now, in the light, there was no hiding. It felt too intimate, but regardless of her old fears she made herself lie still and face it.
After a moment the trapped feeling faded away.
“You are beautiful.” He touched her shoulders lightly, slid his hands down her arms, stroked her breasts again with the same gentle gliding caresses he had used earlier.
Lucy was starting to recognize the responses of her body now.
She had been so satiated that she had thought she could not be reawakened, yet each sly drift of Robert’s hands over her seemed to tighten a cord within her.
She remembered how good the massage had felt and how it had made her body beg for more.
He could command her response so easily.
Was there anything wrong in that? The little voice at the back of her mind reminded her that he was her husband and that tonight she did not need to be fearful. She did not need to think. She could leave that for another day.
With a sigh of surrender she allowed her body to soften and open, flagrantly exposed to him. She watched him through half-closed lids as he studied her nakedness and was surprised how fiercely she enjoyed that look of acute longing on his face. It made her feel feminine and powerful.
He lifted her, his hands strong on her waist, and kissed her so deeply her head spun.
Then he dropped his lips to her breasts and the dark tight spiral of desire quickened in her.
Her head fell back. She arched. She could feel his hands spread against the bare skin of her back holding her securely as his mouth plundered her with tugs and licks and kisses.
Her dizziness grew, the wicked delicious pulses in her belly beating a demand of their own.
He laid her down gently on the bed and slid his palms down her thighs and she quivered.
Her skin felt hot and feverish. Her whole body was alight.
She felt his hands drawing her legs wider apart and the brush of his hair against the soft skin of her inner thigh.
She was sufficiently shocked to half waken from her sensual haze; she rose on her elbows, but Robert placed a palm on her stomach just above her pubic bone and pressed gently down.
Immediately her belly fluttered with longing and she fell back on the bed with a groan.