“Gracious! You are magnificent.”
His familiar grin appeared before he grew serious again, pushing her chemise up her legs with a practiced ease, stroking her thighs while he did. She shivered when he uncovered her stomach and then her breasts before she sat up so he could whip the cotton garment over her head.
Tossing it behind him, he settled over her body. Her nipples puckered under his gaze. Then at long last, the fantasy she’d played over and over in her mind came to life when his mouth lowered to her right breast. He blew upon it, and she shivered. When he took her straining nipple between his lips and sucked,she sighed. Closing her eyes, Delia gave herself over to pure sensation.
When Rupert switched to her other breast, she kept her eyelids shut, trusting in his skill, rewarded by the sizzling thread that seemed to stretch from her breasts where he licked and sucked t0 her womanly nubbin that ached between her legs.
She couldn’t keep her hips from rising against him. In truth, Delia was starting to feel a little frantic for more.
As if knowing her needs, Rupert slid his hand between their bodies while he continued to worship her breasts. When his fingers brushed over her mound, she bucked against him.
“Yes,” she hissed. “God, yes!”
While his tongue flicked her nipple, his fingers gently caressed a circle around her bud, eliciting her desperate moan. When at last he stroked her pulsing center, her body arched in response. If he stopped, Delia feared she would expire.
But he didn’t cease his ministrations. He stroked and circled and swept between her damp petals, going so far as to insert one of his fingers into her passage, dragging the moisture out to coat her. When she was slippery and panting, he settled between her thighs and gazed down at her.
“Are you ready?” he asked, his tone like oak and blue sky.
She nodded, unable to speak.
The head of his arousal at her opening, he moved his hips and slid inside her. Momentarily, a pinching pain made her tense, but it was over before she could decide how much it hurt.
When he was buried in her, she wrapped her arms around him and held on. In a glorious dance, he drew back then surged forward, over and over until her body was taut and straining.
Again, his hand glided between their bodies, except this time, while he stroked her, Rupert’s hips continued their rhythmic movement. In seconds, the tension in her body released, and she was no longer in Lady Osbourne’s guestroom. Delia would vowshe was flying, floating, soaring — all the while holding onto his strong shoulders as her pleasure continued to unfurl.
When he drew out and spent beside her, she felt his vulnerability and his strength. Settling back upon the mattress, returning to her senses, she let him tuck her against his warmth.
“You are mine now,” Rupert said. “As I am yours.”
His?Delia hoped he meant forever, because that was how long she could happily remain right there in the circle of his embrace.
“I guess you don’t prefer horses over anything else after all,” she said, still amazed at what had transpired between them.
He laughed. Not only did she hear it, she could feel Rupert’s body shake. It was a delightful sensation.
He dropped a kiss upon her bare shoulder. “And I guess I can interest you as well as any kingcup,” he said.
With the hour being late and their thrilling exertions, fatigue claimed Delia like a blanket settling over her. Rupert didn’t jump up to leave. Thus, at least for the time being, they would remain as one.
HAD IT BEEN A DREAM?When Delia awakened with the sun streaming through the open curtains, which she’d never closed the night before, she searched for evidence of her ravishment. Quickly, she found it.
“I have been ravished!” she said aloud to the house plant in her room. “And it was wonderful!”
Yet, swiving was clearly a messy business. Not only Lucy, but Lady Osbourne’s chambermaid would know.
To her astonishment, she didn’t care. Many miles and many hours from home, the evidence of her ruin could be gossiped over in Lady Osbourne’s kitchen, and Delia didn’t give a fig.
Cleaning herself with the cool water in the washstand, she dressed and styled her hair — all without Lucy’s help — before going down to breakfast. Frances was still abed, as were most others after the late night of dancing. Even Lord Perish wasn’t there. Her Rupert, she said silently.
Ravenous, Delia ate coddled eggs, bacon, and toast, along with a bowl of porridge topped with strawberry jam. A few guests entered, and she joined in their conversation without apprehension. Everything seemed easy.Why had she ever been timid, preferring plants to people — especially when certain people were so desirable?
Afterward, wanting to be outdoors in the fragrant gardens, Delia invited Lady Anna, who had a slight stutter. It must be the reason she was at the matchmaking-for-misfits party, as Delia had come to think of it.
After donning their large brimmed hats and thin summer gloves, they left their parasols behind. Even the sky seemed brighter and bluer, and the air smelled sweeter.
“Shall we go by way of the stable?” Delia asked innocently. “I’ve grown fond of one of the mounts.”
