Elizabeth Elliott (26 page)

“What are you doing?”

“I want to look at you.” He leaned over her to use both hands on the laces, trapping her hip beneath his arm. The simple weight and warmth of his body stirred an immediate response in her, a longing for more of him. Even his voice caused a tingling of sensual awareness. “I want to look at all of you.”

She tried to push his hands, but he brushed hers away as if nothing more bothersome than a fly disturbed his concentration on the task. Giving up the useless effort, she leaned back and cupped his face between her hands. “Does what I told you about my parents make no difference to you?”

“None at all,” he assured her, with a small grunt of satisfaction when he freed the knotted laces. His gaze returned to hers as he loosened the ties, a spark of some undefinable emotion in his eyes. “I would wipe away the sorrows of your past were it within my power to do so, but I will never hold you responsible for events beyond your control. What you told me only makes me realize the gift of your affections is greater than I thought. For years you have not allowed yourself to care for anyone. You resist what you feel for me because you are afraid you will lose me, that I will abandon you as your family abandoned you.”

“My family did not abandon me!”

“Nay, they died,” he said softly. “Yet the result is the same, is it not? Can you tell me that you never felt alone or abandoned all these years?”

She forced the word from her lips, but it came out as little more than a broken whisper. “Nay.”

“You are not alone anymore, Claudia.” His hand trapped hers against his face, and he turned his head to place a passionate kiss in her open palm. “I possess no jealous relatives who covet what is mine, and your uncle is more nuisance than threat. I would marry you if you were the bastard daughter of a fishmonger, or the rightful queen of England. I will give you children to cherish, just as I will cherish their
mother. And I will never leave you. No matter what happens, you will never be alone again.”

She shook her head in an almost frantic motion, afraid to believe him. Afraid that he knew too much of her fear and would use it against her.

“Aye, Claudia. You are mine, and I protect what is mine. Our children will never know the fear you have lived with all these years.” He brushed his thumb across her lower lip. “In time I will make you forget your fears and replace them with smiles. I want sleepy smiles when you wake up in my arms each morning. Sensual smiles when you arouse my passions at night. Playful smiles when you tell me I am pigheaded in my business ventures.” He kissed the corners of her mouth, gentle, undemanding kisses that melted her resistance. “That is one of the reasons I would marry you, sweetheart. Your smiles make me feel things I have never felt before. They are as addictive as a fine wine, and just as rare. I want them all.”

His mouth closed over hers before she could say anything, his kiss deep and possessive. She could taste his power, felt his strength surrounding her, holding her safe. An odd sensation returned, the same deep emotion she felt every time Guy took her into his arms. It was a sense of coming home. Her arms slipped around his neck, warm and welcoming. She was never afraid when he held her. She wanted to hold him forever.

“Slower this time,” Guy whispered, breaking away from her mouth. His lips moved along the delicate line of her jaw. “Much slower.”

He braced himself on his elbows, then his hands were at her shoulders, lowering her bodice and chemise to her waist. She pulled her arms free of the garments, her eyes locked with Guy’s until his lashes lowered and his gaze moved downward. She could feel him looking at her, his gaze as intimate as a caress. Overcome by a surge of modesty, she tried to cover herself. He caught her wrists and pinned them to the bed near her shoulders, exposing her completely to his examination.

“I want to know every part of you,” he murmured, his eyes hot and hungry. “Every luscious, beautiful inch of your body.” He pressed a kiss against the very center of her chest, moving his head back and forth so his rough cheeks rubbed against the cleft of her breasts. She felt as if he had started a fire inside her heart. She wanted to touch him. With her hands pinned and useless at her sides, she arched her hips toward him.

“Nay, sweet. There is more I must teach you.” His lips trailed over her breasts, touching her, kissing her. He circled one breast in an ever-tightening spiral, then took the nipple into his mouth.

Claudia tried to breathe, failed, then tried again with gasping success. He had touched her with lightning. He started to suckle and every emotion seemed to overflow her body. She twisted beneath him, desperate now to hold on to the storm itself. Then he was gone, the carnal kiss and his grip on her wrists at an abrupt end. She opened her eyes and found him standing next to the bed, his hands on the fastening of his breeks, his dark gaze burning into her, branding her as his own.

This time she didn’t look away. In fact, she sat up to take a better look at him. She took in the breadth of his shoulders, the way his muscles flexed and strained as he bent down to remove his clothing, then the startling sight of his arousal. He straightened and stood unmoving, letting her look her fill, his hands clenched at his sides. Every part of him looked braced against some invisible force like a warhorse reined hard. His low, seductive voice sounded amazingly controlled. “Take down your hair, Claudia.”

Her hands went to her hair, slowing the task when she realized he liked to watch the movements she made as she removed the ribbons that held her coiled braid in place. She started to unplait the braid, but he shook his head.

“The gown,” he muttered, his voice huskier. “Remove it.”

She felt a blush warm her cheeks, but hastened to obey.
Her hands went to her waist and she pushed the gown and chemise over her hips, then sat back to slide the garments over her legs and onto the floor where she wouldn’t be tempted to clasp them over her nakedness. He wanted to look at her. After all the staring she had done, she supposed he deserved an equal opportunity. Still, she hoped he would join her soon. She wanted the warmth of his big body next to hers.

Guy didn’t dare move. He held every part of himself tightly leashed except his eyes. His gaze moved freely over Claudia’s slender form, feasting on every part of her at once, then slowing to take in more detail. Her breasts were made to fit his hands. Her waist … Aye, her waist curved in an exact measure that he knew his hands would encircle just right. Her hips flared in gentle swells for no other reason than to give his hands more soft flesh to touch. He saw the soft triangle of curls between her legs, and his loins tightened. He forced himself to look lower, at her long, shapely legs, watched in fascination as she uncrossed her ankles and lay back against the pillows. She turned to her side, one hand resting on the bed in front of her, then rubbing that spot as if inviting him to join her. She was Eve, inviting him to Eden.

