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The broadcloth dress she was wearing came off as his eager hands stripped her. Somehow, his lips never left her mouth, and before Esme realized it, her dress was off and so was her shift. They lay in a pile next to the bed. Titus lavished kisses upon her mouth, her face, as he removed his own clothing.
Suddenly, they were both naked.
Titus’ big body came down on Esme’s soft, slender one, enveloping her in power and heat. His mouth left her lips, feasting on her neck as he moved down her body. He tasted every inch of skin on her shoulders and arms before depositing lusty kisses on the swell of her bosom. A big hand kneaded her breasts as his lips finally found her nipples, moving from one to the other, hungrily.
Beneath him, Esme squirmed and gasped.
His weight on her was significant and she instinctively parted her thighs. His lower body slipped through, finding rest upon the mattress as his upper body covered her torso. She was delicious and nubile in every way, and as one hand slipped beneath her to grasp her tender buttocks, the other slipped down her flat belly as his mouth began to move along her abdomen.
Titus knew what he was doing and Esme let him.
In truth, she was in a haze of delight. She was only thinking of how deeply she loved him. They were to be married, were they not? Already, she belonged to him, body and soul. All she could feel was her love for him and a primal need she was trying to understand. It was flesh against flesh, and Titus wasn’t shy about sharing his experience with her, but he also had some restraint.
Not much, but enough.
But surely it was going to kill him.
He was engorged and instinct demanded he plunge his body into Esme’s virginal one, but he resisted. He’d never had anything pure in his entire life until he met her and, somehow, it just didn’t seem right to take that innocence now. He wanted their first time together to be as man and wife, not because he was so lustfully hot for her that he couldn’t control himself.
Even so… he wanted her to enjoy every minute of what he was doing.
He wanted her to long for what was to come.
They were both nude, and although he’d made no attempt to touch her below the waist, his hand began to move, lower and lower, until he was at the fluff of dark curls between her legs. He touched her, ever so gently, feeling her jump at the unfamiliar newness of his touch, but very much wanting her to become accustomed to it.
To crave it.
He began to stroke her, just a little, just enough to acquaint her with his touch, but she was so new to this and so highly aroused that within just a few strokes, she was convulsing beneath him with her first climax. Of course, that fed the fever in his blood and it took the greatest of effort not to satisfy himself, too. He was in a painful situation, but he simply didn’t want this to be about him. It had always been about him and he always had plenty of women to do anything he wanted them to do to satisfy him, but not now.
Not with Esme.
At this moment, it was all about the touch and not about the sex.
He just wanted to touch her.
As Esme’s tremors of passion died away, he gathered her up into his arms and tried not to think about the massive erection between them. He tried to think about that old woman his friends tried to trick him with in Clegg’s chambers those weeks ago, anything to drive down his heated blood, but he found that he couldn’t. He didn’t want anything to take away from this moment with Esme.
“I love ye, Bee,” he whispered. “Until the end of all things, I’ll love ye.”
Dazed from her first sexual experience, Esme felt his words as they reached into her, grasping her heart and holding fast. For a woman who had never really known the warmth of a human touch, or the love of anyone other than her long-ago father, she felt as if she were living in a dream, something surreal and glorious. She found herself praying she would never awaken from a dream where only Titus existed.
“And I love you,” she whispered, kissing his chin. “Sleep, now. I will be here when you awaken.”
He looked at her, a grin tugging at his mouth. “Ye’ll sleep with me?”
A seductive smile spread across her face. “You’ve been trying to get me into your bed since practically the first we met,” she said. “Now, I’m finally here. But just sleep, you understand. Nothing more.”
He didn’t need anything more, at least, not at the moment. But soon, that would change. With a delighted grin, Titus pulled her closer, her naked body up against his, and closed his eyes.
He was snoring softly before Esme could draw another breath.
As a storm rolled in from the east and a gentle rain began to fall, they stayed as they were, warm and safe and cherished, all afternoon.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“When were ye last here, Da?”
The question came from Conan as he and Ambrose rode in the duke’s fine carriage into the heavily guarded Ludus Caledonia. Rain was falling gently and, in the distance, lightning was carving through the sky. But the weather hadn’t kept away those who lived for, and loved, these games.
