Page 24 of Too Wylde To Tame
Charity sighed with pleasure when he cupped her face gently in his hands. And when his lips brushed hers with such gentleness, she shivered at both the physical sensations it created and the emotion that welled within her.
For the longest time, her focus had been only on getting married. On finding someone who might make an offer for her so that she could avoid returning to her parents’ home. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in love, in soul mates, but that she had not expected to have the good fortune to meet hers. But from the first moment they had danced together, she’d looked into his eyes and seen a world of possibility, of hope for more than just contentment with her lot in life. It was for that reason that her disappointment when he did not call as they had arranged was so devastating.
That disappointment had passed, however, and now she only wanted to look toward the future.Their future.With Frederick, she could have everything. Passion. Happiness. Love. All of those things were wrapped up into the soft press of his lips to hers and the gentle stroke of his fingertips over her cheek.
SIXTEEN
Frederick brushed his lips over hers. The light, teasing touches were strategy on his part—because he didn’t want to frighten her and potentially have her change her mind. Also, because he very much needed to temper his own raging desire. But like every time he kissed her, tenderness was short lived. His best intentions were forgotten in the heat of rising passions.
The soft sounds she made, sounds of surrender and pleasure, only further incited his desire. With her hands clutching at his coat and the softness of her body pressed against him, temptation was like a living thing—pulsing between them. She returned his kiss just as fervently. And when he pulled his lips from hers to drag them over the delicate column of her throat, she arched her neck to give him greater access. Allowing his teeth to scrape over one certain spot that made her shudder each time, he gloried in that unfettered response.
“Make love to me,” she whispered.
“We will be married in two days time,” he replied. “We have not passed the point of no return.”
“We will be married, so why should we wait?”
God, but she could tempt a saint. And he was hardly the paragon others accused him of being. “Why now? It cannot be just impatience.”
She looked down. “What if once we are married, you change your mind? What if you decide I am not perfect, after all? Then it’s too late and you’re stuck with me. I couldn’t bear that Frederick, to know that you were trapped by my side when you’d rather be anywhere else.”
“And you think making love to you will suddenly make the scales fall from my eyes? That’s not how it works, Charity. Typically, being intimate with a person makes them more appealing rather than less.”
Still, she refused to meet his gaze. “Typically, yes. But we aren’t typical, are we? Or I’m not. I’ll never be slim and petite. I’ll always be too tall, too round, too loud—too everything.”
Understanding dawned then. “Has someone said something about your appearance?”
“Not tonight… and no one here. But historically, yes. Father and mother have both pointed out on numerous occasions that I’d have better like finding a husband if I’d put down the tea cakes. ‘No man wants a wife who outweighs him’,” she parroted the words that had been spoken to her with a pained expression, a blush stealing into her cheeks.
Frederick was furious. “No one has the right to say such things to you. You are beautiful, Charity. From the moment I first saw you, I was struck by that. And then I came to know you. Your wit, charm, kindness and your exuberance for life—your spirit—have only made your beauty shine brighter. There is nothing that could ever change how I feel for you. Not tonight, and certainly not after I can truly call you my wife.”
“Then you aren’t hesitating because… because you don’t want me?”
He met her gaze and saw the uncertainty in her eyes, the fear of being rejected. And there was only one way he knew of to reassure her that his desire for her was very much present and accounted for. “I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you.”
“Show me,” she urged him.
Frederick shrugged out of his waistcoat, letting it fall to the floor. Then he tugged his shirt free from his breeches and pulled it over his head, tossing it aside. Divested of most of his clothing, spun Charity around and began unlacing her gown. The whole while, he pressed kisses to her neck and shoulders, grazing tender spots with his teeth and then soothing them with his tongue.
When the gown slipped from her shoulders, falling to her waist, he pushed it past her hips and let it puddle to the floor around her feet. Her petticoat followed. When she was clad in only her stays and chemise, he turned her to face him once more.
This time, when he kissed her, it wasn’t tender at all. It was hungry and insistent. Demanding. And heaven help him, she kissed him back just as fervently. Her arms wrapped about his neck, her breasts crushed against his chest. And all he could think about was sinking into her, of feeling the soft heat of her body surrounding him.
Without breaking the kiss, he guided them both back to his bed. When the backs of her knees hit the side rail, she stopped only long enough to climb in. Then she reached for him. No power on earth could have kept him from her in that moment. Climbing onto the bed with her, he pulled her to him, savoring the lush curves of her body as she pressed herself against him.
He hadn’t a hope of resisting her from the moment she stepped through his door.
* * *
Charity feltboth fear and anticipation. Fear that she would make a muddle of everything, that whatever happened between them would be disappointing to him in some way and that he would no longer want her. Those fears were irrational. She knew that logically, but she had to do something to silence the jeering voice inside her head. For all the stolen kisses that they had shared, for all the caresses and embraces that they’d managed to indulge in, the anticipation she felt when in his arms was greater than the fear. And with that, she gave herself up to rush of sensations he aroused within her.
As he pulled her closer, held her tighter, she reveled in it.. Every touch fanned the fire burning inside her. And the more he gave, the more she wanted. His lips moved over her skin, a series of soft kisses punctuated with the languid sweep of his tongue and the slight sting of his teeth as he scraped them gently over her tender flesh. All the while, his hands roamed her body. Each touch was different, some feather light and others firm, kneading. And soon it felt like her body was no longer her own. As if the sensations he’d elicited inside her had taken her over entirely. She could no longer think. Instead, she could only feel.
When his nimble fingers loosened the ties of her stays she didn’t protest. Instead, she shamelessly arched against him, silently pleading for his touch. He did not deny her. The first touch of his hands on her breasts, his fingertips teasing the hardened peaks, left her gasping. Those gasps swiftly became moans of pleasure as he kissed his way from her neck down, lower and lower.
He closed his lips over one pebbled bud, sucking it deeply into his mouth, and her gasps turned into desperate moans. Every tug of his lips arced through her, to the very center of her. Charity’s body heated, burning from within, as an unfamiliar tension began to wind within her. Then his hands were at the hem of her skirts, pulling them up, his knuckles raking against the soft skin of her inner thighs. But she was too lost to the feelings he’d stirred within her to be embarrassed. Acting purely on instinct driven by her own need, she parted for him, inviting him to touch her where no one ever had.
With every touch, it was a new discovery—of what she felt for him, of what her own body was capable of. She had never known that such pleasure could be had. And as his fingers stroked her most intimate places, that tension inside her coiled ever tighter. She felt as though he were a master musician and she was the instrument he played with such skill.
