Page 74 of Snowbound Surrender

“James has nothing to do with this.” She set her hand on his chest. “I want you to show me how to please you.”

“While I am honored, I can’t,” he said roughly.

She looped her arms around his neck and wiggled her bottom against him. There was a definite bulge against her thigh. She might have been ill-used, but she did understand the basics.

“Is there something wrong with your… cock?” Trying to sound worldly, she used the word she had first heard from the madam of the whorehouse.

He guffawed slightly. “There is nothing wrong with my cock.”

“Are you that much of a gentleman?” She wanted to stamp her foot in frustration.

His hand, which rested lightly on her bare knee, moved ever so slowly up her thigh. Her indrawn breath was involuntary. Somehow she grew hotter even as she shivered at his touch.

“If I was truly a gentleman, you would be safely ensconced at Fernlow with your sister. Instead, I chose to bring you here, knowing full well we would be alone and snowed in.”

“Then there is hope you will ravish me?”

The curve of his lips was more grimace than smile. “I would be taking advantage of the fact you are not yourself. If you had not drunk the punch, you would not be tempting me with this proposition.”

A part of her knew he was correct. She was not herself even though she felt more like herself than ever. The veneer she was forced to present to the world had been stripped away. She tucked her forehead into the crook of his neck.

“Then I suppose I must resign myself to never knowing pleasure.” Her sigh was gusty and frustrated.

His hand stilled on her thigh for a moment as his chest stopped moving with his breaths. Finally he let out a long, slow, shuddering breath as his hand crept higher until it met the hem of his shirt and halted, his fingers dancing across her skin but not where she wanted them. Where did she want his fingers? She wasn’t even sure.

“That is a sad thought,” he murmured.

She raised her head as a possibility occurred to her. “James visited whores for his pleasure. Do similar establishments cater to ladies? Could I hire a man?”

His arms flexed against her, and she touched his biceps, marveling at the strength there when he was holding her so tenderly.

“You will not hire a strange man to touch you.” It was a command that was threaded with anger.

“You cannot tell me what to do.” There was no vitriol in her words, but it was the truth. He was not her father or her husband, and as a widow, no one could tell her what to do. It was freeing. “I will find a man and pay him coin for a service. That way no one is beholden. There will be no shame or regret in the transaction. It is the perfect solution.”

The hand at her nape drew into a fist in her hair and pulled her head up so they were face-to-face. In a gruffer voice that was more begging than forceful, he said, “You will not hire a stranger to pleasure you. I will do it, but on my terms.”

“And then I’ll suck you off?”

He muttered a curse, closed his eyes, touched his forehead against hers. “You must stop speaking that way.”

“Is it too coarse and unseemly?”

“It is too arousing to hear such dirty talk fall from such lips. Such lips…” His voice trailed off as his mouth brushed hers.

A kiss. Not their first, but their first kisses had been fumbling and innocent. This was a kiss of a man who had learned much and was putting his lessons into practice. She tried to summon resentment at the other women he had loved but could only be grateful he was hers. At least for a night.

She squirmed closer, trying to press her body more fully against his. Her breasts were achy and her skin was sensitive. He deepened the kiss and inched his hand under the hem of his shirt to brush the curve of her bottom.

She gasped into his mouth, and he flicked his tongue against hers. James had invaded her mouth, and she had endured his kisses. This was different. Playful. It was a give and take and more arousing than she had imagined. She wasn’t sure how long they kissed, but they were both breathing hard when they broke apart.

His hand fully covered her bottom and squeezed. She moaned his name.

He rubbed his nose next to hers and whispered, “You are beautiful.”

She hadn’t felt beautiful in a long time, much less desired and admired. Now she felt all three in equal measure.

They kissed again, hot, open-mouthed kisses that had the rhythm of a dance. A waltz, perhaps. Her hips moved against theiron hardness of his cock. It had grown, and she snaked a hand between them, seeking the length. He batted her hand away before it reached its destination.