Hint of Desire (37 page)

He blew softly across her dark curls, watching her body quiver with each
breath. Her legs clenched and then opened further for his perusal. Carefully, so as not to startle her, he drew one finger through the warm moisture. She inhaled once and then grew still.

He lifted his other hand and spread her thighs fully, exposing her completely
. She turned her head away, but did not demur. Her chest heaved rapidly and her heartbeat sang beneath his fingers. She was shy, but not reluctant. Even the heavy, spicy scent revealed her wants.

His flesh swelled to almost unbearable limits as he drew in the perfume of her desire
. He spread his own thighs to accommodate the size of his arousal. If she had been more experienced at passion, he would have buried himself in her willing warmth.

But she was not
. He fought to keep that thought in mind. He must not frighten her. He must make it precious for her. He would not find his own pleasure until he had assured hers. He drew another finger through her damp folds, feeling her quiver at his stroke. He circled the delicate bundle of nerves, careful not to touch.

Still she kept her head averted, as if afraid to gaze at the power of their passion
. He lifted a finger and turned her cheek towards him. He needed to be sure, to know she was fully with him. Her eyes were huge, the centers dark. She chewed on her lower lip, but then turned her face into his palm, caressing a kiss across it.

“I know I am with you, Arthur.”

The whispered words spurred him on. Still keeping his gaze on her face, he lowered his lips to taste her sweetness. He curled his tongue around her nub, aiming to bring her the ultimate delight.

The moment he touched her, she stiffened, her body drawing straight and frozen
. He started to pull back, afraid he’d misread her, pushed her too far, too fast. “No.” Her breathy cry stilled him.

“Shh, just relax, I’ll wait until you’re ready,” he rasped
. “I’ll go slowly.”

“But, I don’t want you to.”

“What don’t you want?”

“I don’t want you to stop
. I can do this now, I need to do this now.” She swayed her hips urgently before him.

Arthur drew a deep breath, trying to let his mind catch up with his racing body
. He didn’t say anything, but turned to look at her as she lay across the couch, legs still splayed. He hardly dared trust his ears.

“I don’t want you to stop.
” The words were hesitant this time as he could see clarity return to her.

“But, you froze
. I felt you stiffen with shock.”

Her brows drew together and bafflement played across her face
. Then a slow deep flush spread up from her chest. She bit, again, at her lush lower lip, evidently uncomfortable with the words she must say.

“I didn’t mean to freeze
. I couldn’t help myself.”

Arthur raised his brow.

“I . . . it was just so powerful. I’ve never felt anything like that. It took me by surprise. I never knew that . . . I never knew I could feel like that. I never even imagined this was possible.” She lowered her eyes. “It was very pleasant. I just wasn’t expecting such a feeling.”

“Pleasant?
” He was beginning to understand, and a warm joy spread through him, where before he had felt despair.

“Yes, pleasant.”

“Only pleasant? Am I to be insulted?” He expressed his humor and happiness in the softest of whispers.

Her flush deepened
. She twisted her hands before her, drawing his attention to the way her breasts swelled with every movement, inviting him closer.

“Maybe more than pleasant
. I don’t have the words.”

“Should I teach you some?
” He sank beside her on the couch.

“Ummm.”

“That’s not one of them.” He drew a finger across her chest, watching her skin ripple. He brought the finger back to his mouth, dampening it before circling one pinkened tip. She started slightly, but then settled.

Her next words chilled him.

“It hurts now, though. You’ve made it hurt.”

He drew back slightly, and she raised her eyes to meet his
. He could not risk mistaking her meaning again; it might kill him.

“What hurts and how does it hurt?”

She pulled her face away and hid it against the edge of the couch.

“My . . .” She ran a hand across her lower belly
. “Between my legs. I don’t want to say what Worthington called it, and I don’t know . . . but, it aches. It’s never ached before.”

“Aches, not hurts?”

“Aches, hurts, what does it matter? I can’t get comfortable. I don’t know what to do.” Lily shifted her hips, rubbing across the tightly drawn front of his trousers. Arthur let out his own moan and pulled back from her.

“I think I can cure that
. Do you trust me?”

“Yes
. I think I’ve trusted you from the start.”

“Then just watch.”

He positioned her across the couch and bent his head to suckle. He drew each stiff peak in turn into his mouth, pinching at the other with tight fingers. Her gasps and wiggles assured him he was on the right track. He forced his own body to remain immobile as he nipped, laved, and nipped again, playing her body with all the skill of a virtuoso. He drew her again and again towards that high peak, but never let her fly. Her gasps turned to sighs, and her sighs to moans as he carefully led her up and down the unfamiliar path.

He was amazed at his own pleasure at her spreading joy
. With caution, he moved his fingers lower, trailing them across satin flesh and musky curls. This time when he circled her, sinking the tip of his finger into her, he did not draw back at her stiffening, but only held still until she again relaxed. He felt her pulse flutter beneath him, as he sank his finger deeper, excited beyond limits by her breathy sighs and pulsing grasp. Her head was thrown back, her chest heaving, her body straining beneath him, as he rose over her, slipping between her thighs to seek his own glory. Her body drew straight once again. He forced himself to hold still as her eyes opened and focused on his. He felt the deep breath as she drew into her lungs, saw her quiver in understanding.

