Page 73 of The Hidden Heart

Jessica chuckled. “I am glad that I was there when you needed…help, I would say. Not saving.”

She looked up at him. “In the end, I don’t think you would have used that pistol, even if I had not been there. Even if Gabriela and I had never come here. You have too much strength, too much courage. You would not have done it.”

“I am not as sure as you.”

Jessica shrugged. “That is because you don’t see the whole picture of you, as I do.”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “I would not think it is a very pretty picture.”

“Not pretty, perhaps.” Jessica’s smile was warm and a little flirtatious. “But quite appealing, nevertheless.”

“Really?” His tone matched hers, and his eyes fell to her lips. “Not half as appealing, I’ll warrant, as what I see when I look at you.”

“Flattery—” Jessica began, but her words were cut off by his lips coming down on hers. He kissed her gently, tenderly, but his mouth lingered, tasting hers at his leisure. When at last he raised his head, her heart was pounding and her cheeks were flushed.

“Jessica…” he breathed, and then he was kissing her again, his arms surrounding her, pulling her up into him.

Her whole body flamed in response to him, and she went up on her toes, her arms wrapping around his neck and her mouth avid on his. He made a noise low in his throat, and his hands roamed over her back and down onto her hips, pressing her pelvis into him. He was hard against her, and it excited her.

He pulled his mouth from hers, kissing her cheek and ear and neck. “We shouldn’t…” he murmured as his lips roamed her skin.

“No,” she agreed breathlessly.

“Tell me to stop,” he told, taking her earlobe between his teeth and worrying it.

Heat blossomed between her legs.

“Tell me to leave.” His hands were kneading her buttocks, moving her against him.

“I can’t….” Jessica shivered as his lips trailed down the side of her neck, hot and velvety. “I don’t want you to go. I want you to…” She released a little moan as his tongue delved into the soft hollow of her throat. “Stay…” she said, her hands digging into his shoulders. “Please stay.”

His mind clouded, as it always did with her. It was difficult to think about anything but the way her skin felt beneath his fingers, or how her mouth tasted, or the silken, seductive beauty of her hair. Always before with women, even Caroline, he had remained in control, his brain working over and above the desire that ran through him. But with Jessica, it was always fire and hunger and immediacy, his brain struggling to keep up with the raging needs of his body. Reason burned away, and his thoughts seemed to consist primarily of imagining how she would look naked, or how sweet it would be to slide into her and feel her legs lock around his back.

He raised his head and put his hands on her shoulders, gently turning her around. He started on the buttons down the back of her dress, the sides of the dress separating and curling away, slowly, teasingly exposing first her neck, then her back. Her head was bent, so that her neck gently curved forward, and the sight of it, tender and vulnerable, stirred the desire in his loins. He leaned down and placed his lips upon her neck, soft skin covering the ridge of bone. Gently he kissed down the line of her backbone until his lips were stopped by her plain white cotton camisole.

Her dress was open now all the way down her back, sides sagging away from each other. He slid his hands beneath the fabric, moving around until his fingertips touched in the front across her stomach. As he moved, her dress fell farther open, slipping off her shoulders and onto her arms. Richard pressed his hands against her stomach, pushing her back until she was flush against his body. His hands moved up her front beneath the dress, gliding over the camisole until they cupped her breasts. He buried his lips in her neck, kissing and nibbling, his breath rasping in his throat, as his fingers caressed her breasts and teased the nipples into hard buttons.

Jessica gasped, pressing harder back into him, moving her hips in an untutored way that sent fire roaring through him more than any lightskirt’s practiced caresses. He untied the ribbon over the front of her camisole and slipped his hands beneath the cloth, taking her bare breasts in his hands. Her flesh was soft and silken, tantalizing. He kissed the nape of her neck, her scent filling his nostrils. His lips moved over the hard line of her collarbone to her rounded shoulders and then her back, and he pushed her dress down over her arms and off, exposing more of her to his caresses. Still the loosened camisole impeded him, and with a soft oath he pulled it up and over her head, flinging it away. He explored her naked back with his lips as his hands loved the orbs of her breasts. Jessica moaned, trembling under the assault to her senses.

His hands slid downward, encountering her petticoats, and he untied the tapes and pushed them down. They pooled atop her dress at her feet, and she was clad in nothing but stockings and cotton pantalets. His hands caressed her buttocks and moved back around to her stomach, over the undergarment and down between her legs. Jessica stiffened and gasped at the touch, but she did not move away. She gave a little shiver and leaned back against his chest, relaxing her legs. He slid his hand between then, caressing her through the cloth, now wet with her desire. The evidence of her passionate response to him stirred Richard almost past reason. He wanted to sink immediately into her and ease himself, but he held back.

He remembered well her response to him the last time, and he wanted to take her higher now, to show her new and more stunning depths of passion. He picked her up to carry her to the bed and laid her down upon it. Then he removed the last bits of her clothing, until she lay completely naked before him. Richard did not think he had ever seen a sight quite so lovely.

He gazed at her, passion pulsing thickly through his veins, as he removed his own clothes, tugging impatiently at laces and buttons and ripping off the garments, throwing them aside. Jessica shivered a little, and he pulled down the bedcovers and tucked them around her, then crawled into the bed beside her and took her in his arms. She was small and soft against him, and for a moment he just lay there, holding her and letting his hands roam over her body. But the feel of her rounded flesh beneath his hands soon had the blood pounding in his brain.

Jessica’s hands glided over his back, learning the curve of muscle, the sharp outcroppings of his collarbone, the bumpy line of his spine. They slid along his sides and over the sharp points of his hipbones and down the sides of his hips. Her fingertips were like velvet caressing his skin, soft and seductive.

Richard rolled to his side and bent to kiss her breasts. With teeth and tongue and lips he loved her breasts, while his hand roamed lower, exploring her stomach and thighs and finally slipping teasingly between her legs. Jessica shuddered at the touch, and her hands dug into his upper arms.

Slowly his fingers moved upward, teasing and stoking her. He pulled her nipple into his mouth and suckled it, sending waves of pleasure washing through her. Then his fingers came at last to the center of her desire, delving into the slick, hot folds, separating and stroking delicately, until Jessica was throbbing and aching for release. She felt the delightful pressure building in her again, and she dug in her heels, arching up against his hand, wanting to feel the pleasure sweep through her again like a tidal wave. But this time Richard brought her closer and closer to that edge, then moved away, only to build the excitement again.

Jessica dug her fingers into him, almost sobbing, pressing her hips up against his hand. Then he moved between her legs, his manhood teasing at the gate of her femininity, until finally he pushed up into her, breaking the seal of her virginity in a brief flash of pain. For an instant he paused, then began to move within her, creating a pleasure more wonderful than any she had experienced yet. She moved with him, her body instinctively settling into his rhythm. His body was hot and slick with sweat against her, his breath labored in her ear. He murmured her name, and she thought that she had never heard a sound so beautiful.

Then, in a blinding rush, the hot, dark wave of pleasure slammed through her, and she cried out, clasping him to her. He groaned, spilling his seed into her, both of them lost in a mindless swirl of passion, joined in a primitive, seamless union. Richard buried his face in the crook of her neck until finally, spent, he collapsed against her.

Rolling over onto his back, he pulled her on top of him, holding her close, neither of them able to speak. Wrapped in his arms, surrounded by his heat, Jessica slipped into an easy, dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER 17