“Perhaps you could simply untie my dress. It’s a little hard to reach the ribbon.”
He moved closer again. “Is it?” It seemed to him she could easily reach around back and pull the long decorative ribbon that didn’t actually seem to be doing anything substantial in the way of holding her gown in place.
Regardless, he did as she asked, tugging the end until the bow collapsed.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Why are you whispering?” she asked in return.
He cleared his throat again. “Was I?”
She turned to face him. Of course, they were much too close and by her small smile, this innocent minx knew exactly what she was doing, torturing him to madness.
Clasping his fingers around her upper arms, he drew her against him and claimed her lips as he’d been wanting to do all day.
Tongues fencing, hearts pounding, they let the warmth of their bodies seep through their sodden clothing. Then he slid his hands down her back to that delectable bottom he recalled and hauled her against his rock-hard arousal. She gasped, further inflaming him.
“You’re very wet,” he murmured against her lips.
“I am,” she said. “When you kiss me, I feel it between my legs.”
Shocked by her admission, he said, “I meant with river water.”
“Oh.” She started to pull away.
What a dunce he was for embarrassing her!
“You are sweet for telling me. As you can feel, you affect me equally.”
He pressed his hardened shaft against her. “Thatis because of you.”
“Oh,” she said again and relaxed. Her fingers interlaced behind his neck and held him tightly, and he could think of nothing else except the taste and feel and scent of her.
Pungent river water!
“Let’s get you out of this soggy garment,” he said.
“I can do it,” she confessed, whipping her gown over her head.
It didn’t even have any buttons that needed undoing. She stood before him in a limp shift and half-stays, which she was already untying in the front.
Quickly, Philip shrugged out of his jacket and yanked on his cravat. Boots, trousers, stockings, all came off until he wore only a loose linen shirt.
At the same time, he’d had the extreme pleasure of watching her divest herself of the last shreds of cloth. He expected to awaken from this blissful dream of Miranda naked before him, her hair down, a damp lock curling over her left breast.
And then they were together again, skin to skin, her breasts against his chest as he devoured her mouth under his. He couldn’t help letting one of his hands drift down between them, dipping a finger between the curls at her cleft to sample the wetness she’d mentioned.
“Mm,”she moaned at his touch.
He stroked her, feeling her honey sweetness, as her fingers traced a pattern on his shoulders. When he touched her nubbin, those same fingers dug into his skin as her eyelids closed.
“Ohh,”she gasped.
He caressed her again, over and over, feeling her nipples grow taut against him as she curled her hips into his hand and started to tremble. With his other hand supporting her lower back, he was rewarded by her body already beginning to tense as she moaned loudly.
Finding her release more quickly than he could have imagined, she relaxed and opened her eyes, now glazed with languid pleasure.
To his delight, she brought her hand to his nipple and flicked it playfully.
