“It’s still daylight!”
“Somewhere,” he said, unconcerned.
He finished unbuttoning her bodice and moved to her cuffs. Soon, she was divested of her bodice, watching as it sailed across to room to land in the corner.
One of them should behave with some decorum. Shouldn’t she? After all, this business of losing her maidenhood was a serious one.
“If you mean to scare me,” she said, “I have to tell you I’m not frightened.”
He halted in the action of unlacing her corset to glance at her.
“What a hell of a thing it would be if you were,” he said, once again concentrating on his task. “Intimidation is equally shared, you know. After all, you’ve demanded I take your virginity from the moment the ceremony was finished.”
She blinked several times, trying to act nonchalant as he loosened her corset and pulled it off. In seconds, it, too, was flying across the room.
“I suppose I have,” she said, considering the matter with what attention she could since he was working on the fastening of her skirt.
Something sparkled in his eyes, something she couldn’t identify. At that particular moment, she didn’t know if she’d made him angry or if he was amused. Nor did she have the concentration to use her Gift.
Bending his head, he pulled her skirt free and watched as it sank to the floor. He extended a hand to help her step out of it.
“Let’s just get this done, shall we?”
“It’s not a chore,” she said, frowning. “Or is it?”
He took her hand and pressed it against his trousers until she felt something very hot and very hard there. He felt as large as a mastiff she’d once seen, trailing after a bitch with his mouth hanging open and his instrument fully erect.
“Oh.”
“Yes,” he said. “Oh.”
“I quite enjoyed what we did in the parlor,” she said.
“Did you?” he asked absently.
She was down to her shift, hoop, stockings, and pantaloons.
“Shouldn’t you close the drapes?” she asked.
“I would, but I don’t want to stop.”
“Oh.”
“I want to see you naked again,” he said, pulling at the tabs holding her hoop. “Have I rendered you speechless, Veronica?” he asked, as it collapsed to the floor.
She nodded as she stepped out of it.
“I shall have to remember exactly what I was doing when that happened.”
“I believe I can remember,” she said, since he was kneeling before her, reaching up to roll down her stockings. Her pantaloons had a large slit in them to accommodate certain personal needs and were hardly any protection from his eyes.
She looked anywhere but at him.
He pulled the ribbon of one garter free, his fingers trailing a path of heat from her thigh, over her knee, down her calf, to stroke around her ankle.
Veronica wasn’t the least ticklish, but she could feel each movement of his index finger.
She licked suddenly dry lips and wondered when it had become so warm in there. Why wasn’t he undressing?
