Page 57 of An Innocent Maid for the Duke
His member jerked.
Her gaze whipped up to his face.
He nodded. ‘Your words caused that.’
And if she suited the deed to the words? She reached out to trace a fingertip down the hard length until she encountered the soft springy hair at the base. Then she cupped him beneath, wondering at the softness and vulnerability. He must trust her to let her handle him in this way.
He put his hand over hers and showed her how to caress him firmly, curling her fingers around his shaft and sliding them up and down. He released her hand and she tried it for herself, keeping her grip firm, revelling in the hard shape of him beneath the surprisingly silky skin.
He grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘Enough or this will be over too soon.’ He climbed up beside her and pressed one thigh between hers while his hands buried themselves in her hair.
* * *
Her eyes reminded him of the soft green that heralded spring. Alive and lively, but mysteriously opaque. He’d done his best to stay away from her, to be honourable, but one crook of her finger and here he was. No other woman had ever had him dancing on a string the way this one did. Though there was no triumph in her expression. Or greed. Only affection.
She asked for nothing, when others would have bargained for the moon. Had she done so, he might have tried to get it for her, too.
He shook his head at the astonishing thought. If he ran true to past form, now that she wanted him the way he had wanted her, he would grow bored very quickly and be ready to move on.
Not that he’d ever really encountered another woman like Rose. She was innocent, but wise beyond her years, intelligent, but ill schooled, lovely but without artifice. And she was his.
For now.
Most humbling of all was that she had chosen him to be her first lover.
Guilt racked him. He’d been selfish the last time. Presuming and unthinking when he should have known better. This time he would make it perfect.
She reached up and stroked her small hands over his shoulders. Down his back. His skin shivered at her touch.
He bent his head and took her lips, kissing her until neither of them had breath. His heart pounded against his ribs. His body fought for control, but this time it was all about her. About Rose. He shifted his attention from her lips to her ear, his tongue tracing the delving deep. On a soft cry, she arched up, pressing her lovely soft breasts with their hardened peaks against his chest.
He cruised down her throat, tasting her collarbone, licking at the pulse points on his way, until he nuzzled into her lovely cleavage, intent on gifting her with every bit of his skill. She deserved that and more after he’d been so careless the first time, thinking her experienced.
It still made his stomach knot when he recalled how thoughtless he’d been. And how awed at her gift.
She shuddered and moaned, her fingers digging into his back. Encouraging him to greater efforts.
He smiled.
‘Why are you laughing?’ she asked, her voice husky with passion.
‘I’msmilingbecause I am happy.’ He licked first one nipple, pausing to watch it bead into a tight little nub, then the other. He cupped her breast in his hand and swirled his tongue around that hard little peak, flicking at it until she squirmed beneath him, then taking it into his mouth, letting her feel his teeth in a gentle graze before suckling.
Her hips rolled against his groin, so sweet an appeal it almost undid his good intentions. He shifted away and let his hand drift down her flat belly to the sweet little triangle of blonde curls, stroking and petting while she moaned and tried to increase the pressure of his hand on her mons.
He pressed down with the heel of his hand and when she sighed her approval he gently parted her folds, one fingertip slipping inside her warm damp heat. Hot silky smooth softness. Still so damned tight. He caressed and stroked until she opened her thighs wider, giving him deeper access.
A quick learner his Rose. He licked and teased the other nipple. She pressed down on his nape, telling him silently what she wanted. He suckled. Drew hard. She cried out and her body tightened, before climaxing in a rush of heat and dampness and tight muscles around his finger.
Breathing hard, she lay lax, looking up at him from beneath lowered lids, her lips parted in a smile of surprise and pleasure. Something in his chest tugged. As if a part of him had attached itself to her.
Not possible. He had no wish for deep attachments. Never had. People he cared for always abandoned him when he needed them most. His mother, Ralph, even his father. All right, so it wasn’t their fault, but the pain of it had been intolerable. He refused to go through that again.
When he married, it would be to a woman to whom he would not be emotionally attached. As long as he liked her, that would be all that mattered.
He didn’t like Lady Alicia and her ilk. A woman like her would drive him mad in half a day, but there were other women he’d met who were not so silly. Sensible women. He was sure of it.
But he really liked Rose.
