Page 33 of Bedding the Marquess
True to form, Gideon reassured her that he would pull the same face right back at Lady Underhill each time she made it, regardless of how insane it made him appear. Of course, Caroline could not decline witnessing such a thing, so she donned her best persimmon-colored gown with ivory lace trim, as well as the pearls she’d received for her sixteenth birthday. She’d felt beautiful and confident, and she’d also had the best night of her life—up to that point.
She and Gideon had danced several times despite Society’s dictates regarding the number of occasions an unmarried couple might visit the dance floor. He’d twirled her about, made her laugh until she could hardly breathe, and, true to his word,pulled hideous faces at her each time Lady Underhill made one of her own. It had been a brilliant night. Her feet had ached, as had her sides and cheeks from laughing and smiling as much as she did. Never before had she been so uninhibited, so free. And Gideon had given her those wings.
They’d danced together many times over the years, both before and after the Underhill gathering, but nothing compared to this first time…as his wife.
Caroline swallowed hard and placed her hand in his. The warmth of his palm was searing and her nipples pebbled with the memory of those hands on her only a short time ago.
The first notes we played and, as the dance began, it became apparent that Gideon’s mind was on a similar vein.
“I remember with burning intensity the last time we danced together,” he purred into her ear, low enough that he could not be overheard by any of the other dancers. She felt the rumble of his words in every part of her body as he held her indecently close for the dance and guided her with expert care.
“Oh?” she asked, though she recalled precisely the occasion he was referencing.
“Yes. You asked me for a favor…and I agreed.” A shiver of pleasure tickled her spine at the memory. That was the night she’d asked Gideon to take her to bed. “We danced a waltz much like this one. When it was over, you leaned in and asked me to take you outside for some air. You looked a little piqued, so it seemed an entirely plausible request. Little did I know what you were working up the nerve to ask.
“You smelled of sugar and cinnamon from dessert and it made my mouth water. You told me that you’d given it a great deal of thought—that we’d known one another for many years and you trusted me with your life—and you wanted to know if I would grant you a night of pleasure.” He leaned in and his hotbreath tickled her ear. “What else could I do but say yes when you’d just offered to make all my fantasies come true?”
He went on to detail their escape from the event and the mad dash to his townhouse. They hadn’t been able to wait long enough to make it to his bedchamber, so they collapsed together on the chaise in the parlor. He told her how hard he’d been, how long he’d secretly desired her, how much he’d wanted to make it good for her. He remembered the sounds she made when he freed her perfect breasts from her gown and suckled her sweet nipples, how tight she’d been around his fingers and convinced him he’d surely die on the spot the second he sank into her, how good she’d tasted when he’d licked every last drop of her first orgasm from his fingers. “I knew from the first moment I touched you that there would be no going back for me. As much as I tried to tell myself that this would be a one-time occurrence just as you said it would be, I knew in my soul that I could never live like that. As soon as you parted your beautiful legs for me and guided me inside of you, I was lost.”
Caroline was practically panting by the time he’d finished, and it took several heartbeats for her to realize that they’d stopped moving and the other dancers were forced to avoid them.
“Gideon,” she croaked, “the dance.”
“To hell with the dance,” he growled and then guided her from the dance floor and through the crowd. He pulled her into the hallway and led her up a smaller set of stairs that would eventually bring them to the proper wing. She was at first confused by the circuitous route, but then she realized it made the aim of their retreat less obvious to anyone who might have seen them.
“We cannot abandon the party,” Caroline protested weakly, her mind and her body at war with one another.
“We most certainly can,” he shot over his shoulder. “We are newlyweds, and it is expected of us; besides, we are technically still on our honeymoon trip.”
Gideon didn’t thinkhe’d ever undressed so quickly. For that matter, he wasn’t sure he’d ever undressed a woman with as much speed and skill before. It wasn’t but five minutes before they were falling on the bed together in a tangle of limbs. There had always been a spark between them but never was that more evident than in the bedroom. They’d formed a level of trust through their years of friendship rarely seen in married couples of theton—let alone recently wed ones.
