Page 38 of The Blind Duke's Ward

Gemma laughed aloud. “I am a maiden but I am also a woman. Long ago I learned the lessons that every woman learns, without a man anywhere near her. Lessons she can only teach herself. That taught me the signs of my own excitement and what brought those signs on. Do you follow?”

Their words were more exciting than the times they had spent kissing and touching each other. More exciting than the time she had stood before him, naked. The frankness of their conversation, the casual intimacy, was deliciously wanton and wild. Nathan was slowly gathering her skirts beneath his fingers, causing the hem of her dress to rise up on her left leg. Gemma did not try to stop him but merely watched as it exposed her stockinged foot, then her ankle, then her calf. When it reached her knee, she took it from him and pulled it up to a level above the top of her stocking. His hand rested on her naked thigh, reaching around it and squeezing possessively. It moved down once more and this time caught the edges of her stocking, pulling it down. It swiftly descended below her knee, down her shin to her ankle, then passed beyond his reach.

Gemma reached down and tugged the stocking free by the toe, tossing it across the room. Then she pulled up the skirt covering her right leg and removed the stocking there too. She moved his hand across her thighs, which she had squeezed together. He explored the inner thigh, to the point where they met, then reached across to her right thigh and down the other side. He had been touching her with his left hand as he lay in the bath. Now, he sat forward and his right hand took hold of her skirts beneath her bottom and tugged. With a surprised squeal, Gemma felt the skirt pull up her bare bottom until they were bunched around her waist. Nathan’s hand rested for a moment against one buttock and Gemma closed her eyes, concentrating on the sensations of his touch.

“Are you about to verify, for yourself, that I find you…exciting?” Gemma said in a low, sultry tone.

“I do not need to,” Nathan replied.

“I beg to differ,” Gemma whispered.

She turned on the edge of the bath and placed a hand against his chest, running it down, raking his skin with her nails. Hard, but not too much. She relished the feel of his iron-hard stomach, with its ribbed definition. Pressing her hand against him, she felt she could make no impression there at all. It was as though he were made of stone. For a long moment, her hand remained just above the waterline, pressed against his stomach and afraid to go further.

But after all, why not? I must break my promise. I must. He may never forgive me but it is for his own good. I cannot remain here without bringing more pain and suffering to him.

Her decision was made as Nathan’s hand, with irresistible strength, found a way between her closed thighs. Gemma was touched in a way she had not been touched before. A way that sent a volcanic flow of pleasure spreading out through her body from the deepest part of her womanhood. A pleasure that made her toes clench and her fingers grip the taut muscle of his body. She bit her lip and obeyed the imperative command of his hands, opening her legs wider and inviting more of the pleasure into her. She lifted one leg to run her bare foot down the curving side of the bath. She threw her head back, eyes tightly closed and every nerve in her body focused on the waves of delight coursing through her. Nathan pulled at her, drawing her from her perch and into the water.

She slid onto him, her body sliding down his body until her loins pressed against his. Now, she cried out, feeling his ferocious manhood pressing against her with nothing in between them. A slight movement of her body or his would see them joined as lovers. Then she felt herself lifted, Nathan’s hand sliding beneath her and a resumption of the pleasure she had been receiving.

She let her head fall to his shoulder, not caring about the wetness of her clothes and not caring if the entire household decided to walk in on them at that moment. He was masterful and skillful. She remembered the works of sculpture and carving that he was proficient at.

Nathan was a man gifted in the use of his hands. His blindness meant his sense of touch was enhanced. The idea that he could explore her, experience her body to a depth that would be impossible for a sighted man excited her beyond words. She knew that as his dexterous fingers brought her to the brink of ecstasy, he was experiencing her womanhood far more deeply than any other man might have.

An urge to clutch at his hand, to urge him deeper, overcame her. Resisting that urge made her moan with uncontained desire. It made her thighs tense, made her toes curl, and then straighten to points as every muscle in her body quivered and shook.

Then his touch left her. She opened her eyes, panting and feeling as though the room had become a sauna. Nathan was smiling though. With casual strength, he seized her by the waist and lifted her. Gemma squeaked and braced her arms against the sides of the ceramic bathtub.

Nathan’s mouth touched her breasts, hands lifted her further. His tongue touched her stomach. Lifted further. He slid down into the water until only his eyes, mouth and nose were above the water. Then he pulled her down and she felt his lips against the heart of her womanhood.

Gemma cried out. She was lost in a world of pleasure and sensuality.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Nathan awoke from a dream of searching for Gemma in the midst of a dark forest. He had been sighted but it had not availed him. She remained out of his reach, drawing further and further away from him. The landscape had conspired against him, tree roots catching at his feet and branches lashing at his eyes. The worst of it had been the sight, ahead, of two shadowy figures closing in on Gemma. She had not been able to see them, nor hear the warnings Nathan shouted. His fear for her had been matched only by his own fear for his sight. It had felt as though the gift of sight had only just been returned to him and he could not bear to lose it again.

When he awoke, lying in cold water and with a half-naked Gemma lying against him, it was with a start. She murmured in her sleep, clearly also dreaming. Nathan felt disoriented for a moment, remembering the dream of sight. He blinked against the perpetual darkness that was his constant companion. Realizing that he had been dreaming brought a shock of loss, just as he had experienced that first day when he had awoken on the battlefield and been unable to see. Tears filled his eyes and he dashed at them angrily, trying to fight the pain that surged in him. Gemma shifted and he felt her lips against his neck, nuzzling and moving as she shaped silent words.

“Gemma,” he whispered to her.

He felt her fitful movements become more certain, then her head lift.

“Where…what…Oh my!” she said.

“Indeed,” Nathan said wryly, letting his head fall back against the bath.

“Were we drunk? I do not remember touching a drop,” Gemma said.

She still had not moved from him, her body laying against his. Her lower half was bare, her left leg draped over his right. He could feel her loins pressed against his thigh. With a wicked feeling, he lifted his thigh, placing his foot against the bottom of the bath and lifting his knee. The pressure she felt as his thigh pressed hard against her made her squeal. Nathan grinned, lowering his leg. He knew what she must have felt, had learned from two very wicked Partisan women who had despaired of manhood, just what ways a woman could be pleasured. Gemma put a hand to his cheek, turning his head to face her. She kissed him with passion and vigor, showing him that their activities thus far may not be over.

“Not drunk. Just very wicked people. I think we are both going to hell,” Nathan said when she allowed him to speak through her kisses.

A knock came at the door and a timid voice.

“Miss Gemma? Are you alright in there? I must have fallen asleep. I’m terribly sorry.”

“Gemma?” Nathan whispered pointedly.

Gemma sighed, her head falling back once more. “I took her into my confidence. She is a good, kind, and honest girl and will not betray me. I assure you,” Gemma said.