Page 19 of The Blind Lyon (The Lyon’s Den Connected World)

Oh, dear heavens, he is going to drive me mad, and he hasn’t got my clothes off yet!

The kisses they’d shared were enough to send her floating on a cloud of desire, but Annette could hardly think with him so near and in such a scandalous state, for somehow, while he’d kissed and bedeviled her, he’d managed to strip down to his lawn shirt and breeches.

The floor was dotted with discarded clothing and accessories.

“I can feel your distraction. Does that mean you are staring at me?” he asked with humor in his voice as he loosened the ties at the back of her dress.

“I am, in fact, for you are quite easy on the eyes.” Annette shrugged. “And if I’m honest, I’m anxious about seeing you sans clothes.”

“Easily managed since I want that for you as well.” With apparent ease, he eased the garment up and off her body where it fell to the floor with a whisper. Seconds later, he removed his spectacles and set them upon a nearby table.

A tremble danced down her spine. “If you wondered, I feel this moment has been a natural progression of that connection that’s grown between us since the ceremony.”

“I agree, but if you are frightened, please bid me nay. We can wait.”

“Thank you for that, but I know my own mind, and I want you.” Though the smell of his cologne teased her nose, it didn’t cover the raw masculine scent of him.

As she spoke, Annette tugged his shirttails from the waist of his breeches.

In another few seconds, she’d pushed the fabric up his chest, and as he removed it from his person, she drew her hands over his torso with its dark mat of hair. “Better than I could have imagined.”

Familiar but new, and she couldn’t wait to explore him. Would being bedded by the duke be better or worse than it had been with Timothy? Did it matter?

“You flatter me, Annette.” But there was a quirk to his mouth that said he lapped up her obvious praise. He relieved her of the stays. They joined the dress, quickly followed by the petticoat. “I know your form will be as beautiful as your face and personality.”

“I don’t know about that.” Need warred with panic to clash through her belly.

Why was she so nervous? She had been married, had enjoyed physical relations with her husband, but with this man, he overwhelmed her senses until all she could think about was him.

His presence crowded everything out except possibilities with him, and it was much like experiencing this act for the first time.

“I can imagine that you are devouring me with your eyes,” he whispered softly, but there was a devilish gleam in his deep blue eyes. “I only hope I don’t disappoint.”

“I can’t imagine you could ever do that, in any fashion.”

Instead of replying, the duke removed his breeches, and she was once more speechless, for he was very much aroused, and the thick, veined length of him sent copious flutters through her lower belly.

“Come with me.” Allan took her hand and tugged her to the bed.

Seconds later, his hands were on either side of her waist and he tossed her onto the impossibly comfortable mattress.

“Why do I have the feeling this will be both an adventure and a learning experience?”

Her body ached to feel his arms around her, and when he encouraged her into a sitting position, she frowned. “Isn’t that how any new experience is?”

“Perhaps.” Then he joined her on the mattress, but before she could do anything, say anything, touch anything, Allan settled behind her with his legs outstretched and framing hers; his back was against the mound of pillows.

The evidence of his arousal bumped insistently against her bottom as his arms came around her middle, and she shook from the sensations buffeting her.

“God, you already feel so good.” His breath steamed her cheek.

“Oh, I…” Could she do this? Had it been a mistake after all? She tensed, and not even his presence could calm the familiar rising tide of fear. “I should go…”

“Do you truly wish that, or are you allowing fear to bully you?” He tightened his arms, made soothing sounds into her ear.

“I will keep you safe, Annette, and I won’t hurt you.

” He pressed his lips to the side of her neck, which both set her ablaze and heightened her anxiety.

“Coupling with you has the potential to be something lovely, but if you simply can’t do that, I’ll understand. ”

The longer he spoke, whispered words of calm and encouragement against the shell of her ear, she relaxed, but only slightly, for the more he nibbled the crook of her shoulder, the longer he drew a hand up and down her arm, the way the heat of him seeped into her, a different sort of anxiousness filled her. “Peregrine…”

“You haven’t fled the bed yet, so I assume you’re curious.

Concentrate on what I’m doing to you.” He licked and kissed a path along the side of her neck.

All the while, he continued to stroke a hand up and down her arm.

