“Your turn,” she whispered, trying not to shiver.Not from cold.At this hour of the afternoon, despite it being early autumn, the air still held the last warmth of summer, and the stones protected them from any breeze at all.
Her body trembled anyway, with eager expectancy.And then, all the thoughts flew from her head as Jonathan undressed.
Having already shucked his coat, it took him two attempts to yank off his neckcloth.Wearing no waistcoat, he pulled his long linen shirt over his head in one smooth motion, revealing the broad expanse of his chest and the ridged muscles of his abdomen.
She’d felt the strength of his body before, but seeing him like this, in nothing but trousers, her mouth went dry.Gracious!
Unlike her, he had to remove his boots in order to finish undressing, which he did swiftly.Lise watched, wanting to know all of him.He was powerfully built everywhere.She’d held his shaft in the hay loft, but her first glimpse of his arousal while he stood before her was an entirely different experience.
Knowing his impressive manhood would soon be inside her didn’t frighten her one whit.Rather, it sent a pulse of heat through her core.From that, she felt a flood of dampness.
“You are like Adam in the garden,” she murmured.
Wordlessly, he reached for her again, not to stroke her chin, but to draw her naked form against his own.
“You’re shaking,” he said, his hands settling on the small of her back.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted.“I’ve never ...”
“I know.”He kissed the corner of her mouth.“As long as you understand what this means.”
That she would be a maiden no more.“Yes.”
“Very well.We’ll go slowly,” he said.“We’ll stop if you wish to.”
But stopping was the last thing on her mind.
He spread his shirt over the grass, then shook his head.Over to the side was an old wool blanket her father must have sent along with Jonathan for the night.Feeling a shard of guilt at how it would be used, nevertheless she watched him spread it over the ground with a flick of his wrists.
Then he held his hand out to her.“May I?”
He asked so seriously, she giggled.“You may.”Placing her hand in his, she let him draw her down with him, their bodies coming together, unclothed and unfettered, for the first time.
The myriad sensations were almost overwhelming.His solid heat, the rasp of his chest hair against her breasts, the hard length of his arousal pressing against her thigh.
Jonathan kissed her again, sliding his tongue over her bottom lip until she opened her mouth to him.As he explored her, she felt her body melting the way it had in the London hallway.Wet desire leaked from her, and she squirmed at the throbbing of her womanly center as his hands roamed over her body, learning its shape.
“I want to touch all of you,” he murmured against her mouth.“Taste all of you.Will you let me?”
She nodded, excited beyond words.
He eased her onto her back on their bed of cloth and grass, and then his mouth began a slow journey down her body.He kissed her throat, the hollow at the base of her neck, the swell of her breasts.When his lips closed over her nipple, she gasped at the intense pleasure of it, her back arching.
He lavished attention on both her breasts, his tongue circling and flicking until she slid her fingers into his soft hair and moaned.Just when she thought she might find her release from his mouth on her nipples, he moved lower, kissing down the soft plane of her stomach, his hands stroking her sides, her hips, her thighs.
“Open for me,” he coaxed, and she let her legs fall apart, feeling terribly vulnerable and unbearably aroused all at once.
He settled between her thighs, his shoulders keeping her legs spread wide.She thought he would move to cover her, to join their bodies.Instead, shocking her, he lowered his mouth to her most intimate place.
When he’d said “taste her,”dear God,he meant —
The first touch of his tongue made her cry out, her hips jerking.Holding her steady with his hands firm on her thighs, he continued his exquisite torment.He licked and nibbled and kissed her with a thoroughness that suggested he was memorizing every fold as well as noting her every response.
When he sucked the sensitive pearl hidden there, she bucked and felt light-headed.
“Jonathan ...Please.It’s too much.”
But he didn’t relent.He circled that spot with focused attention until sweet tension built inside her like a storm gathering strength.She was making sounds of desperation and begging, her hands gripping his hair, his shoulders, anything she could reach.
