“In what?”
“Tell me what you were wanting to do to me this night.” He leaned back against her, and the pressure of his bare back against the silk suddenly reminded her of the days when they used to steal away to talk. They had sat on opposite sides of a tree, hidden within a small pine grove. Paul had complained about his frustration at never being able to leave Ballaloch, while she’d complained about her sisters.
“I’d want to kiss you,” she began.
“No, you can imagine better than that, lass. Tell me something wicked that you’re wanting to do.”
He sounded so interested, she couldn’t help but smile. “I’m no’ a wicked lass,” she mocked, using a Highlander accent.
“We’ll have to be changing that, won’t we? Go on, then. Tell me where you were wanting to put your hands and your mouth.” His left hand reached around and took her right palm in his.
She was tempted to invent something that wasn’t true. To shock him with words. But in the end, she was too embarrassed to speak. “I suppose I’d want to kiss the space over your heart. To see if your skin is as sensitive as mine.”
“I’ll lower your chemise and touch your breasts with my hands. Then my mouth,” he countered. “I’d want to see if your nipples grew hard, and I’d want to see how they felt against my tongue.”
A deep ache rose up between her legs. She imagined the sensation of his heated mouth sucking against her breasts, and she suspected she would like it.
“I would want to try it with you,” she whispered. “I’d want to know if you would feel the way I do inside.”
“I’ll touch your ankles, then move my hands higher to take off your stockings,” he said.
Just the thought of his hands so near to the aching center of her made her heartbeat quicken. Juliette reached beneath her petticoat and unfastened the garters, rolling down one stocking, then the other. The heat of her own palms echoed the visions of her imagination.
“And after that?” She almost didn’t want to know the answer.
“Your turn,” he prompted.
“I’d reach for your breeches and help you unfasten them,” she said quietly. “I’d slide them down, over your hips.”
He moved against her, and from the rustling noise, she realized that he’d done just that. Was he… naked? Her face went scarlet, and she was struck with curiosity, wanting so badly to know.
She gingerly moved her hand backward, toward the direction of his thigh. When she touched bare skin, she jerked back as if she’d touched hot coals. Paul laughed, turning to look at her. “Don’t be afraid of me,a chrìdhe.I only did as you asked.”
He guided her hand to touch him again. “Do what you will with me.” His voice held all the sensual promise of a man who had all the time in the world.
Juliette hesitated, not knowing whether she should. But she didn’t want to live in fear for the rest of her life. Strathland might have destroyed her innocence, but she didn’t want to remain under that shadow any longer. Womendidenjoy sharing a man’s bed; that she knew. Her sister Victoria hadn’t seemed at all displeased by her marriage to the duke. And because of it, she was going to have a baby.
Paul stroked her hair, and the touch of his hand was comforting. She wanted him to know that she did trust him.
“I didn’t wed you only to escape Strathland,” she confessed.
When she turned to kiss him, he responded to her, threading his hands in her hair as his tongue met hers. The kiss was a way of speaking the words she couldn’t yet say.
“And I didna take you away from your son to hurt you,” Paul added. “It’s safer for him, though.”
“I know you’re right.” She understood that, though she hadn’t wanted to go. “But I don’t want to think of that right now.” She burrowed her face against his chest, listening to Paul’s heartbeat.
She could feel every inch of his hard body against hers. Rather than feeling threatened by him, it felt good to be held. His hands continued their lazy, smooth strokes through her hair. As if he didn’t expect anything at all from her.
Perhaps that was why she suddenly felt the urge to give him something of herself. Slowly, she stood up from the bed. “Close your eyes,” she whispered. “Please.”
Paul obeyed. In the dim candlelight, his skin was bathed in amber, contrasting against the white sheets.
Juliette turned her back to him and removed her petticoat first, then her chemise, placing them on the chair. When she was naked, she peeked around and saw that Paul’s eyes were still closed. Although she was nervous about being without her clothes, she slipped beneath the sheet until she was covered from the neck down.
It felt sinfully wicked, even if he was her husband now.
“How long do I have to keep them closed?” he asked.
