Kate shivered. “But not here.” She continued to make half-hearted attempts to evade his mouth which he disregarded as blood roared in his veins. “This is not the way—”
“Hush.” He kissed her satin-skinned shoulder while he let his fingers wander.
Frustrated, he wanted to see more of her. Hold her naked in his arms. Her shift was trimmed with lace and green ribbon, her corset embroidered with birds and violets. He pulled her laces. She looked delectable, good enough to eat. And he determined to do something very much like it.
Robert’s breathing grew heavy and his groin tightened. He fumbled at his breeches to ease the constriction. Kate watched him, her eyes enormous. She opened her mouth to protest, and he kissed her to silence her. The kiss lengthened, and when he drew away, he gazed into her beautiful green eyes with warm hints of amber, then tasted her lips again. He couldn’t get enough of her sweet mouth. He drew away to find Kate breathing fast, her pretty lips swollen and lush. So, she enjoyed his kisses! Confident, his hands continued their work, and while she didn’t assist him, neither did she stop him. He drew up her gown and petticoats, a froth of ribbons, lace, and silk spilling over the sofa.
He panted, his mind fogged with lust as he cupped her breast and rubbed a taut nipple through the thin lawn of her shift and was gratified when Kate arched her back with a mew of pleasure.
Robert broke away to gaze at her lovely face. Her flushed skin was rosy and beautiful, her eyes hazy with desire, her breath as urgent as his.
He had to have her sweet body convulsing with pleasure under him.
“Don’t you think it’s time we made love?” he asked, his voice tight with need.
“But not…”
*
Oh my.Kategazed around the room wildly, as her determination to resist him slipped away. Soon she wouldn’t care if the servants entered and found her nude and engaged in… What was he doing now? His hand stroked to the top of her thigh. She feebly grasped his wrist to stay its journey, but he gently batted her hand away and reached that special part of her.
His touch caused an exposition of feeling, and she almost collapsed. Her protest ended on a long sigh, as her tense muscles loosened, and exquisite pleasure flooded through her body softening her bones. She could only murmur and lie back within the circle of his arm. Yes, oh yes, how she did want him. Wanted more of the sensations he produced with his clever hands and his wonderful mouth, more desperately than she would have thought possible. She was eager for them to become a proper man and wife. It was as it should be.
She raised her head and searched his eyes, longing to find evidence that Robert’s seduction was born out of love. Desire sparked in the blue depths of his eyes, turning them dark with a smoldering passion. But did he look at her? Really see her? Or was this merely a pleasurable game.
That she could move him to such desire made aware of her womanly power. And while she reveled in it, she tried to ignore the small thread of regret which refused to be banished from her mind. A need for him to woo her with love and treat her with respect. And it was not respectful to treat her this way in the salon.
All thoughts vanished as he stroked her sensitive feminine folds, while he murmured, his voice roughened by passion, praising her beauty, how much he desired her while stirring up powerful urges and sending her body into a trembling, demanding state of bliss. She melted against him, no longer able to deny the yearning he stirred in her, so intoxicating she struggled to remember where she was. Only that she wanted more of his kisses. Of him. But then that lingering doubt intruded again. Her eyes flew open. With a glance at the door, she tensed, unable to give herself completely. So intimate an act should be special. Their first time, the sealing of their love. Something to remember through all their years together. Would a frantic coupling in this room without mention of love—he not declaring it—and she not admitting it, do that?
Now he was doing something entirely delicious to her breasts. Under his ministrations her nipples became sensitive conduits that carried waves of heat to that pulsing spot between her thighs. She flushed with embarrassment at how moist and hot she’d become there while his erection pressed against her bottom, filling her with curiosity and yearning.
*
Robert kissed her,and Kate sighed against his mouth. How lovely her breasts, so full and firm in his hands. He roamed the curve of her waist and hip returning to her smooth thigh and her soft curls. He badly wanted to kiss her there. He slid a finger gently inside her. Kate tensed and gave a muffled cry. She slid her legs apart and offered herself to him. Lord! How luscious she was, wet and slick beneath his fingers. He had to be inside her. Through the fog of lust clouding his brain, he was aware he must go carefully. She may be aroused, but the first time wasn’t always pleasant, and he needed to make it so.
Her eyes closed, and she moaned as he stroked that small pearl swollen and hard with need. He gently rolled it between his fingers.
“Oh!” She gripped his shoulders and her hips bucked under his hand.
As his fingers delved deeper inside her, voices and the clink of glassware sounded outside in the corridor.
Kate’s eyes flew open. She gave a muffled cry and gripped his coat. “I can’t! Not now… like this.”
“Yes, darling, just like this,” he said between heavy breaths. He couldn’t stop now, not if the house was on fire.
“No!” Kate swiveled and placed her hand against his chest. She pushed him back hard. Startled at the determined force behind it, Robert saw her genuine distress and let her go.
He had never forced a woman. Never had to. She clambered to her feet and stood facing him, her hands on her hips. Beneath her loosened corset, her unfettered breasts bounced under her shift in a way that stirred his loins to fever pitch. He groaned.
Her eyes blazed with rage and some other emotion that sliced at him like a rapier. Was it disappointment? “Don’t mistake me for your mistress, Robert.”
She pulled up her stockings, retying the ribbon above her knees. She had long legs for one of diminutive stature. Robert’s gaze rose slowly to her face when her words finally sank in to his lust-befogged brain. “No,” he said levelly. “You are not my mistress. So?”
She held her bodice defensively against her chest. “You will not treat me like her.”
Robert crossed his legs and winced. “I don’t believe I was.”
“I’m not privy to the way you treat your mistress, but I know how I wish to be treated as your wife.”
