He had assumed that she would lead him to a sitting room, instead, she entered her bedchamber.
This was not at all what he expected, but he was quite happy with the destination.
Blythe set the lantern on a table, then lit the other lamps and candles in the room.
“Even though I embrace the freedom of being a widow, I have not done the one thing that many of my widow friends have.”
“What would that be?”
She turned to face him. “Take a lover.”
Once again, Orlando could swear that his heart stopped, an impossibility.
“I had not been interested before.”
Her blue eyes stared into his, and his pulse jumped.
“I only changed my mind when I saw you.”
“I have been wanting to seduce you since I saw you across the room at the Venetian Breakfast.”
“Thank goodness,” she sighed as her cheeks blossomed into a lovely shade of red.
“Did you think that I would actually reject you?” He took a step toward her.
“I hoped that you would not, but my other concern was that I had no idea how to go about seducing you and so I came right out with it.”
Orlando couldn’t help but laugh. “It is far easier than you think. Just crook your little finger, wanting me to come near, and I am your servant.”
He drew closer and took her hands in his.
“You are shaking?”
“I am nervous,” she admitted. “I have not been in this situation before, and it has been so long…what if I have forgotten…”
Orlando placed a hand on her cheek and stared into her blue eyes, unable to help his smile. Soon, her concerns would be silenced.
He had wanted to kiss her for so many years. The thought had crossed his mind nearly every night that he visited her in the inn on the outskirts of Brussels, yet he refrained. But, during those nights that he had held her after the nightmares, he had wanted nothing more than to bury himself deep inside of her so that he could forget.
Each time one of those thoughts had begun to form, he had pushed it away. He would not take advantage of Blythe and he would not do something that he would later regret. It wasn’t making Blythe his, it had been the adultery that he couldn’t commit.
But now, she was here before him, a widow nearly three years.
“Orlando?” she questioned when he had said nothing and he noted her concern, an insecurity, that needed to be erased and he leaned forward to place his lips against hers. He was gentle at first, more in fear that the passion that had been brewing for so long would take over and this perfect moment would become rushed. He wanted to savor, explore, even if he took the entire night to do so.
Lightning continued to crack and flash followed by rumbles and sometimes booms of thunder. The air was charged tonight as a tempest built within.
Orlando pulled back and placed his hands on her cheeks, his forehead against hers.
“Are you certain, Blythe.”
“Yes.”
He just needed to hear her say it again before he brought his lips to hers. This time it wasn’t a sweet brushing of his mouth on hers as one may treat an innocent, but nearly demanding and when she parted for him, he delved as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his body. She tilted her head and grasped onto his shoulders, returning passion for passion until they were both nearly breathless.
He broke the kiss and turned her away from him as he pulled her hair over one shoulder and kissed the side of her neck as he unfastened the back of her dress. Blythe shivered in anticipation and as more skin was revealed, his lips followed until he had freed enough of the gown so that it could be pushed from her shoulders. As the sleeves slipped further, he pushed them all the way free and her silk gown floated to the floor leaving Blythe in a simple shift, her back still to him.
With an arm about her waist, he brought her against his body again, kissed just behind her ear as a hand cupped the most perfect breast, filling to overflowing his palm before he ran a thumb across her peak.
