CHAPTER6
THE THROES OF PASSION
Sometime in the middle of the night
Sure he wasn’t alone and sure he wasn’t in his own bed, Thomas struggled to sit up.
The movement was made more difficult due to the feminine body that was keeping his right side warm. The heat he felt on his left side was due to the dying fire in a fireplace he didn’t recognize.
“Are you all right?”
The whispered query had him opening his eyes wider and turning his head to discover a familiar face staring at him with worry.
“Where am I?”
She inhaled softly. “In the master bedchamber of Whyte Hall Park. Near Bath. You arrived last evening—”
“Frozen,” he finished for her, the events of the day before coming back to him in a flash. “Apologies. I was having a terrible dream.” He scrubbed a hand over his face as if to wipe away the nightmare.
“I don’t doubt it,” she replied. “Your heart has been racing for a few minutes. Enough to wake me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I merely thought you were…” She allowed the sentence to trail off as she touched her lips to his chest and kissed it. The hand that rested on his stomach drifted down to the nest of dark curls from which his manhood stood at attention. “Aroused.”
He inhaled sharply. “Seems I am. I haven’t slept with a woman in… well, in a very long time,” he stammered.
She lifted her body onto an elbow and rested her head in her hand. “It’s been some time for me. Whyte was the only man…” Clamping her mouth shut, Katherine regarded Thomas with an expression of regret. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mention him.”
He gave a start. “I don’t mind,” he replied. “Well, I would if you accidentally said his name whilst we were in the throes of passion,” he amended.
“The throes of passion?” she repeated, a grin lighting her face in the dim light.
“I know it’s been a long time—for the both of us—but… I wish to make love to you.”
Katherine lowered her gaze to his shoulder. “Because I’m the one you’ve discovered sleeping with you, or…?”
“I will admit proximity has a good deal to do with it, but even if you had slept in your own bed, I think I could have found you,” he claimed. He lifted his head and turned to kiss her on the lips, which had her eyes rounding in surprise. “I would have kissed you awake and had my way with you.”
Grinning, she said, “And now?”
“Well, you’re already awake.”
“I can pretend I’m not,” she said, rolling onto her back and closing her eyes.
His deep chuckle had the bed vibrating even as the covers were suddenly gone from atop her body.
“Oh!” she cried out in a whisper. She tittered as he climbed over her and captured her lips with his. The kiss was soft at first. Soft and tentative. A means to part her lips so his tongue could invade her mouth and explore her teeth. Taste the tea and brandy they had drunk. The meal they had shared in the small salon.
When he pulled away, he stared down at her and swallowed. His gaze drifted to her bare shoulders and arms and then down to her breasts where they mounded and pressed into his chest. “I distinctly remember you were wearing a night rail,” he whispered.
Her eyes darted to the side. “I might have had to remove it some time ago. I don’t know if you’re aware or not, but you’re rather hot when you’re sleeping. I almost feared you had a fever.”
Thomas furrowed a brow. “Perhaps I do,” he replied, his lips descending so they touched and traced her collar bone. His entire body lifted from hers and moved down a few inches, and his lips followed suit until he had one of her nipples between them.
Inhaling sharply, Katherine lifted her chest and whispered a series of ‘yes’s.
Giving up his hold on one nipple, he moved to the other. Before capturing it with his teeth and tongue, he murmured, “You were always so positive.”
