Innocence (24 page)

“Don’t be nervous,” he said, and she shook her head in denial, studying him intently.

“Like what you see?” he asked, a surprising hint of insecurity in his tone.

“Oh, yes.” She breathed the words on a sigh, bringing a smile to his face. “But I want to touch you.”
 

“Who am I to deny you?”
 

He lay beside her on the bed, guiding her hand to towards him. Intrigued by the feel of the velvet soft skin that covered his steel hard member, she carefully encircled it with her fingers.

“It’s not always so prominent, is it?”
 

He chuckled. “It’s not supposed to be, but whenever you’re nearby it becomes problematic. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh, I have, but I thought it was your pistol.”

Nathaniel’s laughter turned to a moan when she stroked him, and she went to snatch her hand away.

“Don’t.” He covered her hand with his, holding it firmly in place.

“Did I do it wrong?”
 

“Quite the contrary,” he said, guiding her up and down his length in sure, firm strokes. Removing his hand, he allowed her the freedom to tentatively, and then more boldly, explore his heated flesh.
 

“But I think that had better be enough for now,” he added hoarsely after a few moments had passed.

“Why?” she said, reluctantly removing her hand.

“Because I’m supposed to be the one pleasuring you at this juncture, not the other way around.”

“Oh? I wasn’t aware there were specific rules of conduct pertaining to the art of lovemaking.”
 

Her teasing tone drew a bark of laughter from his lips.
 

“Minx.” He smiled before ordering, “Now, lay still.”

“Aye, aye, sir. Anything ye say, sir.” She mock saluted.

“I’m going to make you pay for your insubordination.” He ran a hand over her breasts and across her belly. “All. Night. Long.”

Lisa’s breath hitched. Was such a thing even possible?

Nathaniel moved further down the bed. She watched warily as he lifted one of her feet into his hands, trailing his fingers along the slender lines before caressing it with his lips. Her arches were ticklish, knowledge she feared he stored away to use against her on another occasion from the impish look he sent her way. But her toes, she discovered, were another matter altogether. Unexpectedly sensitive, she couldn’t help but moan when he nibbled on them with his teeth and lips.
 

“Please, stop,” she whispered before begging, “No, don’t stop.”
 

Nathaniel chuckled, dragging his tongue slowly along her instep before kissing and caressing his way along the length of her leg.

“Every part of you is beautiful,” he whispered huskily. “Your feet. Your calves. Your knees. Your thighs. And as for my current destination . . .”

Shockingly, he leaned close to the juncture of her thighs. Lisa’s eyes widened in alarm, but he forestalled her protest by moving back down the bed and picking up her other foot, starting the sweet torture all over again. This time, when he reached the top of her leg, he kissed and caressed all the way to the juncture of her thighs. She stared, stunned, when he proceeded to nuzzle the soft curls.
 

“Nathaniel, no.” She sat up, pushing at his shoulders ineffectually.
 

“It’s all right, sweetheart. I just want to taste you.”
 

“But . . . but . . ..” Her body arched when he brought his fingers to play and let them slide along her sex. Entering her with first one digit and then another, he stroked her rhythmically until she lay back upon the bed, overcome with sensation.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” He blew against the swollen nub he had revealed and teased with his thumb even as his fingers continued to move inside her.

Taking her incoherent murmurs as assent, he swiped his tongue along the delicate folds.

Lisa’s body clenched tightly around his fingers, and he repeated the action of his tongue.

“I can’t. You mustn’t. It’s too much.”

“I’ll stop if you want me to.” He looked up to meet her passion-clouded gaze. “But I’d like to keep going.”

“Why?”
 

“Because I enjoy bringing you pleasure. It rebounds on me, increasing the anticipation tenfold.”

“Oh.” Lisa sighed and let her head drop back onto the pillow. “Very well then. If you must.”
 

With a growl, he drew her swollen nub into his mouth. While suckling it gently with his lips and tongue, his fingers continued to stroke her until she felt the delightful pulses low in her belly that predicted she was near her peak. Frustratingly, Nathaniel slowed the pace, her indignant mews bringing a smile to his lips.

He really did seem to enjoy doing this extraordinary thing, but when he repeatedly brought her to the peak only to deny her the completion her body demanded, Lisa cried out his name. Reaching to tangle her hands in his hair, she held him firmly in place.

If he was going to torture her in such a fashion, then it was only fair he finish the task.

Humming against her extremely sensitised flesh, his fingers moved in time with the strokes of his tongue. Lisa whimpered, as she crested
the peak. Arching beneath him, her cries broadcast the intensity of her pleasure, while he milked every last shuddering contraction of bliss from her body. When she lay back, utterly replete, he traversed the length of her body. Kissing, caressing, tasting, and arousing along the way, his rigid member brushed against her.

Lisa couldn’t quite believe what he had done, or that she had allowed it. But, oh my, it had been wonderful.

Before meeting Nathaniel, she had been completely unaware this sensual, pleasurable, intimate world even existed. It saddened her to think if she had only ever received the instruction given to young ladies of quality, she would probably
never
have known.

