“No.”
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“No. Are you?”
She appeared to give the question some thought, adjusting so her knees pressed firmly against his hips. “No,” she saideventually. “I thought perhaps I would be, but it feels natural.” She placed her palm against her cheek. “You’re warm.”
“People generally are, Pidge,” he said, amused, and turned his head to kiss her hand. “It’s time to begin your first lesson. Are you ready?”
“Begin? Have we not already begun?”
“Almost.” He reached out, cupping her face in his hand, feeling her shiver. Her skin felt soft against his fingers, and her gaze met his for a blazing second before she dropped it again. Her lips parted, and he could feel the rush of breath against his wrist, dancing under his shirt cuff.
“Charles,” she whispered.
He felt it again, the thing he had felt under the archway, when she had said his name with such odd intensity, and his body had responded before his mind.
But just as then, he couldn’t allow himself to devour her the way he wanted. If he was going to teach her what pleasure could be, then he would need to do so slowly. Gently. She asked for seduction, so he would seduce her.
“Come here,” he said.
Her hands on her shoulders, she leant in closer, her nose almost brushing his. He smiled as he kissed it, and she blinked at him in surprise. When she’d made her request, he’d assumed it had nothing to do with sexual attraction. In all honesty, he hadn’t been certain she was capable of it. Certainly, she had none of the hot-blooded, demanding sensuality of some of his other acquaintances. He had taken her at her word: that she trusted him beyond all others. After all, that was how he felt about her.
But now, looking into her eyes, he understood his mistake. Both that she was not a passionate woman, and his assumption that she had not brought attraction into the equation. His attraction to her he had never doubted, but hers to him—well, he saw it here.
Her breath trembled, and he realised she wanted him to kiss her.
The thought tugged on the thread of his own desire, tightening every part of him. Hardening him until he shifted under her so she wouldn’t feel it. He brought his mouth to her cheek and kissed it. Her eyes fluttered closed under his touch.
“Your hair,” he murmured, sliding his fingers across to the sleek, tight knot. “May I?”
“You want to see my hair?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Charles, you do not have to lie to me. Not here and now when we are doingthis.”
He snorted. “I am not selfless enough to lie to you.” He removed first one pin, then another, then another. “I have always found your hair lovely. Silver looks well on you, Evie.” Finally, after altogether too many pins, he released the sleek fall of her hair. It tumbled riotously down her shoulders. “Beautiful,” he repeated, sliding his fingers through the soft waves. “I like seeing you like this.”
“No one but my maid has ever seen me like this before.”
And he should not be doing either, but he silenced that voice and sat up straighter, bringing their faces together. “Then the world has been deprived of a vision, and I am a fortunate man indeed.”
“Do you charm every lady you are with this way?” she asked with her habitual bluntness.
“Evie, Evie.” He kissed the sensitive skin below her ear, and her breath hitched. “You should focus less on other ladies when with me. I am attempting to seduce you, and this is a knife to my confidence.”
“I assure you it can take the hit.”
“Brat.” He allowed his mouth to drift along her jaw to the very corner of her lips, and she went still. “Are you going to insult me, or will you seduce me in return?”
“Seduceyou?”
“I may be naught but a man, but even men occasionally require compliments.” He smiled at her sudden disquiet. “Does that shock you? Did you think that men were always the instigators in all seductions, and the lady passive? Most gentlemen prefer an active—nay, enthusiastic—participant.”
She glanced down, her gaze trailing across his neck, and he felt it as though she had brushed her fingers there. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Then trust me, Pidge. I’m here with you.” At the rush of tension in her body, he ran his hand up and down her sides. “We can take things as slowly as you want. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Your inexperience isn’t a black mark against you, and certainly isn’t any reason to feel self-conscious.” He waited for her to relax slightly before leaning in and pressing his mouth to the corner of hers. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered. “If that is acceptable?”
