Page 88 of To Pleasure a Prince

“My married friends told me a little. But I still didn’t expect…you…to be quite so…large.”

“It’ll fit, don’t worry,” he said tersely.

She ran one finger over the smooth flesh, marveling at how it jerked beneath her touch. He actually shook as she stroked him. Perversely, that reassured her.

“And what did Miss Tremaine tell you?” he choked out.

Regina snorted. “She said you would do naughty, embarrassing things to me, and that I must lie still and let you do them, even if I didn’t like them. Because you’re my husband.”

“The spinster instructs the siren. Ignore everything she said.”

“I intend to.” She closed her fingers around his shaft, amazed by how firm it had become, and an oath boiled out of him.

“God save me from curious virgins.” He thrust her hand aside. “That’s enough.”

“But I—”

He cut her off with a hard kiss as he settled himself between her legs. His hand found her still-aching flesh down below and rubbed it roughly, sweetly, just long enough to rouse her need again. And then it wasn’t his hand there anymore, but his massive flesh, parting her, easing inside of her.

She tore her mouth from his. “You’ll rip me apart.”

“No, I won’t,” he murmured against her temple.

“You will. It’s so…and I’m so…”

“Tight, yes.” He paused in his motions to brush his lips over her forehead, though she could see the straining of his jaw. “That’s how it’s supposed to be. But trust me, men have been doing this for generations—”

“Not to me,” she protested.

He gave a choked laugh. “Great God, I should hope not.”

He slipped farther inside her before she could prepare herself. But oddly enough, his talking had taken her mind off what was happening below, and she was finding it easier to accommodate him.

“That’s it,” he whispered in her ear. “Open yourself, dearling. Let me in.”

So she did. And she found it tolerable, if not exactly enjoyable. Then he came up against her virgin barrier. She could feel him inside her there, and a sudden apprehension made her tense.

He drew back to stare at her, his eyes alight. “Listen to me, Regina—”

“I know, it’s going to hurt.” She sighed. “I don’t suppose there’s any way around that part?”

A guttural laugh escaped him. “Not that I know of.”

So far her friends hadn’t been far wrong. The first partwaslovely. But this was just odd. And mortifying. And decidedly uncomfortable.

She braced herself. “Get it over with, then. But try not to kill me.”

He frowned. “It won’t…never mind, you won’t believe me until the bad part is past.”

He drove into her in one sharp thrust.

A sudden burst of pain vibrated through her insides. But it subsided swiftly, leaving behind a dull ache where he was planted deep inside her.

He hovered over her, his muscles taut. After a moment, he demanded, “Well? Are you still alive?”

She’d been holding her breath, but now she released it. “I think so.”

“Good. Killing one’s wife on one’s wedding night is frowned upon. I’d be banished from society for certain.”