“Please.”
“When you’re very near me this way, I find it hard to think clearly. I sometimes think I might want you to touch me the way you did before, but I’m also worried it might hurt, and most of all, that I might get in a family way. You promised we wouldn’t have children.”
“Ah.” It was all Silas could do not to give in to his desire right then. But she wanted reassurance first. He needed to stay steady. Just a little longer. “There can be some pain the first time I’m inside you, but there’s no need for that tonight. If I don’t go inside you at all, it’s impossible to get with child.” Much as he might have liked to bed Hannah, it was plain she wasn’t ready. Better to take the time he needed to earn her trust than to lose it forever.
“You don’t mind?” Hannah eyed him with suspicion.
“I understood you had reservations when you agreed to marry me. I wouldn’t hold them against you now.” Silas paused, letting her see that he meant it. “Would you trust me enough to let me touchyou? It won’t hurt. In fact, there are plenty of things we could do without any risk of a child.”
“If you’re very sure you can avoid any accidents.” There was a trace of a question in Hannah’s voice, reminding him to be careful with her. “Then yes.”
The relief that flooded Silas was far too deep for such a small word.Yes.He bent his head to kiss her neck as he fumbled for the buttons on the bodice of her shift, his restraint crumbling away in bits and pieces.Yes, yes, yes.
He would make this perfect for Hannah. He had to.
* * *
Hannah let Corbyn lead her to the bed. He did everything so slowly that it was almost hypnotic, just as it had been when he’d undressed her earlier. His methodical, steady command of her desires was exactly what she wanted now.
Hannah had only the vaguest notion of what she was supposed to do, gleaned from the knowing whispers of married friends who’d deemed it improper to give her enough detail to be actually useful. She rather wished that someone had told her how she was supposed to touch a man or what she should expect once they had their clothes off. But Corbyn’s methodical attention reassured her. He could take the lead, and she would gladly follow.
As much as she’d been nervous at first, she trusted him. He’d seen her through so much already; he wouldn’t break his word.
Corbyn slid the hem of her shift up her legs, his fingertips grazing her body as he went. He’d been so gentlemanly in the earlier stages of her déshabillement that she found herself nearly ready to beg for his touch. She squirmed against him, longing for more, but he took his time tugging her shift over her head and moving down to herdrawers, which he tugged open in a controlled but insistent motion. Once Hannah was naked except for her stockings, he laid her down upon the coverlet and climbed atop the bed after her.
Hannah should have felt embarrassed to let a man see her this way. Even her own husband. But the look of pure desire darkening Corbyn’s eyes had her riveted in place. He ran his hands up her calf, beginning at the ankle and inching his way higher, until he found the ribbon that tied her stocking in place and pulled it free. He peeled the fabric away from her skin so gingerly that Hannah shivered. The whole time he’d been undressing her, she’d kept wondering when he would put his hands on her bare skin. She’d leaned toward him several times on pure instinct, but he’d always held back. Now that his hands were finally upon her, Hannah understood why. It was electric.
She might not want to risk getting in a family way, but she most definitely wanted this, the thrill he was always able to summon from her body when he was near. Corbyn was devouring her with his eyes, and then, very soon after, devouring her with his hands and mouth as well, running his hands up her hips, over her belly, and coming to rest on her breasts, where he caressed her nipple the same way he had on the balcony at the Brandons’ ball.
Hannah gasped at the sudden heat that flooded her. She wanted to pleasure him too. She’d spent her entire life in ignorance, believing she would never experience anything like this.
“Should I undress you too?”
“No.” He tugged the buttons to his waistcoat open in a hurried motion and was out of the garment a moment later. “I used up most of my patience earlier. Besides, I’m not used to a valet.”
It didn’t take long. For all that Corbyn had been slow and gentle in undressing her, he was rough and impatient with himself, pulling the clothes off so quickly that she worried for their integrity. Oncethey were both naked, he lay down on top of her, supporting most of his weight on his elbows. Only then did he kiss her on the mouth. His tongue pressed into her insistently, taking his pleasure.
Hannah whimpered, overwhelmed by sensations. His body was coarser than hers, and the feeling of his chest pressed against her was so unfamiliar that it drove her to distraction. His cock was hard against her thigh. Was she supposed to be able to fit all of that inside of her?
No, she reminded herself.He promised we wouldn’t.
But when he kissed her that way and pressed his body against hers, Hannah found that she wished he would. Her resolve had been so much stronger when they were fully dressed. No matter what her mind knew was best for her, her body seemed to have an entirely different idea.
Corbyn leaned partly onto his side in order to slip a hand in between their tangle of bodies and pressed it gently against her sex.
“Oh!” Her cry of surprise made him hesitate, which hadn’t been her intent at all. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded.
“Tell me if it’s too much for you,” he murmured, his voice little more than a rumbling breeze against her neck. Then he slipped his fingers inside of her.
She froze at the unfamiliar sensation, at once too much and not enough. Corbyn’s fingers were rough and callused where she was most sensitive, but she found that only heightened her excitement. He moved gently but firmly, coaxing a wave of pleasure through her body.
“You’re so wet,” he groaned.
Hannah blushed. The embarrassment she’d escaped thus far had finally caught up with her. “Is that unseemly?”
“It’s good,” he assured her. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
I should have some idea, she thought indignantly.I am your wife, after all.
