“Stand here.” He set her on her feet in front of him. The fire warmed one side of her and the cool of the chamber touched the other side, but the heat inside her came only from him and her and what he was doing.
He slid the dress down until it pooled at her feet. He turned her to work the laces of her stays and removed them before he turned her back again. She stood there in nothing more than stockings and a chemise. The cloth of the chemise hung loosely off her breasts. She looked down at how they had grown heavy and full and how the tips had tightened against the fabric.
He pulled her closer, between his thighs, and eased the chemise down until her breasts were naked. To her astonishment he leaned forward and licked at one tip and the sensation sent her reeling. He kept torturing her with his tongue while he pushed the chemise farther down until she was completely naked.
She could barely stand now. She could hardly see. He tongued at the other breast. A pulse throbbed low, between her legs, demanding more pleasure, beating a little drum of desire.
He took her breast into his mouth, but his tongue still flicked and aroused. His embrace lowered to her hips and caressed, then held, her bottom. His other hand slid between her legs and touched that throbbing pulse.
Shocking pleasure overwhelmed her. She gripped his shoulders so she would not die from it all. Her mind cried whimpers of need and maybe her mouth did, too. She heard nothing except his voice while he moved her toward the bed. He laid her down and covered her, then undressed.
With only a shirt and trousers to remove, it did not take long. She caught a glimpse of him limned by the light of the fire, all lean strength like the thoroughbred he was, good lines, his chest and arms as arresting of attention as his face.
He joined her in the bed and gathered her into his arms. “Does something amuse you?” he asked while he covered them both. “You have an impish smile.”
“I am thinking it was wise of me to demand Jason stuff the mattress. He thought you should sleep on the ropes alone. Or the floor.”
“It is not a bad bed. Small, but enough space for the two of us.”
Considering how they lay, it was enough space. His body lined hers and his chest hovered over her. His head dipped to kiss her and lead her back into passion.
Slowly, carefully, he aroused her. His kisses drew her toward abandon. He teased at her breasts with his tongue and teeth and caressed her body with confident, knowing hands. Her shyness fell away, and then her dignity, and finally her hold on herself. She moaned from the pleasure and it seemed that only made him find ways to make it better. When caresses on her thighs rose higher, he touched and toyed at her private flesh until impatient desire had her grasping him with fevered need.
He mounted her, finding ways not to crush her with his weight. He bent her knees, then rose high on tight, taut arms and began to press into her. He filled her slowly, but it still left her breathless. Even as it pained her she did not emerge from the stupor of intimacy that filled her consciousness.
He withdrew just as carefully, then filled her again. And again. Pleasure teased at her even within the soreness. She could tell he restrained himself for her sake, could feel the power building in him that he held in check. Maddening sensations started to overwhelm the pain and she moved, rocking up to accept him, joining him in the hard, consuming kisses he dipped his head to give her.
His thrusts came harder then. She did not find that unpleasant and even urged him on with caresses and kisses because it brought them closer and banished the rest of the world. Their hard passion might have lasted a few minutes or many; she could not tell. There was no time, only emotion-drenched intimacy.
Finally he was on her, his deep breaths in her ear as he collapsed after his finish. She wrapped her legs around him, and her arms, too, and held him close. She turned her head so her lips touched his cheek.
“Yes, I will marry you.”
Chapter 11
“Where did you get that, Adam?” Caroline watched while Thornhill stood on a chair and tacked a ribbon to the top of the sitting room door’s threshold. An apple hung within it and a mistletoe bough dangled at its end. It added a bright note to a chamber already decorated with green boughs on the windowsills and five thick candles awaiting dusk and lighting.
“A woman in the village had the ball and mistletoe. I added the other greens. I thought to catch you under it and steal a kiss.”
“I think you have had enough the last two nights.”
He checked the ribbon. “There will never be enough, darling.”
Perhaps not. One kiss became more with them. She had surprised him by arriving at his door last night. Still sore from her first time, she had not been able to stay away. He had been unable to deny them both, although he displayed heroic restraint and care again.
He hopped off the chair and pulled her into yet another deep kiss. “I think we should tell them today at dinner. Then we can do this whenever and wherever we want.”
She laid her head against his chest. She enjoyed a few moments in his arms before the day’s Yuletide festivities began.
Boughs of evergreens decorated the house. Down below Mrs. Hoover finished her dinner and cake with Amelia at her side. Amelia had complained about the chores she was expected to do now, so Caroline gave her a choice in them. To Caroline’s surprise, the choice had been learning to cook.
She looked through the frosted windows. Fresh snow had fallen last night but not too much, and now the sun shone on an unblemished blanket of white.
“Jason is coming with a big log,” she said.
“Tell him to bring it in here to dry,” Thornhill said.
She went to open the front door and call Jason in. He set the log on its end near the fire. “Should be fine in a few hours.”
