“With the stewards in the room? That would have been highly improper.” For some reason, he appeared to find her nerves highly amusing. When he seated himself on the edge of the berth, he grinned as she automatically scooted her legs away from his rear end.
“You enjoyed our kisses this afternoon.” Kieran placed a light hand on her ankle, rubbing his thumb over the bone. She relaxed marginally at the unthreatening touch, but regarded him warily. “Would you like to start with another?”
The question of what exactly they were starting leaped to the tip of her tongue. As she opened her mouth to ask, he increased the pressure on her leg and ran his palm firmly up her calf to just above her knee. She gasped at the sensation of warmth from his big hand on the lowest part of her thigh, even through the sheets.
“You said if you did something in bed I disliked, I should tell you!”
“Do you dislike this then?” His fingertips gently kneaded her muscles as he slid closer to the head of the bed. An alarming flash of pleasure coursed up to her very core.
She shook her head. “No, but it scares me.”
“Because it’s new?” His voice dropped to ahusky whisper. She nodded. Mercifully his hand left her thigh, although her skin still burned where it had rested.
He leaned forward. “Then let’s try something we know you like.” His lips skimmed hers once before fastening greedily onto them. Pleasure jolted through her. Forgetting about the sheets, she wrapped her arms around him to pull him closer.
He cradled her head in one hand as the other slipped around her waist. Eagerly, she opened herself to his searching tongue.
As their mouths mated over and over again, she stroked the side of his face with her fingertips. Timidly at first, but when he showed no objection, she became bolder. She ran her hands over the high cheekbones, fascinated at the strength of his features.
Then his mouth moved to her neck, and coherent thought fled. Panting, her heart pounded wildly as he planted open kisses on the tender column, swirling the tip of his tongue against her sensitive skin. She tried to lean back and offer more to his eager onslaught, but was prevented by her position against the headboard.
Wriggling her hips, she tried to shimmy farther down in the bed. Guessing what she wanted, Kieran’s hand slid to the base of her spine to ease her into a prone position. Shivers ran over her at the pressure of his palm at the top of her buttocks.
A soft moan escaped her that might have been his name.
He returned to her mouth, hushing her with another kiss. “Careful, sweetheart, the partitions between berths aren’t terribly thick.” Trying to catchher breath, she stared, dazed, into his darkened eyes and tried to nod her understanding. Lying stretched out beside and above her, she knew he had full access to her body, but she did not care until she felt the jab of something large and blunt against her thigh.
Fear of the unknown jangled along her nerves and brought her back to herself. She lay next to a strange man in her bed, with only the bedclothes between their bodies. After a glance down, she realized that the sheets had ridden low on her breasts, exposing a great deal of the lacy bodice and the skin it purportedly covered.
Kieran followed her glance and his eyes widened. “This is a great deal more attractive than that tent you wore before.”
She tried to inch away as his fingertip traced the neckline, dipping to the first bow.
“I had no idea it had been ordered, and I cannot believe Florette would have selected it. It’s indecent!”
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “Let’s have a look, then.”
“Kieran, really!” She struggled to keep a grip on the sheets, but he tugged them down easily. As he gazed down at her clearly visible breasts, she knew she had to be flushing bright pink all the way to her hairline. When he raised his eyes back to her face, they had darkened almost to green.
“Definitely indecent.” A muscular thigh draped itself over her legs and he propped his head up on his elbow. “Florette is getting a raise.”
“You cannot mean to tell me that I should wear things like this on a daily basis—are youeven listening to me?” He seemed absorbed in stroking a lace-covered globe, exploring its fullness before circling her nipple with his palm. It puckered of its own accord, pushing its rosy nub against his hand.
“You have my undivided attention.” He rolled the pink flesh between his finger and thumb. “Certainly I would enjoy seeing you in this on a nightly basis, because it would allow me to do this.”
Leaning forward, he replaced his hand with his mouth. He lapped at the taut peak with tongue, teasing it through the lace, while his hand moved to her other breast, giving it the same ministrations.
“Kieran!” She whimpered his name and buried her fingers in the almost black waves of hair as he suddenly suckled the hard nub. His lips and teeth gently abraded the sensitized flesh with the wet material. She arched into his mouth, welcoming the weight of his body as he settled over her.
As he suckled her other nipple, her hips bucked against his, encountering that mysterious ridge of flesh once more. But this time, it added to the wild delight she experienced in Kieran’s arms. Rubbing against it, the secret place at the apex of her thighs came to life, pulsing with heat.
“Exquisite breasts,” he murmured, lifting his head to kiss her mouth again. She shuddered as his hands continued the amorous onslaught for a moment before moving to the top bow on her bodice and pulling. His mouth moved down her neck, raining kisses across the top of the creamy mounds as the bodice loosened.
His hands moved to the second bow. “Skin likewarm silk.” He nibbled his way over each full curve, pushing the bodice open wider with his mouth.
The third bow. He pulled the material completely off her shoulders and breasts, helping her free her arms from the tiny sleeves. Blowing on one moist peak until she writhed, he finally covered it with his warm mouth, licking and sucking. “Nipples like steel.”
He gave the same treatment to the other one, until Diantha thought she would go up in flames. She grasped at his shoulders, her hands slipping under the embroidered satin to find the thick muscles of his chest.
