“To surprise you,” Gemma replied from behind him.
He smiled, waiting, and heard her come to stand before him. He reached out for her hand, feeling her skirts, moving his hand up the line of her leg to her waist. Then her fingers found his and entwined with them. She must have been sitting against the windowsill, her back to the window.
“What is this between us?” she asked. “It has taken me by surprise. Made me want to run away from you to protect you. And has drawn me back to you. Inexorably. You have risked so much for me and even now you put your life in danger for me, though you barely know me.”
“I know enough,” Nathan said, rising.
He felt Gemma’s hand against his chest, pushing him back into the chair. He let himself fall back and felt Gemma straddle him. Her hands cupped his face and her lips found his. They kissed long and deep, their bodies coming together. Gemma writhed against him, pushing first her breasts and then her loins against him, as though seeking to join her body to his. Nathan held her tightly, exploring her with his hands as though to memorize every curve and line of her.
It was a surprise when one, wandering hand found her bare foot. That was how she had sneaked up on him. She had removed her shoes and tip-toed across the floor in bare feet. There were no stockings either. His hand caressed her calf, reaching as far up as her knee.
“I love you,” he whispered. “You are a free spirit. The most remarkable woman I have ever encountered. I’ve been drawn to you from the moment you came into my life and I would not be without you again.”
“I’m afraid,” Gemma whispered, between kisses. “I’m afraid that I will be taken away from you.”
“Never,” Nathan said with finality.
“I want to be yours. I want to belong to you,” Gemma said, her voice husky with desire.
She was untying his cravat and tackling the laces of his shirt. Nathan’s hand pushed her skirt up, seeking her bare thigh and then questing higher still.
“You do. And I to you,” he replied.
“We are such fools. To commit so much after just a few days. I feel like I am rushing headlong and blindfolded. Like I am riding a galloping horse with no reins and no sight of what is ahead.”
“Embrace it,” Nathan said, smiling against her frantic kisses. “Let your other senses tell you what is right. What does your heart tell you?”
“That I want to be your wife. And the mother of your children,” Gemma gasped.
She was pulling his shirt from his breeches, gasping and panting like a wild creature. Nathan hauled at her skirts, pulling them above her thighs, above her buttocks, exposing her to the air, and receiving a gasp of pleasure from her.
“Is this wrong?” she whispered.
“Not to us,” Nathan replied.
Her hand was squeezing and kneading at the bulge in his breeches. The hard pressure that spoke of his desire for her. Each movement sent paroxysms of pleasure through him, making him close his eyes and groan. He grabbed at her perfect, tight, round buttocks pulling her loins to his but she resisted, pulling back, and holding him at bay with one hand on his bare chest and one on his covered manhood.
“I am afraid what will happen soon. I would have you make me yours tonight. Please.”
The last word was so plaintive, so longing, that any semblance of control was lost to Nathan.
“I do not need a priest to tell me that I am married. Do you take me to be your husband?” he said urgently.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Gemma panted.
“And I take you to be my wife and Duchess of Hamilton. So it is done,” Nathan whispered before burying his face in Gemma’s bosom.
She muffled her cries but Nathan could hear the moans and squeaks that his attention drew from her. Her hips came towards his as she devoted both hands to undoing his breeches. To an outside observer, this was the animalistic coupling of two lustful people. Two sinners with no regard for propriety or the values of society. For them, it was a sacred moment. A moment in which their hearts became joined just as their bodies were about to.
Nathan clasped Gemma’s waist and lifted her effortlessly to the nearby bed. Once he had been released from his breeches, his hands roamed further, trailing along the curve of Gemma's waist, slipping beneath the sanctuary of her skirts. His touch was featherlight, teasing the sensitive skin, as his fingers explored her most intimate depths. Gemma's hips arched, seeking more contact, more of the pleasure that Nathan's touch promised.
With a slow and deliberate motion, Nathan removed Gemma's skirts, baring her completely. The thought of her, flushed with desire and anticipation, ignited a hunger within him that could not be quenched. He positioned himself between her thighs, his eyes locked with hers, as he prepared to taste the essence of her desire.
His tongue traced a path along the outer lips of Gemma's womanhood, his touch gentle yet firm, exploring every fold and contour. Her back arched, a moan of pleasure escaping her lips, as he delved deeper, his tongue parting her slick folds, flicking against her sensitive bud. His hands rose above her navel, gliding over to her breasts as he grasped them above her dress, her nipples hardening enough to poke out from the silk. He took them between his fingers, playing with them teasingly.
The sensations overwhelmed Gemma, pleasure radiating through her core with each stroke of Nathan's talented tongue. She surrendered herself to the pleasure, her fingers gripping the edges of the chaise longue as waves of ecstasy washed over her. Nathan's lips and tongue continued their ministrations, his touch relentless and skilled, until Gemma reached the precipice of pleasure.
Just as he sensed her teeter on the edge, his mouth withdrew, denying her release. A whimper of need escaped her lips as she moaned his name in desperation.
