Page 14 of Lady Elizabeth’s Winter Stranger

He shrugged. “That just means you love my kisses.”

“I do. I also love you.”

His short laugh was rich with self-mockery. “Well, that’s the best wedding present anyone could give me.” His voice deepened into a sincerity that settled in her bones. “I love you, Elizabeth. I’ll always love you.”

Elizabeth stared at him and spoke with equal emphasis, so there was no chance of him misunderstanding her. “And I love you, Stanton Morley-Bridges. Forever.”

For a charged minute, they stared into each other’s eyes, as if they could hardly believe this gift they shared.

Then they were kissing as though they’d die if they stopped.

Somewhere in the hectic embrace, Tom released Elizabeth’s hair so it tumbled about them in soft waves.

Still kissing her, he combed his hands through the silky mass with a sensual delight that built her longing.

This close to him, she felt his rising excitement. The heady mixture of anticipation and trepidation inside her made her feel like she whirled around in a giddy waltz. Soon, so soon, she’d become his wife in the fullest sense of the word. She couldn’t wait, and yet she was utterly terrified.

He pulled away far enough to tug her shift over her head and cast it to the floor with the rest of her linen. She’d never stood naked before a man before. Shock blazed through her. Shock and surging awareness of what was about to happen.

His hands explored her bare skin with devastating effect, while he went back to kissing her. He shaped her arms and shoulders and back and lingered on her buttocks in a way that made her blood pound like thunder.

She crushed her breasts against him, relishing the soft friction of chest hair against the sensitive nipples. A fractured moan of desire escaped her. She thirsted to feel his hands on those tight peaks.

With a breathtaking show of masculine power, he lifted her in his arms and carried her across to the bed. She curled her arm around his neck, reveling in his strength and his uninhibited hunger for her.

“You’re beautiful, my love,” he murmured, setting her down on the sheets with a care that arrowed straight to her heart. She liked that he thought she was beautiful. She liked it even better that she was his love.

Elizabeth stared up at him from heavy-lidded eyes, as the empty ache between her legs intensified until it verged on unendurable. Shyness made her hands flutter to cover her bosom and her mound.

“You’re superb from top to toe, my darling.” He caught the hand doing an inadequate job of concealing the swell of her bosom and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “Won’t you share that with me?”

She gave a raspy laugh, even as she was torn between covering her pubic hair or reaching for the sheet. “I didn’t think I’d be embarrassed. I’ve been so looking forward to our wedding. I’ve been picturing all the lovely things you’ll do to me tonight ever since you kissed me at Christmas.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and squeezed her hand. “You know what I’m going to do?”

“Mamma told me before my first season. She was sure that I’d find a husband straightaway. I’ve had a lot of time to imagine sharing a man’s bed.”

His adoring smile turned her insides to treacle. “I’m so glad you waited.”

“So am I. Somehow I always knew there was someone special for me. There was nothing wrong with the men who proposed. But even if I liked them, I wasn’t starry-eyed, the way my friends were starry-eyed about their choices.

I hoped one day I’d feel like that, but I never did.

Until I met a mysterious rogue in Hyde Park. ”

Tom leaned down and kissed her with more tenderness than passion, although passion hovered a mere breath away. By the time he lifted his head, her arms twined around him and she’d forgotten her self-consciousness.

He kissed her neck and shoulders until she wriggled with sheer delight. The heat in her secret places flared into irresistible demand. She wanted this man. How she wanted this man.

Tom lay on the bed next to her and kissed the upper slopes of her breasts.

He cupped the lush flesh in his elegant hands.

Elizabeth jerked with startled pleasure, then jerked again when Tom began to tease her yearning nipples.

She arched up, seeking more. Rolling one pebbled crest between thumb and forefinger, he took the other between his lips and gently scraped his teeth across it.

“Tom,” she cried in wonder, as lightning sizzled through her.

With a soft murmur of approval, she pressed a shaking hand into his hair.

After a sultry interval, his lips moved to her other breast. Elizabeth was so caught up in the experience, she kept forgetting to breathe.

Every inhalation turned into a shuddering gasp.

The earthy scents of arousal weighted the air around them.

Still teasing her breast, he let one hand trail down her bare flank to her hip. She moaned and shivered under his exploration. He rolled to the side, balancing his weight on his crooked elbow, and watched the progress of his caresses with unabashed fascination.

