Page 14 of The New Earl’s Convenient Wife

Relieved, Rafe grinned and dipped her a bow. ‘I’m so glad to have pleased you. Had your mother alarmed you with horror stories?’

‘No, she said nothing except “A lady always allows her husband’s pleasures”. But as you know, I’ve done much observation in nature. The female of various species does not always appear to enjoy mating. To hear a mare scream, one might believe the business painful and unpleasant.’

Rafe laughed, half embarrassed, half astonished at her candor. Grasping for a response, he settled for, ‘I’m glad to know this female didn’t find it…too unpleasant.’

‘There was some…discomfort at first,’ she allowed. ‘But nothing that would prompt me to scream like a mare.’

He laughed again, wondering if he should tell her that human couples in the throes of rapture often screamed for quite other reasons.

Before he could decide, her smile faded and she looked thoughtful. ‘I wondered…’

‘What?’ he asked, bemused by her previous disclosures and having absolutely no idea what she might say next.

‘I wondered if we might…try it again? Just to be sure my first impression of its exceeding pleasure was not erroneous?’

His grin widened. ‘Of course. And this time there should be little discomfort for you, only unspoiled pleasure.’

She gave him a glance that was pure, seductive Eve. ‘Show me.’

For her first experience, he’d settled for only most the basic lovemaking, wanting to take her maidenhead at once and then let her body rest and recover, so that their future coupling might bring her only enjoyment. This time, he wanted it to be all for her.

He began with the kissing at which she already excelled. After a satisfying interval of deeply exploring her mouth, he moved his lips slowly down her body, nipping her shoulders and elbows, licking each finger. Holding in rigid check a body already primed for release, he noted her hardened nipples and moved his mouth to give them full and complete concentration while with his hand he massaged her hips and her mound.

As her breathing grew more labored and she began to twist beneath him, he urged her legs wider and slipped a hand down to trace the tender skin of her upper thighs. And finally, suckling harder, he let his fingers caress the sensitive bit of flesh at her center.

She reached up, as if to pull him over and into her. Much as he yearned to bury himself, promising his raging senses he would allow them fulfillment later, he bent instead to lave with his lips what his fingers had just caressed while moving those fingers into her passage to massage and withdraw, massage and withdraw.

Her breathing accelerated as she arched upward to him, moments later, and writhed as her climax overcame her. Leaving his fingers within, he leaned up to capture her cries in his mouth. Then, lay back on his pillows and cradled her against his chest, listening to the sweet sounds as her gasping breaths slowed and steadied.

He held her as she dozed, filled with tenderness and a masculine pride of knowing that he’d satisfied her. He still burned for his own release, but that could wait.

A few moments later she woke on a long sigh. Propping herself on his chest, she looked down at him with wonder. ‘Oh. My. I never observed anything like that in nature.’

He chuckled. ‘I’m no naturalist, but I understand that some such stimulation can occur in other species.’

‘But…you are still just…stimulated.’ He jumped, suppressing a groan as she moved her hand to caress his rigid member. ‘Is it not time for you to be fulfilled?’

His body, already hard, quickened further. ‘If my lady so desires.’

‘She does.’ Rolling to her back, she urged him over her, wrapping her legs around him as he entered her hot, slick passage. Groaning, no longer able to control passion too long restrained, instead of a slow, steady build of momentum, he found himself thrusting wildly.

By now he was too far gone in ecstasy to notice much, but she seemed to be encouraging him, lifting her hips to meet his thrusts, grasping his neck and pulling his head down for an endless kiss as he moved within her. She cried out again as he reached his own peak in a towering, body-and-soul-shattering intensity of release.

Afterwards, as they lay together in the contented haze after lovemaking, she snuggled against his shoulder with a sigh. ‘Ah, had I known how delightful this could be, I might have pressed Ian harder for a wedding.’

‘Minx,’ he reproved, suddenly, possessively glad that wedding had never happened.

‘Though I wouldn’t have pushed him, not really. Not when I knew—’ She stopped suddenly, eyes widening in alarm, then pasted a smile on her lips. ‘It was delightful, husband. Can I tell you how contented I am to be your wife?’

‘Gladly.’ But something tickled the back of his mind, something about his brother. ‘You wouldn’t have pressed Ian because he was so…distressed those last months?’

She gazed at him for a moment. ‘You…truly don’t know?’

‘Know what?’

She sat up, looking troubled—though to his delight, seeming entirely unconcerned that her movements caused the bed linens to fall to her waist, presenting him with the delightful view of the pert breasts he’d so recently tasted, whose pale skin still showed the marks of his passion.

Forcing his thoughts back to his brother, said, ‘What about Ian should I have known?’