Page 77 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
When he was clothed in his shirt and his trousers only, and she in her dress, the buttons undone to her stomach, his palm caught her nape and pulled her close so he might kiss her once more. That second kiss was long enough to leave her lips and the black pupils at the heart of her eyes swollen.
She breathed in, as if she’d been dying of thirst too, and breathed out her relief.
‘How are you, Caro? I have been in agony waiting to be alone like this.’ He pulled her dress off her shoulders and pushed it down over her chemise and petticoats, until it fell to the floor.
‘I missed you yesterday.’ She stepped out of the dress, and he bent to pick it up.
‘Mary told me about your callers.’ He folded the dress and put it on a chair. ‘I wish I had been there. I will be there tomorrow. Will you turn?’
She turned her back so he might unlace her short corset. ‘Your presence will make no difference.’
‘No, but you will know I am there.’ She tipped her head back onto his shoulder as he removed the garment of her short corset from her shoulders. He threw it aside, so it landed on top of her dress. Then his hands covered and held her breasts through the fine cotton of her chemise, and he kissed her neck, below her ear.
She sighed into the air.
They ought not to be here, and yet no one knew they were, it was as though they were not – this was their secret world.
She turned in his arms. ‘Where is your bed?’
A smiled kicked at the edges of his lips. ‘Through here.’ He led her by the hand.
A single chest of drawers stood against one wall, and the bed against another. She did not look at them, she looked at him.
‘Shall I light a fire?’ he offered.
‘No, we will be warm enough beneath the covers.’
‘Sit on the bed and I will take off your boots and stockings.’ He unlaced her walking boots, slid them from her small feet, then untied the ribbon of her garters, and rolled her stockings off her legs. ‘Take off your petticoats, chemise and drawers and slip beneath the covers before you become cold, while I take off my boots and finish undressing.’
He sat on the edge of the bed, yanking at his boots, as she quickly finished undressing, lifted the blankets and sheet and slid beneath, smiling at him.
The first boot dropped to the floor with a thud. He removed the other, then stood and stripped off his trousers, underwear and stockings. Lastly, he pulled off his shirt, then rushed to join her in the bed.
When they had lain together naked it had been in the dark. Now he could see every glorious detail of her body.
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Caro shivered. The sheets were cold. ‘Warm me up, Rob.’
‘Yes, m’lady.’ His hand ran over her hip, then upwards. He cupped her breast and she rolled onto her back and despite the cold, her arms lifted above the covers as he sucked her breast. His mouth was warm.
The sheets of his bed smelt of him.
His teeth caught her nipple and bit gently. She pulled a strand of his hair in return.
He laughed against her skin, then his kisses pressed across her middle, and ran down to her stomach.
Sunlight poured through a tall narrow window. The clouds had cleared to blue sky in the distance, above the rooftops.
His fingers touched between her legs.
‘I have dreamed of this so many times,’ Rob said, before he moved down the bed.
‘I dreamed of this too.’
He held her thighs gently as his lips, tongue and teeth caressed her.
Her body arched against him. She was not cold any more. Hermind was completely lost in the sensations of adoration. The amber cross on her necklace slid across her throat as her body moved, her hips lifting and lowering rhythmically. She died her little death on his tongue, and her body sank into the soft bed that smelt of him.