Wherever Tom’s fingers ventured, they set up explosions of heat.

Along the curve of her hip. Across her stomach and the dip of her navel.

Down to tangle in the damp, light brown curls that concealed her sex.

When he slid his hand between her thighs, she sighed and spread her legs in instinctive encouragement.

“I’m…I’m wet there,” she muttered, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“That’s your body preparing for me. It means you want me.” He bobbed down to kiss her briefly, as his fingers stroked her cleft. She gasped into his mouth when he found a place that was particularly sensitive. She’d never felt anything like this before. The sensation was extraordinary.

Elizabeth felt pressure and realized that he penetrated her with one finger. She squirmed again, even as her body adjusted to the invasion. Soon there would be another invasion. The idea made her tremble with expectation and a fresh flurry of nerves.

He stopped and withdrew his finger, which wasn’t what she wanted at all. “Am I hurting you?”

“No,” she said.

“You don’t sound very sure.”

She placed one hand on his chest, feeling the gallop of his heart under her palm. He gave the impression of control, but that frantic heartbeat told her how desperate he was. “I’ve just never…”

“I know.” He kissed her again. “It’s my privilege to introduce you to all the wondrous things your body can do.”

Her hands curled against his chest, feeling the pleasurable tickle of hair. “You’re still dressed.”

“It reminds me to take my time.” His lips turned down. “It’s your first encounter with a man, and I believe that can be uncomfortable.”

Tom was being considerate. This time, the warmth that filled her had nothing to do with passion. She’d noticed his essential kindness from the first. It was one of the reasons why she’d fallen in love with him. “Mamma said it might hurt.”

“I never want to hurt you, Elizabeth.”

She smiled at him with all the love in her heart and laid her hand on his cheek. “It will be all right.”

He smiled back. “I’m supposed to be reassuring you.”

With a soft laugh, she moved her hand in a caress. “Do you know what always reassures me?”

“Your cook’s ginger snaps?”

Her laugh this time held a note of surprise. “You noticed how much I like them.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “How could I not?”

“They’re very good.”

“They are. As I remarked on the single occasion when you let me have one.”

“I am rather greedy.”

“A man wants a wife with an appetite.”

“We’re not talking about biscuits anymore, are we?”

“No, but you’ll be pleased to know after much begging and flattery, I’ve managed to pry the recipe from Mrs. Dawkins’s hands.”

Her eyes rounded. “Goodness, it must have been a lot of flattery. That recipe is a family secret.”

“I couldn’t have you pining away in Dorset, longing for your days of maidenhood when you enjoyed endless plates of ginger snaps.”

She curved up and kissed him with a deep gratitude that soon edged into desire. “I love you so much, Tom.”

It was charming that her declaration took him aback. “Is that because of the biscuits? I can try and get her pigeon pie recipe, too, if you like.”

“No, she’s going to the grave with that one. I love you because you’re the most wonderful man in the world.”

More charming self-deprecation. “Perhaps not in the world.”

“The world,” she declared and reached down to pluck at the waistband of his breeches. “I think it’s time you gave up your modesty, my lord.”

Through the teasing conversation, she’d remained achingly aware of the hard masculine flesh straining against his breeches. She was curious and eager, and ready to take the next step on their journey into married life.

“In a minute. What reassures you? You didn’t say.”

Her smile reappeared. “Your kisses. Right from the first.”

“Oh, my darling…”

Tom took the invitation – because invitation it was – and kissed her until her head reeled. She dug her fingers into his bare shoulders in a silent plea for him to keep going.

He groaned and rolled out of the bed. “I can’t wait any longer.”

His flavor lingered in her mouth. He might taste even better than Mrs. Dawkins’s biscuits. “Good.”

He reacted with a grunt of amusement, as his shaking hands tore at the fastenings on his breeches.

Tom was in general an even-tempered gentleman.

Elizabeth approved of that, but she loved to see him reach such a pitch of craving now.

With a sigh of anticipation, she stretched out against the sheets.

She curled her toes and lifted her breasts in a blatant display.

Her earlier shyness evaporated to nothing under his unfettered pleasure in her nakedness.

While Tom’s attention focused on her rather than on his buttons, his attempts to rid himself of his breeches became more chaotic. “You’re making life difficult,” he complained, laughter warming his deep voice.