She glanced down at herself and blushed. “I feel exposed, I admit.”
His expression gentled and he stopped walking toward her. “Amelia, I…I wanted to talk to you about tonight.”
Here it was. The moment when her innocence would belong to him, her body, perhaps her pleasure, if Diana was right.
She nodded. “Yes?”
He shifted, and discomfort filled his face. “I realize this was never your choice. I understand if there are regrets in your heart right now. You have had your future determined for you in the last few days, and I am a fiend in your eyes because of it. So I would not…force you to consummate the marriage tonight. We can take our time, get to know each other better, before you give me such intimacy.”
She stared in disbelief. Here was a man she could never decipher, one who always seemed in command. And yet he actually looked nervous in that moment where he told her that her body was hers to control.
What was more surprising was her own reaction to that declaration. After everything that had happened in the past ten days, she should have felt relieved that he would not expect her to give herself to him.
And yet she didn’t. Not even in the slightest.
She moved forward one hesitant step. “Do you know what I’ve been thinking about since last night?”
He shook his head slowly.
“That kiss,” she admitted, heat filling her cheeks as she ducked her gaze from his. It was too hard to say these things when she had to see his expression. “All I keep thinking about is that kiss.”
“But what will happen once I touch you is so much more than a kiss,” he said.
She nodded, still staring at the floor. “I know. Diana…explained things to me. But she didn’t make what would happen sound unpleasant.”
“If I do my job right, it won’t be,” he said, his voice very rough now. And closer. She glanced up to see he had moved toward her. Not quite near enough to touch, but edging there.
“She said it could be…wonderful,” she whispered.
He reached out and his fingers skimmed her cheek. It was like fire to her sensitive skin, and she sucked in her breath in surprise. His pupils dilated, and in that moment she would have given him anything, everything, just so he would keep touching her.
“I would very much like to make it wonderful.” His hand dropped away. “But I don’t want to force more from you than has already been taken.”
“What if I offer it?” she asked. “Unless you don’t want me.”
He laughed under his breath. “That is patently ridiculous. In truth, I have not stopped wanting you likely from the first moment I saw you.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You did? But you were so stoic.”
“Stoic,” he repeated. “That is one way to describe it. But beneath that is a great deal more, Amelia. And I would very much like to touch you.”
She didn’t respond in words. She couldn’t, for there were none left. All she could do was step forward on shaking legs. She lifted her hands to his chest, jolting as her palms met hard muscle beneath his fine linen shirt. She looked up at him, knowing all her wanton need was plain on her face, not caring in that moment. She lifted up on her tiptoes and he dropped his head, meeting her halfway.
And instantly, they were right back where they’d stopped the night before. His mouth devoured, tasting her, exploring her, and the world spun down to this one place and time. She gripped her hands into fists against his chest, as if she could anchor herself by clinging to him.
She couldn’t. Her legs had begun to shake and her body pulse with an insistent need she had no idea how to slake. Touching him didn’t help—it only built this fire inside of her even higher. Until it felt like she would explode.
Her knees gave out, but he didn’t let her fall. He caught her, sweeping her into his arms as he continued to kiss her. She felt him set her on the bed, the pillows soft beneath her head, him hard as he pressed himself down over her, letting his full length cover her.
She arched beneath him, wanting more. Wanting all the things Diana had so scandalously described. Amelia had no idea what this would feel like, but she wanted it regardless. Wanted him regardless.
Regardless of it all.
Later she would have to analyze that. Try to determine what it said about her that she could be so ready to marry one man and just days later be willing to give herself completely to another.
But for now, there was only this. Only him. Only the way his mouth dragged away from hers and down to her throat where he sucked gently and made starbursts explode in front of her eyes. She dragged her fingers into his hair and shivered. It was long and fell from the queue when she tugged at the coarse, curly locks. He grunted as if satisfied by that response, and his mouth moved lower, tracing a shocking line along the bodice of her new night-rail.
How could every single touch feel so damned good? How could none of them be enough?
