She blinked and seemed to think on her answer for a time before she finally said, “This is whereImay...humiliate myself.”
His brows rose in surprise.“You’re not about to say you haven’t kissed a man,” he warned, reaching for his pocket watch.“At least, not in the past half-hour, I suppose,” he teased.
She captured her bottom lip with a tooth as her gaze swept down to his cravat.“Before you took me by surprise in the Pantheon, it had been a very long time since I had engaged in such intimacy,” she finally replied.
“It had been a long time for me as well,” he murmured, thinking of when he had last kissed his late wife.He wondered if he would have done so if he hadn’t have learned she was near-death.Not everyone had the benefit of knowing when it might be their last chance at convincing someone they were loved.“Yet we seemed to do it very well,” he whispered, his throat thick as he was reminded of the sorrow he had experienced only the year before.Reminded of the guilt he felt at having spent too much of his time on his business and too little of it in Grace’s company.
Had someone asked him why he had chosen Rome from which to run his European base, he might have claimed it was merely logical given the shipping routes available.But deep down, he knew its reputation as the City of Love might mean he could find another woman with whom to share his life.His modest fortune.
He was determined to give it a try.That he had crossed paths with such an interesting and gorgeous woman so early in his tenure in the city only proved he had chosen well.
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead as he reached around her waist to pull her closer.“Do you need to be anywhere this afternoon?Do you...have any appointments?Or are you expecting any callers?”
She shook her head.“Only DeLuca with our luncheon,” she said.“I told him to leave it in the sitting room.”
A grin appeared to lighten Patrick’s face before his lips brushed hers in a tentative kiss.When she didn’t back away, he touched his lips to hers again with a bit more force, finally capturing them in a kiss that had her relaxing into his hold.
When she slid the hand that had been pressing his manhood up the front of his coat to grip his shoulder, he moved a hand to the back of her waist and pulled her hard against the front of his body.Given her height and the half boots she wore, she didn’t need to stand on tiptoe to continue the kiss, a situation he found he rather liked.They could battle for one another’s lips without bending or struggling for balance.He reveled in their mutual hunger for one another as their tongues tangled and her soft mewls sounded.
When he ended the kiss, he left his forehead pressed to hers.“Grazie,” he whispered.
Armenia blinked several times, as if she was awakening.“Grazie?”she repeated in confusion.
“Sì,” he replied, chuckling softly.Given his one hand was already at the back of her waist, he moved the other to join it and began loosening the laces of her corset as he continued to nip her lips with his.
Meanwhile, she had already started on his buttons, and by the time she had his coats pushed from his torso, he was pulling the gown from hers.
Layers of twill passed between them as he lifted the gown over her head.He didn’t send it to the floor, though, but held it out, shook it, and carefully draped it over the back of a nearby chair.
She watched in fascination, apparently expecting he would discard the gown on the floor.She followed his lead and did the same with his top coat and waistcoat.When her back was to him, he reached out and undid the ties of her second petticoat until it dropped in a heap at her feet.Then he lifted the corset over her head.
He grinned at seeing her in only her shift and stockings, the thin cotton hinting at what he had seen earlier that day.
A body made for bedding.
A pair of breasts meant for suckling.
A pair of legs so long and lean, he could hardly wait to feel them wrapped around his hips.
“How do you like it?”he asked in a whisper.
She inhaled softly.“Like… what?”
He swallowed.“What brings you the most pleasure,mia donna?”He reached out and slid his hand along the side of her torso, his thumb barely skimming over the protrusion of her nipple evident in the fabric.Both of her nipples were hard, he hoped evidence of her arousal and not because she was cold.
From the sound of her inhalation of breath, he knew his touch had caused something.Bending down, he placed his lips around the silhouette of one nipple and gently suckled it through the fabric.
Armenia immediately captured the sides of his face in her hands, her fingers spearing his dark hair.“For whatever you do, I wish to be on the bed,” she whispered.“You will use no restraints, nor anything that can elicit pain,” she added.
Patrick had to swallow a curse.What poor excuse of a man would dare restrain this woman or cause her pain in pursuit of pleasure?“Noted,” he whispered.
He had to suppress a grin when she let out a yelp as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the edge of the bed, finally lowering her until her feet were firmly on the floor.Keeping one arm wrapped around the back of her waist so he could smooth his large hand over her flared hip, he reined in the excitement he felt over what they were about to do.If he lost control, he was sure she would dismiss him from her bedchamber.
Armenia watched as he tossed the pillows onto nearby furniture and stripped the bed of its counterpane.When she stepped out of his hold and moved to the window, he asked, “Where are you going?”
“To draw the drapes.I rather doubt anyone is watching, but...”She lifted a shoulder before closing the velvet panels on both windows, casting the room in near darkness.
Patrick took the opportunity to shed his shirt and shoes, and he was about to push down his pantaloons when she returned to the bed.He watched how she lifted her shift from her body, tossed it aside, and then bent to climb onto the mattress, her olive skin a dark contrast to the white bed linens.When she was in the center, she leaned on one hip and one hand and arched an eyebrow.
