Page 72 of A Lady's Past
When nothing happened, she peeked out of one eye.
Propped on one elbow, Jacques frowned down at her. “You look as if I will murder you.”
“It’s all right, Jacques. I can endure the pain to give you pleasure.”
In a flash, she was under him.
She gasped, then stilled and braced herself.
He remained perched on his elbows with his pelvis pressed to hers. The thick base of his shaft nudged at her folds. “Diana, I will not hurt you. I will never hurt you. It would be nice if you could forget everything about your earlier encounter. While that was sex, it was not lovemaking.”
Try as she might, she couldn’t fathom what he meant. The act was unpleasant, but what they had done before made it worth it and she wanted him to have the same pleasure he’d given her.
The more she tried to relax the tighter her muscles became. When Jacques rolled away, she missed his weight.
He aligned his body to hers again and caressed her from breast to belly. “I think we shall try something else.”
“I’m sorry. I know I’m not good at this. It’s only the pain and embarrassment. I promise it will be all right.” She rolled to face him. He was so beautiful with the firelight shining on his skin. She touched the smattering of hair on his chest, hoping that giving herself would keep him from abandoning her.
“Diana, you are all I have thought about for months. This moment is one in thousands of moments we will share. It is not the beginning and the end. It is pleasure, not pain. I just need you to trust me.”
“I do trust you.” How could he think she didn’t? She was making a mess of everything.
His lips touched hers and thinking became harder. Keeping her wits about her stopped being as important when his tongue mingled with hers. Wet, warm delight started that now-familiar tightening low in her abdomen.
Moaning and gasping filled the room, and Diana had a vague notion that those sounds were coming from her as Jacques’s fingers slid between her thighs. She bucked and pressed against the delight he recreated. The rapturous pull edged closer.
Jacques’s weight shifted, and he pressed her thighs farther apart. Their hips met, and his fingers were replaced by firm pressure. “Diana, look at me.”
She opened her eyes.
Intense desire filled those dark eyes.
Her core tightened, wanting him to fill her. There was no pain as she lifted her hips to take him.
He stilled while her body adjusted to the fullness. Pleasure spread from where their bodies connected. Nothing had prepared her for the sense of completion. Together they made something perfect. Heart pounding, she relaxed and brought him in deeper.
Jacques moaned and closed his eyes but didn’t move.
Pulling her hips back created another wave of delight. She arched her hips off the mattress, taking him in again. With a mind of its own, her body pulled him in and released him over and over.
“Diana, you are too wonderful for words.” He met her thrust with his own, changing the tempo.
There was nothing but Jacques and her as the world slipped away. Ecstasy bloomed in a slow rise. Then she tumbled over the edge.
Jacques’s thrusts intensified, drawing out her pleasure. Deep and warm, his seed spilled, and he collapsed on his elbows.
It was the most beautiful moment Diana had ever experienced. She wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him down on her.
Rolling to one side, he took her with him.
When he slid out of her, she missed the fullness, but exhaustion and satisfaction were too intense to complain. “Is that normal?”
He smiled against her forehead. “It is for us, goddess.”
“Will you leave me now?” She’d meant for the night, but also forever. He might love her, but the good sense of Middleton’s warning would eventually hit him. At least she would have a beautiful memory to hold on to.
“I will never leave you, but I will have to go back to my own bed before the servants wake.” He kissed her nose. “Sleep, Diana.”
