Page 82 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
Halfway along the hall, Piers stopped and set Maggie on her feet in front of a plain brown door. He fished in his pocket and produced a key. After slipping it into the lock, he opened the door and pulled Maggie inside.
She was met with the sight of a simple unadorned bedroom. A large bed with a blue-and-white-checked coverlet sat in the middle, but there was not a single painting or hanging on the wall.
He caught her questioning gaze. “I don’t spend a lot of time here, so decorating my private apartment hasn’t ever been a priority. Now that you are the lady of the Grange, I am trusting you will remedy whatever you feel is lacking in both our room and the rest of the house.”
“To be honest, I haven’t taken much of anything in since we arrived,” she replied.
The expression of concern on his face was more than just endearing—it was beautiful. Knowing that the man who was now her husband understood her so well had Maggie blinking back a tear.
Piers drew her into his arms, placing a tender kiss on her lips. She shivered as his kiss drifted from her lips, across her cheek, and to her ear.
“Just like I said that night, we will take things slowly,” he whispered.
“I don’t mean to be a timid bride; it’s just that I’ve heard all manner of first-time stories. But I am sure once we have been together, things will be fine,” she said.
Piers drew back. “I have a confession to make. I’m also nervous.” He licked his lips and softly chuckled. “It’s my first time, too.”
You could have knocked Maggie over with a feather. The thought that Piers, tall, dark, and commanding, could possibly still be a virgin hadn’t ever crossed her mind. She had naturally assumed that he would be like so many other men of London society—experienced in the bedroom.
But she wasn’t disappointed to discover that she would be his first. It was exciting to know that no other woman would know Piers. That for all time, he would be just hers.
You are mine. And none other shall have you.
“Well then. I guess, we are going to take things slowly,” she replied.
They held one another for a short while, simply hugging, offering reassurance. Hundreds of other couples faced this same situation every day. There was no reason why they couldn’t successfully navigate their way through things.
In time, they would learn the secrets of one another’s bodies, discover pleasure together. That thought was enough to have Maggie relaxing into Piers’s embrace. She loved that he had been saving himself for marriage. It was touching. Respectful.
“May I unlace your gown?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He turned her in his arms and set to work on the ties at the back of her dress. Maggie slipped her arms out of the sleeves and the dress dropped, pooling at her feet. She stepped over the fabric and toed the gown aside. All that remained were her stays and petticoat. Piers rid himself of his jacket, and waistcoat.
When he reached for his cravat, Maggie lay her hand over his. “I want to do that. I’ve always itched to slip the knots of a man’s necktie open.”
She might have been an innocent, but she understood temptation. And lust.
His hands fell to his sides as Maggie loosened the knot. She hummed softly, drawing the cravat from around his neck, then dropped it to the floor where it joined the rest of their discarded garments.
Piers sank to his knees before her. His hands rested on either side of her hips, drawing her to him. For a man with no experience of sex, he made surprisingly short work of her undergarments. He glanced up at her. “There are some bookshops in London which sell what they politely describe as titillation tomes. Very thorough with their descriptions, while others have quite detailed drawings.”
Maggie gasped. She could just picture Piers reading and absorbing every word and illustration. Reclined on his bed, book in one hand and . . .
She bent and tapped her finger gently on his nose. “Tell me, Lord Woodford, with these books—did you pleasure yourself while you read them?”
The last of her clothes disappeared from her body, leaving Maggie naked. It came as somewhat of a surprise. She had been so caught up with imagining Piers and his naughty books, she had forgotten her husband was slowly stripping her clothes away.
“I did. And that night after we returned to the house from stargazing, when I almost broke and made you mine, I knew you were angry with me, and I couldn’t sleep. So, I read a whole chapter of one book and touched myself while I thought of you.”
A whoosh escaped her lips. He had been thinking of her. As his gaze drifted appreciatively over her body, Piers drew in a deep breath and whispered, “Beautiful. I am so fortunate, happy beyond words to know that you are mine. I love you, Maggie.”
She blinked back a tear. “I love you, Piers. Being your wife is a dream come true.”
He cupped his hands over Maggie’s buttocks, pulling her hips forward. “Rest your hands on my shoulders. I am going to show you exactly what was in the book I read that night.”
She did as he asked, biting down on her lip as his knee pushed her legs apart. The instant his tongue touched the tip of her sex, she closed her eyes.