“A well-bred young lady must submit to her husband when he visits her bedchamber. If he is a true gentleman, this will occur no more than once or twice a week during the first months of marriage and only until she becomes with child. She must remain absolutely still and silent, enduring the indignity and discomfort with stoicism. She must do nothing to encourage his behaviour in the hopes once she has provided the requisite heir and a spare, her husband will do the gentlemanly thing and cease from demanding his marital rights.”

Lady Moreton had been quite specific in her advice, which hadn’t altered the fact Lisa had been left with absolutely no idea about what she was speaking. Now, of course, she did. It pained her to think she could have gone to her marriage bed intent on heeding such instruction, thereby sabotaging any chance of a pleasant or fulfilling experience. Worse was the knowledge gentlemen apparently
required
such subservience and lack of responsiveness in their wives. Now that she understood Lady Moreton’s advice, other snippets surfaced in her memory, one pronouncement in particular making a dreadful sort of sense.

“If a young lady fails in her comportment and expresses enjoyment in the fulfilment of her duty, she will be viewed with disdain by her husband for demonstrating behaviour of a base manner, unbecoming of a lady.”

No wonder Nathaniel thought she must be of common blood if the women of the so-called upper classes were required to behave like blocks of ice, enduring their husband’s attention in repulsed silence until the ordeal was over. Considering the pleasure and enjoyment that was possible between willing partners, it was little wonder it had become common practice for gentlemen to dishonour their marriage vows and find some other female—besides their unresponsive wives—to share their beds. The entire practice was both a travesty and a recipe for disaster when it came to promoting marital harmony.

Putting off these depressing thoughts, Lisa refocused on Nathaniel’s expert ministrations. In stark contrast to their intended purpose, the resurfacing of these memories made her determined to express her enjoyment and love for him to the utmost. If that meant she was deemed “common and base” in the eyes of society, so be it. The more she learned of the world she had been born into, the less she wanted to be a part of it, anyway.

“Where have you gone, my darling?” Nathaniel asked, as they lay facing one another.

“I’m right here.” She snuggled against him, enjoying the feel of his warm, muscular, and very aroused body aligned with her own. “I was just thinking how wonderful it is to be with you in this way.”

“My sentiments exactly.”
 

Taking the initiative, she rolled onto her back, drawing him with her. “I want you inside me, Nathaniel,” she said, making her wishes perfectly clear.
 

Groaning, he reached between them, guiding his erection to her entrance and then slowly pushing forward.
 

“Are you all right?”
 

“Perfectly,” she whispered, losing herself in the depths of Nathaniel’s midnight blue eyes. “I want you in every way.”

Unable to promise forever, Lisa was determined to give him all of her for as long as she could.

She cried out as his body moved over her, filling her again and again. Wrapping her arms and legs around him, just as he’d wrapped himself around her heart, Lisa welcomed him inside her, flexing her hips to meet his powerful thrusts.

“God, yes.” He moved faster, harder.

Holding his weight on his arms so as not to crush her, he captured her lips. His touch, his scent, the sheer force of his masculinity caused pleasure to fire along her veins, take up residence in her quivering muscles, and shimmer over her skin. While revelling in the journey, she looked forward with sweet expectation to reaching the destination he had introduced her to for the first time only the night before.
 

Three times now Nathaniel had gifted her with an experience of sublime pleasure. While her love for him had transformed her heart, the bliss she’d discovered in his lovemaking had changed the way she viewed her body

Lisa was an innocent girl no longer, for she’d become a woman in Nathaniel’s arms.

Before long, her inner muscles contracted around him as ecstasy overwhelmed her once more. His cry of completion was like music to her ears, or would have been if it did not herald his sudden withdrawal. Refusing to be disappointed, she held him close as he shuddered in her arms. When their hearts slowed and breaths no longer came in pants, Nathaniel rolled them over so Lisa lay on top of him.
 

“I love you,” she whispered, looking down into his eyes. “I love you, and I always will.”

“As I love you,” he said, stunning her with his admission. “I never expected to say the words, certainly never expected to mean them, but I love you, Lisa, with all my heart.”

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks.

“Ah, sweetheart.” Smiling softly Nathaniel wiped them away. “Don’t cry. We’re going to be so happy together, I
promise
. I will love you forever.”

“Forever.” She echoed.
 

Cupping his face with her hands, she imbued her kiss with all the emotion she felt in her heart.
 

When Lisa awoke, the room was cloaked in darkness, and she tensed.

“
Hush
.” Nathaniel crooned the word close to her ear, and she relaxed against him.
 

He was wrapped around her from behind, his naked chest pressed to her back with their legs nestled together. With one arm across her stomach, he held her against him, his hand gently cupping her breast.

“I’m here,” he whispered.
 

She snuggled into his intimate embrace. “I’m so very glad you are.”

“Oh? And why would that be?”
 

“Because I thought we could talk?”
 

“
More
talk?” He rocked his hips against hers, his perpetually aroused member prodding against her bottom.

“You did say we could talk
after
.”
 

“
After
implies something is over or finished.” Nathaniel trailed his hand across her belly on a determined journey to the rather damp curls at the apex of her thighs. “And, my lovely girl, I can assure you, I am far from
finished
.”