“Only a little.” Squeezing his hand, she walked around him. “I’ll lead.”
He followed closely on her heels, his other hand coming to rest on her waist. “You’ll have to kiss my shin, make it better,” he said near her ear, his breath stirring tendrils of her hair.
“Oh, I intend to kiss a lot of things.”
Chapter 20
He couldn’t stop his breath from hitching at her provocative words, words that mirrored his intentions as well. He’d been an untried lad when they’d come together before. He had a bit more experience now, had learned a few things, things he intended to share with her.
She came to a stop beside the bed and turned to face him. He had to admit there was something seductive about seeing her cast in naught but shadows and moonlight. She was a sensual silhouette, moving gracefully through the faint, shimmering light, reaching out for his neck cloth and tugging the knot loose. Her confidence had increased over the years.
“Have you been with anyone since me?” Knowing Thornley had gotten his sister with child before they married, he couldn’t help but wonder if the man had known Vivi as well. He’d hate to make his sister a widow in short order, but if the man had been intimate with Vivi—
“No.” Her voice was low, soft, the volume just above a whisper. His neck cloth sailed under his chin as she tossed it aside. Her hands came under the lapels of his jacket, gliding up until she was shoving it off his shoulders. “You have. You admitted as much.”
“Yes.”
Her hands stilled for only a fraction of a second before carrying on to divest him of the coat.
“But none of them meant anything, Vivi. It was need.”
“Don’t you need me?”
He felt the loosening of the buttons on his waistcoat. “With everything that is within me. With the others it was simply physical. With you, it’s more, it’s always been more.” After shrugging off his waistcoat, he cradled her face between his hands and took what she’d granted permission for him to have, to taste, to explore. Nothing had ever pleased his mouth more than the flavor of her. There was a sweetness to it, mellowed by the brandy. He savored it, knowing it could intoxicate him as effectively as any liquor.
With a sigh, not moving her mouth from his, she pressed up against him, scraping her fingers up along his scalp. He deepened the kiss, relishing her mewling, welcoming the increasing of her enthusiasm as her tongue parried with his. It was as though for the briefest of moments, she’d been holding back, had been afraid of giving freedom to her desires. But the moment had passed and now she was untethered, unfettered.
She was his and he would have her.
Dear Lord, it had taken little more than his kiss to drive her into a frenzy. No slow arousing this time. It was as though the tension had been building beyond bearing, like the string of a bow that suddenly snapped from the strain. She wanted him desperately.
It hurt to know he’d had others, but he was a virile man. She couldn’t have expected him to remain celibate. As much as it had pained her though, his reassurances so quickly, so unwaveringly, had comforted her. His tone hadn’t indicated a boasting, but merely a desire to be honest with her.
He’d always been up front and straightforward with her. No teasing games for him. It was one of the reasons she loved him. After all this time, it had taken so little for her to fall back under his spell, but how could she not adore him when he was such a good man?
Spinning her around, he went to work on the lacing of her gown. She didn’t admonish him to take care, not to tear it, because if he ripped it in his eagerness, she would have it mended. And any time her fingers skimmed over the additional stitching, she would recall this night, the fevered pitch of it.
After the gown pooled at her feet, she began helping with the undergarments until she was standing bare in the moonlight, staring at the shadowy bed that would soon welcome them.
Her back was still to him, and he planted his mouth between her shoulder blades. “You are as silky as ever,” he rasped as he slid his tongue along her spine.
Dropping her head back, she concentrated on the trail he followed, down to her bum where he nipped at one cheek, then the other. His hands closed around her knees, and he skimmed them up her thighs, over her hips, along her sides to cup her breasts. Her moan was one of pure delight as he kneaded the pliant orbs, his thumbs and forefingers rolling her nipples into tightened buds.
“I love the way you feel,” he growled low, near her ear.
“Being in the darkness makes all the other sensations clearer, more pronounced.”
“Climb onto the bed.”
“Your clothing.”
“I’ll see to them.”
She clambered onto the bed and had barely rolled onto her back before he was joining her, and she wondered if he’d torn his clothes from his person. His body half covered hers as he nuzzled her neck, nibbling on the tender flesh there. “You smell so good,” he said.
“So do you.” She caressed his shoulders, his back.
“Did you go without this for eight years?”