Despite Caroline’s unfortunate past with the male persuasion, she did not demonstrate the slightest bit of fear where Gideon was concerned. He assured her time and time again that she was the one in charge—could say no at any moment or change anything she did not care for—and merely knowing that seemed to be enough encouragement for her. She was easy to please, but that didn’t mean he would ever stop finding new ways to make her scream his name in delight.
Her nipples were highly sensitive, so he lavished them with extraordinary attention. He suckled and nipped, licked and stroked until she writhed beneath him. He didn’t stop until every inch of her had been covered in his kisses, from the pounding pulse in her throat to the virgin undersides of her breasts.
He wanted to taste her to see if there was any lingering evidence of their earlier coupling left between her thighs, but she gripped his shoulder before he could sink too low on the bed.
“I want a turn,” Caroline breathed, and Gideon’s heart skipped a beat. He was so caught off guard by her statement that it took a moment for his body to catch up with his brain. Eventually, he placed a kiss on her round belly and rolled off of her.
Immediately, Caroline turned to him and pressed her mouth to his in a sweet, tender kiss. Her hands gently raked through the light dusting of dark hair on his chest, trailed lower to the clenching muscles of his abdomen, and found the hard curve of his cock. He groaned when her nails tickled the pulsing vein on the underside of his shaft, shuddered when she took him in hand and gave him a few testing pumps.
“I love how you feel,” she said, a note of wonder in her voice. He was too lost to the sensations she was unleashing within him to do anything but stare unseeingly at the ceiling and listen to the melodic tones of her voice. Each slow glide of her hand was sheer torture of the most fantastical variety. He was already aching with the need for release, but he managed to stave it off. This woman drove him wild, but if she wanted to explore his body, then by God, he would let her even if it killed him. “So soft and hard at the same time.” Several more strokes. “May I taste you as you taste me? Would that bring you pleasure?”
“Yes!” he said almost before she was done asking her question. “Yes…if that is something you desire.”
“I do desire it,” purred the little minx as she slid down his body. “I desire it a great deal.” He watched unblinkingly as the tip of her tiny pink tongue darted out to lick the weeping head. “You taste salty…I like it.”
“Holy hell,” he gasped. “Again.” The word came out more plaintive than demanding.
She did as he asked, this time following the lick with an open-mouthed kiss. Gideon’s breath hissed through his teeth and then died away entirely as she took just the tip into her mouth, swirling her tongue along the soft skin edging the rim. He didn’t know how long he held his breath as she began her tentative experimentation, but he felt lightheaded as she sank a little lower and took him more deeply into her hot, wet mouth. His thighs trembled with his restraint; it took everything in himnot to buck up off the bed and press himself down her throat. He had to remember that she’d never done this before and they had a lifetime together for new, pleasurable adventures.
His breathing was labored and hitching as Caroline continued her ministrations. She licked and sucked her way down the considerable length of his shaft, kissed the tender sac beneath, and ripped a groan of pleasure from his chest. When she sank her mouth onto him as far as she could, Gideon saw stars.
“Bloody hell, Caroline,” he choked, watching her rose-gold head bob over his lap, her hand working in tandem with her mouth when she realized she could not take as much of him into her as she would have liked. His eyes trailed down the curve of her back to the perfect globes of her bottom where they wiggled in the air. “Touch yourself,” he growled through his teeth. “Touch your dripping cunny while you suck me.”
She whimpered around his head, but did as she was instructed. Her free hand snaked down between her body and the bed.
“Are you wet?” he demanded. She nodded in response, her eyes fluttering closed. “Mmmm. I love that you’re wet from just tasting me.” Everything tingled from his head to his toes. She was a serious threat to his sanity. Her body rocked against her fingers; her mouth and hand were less controlled as she, too, began to give herself over to the pleasure. Gideon didn’t mind, however, because watching her eyes flutter in rapture was one of the most glorious sights he’d ever beheld. “I want you to come with me inside of you. Will you do that for me?”
