Coupled against him like this, she did not need her hands to feel the hardness of his body. Her breasts pillowed against his chest. His shaft rose to nudge between her thighs, impeded only by insubstantial curtains of linen.
Her body responded at once. Her inner muscles made an involuntary clench of desire, her cleft swelling deliciously in anticipation, ready for his touch.
“Marry me,” he rasped. “At least let me court you properly.”
“Graham—”
“What if you weremyprincess?” His hands found her buttocks, pressed her to him, so that his shaft pulsed hot against her. “I’ve spent my life chasing a fairy tale, and you turned out to be real. So much better than my fantasies. I don’t want to wake up. I want to live this dream forever, with you. Let me convince you how well we fit together.”
Kuni did not need to be convinced. The ache in her heart and the slickness between her legs proved that every part of her brazen body had the same fantasy he did.
But that’s all it was. A fantasy.
“You know I’m going home.” She tried to make a jest of it. “Besides, I couldn’t give you permission if I wanted to. It’s Balcovian tradition for the woman’s family to grant or deny a suitor’s petition. I think we can both imagine what Floris and Reinald would say.”
“I don’t give a damn about anyone’s opinion but yours.” He kissed her deeply. “Ifyouwant me, say the word. I will find a way.”
“I can’t. You know I can’t.”
“You mean you won’tletyourself.”
She wasn’t abstaining for herself. She was paying back the previous generations and doing her part to fight for the next ones. Becoming the daughter her father had expected her to be.
“You knew I would only be here a short time when we met. How did you think that was going to work out?”
His voice was a growl. “I didn’t know it was going to rip my chest apart and rend me in two. If there’s no hope for us, then why are you here?”
She rolled her hips against him, letting his shaft rub against her. “I think it’s obvious why I’m here.”
He groaned and took her mouth again, his hands rough and perfect.
“You’re not really asking me to make love to you,” he said hoarsely. “It’s the champagne.”
Her two half glasses of champagne had been well over an hour ago. She’d bathed before knocking. Applied scented cream to her limbs. Chosen the most translucent of her night rails with deliberate care. Felt her body quicken even before she glimpsed his.
“I’ve wanted this for weeks,” she confessed huskily. “Wantedyou, me, together. But if you thinkyou’rebeing influenced by champagne…”
He swung her up in his arms as though she weighed nothing. “Then I guess you’re not going anywhere. Not tonight. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I’ll give you anything you desire for as long as you let me.”
She touched the soft black curls tumbling over his forehead, ran her thumb over the stubble at his jaw. “I’ve got all night.”
“Then let’s make the most of it.”
39
Graham started to lay Kunigunde on the bed, then thought better of it.
If his remaining time with her was to be counted in hours, he would not waste any of them. She smelled freshly bathed, and felt deliciously soft and warm in his arms. He wanted to feast his eyes and mouth on every inch of her.
Beneath the clinging lawn of her night rail, he could see the outline of her breasts, the brown circles of her nipples, the dark patch between her legs.
But he would begin at her toes.
He set her on her feet next to the bedpost and dropped his knees to the carpet. A pair of pinkish-purple slippers peeked from beneath the long night rail. Expensive royal quality, no doubt. Graham didn’t care about the rare color or the fine material. He wanted to expose the first hint of Kunigunde’s bare skin beneath.
Kneeling, he slid the slipper from her left foot and bent to press a kiss to the top of each of her toes. Each toe was shorter than the last, making a perfect diagonal line. He mentally added it to the Book of Kunigunde. Every moment of this night would be etched directly onto his soul.
Off came the second slipper. Five more kisses. He had never known himself to be entranced by pretty feet, and yet here he was on his knees before her. Perhaps the enchantress was Kunigunde. It would not matter what her body looked like. It washerhe was in love with.
