He stepped closer and took her other hand to clasp both of them, and gently pulled her up from the bed to stand in front of him.
Her face uplifted to him and her lips parted as she, too, drew in her breath and exhaled slowly to steady herself, her hands still trembling though she laced her fingers with Roger’s.
He bent his head to press a kiss to her forehead, her temple, her right cheek, and the tip of her nose before he found her mouth again, the soft warmth of her lips stirring him more deeply than he could have imagined.
He felt his lower body responding already and he prayed she wouldn’t look down and frighten herself. The Douglas men were a virile lot, which meant he must go very slow with her so as not to hurt her—though he knew some fleeting pain would come from his possession of her.
His lips moving over hers, she parted them a bit wider and he swept his tongue into her mouth…making her start at the wholly new sensation as she leaned into him, unclasping her hands from his to press them against his upper chest.
Her palms coming up against the bandage made her gasp as if she feared she had hurt him and pull slightly away, which made Roger groan to have their passionate kiss interrupted.
“I only wished tae satisfy the healer,” he murmured, stepping back from her and swiftly unwinding the bandage to toss it upon the floor. “I’ve mended well enough, lass. You dinna have tae worry for me—ah, God.”
Julianna had glanced down to find him fully aroused, her gaze even wider and her mouth forming an “O.” When she had seen him naked on their wedding night, it had been all he could do to steel himself from such a physical reaction, though once in bed with her for the first time he had grown as hard as a rock.
A good thing she had kept to her side of the mattress—though now, the thought of easing himself into her womanly softness was almost more than he could bear.
“Shh, Juli, dinna fear. I willna hurt you,” he murmured, drawing her into his embrace once more to hold her close, her breasts rising and falling against his chest, her whole body trembling now. The sweetness of her scent was intoxicating to him, yet still there was her wrinkled clothing between them…
He released her so swiftly that she gasped, Roger bending down to grab the hem of her gown and linen shift and pull both garments over her head in one fluid movement…leaving her to clasp her arms across her breasts to cover herself.
Breasts so temptingly full that there was nothing she could do to hide their beauty from him, making Roger suck in his breath and long to take a rose-hued nipple into his mouth.
Her waist so slender and her hips sweetly curved, her creamy skin covered in goose bumps even though their bedchamber was warm…very warm. He had already stoked the fire when he had returned from Aran’s room, yet so quietly that he hadn’t awakened her and had climbed back into the bed beside her.
The bed where he wanted to be with her now, his lower body so swollen and heavy with arousal that he feared she might run from the room if she glanced down again.
With another swift movement he swept her from her bare feet and laid her back down near the middle of the mattress and climbed in, too, to lie down next to her.
Again, she instinctively tried to cover her breasts, but he gently pushed aside her arms and bent his head to whisper into her ear, “No, lass, I want tae see you…see all of you.”
His gaze swept her hungrily from the lush darkness of her hair spread upon the pillow to the delicate curve of her neck and her nipples hardened into rosy nubs…to the trembling indent of her abdomen and the tempting triangle at the heart of her thighs.
“You’re beautiful, wife…so beautiful.”
Her eyes darkened in the soft morning light spilling into the room, he lowered his head to kiss her again, deeply, possessively, and was gratified when she tunneled her fingers into his hair.
Her soft moan near pushing him beyond endurance, though he knew he must go slowly with her—ah, God, was there ever so challenging a task?
His tongue sparred with hers as she kissed him back hungrily, her passionate response both astounding him and pleasing him. Slowly, Roger moved his hand over the silken curves and hollows of her body and still, she trembled beneath his touch.
Her moans spurring him on as he tore himself from her mouth to seize a taut nipple and suckle even as his tongue encircled her sensitive flesh, Julianna arching against him.
Yet she cried out when he pressed the palm of his hand against the soft curls between her thighs and slipped his fingers slightly into her to find her wet and warm…so warm.
He groaned now, too, plying her there as he teased first one hardened nipple with his tongue and then the other, until her hips rose and fell against his hand and he knew she was ready for him.
Roger was beyond ready himself, and he rose above her and spread her legs with his knee to settle himself between her thighs—though still, he did not thrust into her.
He gazed down at the flush-faced wonder of the woman he had taken for his wife, her eyes half closed with passion as she reached up to cradle his face with her hands.
“You will feel pain for only a moment,” he murmured, sinking down to capture her mouth with his and whisper against the sweetness of her parted lips. “It will pass, I promise you…”
Her arms flying around his neck to hold him tight, he half thrust himself inside her and felt her maidenhead give against him…Roger groaning and trembling now, too, as he sank deeply into her wet warmth and heard her cry out.
His kisses soothing her even as her hips began to move against his in a primal motion that made any thought of proceeding slowly vanish from his mind.
His every rhythmic thrust met with her opening herself to him and holding him tight until he shuddered against her…Roger spilling himself into her body while she moaned brokenly with her own release.
