Page 44 of Lord Trafford's Folly
Julius turned back toward the bed, Audrey clinging to him like creeping ivy while his lips nuzzled against the sensitive skin at the base of her throat. His deft fingers worked the fabric-covered buttons of her bodice. Soon, its tight embrace saggedwhile he turned to lower her onto the mattress. He tugged the gown down to her waist, and she obligingly raised her hips so he could yank it off.
Once he removed it, his sartorial nature got the better of him—he straightened the garment out and hung it over the back of the armchair next to the bed. Audrey grinned at his meticulous care. He returned to stand over her, his gaze caressing over her bosom with keen appreciation. Her breathing was labored with her frustrated passion, but she eyed him back, admiring his tall form and the ripple of muscle beneath his bronzed skin as she watched him watching her.
Julius rubbed his jaw. “I find I am not as disciplined in this as I might be. Having a maiden in my bed is something of a novel experience,” he admitted in a hoarse voice, a flush rising up his neck and cheeks.
“I am not a maiden,” she responded simply. “I am Audrey.”
His face gradually split into a wide grin, his humor restored. “That you are.”
With that, he leaned over her to work off the shift that was the last remaining item of clothing on her quivering, aroused figure.
He threw the shift aside with far less attention than he had given her gown, returning his gaze to the swell of her breasts before falling to the shadowed cleft between her legs. Audrey blushed, raising a hand to cover herself, but he leaned over to capture it against her thigh and continued to look, skimming gentle fingertips over the length of her stomach. Then even lower with ragged control, dipping a single finger to flicker along her crease. She tossed her head back, gasping at the searing escalation of pleasure.
Julius watchedin raptures as Audrey writhed at his touch. Just a week ago, he had provided instruction to his new chum, Abbott, on bedding a maiden. Turned out it was easy to dispense the advice when one had no stake in the game. To deflower a virgin, as Audrey had requested he do, was more daunting than he had thought.
But …
I am up for a challenge.
Audrey was a delight. Responsive. Untamed. He almost wished they could be a proper man and wife so he might school her in the art of love over the coming months, reveal new heights of thrilling enjoyment as he savored the task of indulging her in the numerous forms of bedding.
What a complicated situation they were heading into. He would wed her to protect her, but he had no intention of staying by her side, so what did that mean? Would she enjoy this and perhaps a wedding night, and then never be bedded again? That seemed a great pity and unfair somehow.
Julius shoved the thought aside. It was not his usual inclination to overthink things in the heat of passion. Right now, he had a beautiful woman displayed on the bed. Who desired him, and it was his duty to please her.
Tossing the rest of his considerations to the floor to fall beside her shift, Julius leaned a knee between Audrey’s parted legs so he might take care of those unbound orbs, tipped with pink nipples that made his mouth water in anticipation. His palm came up to cup her full breast, plumping it up so he could run his tongue on the hardened tip. He groaned, her sweet, feminine fragrance overwhelming his senses more thanany perfume could. She tasted of honey, and herbs, and fresh country air, and he wanted all of it.
Audrey bucked her hips in response. She bore little resemblance to a naïve maiden. The problem was, she did share one important aspect with other maidens … her maidenhead.
Julius moved to the neglected bud, tipping the other creamy globe, chastising himself to be gentle. Each time they came into proximity, it was as if a siren’s call had been sounded. Except it was not he who would be beaten on the rocks, but Audrey who would be hurt if he kept losing his head. He caressed the breast, brushing strokes against the sensitive side while he tried to think how to bring her to her peak without smothering her with his lust.
She moaned, pushing up against him to send a fresh wave of lust sparking into his groin. By Jupiter, he took pride in his finesse bedding a woman, but Audrey crept under his skin and fractured his self-control.
Rolling off Audrey, he pulled his body away to regain command over their coupling. His hand slid down, teasing her with a languid pace that made her hips rock in protest. Licking his lips, he continued his path to the silky curls that shielded her, teasing his fingertip fleetingly over her slick crease. Audrey cried out, and he repeated the vexatious stroke, willing his ardor into retreat when he dipped in to trace the honeyed petals of her sex.
Audrey gyrated up in pleading response, but Julius retreated then returned until, with torturous discipline, he nudged his fingertip into her tight, slick channel. He pulsed his finger in and out while his Audrey keened and wailed, biting down on her forearm to muffle the threatening scream. Julius fought his urge to possess her, push her down into the mattress with his weight and take his pleasure. Instead, with infinite patience he did not feel, he continued his teasing touch until he found her pleasure building. Rhythmically, he stroked her to her climax, nearlyspending when she cried out, her intimate muscles spasming around his finger.
He rode out the waves of her pleasure with thin resolve until she relaxed from her arched position. Julius rose from the bed, struggling out of his buckskins in clumsy impatience. His cock was harder than it had ever been, the desire to possess the goddess in his sheets fueling his lust to hitherto unknown heights. Desperate to sink into her inviting heat, he fumbled around for the French letter she had brought to his bed. Barking in triumph, he sheathed his length in the animal gut before rolling back to settle between her legs.
Drawing a fortifying breath, he reached up to run a trembling finger over the curve of her cheek. Audrey slowly opened her eyes, the liquid silver causing his heart to hitch.
My God, she is beautiful.
The sight of Audrey flushed with her sated pleasures, the creamy curves cradling his hard body, her pink lips, and nipples tightened into sharp points. He could not recollect a moment when he was so enraptured. Mayhap because they were chums, perhaps because he admired the content of her soul, or mayhap it was her innocent curiosity. He shifted his hips in discomfort, the desire to thrust into her overwhelming as he fought for his control. She was tight and inexperienced, he berated to himself.
“It will hurt.”
Audrey pulled a face as if to tell him he was daft, rolling her pelvis up to coax him into motion. Julius swallowed, lowering himself to the cradle of her hips. Guiding his length, he teased over the swollen folds, again and again, unhurried, until Audrey’s eyes flickered shut and she began her arousing undulation. Soon he had her heated, panting for him, and he gradually nudged into her then retreated, building her pleasure anew now that she was more prepared to receive his invading thrust after her initial peak.
Her eyelids flew open, an expression of impatient outrage on her features, when she surprised him by bucking her hips into a high arch to sheath him to the hilt with a gasping sob.
Julius froze, surprised by her ferocious thrust and watching her with shock as he struggled to remain still in the warmth of her tight embrace. He took hold of her hip, delicately lowering them both to the mattress.
Julius waited, stunned by what she had done, anguished—terrified—that he had injured her when she remained silent and taut. Just as he considered saying something, Audrey relaxed around him. To his great relief, she gyrated her hips. Sweet relief flooded into his head and, needing no further invitation, he withdrew to plunge in. He tossed his head back, overcome by the sensation of her wrapped around him, startled by the depth of his pleasure.
Reaching down, he stroked his finger over the tender nub that wrought her climax, a rhythmic sweeping the way she liked until she was flushed and keening, her head arching back into the pillow. Thrusting into her, he enjoyed the waves of her pleasure building until she cried out and her pulsing response rushed over him, then his hips thrust forward in a final plunge as he spilled his seed within her throbbing channel.
Once he had caught his breath, Julius rolled off her and pulled her into his embrace to bury his face in the sweet, blonde hair that had come undone to lie in disarray over the pillows and sheets.
