Page 51 of Gambling with the Earl
She tried to stand but her heavy skirts pulled her back down into the slippery, soft sands. Instantly his strong hands were beneath her, lifting her to safety. She balanced herself against him as the waves crashed against their legs and once again his warm lips found hers. His arms gripped her tightly and before she knew what was happening, he had scooped her up and was carrying her up the beach.
“Your arm,” she protested.
“Hush,” he growled in reply. But he shifted her in his grasp so that his left arm was merely beneath her knees with his otherarm bearing most of her weight. She let her head fall against his salt-flecked shoulders, tasted the sea upon his sun-baked flesh. He stifled a groan as her tongue moved against the hollows in his neck. “You drive me wild with longing.”
Good. She had no experience of such things, but she implicitly wanted to give him pleasure.
He carried her to where the rearing cliffs cast some welcome shade onto the hot sand, sank to his knees and lowered her gently down. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he whispered, gazing into her eyes.
In answer she rose up on her elbows and kissed him deeply. He groaned out loud as he wrapped his arms around her, and she allowed her hands to travel across the muscular expanse of his chest. Kitty had always been tall, but crushed in his embrace, she felt dainty and feminine.
He pushed himself to the side, keeping one hand securely in the small of her back and with the other, he began to carefully unlace her kirtle. She wriggled at his slow pace, wanting to feel the warmth of his hands on her flesh, but he chuckled softly and spoke against her mouth.
“All in good time, my sweet girl.”
At last, the clinging material loosened away from her. He parted the gown and ran his hands over her shoulder blades, skimming his fingers beneath the straps of her chemise. A coil of tension grew tighter in her core.
“Guy,” she whispered, twisting her fingers in his thick, water-logged hair.
He lowered his face to her breasts, only the thin fabric of her chemise coming between his hot breath and her untouched flesh. Then he rose up, leaving her momentarily bereft, and reached out to fully open her kirtle, moving all the time with unhurried, sensual slowness. His eyes travelled hungrily down the length of her body, lingering over her breasts andthe darkness between her thighs. She followed his eyeline and flinched when she realised her chemise had grown transparent with seawater.
“You are beautiful,” he said. Then he dipped his head and took the rosy nub of her breast inside his warm mouth, sucking and pulling, exploring all he could. Kitty writhed with new longing, arching her back against him and closing her eyes in ecstasy. His hand travelled down her body, over the swell of her hips and the concave dip of her belly, to rest just above where the new cravings of her body told her she most wanted him.
She wriggled in the sand, needing to tip his fingers lower, but with his other hand he caressed her left breast, stroking with his fingers and tickling her with his tongue. Her breath came in hot, jagged bursts when he once again took her tender nipple inside his mouth.
Now, at last, his lower hand was moving, slipping downwards between her legs. The salty wetness of her chemise chafed at her thighs, and as if divining that this would be no good, Guy reached down and hitched up her underskirt. She sighed with deep relief as his gentle probing finally found her curls. A delicious tension was spreading out inside her, suffusing her limbs with heavy passion. His lips lowered to hers for the briefest kiss and then suddenly, his fingers were inside her.
She gasped with surprise and understanding. This was what she had wanted. How did he know how to touch her in such a precise way? It was as if she’d been made with the curve of his fingers in mind. Tension mounted in her core and for a moment, she couldn’t hear the waves or the gulls, she forgot about her wet dress and the cool sand, all she could feel was Guy’s touch and her urgent need for him. Waves of pleasure rippled over her as her body raced towards a destination she didn’t understand. But oh, when she arrived, the release was sudden and startling andall-consuming. He stilled his fingers but stayed inside her as she clenched tightly around him, her lips parting in surprise.
“Beautiful, beautiful,” he murmured, skimming his lips across her clavicle and then laying his head down beside hers.
Kitty blinked, struggling to catch her breath. Her heart pounded as the world steadied around her.
Guy gently removed his hand, stroking her body as he brought it back up to her shoulders and pulled her towards him.
“Is all well, Kitty?” he asked.
She had no words and no voice to say them with. She could only move closer into his embrace, fitting her head beneath his shoulder blades where it seemed to belong.
“Talk to me,” he urged, lifting her chin and gazing into her eyes.
Did he expect to see regret in her gaze? He could look forever without finding it, for she had none. She had made her choice when they stood together in the waves, nay, earlier, when she ran her fingers along his muscled shoulders and felt him quiver at her touch. But she had never anticipated the execution of that choice to be so…wonderful.
This handsome man had touched the secret parts of her. She had given herself to him. He’d taken her to heights of pleasure she’d never dreamed of, and now he asked if she was well.
She pressed her lips to his. “I never thought it could be like that.”
His hand moved into her hair. “It isn’t always. Only when two people really,” he paused, “want to be together.”
She traced circles on his chest, enjoying the way he responded to her touch and shocked by her own daring. Her hand moved lower, towards the flat plane of his stomach, and she heard his breath catch in his throat.
“I want to be with you,” she whispered. “And I want to give you pleasure, like you just did for me.”
He groaned, but reached out to still her exploratory touch.
“I would like that very much,” he chuckled, interlacing his fingers with hers and flattening her palm against his ribs. “Believe me.”
“Then why do you stop me?” She pushed herself onto her elbows and looked down upon him, at the curve of his lips, the strong arch of his cheekbones and his dark eyes, flashing with desire.