When she fidgeted, restless, he brushed the fingers of his other hand along the top of the chemise’s bodice.

“Oh, dear.” She gave into a shiver of need that echoed deep inside her core. When he dipped a finger beneath the garment to oh-so-briefly graze a hardened nipple, she sucked in a breath. This was what she’d dreamed of, what she couldn’t stop thinking about, and it was too marvelous for words.

“Shall I continue, then?”

How could she let fear win when his touch made her blossom back to life?

When she’d made such strides by seeking him out in the garden to begin with?

“Yes.” She reached up a hand and hooked her fingers about his nape, gently pulling his head closer.

It was lovely being here with him, not needing to give into fright, for she was secure in his strength and care.

Hadn’t he shown her that over the past week?

When she turned her head, he captured her lips with his, and for several minutes, they spoke with kisses and fleeting caresses.

Eventually, and she was never quite certain how it had happened or how willingly she’d helped, he’d divested her of the shift, and once she was naked as he, the duke settled her once more between his legs, her back to his chest. The moment he put his hands on her and renewed his caresses, the heat of desire returned.

“I knew you would be beautiful,” he whispered against her neck, and ever so gently he drew his fingers along her sides, played her ribs like the pianist he was.

Is that how it felt to him?

“Do hush, Masterson.” Her eyes fluttered closed, and she reclined into him, both relaxed and alert. “I possess a looking glass, and know how I appear.”

“Then you need a new one.” He cupped her breasts, and she sucked in a breath of surprise. “You are lovely, and I cannot wait to explore such perfection.”

Though the whispered words warmed her from head to toe, she shook her head. “Hardly that. Broken can never be that.”

“When seen through my eyes, yes, you are perfect.” And he kissed the side of her neck. “At least to me.”

“Oh…” Lost in a sea of sensations both foreign and familiar, Annette sighed and fairly drowned when he squeezed her breasts, rolled the nipples at the roots. “Oh, yes, do that again.”

“Whenever you feel afraid and you cannot see a way out of it, think of how you feel now, with every new touch, caress, or kiss I give you.” His lips glanced against the side of her neck.

“You are more powerful than your fears, Annette. Though I can’t see your face, I can feel the change in you since the morning we wed. ”

“You did that.”

“No, I merely waited and encouraged until you found your courage.” When he glanced his palms over her erect nipples, a shuddering moan escaped her.

She arched her back, so great was the pleasure he imparted.

Oh, his lovely, muscled body tempted her, but she could do nothing about it, not while he manipulated her breasts in so many different ways, she couldn’t anticipate him.

For the moment, she let herself sail away on a dream where she had no need to fear… anything.

And she couldn’t wait for each new level of bliss he took her to.

Then she came into her own. “Give me more, Allan. Please.” She wriggled her bottom, felt the heated hardness of his shaft in the cleft of her arse, and desire flared anew. Timothy had been a gentle but oftentimes boring lover. How would the duke compare?

Bloody hell!

God, but his wife felt amazing in his arms, and the tiny plea she uttered set fire to his blood. Allan couldn’t help thinking he was the most fortunate of men to have gained this wonderful woman’s trust.

After nearly a week of waiting, encouraging, supporting, listening to her on the other side of her door, after knowing longing and hunger as well as desire for her that had been postponed, he had her in his arms and soon would claim this beautiful, lost woman.

It humbled him as he caressed the perfect globes of her breasts.

With each pass of his hands, each stroke and twist of his fingers on those pert nipples, she moaned and arched her back.

Clearly it had been years since she’d been with a man, and if she was this wanting, it wouldn’t take long for her to fall over the edge into bliss.

As he slipped a hand down her torso, past the soft swell of her belly, over her mons to delve his fingers into the curls shrouding her sex, the tiny sounds of pleasure and need she made went straight to his shaft.

The more he saw of her body through touches and caresses, the more grateful he was that he’d been given the opportunity to wed her.

It was only a matter of time before he embarrassed himself by spending too soon, for it had been a while since he, too, had indulged, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the throbbing discomfort.

Right now, his focus was on Annette, in caring for her needs, to show her that there was no reason to fear him or the life that waited for them both together.