Did she dare?
Oh, she wanted to.
Caroline gazed into his dark and intense blue eyes. Her need and desire doubled.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Icannot,” shewhispered.
Sterling let go of her hand. He was disappointed but understood. It was a risk he had to take, even if he expected rejection. “I understand.”
“I do not think you do,” she returned. “I have wanted, needed, since…” She shook her head. “I would take you as a lover, but it is because of what I fear happening why I do not.”
He turned back to her. “What is your fear? I would never harm you.”
“I know. It is not that,” she answered. “I cannot risk finding that I am with child after you have sailed back to England.”
She was not rejecting him, and he well understood her fear, but it was not something that concerned him. “Dear Caroline, there are ways to prevent such from happening.”
She frowned, confusion in her brown eyes, which shouldn’t surprise him. She had been a wife, and likely never had another lover, so her husband would not have taken such precautions.
“Do you trust me?”
She stared up into his eyes. “Yes.”
“Will you have me?”
“Oh, yes,”
Sterling did not give her a chance to change her mind but swept Caroline up in his arms and carried her to his bed. It was narrow,meant for a single person, but that did not matter. He needed her.
Coming over her, Sterling kissed her deeply. Caroline returned his passion, tangling her tongue with his until they were both nearly out of breath before he moved his lips to her jaw then neck, and down her chest until he reached her bodice. Sitting up and straddling her, he carefully undid each button until the dress loosened then slid his hand inside to caress her perfect breasts then roll a nipple between his finger and thumb.
Caroline moaned, arching her back. He wanted…needed more and pulled the dress and shift down, then freed her arms from the sleeves. He then bent forward to take one perfect peak in his mouth.
Each moan pushed him further to the edge, but he needed to bring her pleasure. He couldn’t just take his own and with those thoughts, he stood and pulled her shift and dress over her hips then down her legs and tossed it on the floor, leaving her naked before him. She was perfection! Full breasts, tapered waist, and wider hips. No, she was not a thin miss with bones protruding at her ribs or hips, but curved, rounded, and soft, wearing nothing but her stockings and boots, the dark curls at the apex of her thighs beckoning.
He should pause to remove her boots and his own, as well as his clothing, but he was too eager and once again took a nipple between his teeth as his fingers caressed and slipped through the curls in her nether regions. Caroline’s thighs parted and she arched, meeting each caress, pushing into his hand and then she cried out as she was overtaken by her release.
He quickly undid the placket of his trousers and freed his member before positioning himself between her thighs. He glanced up at Caroline. Her eyes met his and then she nodded. Sterling pressed forward as she gasped and soon her legs were about his hips as he filled her and withdrew then filled her again. When she cried out a second time, he withdrew and spilled his seed on her stomach before he collapsed at her side.
He had imagined a slow seduction of teasing to heighten sensation, but their joining had been none of that, and even though rushed, it had been perfect.
*
Caroline was certainthat her heartbeat would not return to normal anytime soon.
Until he touched her, Caroline had no idea how much she had truly needed him, the intimacy. She just prayed that matters were not awkward between them after this. Or worse, that he was a rake, and now that he had made a conquest, he would be done with her, and treat her as someone easily discarded, forgotten then ignored as if she no longer existed. She had seen it happen often enough in London and hoped that Sterling was not so callous.
It would also be best not to let this happen again, but she hoped that it would.
He would be leaving after the harvest so why shouldn’t she take him as a lover until he was gone? Widows in London did it all the time.
Unless he decided that he was no longer interested, which would be quite disappointing and possibly humiliating.
Slowly she sat up and noticed the substance on her abdomen. “I never knew what it looked like before.”
Sterling chuckled and rolled away from her then walked to the pitcher and bowl on a small table and returned with a towel that he used to wipe her stomach before he returned it. When he started back toward the bed, her body was finally beginning to cool and she suddenly became very aware that she was naked and he was not, though his member was on display.