He took one step forward, then another. His legs felt made of lead, his joints as stiff as rusty armor, every muscle savagely controlled to keep himself from ravishing her. He glanced at her face, at her soft eyes and sweet, welcoming smile. She had no idea how much control he was exerting, or she would be on the other side of the room. Nay, out of the chamber entirely. The things he wanted to do to her, she couldn’t know any of them. Well, perhaps one or two, he amended, placing his knee carefully on the side of the bed.

Slow … slow … slow, he reminded himself. Cherish her. Let her touch you.

He took her hands and urged her to sit up, then to kneel before him so they were facing each other. His hands went to her sides, stroking downward to her waist, pausing to take her measure, then moving over her hips. “Touch me, Claudia.”

Her hands went to his chest, then moved slowly over his
shoulders. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and bit down on the succulent flesh. It looked delicious. He had to taste her. He lowered his head and brushed his mouth across hers until her lips parted, then caught her lower lip and bit gently. She moaned and clutched at his shoulders.

“Touch more of me,” he murmured, urging her hand lower. She stroked his waist and belly with the tips of her fingers until he thought he would go mad. His lips moved in a random line along the slender column of her neck and shoulders, raining kisses over her face, but avoiding her lips. He wanted to concentrate on what she was doing with her hands, on what he was doing with his own. He confirmed the shape of her breasts, finding the fit just as perfect as he knew it would be, delighting in the small sounds she made when he caught a nipple between his fingers and gently squeezed. His voice became almost unrecognizable. “Lower, Claudia.”

He was crazed. Did he think she needed more inventive ways to toture him? Somehow he ended up pressing her hand downward, then he released his grip on her wrist to see what she would do.

Her hand drifted lower. His body tightened in anticipation. The abrupt movement made her jerk her hand away.

“Did I do something wrong?” Claudia asked. She leaned back to eye him warily, but her gaze was far from his face.

“Nay. Do not stop.” He supposed it was the harsh sound of his voice that made her give him a sharp glance.

Without warning, her fingers wrapped around him. He groaned and his hands fell to his sides. He could survive this. He just needed to concentrate on that thought.

Her grip tightened.

“Easy, love,” he managed, wondering at the stranger’s voice that came from inside him. He had squeezed his eyes shut to withstand the exquisite pain but opened them now to find Claudia studying her handiwork.

There was no way on God’s earth he could survive this.

“You are so soft,” she murmured, her voice filled with awe, “yet so hard at the same time.” Her fingers tightened
around him again, as if to confirm that fact. “Like marble itself, yet not. I have never felt anything like you in my life.”

He didn’t have enough breath left to groan. Somehow he found her wrist and slowly disengaged her hand. “We must save this particular exploration for another time. At the moment, I have a few caresses in mind that you will find more familiar.”

He intended to kiss her thoroughly, to stroke her with his hands until she cried out for him. This time he would remain in complete control. Her arms slipped around his neck and she pressed herself closer. He closed his eyes and drew a sharp breath, wanting nothing more than to feel her breasts crushed against his chest. Her nipples brushed against him in quick darting glances meant to make a man crazy. His arm went around her waist and he lowered her to the pillows, her mouth sweet and inviting as her lips opened beneath his. A dim warning sounded in his head as he settled himself between her legs. This time was supposed to be different. He tried to break away from her lips. “Uhm. Mm. Clau—”

She thrust her tongue into his mouth. Guy knew he was lost. One arm went around her shoulders, the other around her slender hips, crushing her body against his. He couldn’t get close enough to her. He wanted to be inside her, to become a part of her.

He forced his mouth away from hers, turning his head away when she sought his lips. It hurt to deny her. He assuaged that ache with the knowledge that his intentions were honorable.

She kissed his neck instead, kisses as delicate as the brush of a butterfly’s wings. They made his heart pound hard and heavy all the way to his loins. Her mouth closed over the pulse point at the base of his throat and the kisses turned wildly erotic. They fired his lust as effectively as they stirred a sense of panic. He framed her face between his hands, a gentle restraint that tested his own. He wanted to make love to her for hours, stroke and caress every part of her until she
knew the same madness of longing that possessed his body. The craving was insatiable.

He managed just one word, a plea, an endearment, and a curse of his own weakness. “Claudia.”

Her hips arched as she positioned her body to accept him. Her small gasp and the slight widening of her eyes said it was nothing she did by intent. She had no more control over the explosive passion they shared than he did. He began to ease inside her, staring into her luminous eyes as he sank into her body. He saw each of her emotions, felt them so profoundly that they were his own, breathless anticipation, a deep sigh of satisfaction, and the tingling awareness that there would be more this time. It went so far beyond the joining of their bodies that he wondered why he ever bothered to bed a woman before Claudia. He was as much a virgin in their lovemaking, as much adrift in this vast, uncharted sea. It would take them a lifetime to learn all its currents and eddies.

He moved slowly inside her and they created their own current, a surging force that flowed between them. That strength gathered within him until he felt as powerful as a king, humbled willingly when he handed that power to Claudia. This was the reason she searched for, the reason he would never let her go. It was the force of love.

It was magic.

He wanted to tell her.

He couldn’t speak a word.

Claudia’s eyes glowed with a radiance that nearly blinded him. It was like staring into the sun. A tremor shook them both, then another, and then they were clinging to each other. Her cries sounded as wrenching as his own, pleasure so intense that it hurt. It was the most beautiful, most terrifying experience of his life. He poured himself into her in waves that seemed without end, until he wondered what would be left of him. He didn’t care. This was worth dying for. Worth …

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