“Louisa, you are sitting astraddle my lap, and my hands are on your breasts—I am aching for you. This is not the time to keep making me laugh with your clever words. You must know that there will be no going back if we finish what we have started here.”
She kissed him before looking into his eyes. “I understand, Your Grace.”
He brushed her hair to the back of her shoulder. “My name is Bray. From here on, you must call me by my name and not my title.”
“I understand, Bray,” she said, and slid the other side of her night rail and robe off her shoulder and down her arm, letting the garments pool around her waist.
His gaze feasted upon her for a few seconds. “I knew your breasts would be beautiful,” he said in a husky voice. “Look how the light from the corridor is shining on them. Look how beautiful you are.”
Louisa looked down and watched his fingertips glide from the swell of one breast to the other. The lace from the cuff of his sleeve tickled softly across her bare skin. He palmed both breasts and lightly squeezed them. He kissed one and then the other, filling her with a longing for something more.
He lowered his head and caught the rosy tip of one breast into his mouth again. With his tongue he sampled her heated skin over and over again, and she delighted in every touch and each new and building sensation.
“I want to feel your body, too, Bray.” She reached under his waistcoat and started pulling the tail of his shirt from the waistband of his trousers. She wanted to know what his skin felt like.
He stilled her hands. “I wish we could, but there is no time for me to undress tonight. We must make do. Help me unbutton my trousers and slide them down my hips.”
With frantic movements of hands working together, his trousers were unfastened and her gown was shoved up. Bray dragged his cloak underneath her as he gently laid her on top of it and stretched his warm body over her. A tremor of anticipation shivered through her. Bray rose on his elbows and looked into her eyes for a long moment before his gaze drifted down her face, lingered over her breasts, before sweeping back up to her eyes again.
“You need not worry,” she whispered. “I have no hesitation.”
“I have plenty for both of us, but I won’t let it stop me. I will be gentle with you.”
“I know.”
He bent down and seared his lips to hers. His lips were moist, hot, and demanding as he kissed her deeply, roughly, crushing his body upon hers. His intensity should have frightened her, but instead it thrilled her. His hands tangled in her hair. Their lips and tongues clung together as passion flamed between them.
With his knees, he opened her legs and then pushed inside her. She gasped from the shock, but he swallowed her sounds. His kisses changed from desperate to slow and sensuous. With one hand he found the warm spot between her legs, and he stroked and fondled her as his body moved up and down.
He made love to her with gentleness that overwhelmed her. His movements were leisurely, sensual, and reverent. He kissed her, caressed her, and moved on top of her until she felt an indescribable pleasure rise up inside her. Louisa lifted her hips and moved with him until waves of explosive sensations tore through her. She cupped his body to her as those languid, heavenly ripples ebbed. She heard Bray’s breath quicken, felt him tremble. His body shuddered, and he softly said her name.
She whispered his name, too, before collapsing back down onto the settee with no breath left in her lungs, no strength in her muscles. He lay still and heavy upon her with his face buried in the crook of her neck.
They stayed that way only for a few moments before Bray lifted himself onto his elbows and asked, “Are you all right?”
She smiled and softly answered, “Yes. I didn’t really know what to expect, but my imagination didn’t do it justice. That was quite impressive.”
He grinned and kissed her tenderly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
He rose and helped her to rise. He then turned his back and started adjusting his clothing, and Louisa did the same.
“Don’t you have something you wanted to ask me?” he said when he turned back to face her.
Louisa was tying the ribbons of her gown, and her fingers stilled. Did she? Maybe she was supposed to ask him if she’d satisfied him. “Did I measure up to your expectations?”
He frowned. “Of course, Louisa, that goes without saying. Why would you ask me that?”
“You said I was supposed to have a question for you.”
“Not that. Hellfire, couldn’t you tell that you satisfied me greatly, completely?”
Annoyed that he was annoyed, she said, “I thought so, but I couldn’t be sure, so it’s nice to hear you say it.”
“Fine, I’ll remember that in the future and always tell you. Now, don’t you have something else to ask me?”
Louisa thought and stared at him. “Am I supposed to ask if we can we do it again sometime?”
His eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. “What?” he asked in an exasperated voice.
