She lifted her arms without a word and let him pull shirt and tunic over her head.
“My God, you are beautiful.”
A small voice in the back of her head asked how a man who’d seen so many women’s breasts could manage to sound awed. When he lifted his gaze to her face, though, he looked as though he meant it. Whatever he might think later, right now he wanted no one but her. It was enough.
When Stephen gathered her into his arms again, she understood. Skin to skin, it had to be. His chest felt so good against her bare breasts she had to close her eyes to bear it. The kiss he gave her was at once so gentle and so full of longing she felt as if he were squeezing her heart in his hands.
Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. No other man could kiss like this, she was sure.
A surge of lust ran through her that had her rubbing herself against him like a cat. Without lifting his mouth from hers, he rolled her until she felt the scratch of the wool blanket beneath her back. She ran her hands over him, reveling in the feel of skin and tight muscle beneath her fingers.
He kissed her throat, then moved down to suckle first one breast and then the other. Sensations tore through her until she was arching against him and begging for she knew not what.
When he began to ease down the top of her leggings, she felt a moment of panic. ’Twas a serious sin she was about to commit. At least she broke no vow, in this brief respite between marriages.
It waspossibleStephen could get her with child. But how likely from just one time? Not once did she conceive in all her years of marriage. Surely the risk was small. In any case, she would be married soon enough.
Stephen ran his tongue along her abdomen, wiping all such thoughts and fears from her mind. If she never felt this reckless joy and passion again, she would have it now.
She lifted her hips to help him slide the leggings down. As he pulled off first one leg, then the other, he paused to kiss her thigh, her knee, her calf. He sucked her toe into his mouth as he ran his hand slowly up the inside of her leg. A shiver ran through her.
He had her completely naked now. She watched his chest rise and fall as he raked his eyes over her. His slow perusal sent her pulse beating so hard she thought he must hear it.
When she shivered again, he lay down beside her and spread the other blanket over them.
“Are you warm enough, sweetheart?” he asked and kissed her shoulder.
She nodded and tried to concentrate on the feel of his callused hand running up and down her side. And not on how easily “sweetheart” and “love” rolled off his tongue.
“What is it, Isobel?”
So much was right, she did not want to ruin it. She rested her hand on his shoulder and met his troubled brown eyes.
“I did not know it would feel as good as this,” she said and felt the taut muscles relax beneath her fingers.
He nuzzled her neck and playfully bit her earlobe. But that was not what she wanted now. She moved his hand from her side to her breast and turned in to him to give him an open-mouthed kiss. His playfulness vanished.
With a fierceness that matched her own, he kissed her back. He gripped her hip, and she liked the strong, possessive feel of his hand there. When he slid his other hand up the inside of her thigh, her whole body tensed with anticipation. Surely it would not be long before they committed the final act of sin.
The thought of having him inside her sent a spasm through her even before his fingers reached her center. Once he touched her, his fingers moved in ways that did magical things to her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, a little breathless.
“If you do not know, then your husband truly was a swine,” he murmured. “Do you wish me to stop?” From the humor in his tone, she could tell he was confident of her answer.
“But… but…,” she tried to speak but could not hold her thought long enough. “I never… this feels so… so… so very…”
She rubbed the back of her hand against his hard stomach. When she brushed against the rough cloth of his leggings, she grabbed his forearm to stop his hand. “Will you not take your leggings off, as well?”
“What is it you want, Isobel?” His voice was soft, but she heard the tension in it.
“I—I—” She fell silent, embarrassed by what she’d been about to say.
“You must feel free to tell me anything, love,” he said, touching her cheek. “Especially when we are in bed.”
If she were going to have only this one time with him, she wanted it just right. She could not have explained why, but she could not bear the thought of him just pulling it out of his leggings to take her.
Though it made her cheeks flush hot, she told him. “I want you as naked as I when we are joined.”
