Cupping her breasts, he brushed his thumbs over her dusky nipples, making her gasp before he lowered his head to suck each one softly.
“Please,” she said, sliding her hands up his bare chest.
With that small utterance, he put his hands to her waist and turned, so they’d exchanged places, then he lifted her and set her upon the bed. As quickly as he could, he shed his trousers and stockings, while she watched.
Matthew didn’t think he had ever been scrutinized quite so closely. He was beginning to experience a flutter of nerves, the likes of which he hadn’t felt since he was a green cub, an inexperienced, unsure looby. In truth, he thought his own cheeks might be reddening.
With a shake of his head at his own foolishness, he stood at the foot of the bed and slid each of her stockings down, enjoying the exploration of his wife’s slender legs and noticing how she trembled under his touch.
And then he did what he had dreamt of doing for weeks. He kissed the fine bones on the inside of her right ankle before trailing gossamer kisses up her slender calf. All the while, she leaned upon her elbows, watching him with her intense blue eyes and with her lips slightly parted in anticipation of his next move.
When he reached Purity’s thighs, he took off the last impediment, although it was easy enough to swive with her drawers still on as they had the usefully wicked opening at a lady’s core. He had used and appreciated such conveniencemany times over the years, but he intended for his wife to be entirely bare.
First the ribbon at her waist, a quick tug, and then he drew the soft two-pieced drawers down her legs before settling between them.
“What are you doing?” she asked, the first words she’d spoken in many minutes.
He grinned and dropped a kiss just above her woman’s mound, and then another on her upper thigh, and then the other.
“Oh!” she said on a long breath. And her hips lifted slightly.
With that invitation, Matthew put the tip of his tongue to her core to taste the very essence of Purity.
“Oh!” she exclaimed again, slipping her fingers into his hair. And then she fell silent as he slid his hands under her arse to position her, before rolling his tongue across her once again.
Over and over, he swirled and teased her bud until she began to thrash beneath him. As she’d done when he’d brought her to release in her drawing room, she came quickly. Her body stiffened while he continued to feast on her pink pearl, then her hands fell away from him to the bed as she moaned her release.
When he knew she had finished and was floating in that languid place after reaching the pinnacle of pleasure, he kissed his way up her smooth stomach. Resting on his forearms, he looked down at her beautiful face when her eyes fluttered open.
Her beaming smile made his heart ache with love. She was his, and for the first time in his life, he knew what it meant to belong completely to someone else. Every new moment was a revelation of how much he adored her.
Lowering his mouth to hers, he claimed her smile. When she sank her fingers into his hair again and held his head, he realized she was kissing him, and not the other way around. And whileshe tilted her head and sucked his tongue into her mouth, he felt her hips lifting against him.
Matthew was throbbing, his arousal as hard as he could ever recall it. With her body’s invitation, he readily fit the head of his sex to her slick sheath. He wanted to bury his length deep inside her with a single satisfying stroke, but he eased in, an inch at a time.
Lifting his head to judge her acceptance, he smiled at the woman he loved beyond words. She appeared pensive, waiting, experiencing, allowing him the honor of taking her innocence.
When he hit the petal-thin barrier, he thrust forward watching her countenance.
She winced, and he stilled.
“Go on,” she said. “There is no point in halting now. Would you silence the musicians when the guests are already in the midst of a dance?”
He tried not to laugh. He failed, glad when she smiled again.
“I would never be so rude,” he said and thrust forward.
“Ah,”she breathed out.
Again, he stopped, desperate to move but wanting to know whether she was fine.
“Are you waiting for something?” she asked. “Or am I to do the next thing on the list?”
Purity Norland, Lady Foxford was a saucy wench, jesting with him while he was deflowering her.
Slowly, he drew out before rocking forward again, filling her. After he set a rhythm, she arched back and closed her eyes once more. He closed his, too, becoming pure sensation until he was about to explode with unadulterated pleasure.
Sliding his hand between their bodies, he caressed the center of her desire. Within moments, she tensed, close to her second release. He couldn’t halt the racing tide of passion that floodedhis veins and erupted from him, only hoping she would join him as he spent.