“Arthur.
” She said his name clearly. “Make me yours.”

The first
touch of her warmth against his sex almost undid him. He felt like the most callow youth as he fought for the calm to continue. Her hips thrust beneath him as she sought to take his all.

Unable to last further,
he loosed the reins and surged onward, diving deep into the font of warm, wet desire. With each pump of his buttocks, he felt her give before him, her body writhing with mounting pleasure. Sensations he had never known shot through his body as she clenched and pulsed about him. Fires licked and raced, his whole world a focused pinpoint of bliss. Then she let forth a cry and her whole body drew taut and then released. Her waves of completion wrapped around him, drawing him to his own end.

With a final roar of victory he surged forward, his seed spurting deep into her warmth
. At his cry, he felt her arch again in ecstasy, sending him tumbling over the edge a second time.

Late in the night Lily squeezed against Arthur, feeling her world right itself. She had never dreamed of such wonders as he had introduced to her. Just thinking of them caused her skin to become hot.

“Tell me
properly of your adventures, now.” His deep voice startled her.

“You were there too, why do you need me to tell you
? Or is that something else you like?” She whispered the words into his chest.

“I meant your earlier adventures
, in the coach.”

“Oh
. Are you sure you want to hear now?” She wiggled her hips against him.

He caught her tight
. “More of that later. Now, talk.”

It
took almost an hour to recount the whole story. She had expected him to be upset, but assured that she remained unscathed, he seemed more brooding than angry. He asked several times about the mysterious note summoning her to join him. While he claimed to have written several letters, which he seemed in no hurry to discuss, he knew nothing of this note. And when she referred to the man called Diver, Arthur stiffened briefly, then drew her even closer, entwining his fingers tightly in her hair.

“Diver, are you sure that was the name?”

“Yes, is it important?”

“It could be just the evidence I’ve been looking for
. A man called Diver came looking for you once. I’d almost forgotten.”

He lay back in bed and
gazed in contemplation at the ceiling, but kept her hair tightly twined about his fingers.

“This note, was it
written in my hand?”

“I thought so
. I’ve really only seen your writing once before, in the short message you left before you departed. It was boldly written like that, but I didn’t notice more. And it was signed ‘Westlake.’”

“
‘Westlake,’ not ‘Arthur’?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never signed a letter to you that way. Even those letters I wrote before Christmas, I found myself signing my Christian name. Something I’d never done before.”

“Oh.
” She moved closer, seeking the warmth of his body. She slipped a leg between his, wondering at his words. He had never signed himself “Arthur” to another. She laid a gentle kiss on his lightly furred chest, just over his heart. Then she lifted her head to speak again. “I never received those letters, either. The only notes I’ve read are the one when you left and the one telling me to come.”

“I realize that.
” He fell silent, and she closed her eyes and let herself drift towards a most pleasant dream.

He interrupt
ed her reverie. “Tell me again how you got away.”

“I don’t quite understand
it myself. They started to fight among themselves. The one called Diver really meant to kill me, but the other, the large one, stopped him. I don’t know why. With me he was almost kind. I know it sounds strange, but I almost trusted him. I’d never have let him take Simon – but he didn’t seem evil, like the others.”

“So they started to fight and you made you
r escape?”

“Yes, I am lucky John Coachman kept his head
. I was so filled with panic I don’t think I would have moved if he hadn’t hastened me to enter. Nanny slept through it all and Lady Smythe-Burke was detained in the carriage.”

Arthur looked suspicious, but said only,
“I’ll see about suitable recompense for the coachman. There was no pursuit?”

“None that we could be sure of
. At first I thought I heard a horse following, but it never drew closer, and then faded. Nanny was stirring by this time, so I tried to act brave, so as not to frighten her. I worried that it was one of the smaller two men. I think the large one must be dead. I saw him covered in blood.”

Arthur kissed her lips softly, comfortingly
. He traced them gently with his tongue before settling her back against him.

“Just sleep now
, my little one. I’ll keep you safe even from your dreams tonight. Just rest. We shall talk more tomorrow. Just trust me and all will be well.”

Lily wanted to protest that she was
well indeed, and there was so much that remained unspoken, but even as she thought the words, her eyes closed. Morning would be soon enough.

Arthur rolled out of bed as the first shot of light invaded the sky. He had not slept, his thoughts a mixture of joy and worry. Lily was finally his. He smiled as he looked at her body curled amongst his bed sheets.

But even
under his protection, she had nearly been harmed by St. Aubin’s men. He had no doubt that was who they were. Regardless of St. Aubin’s lack of guilt in Worthington’s death, he clearly was responsible for all the later happenings. Nothing else made sense. The man must be stopped.

He paced to the window
. If he’d read St. Aubin correctly, he would surely appear at Burberry’s memorial reception that afternoon. How better to catch a rich widow, than by comforting her in her hour of grief?

He wished he could think of a way to
dissuade Lily from attending the service, but knew he could not interfere. Her words indicated how much it would mean to her to honor both her own parents and the great man who had passed. He would not stand in the way of her perceived duty.

He
would simply have to trust Lily to lay her faith in him again, and not to interfere with his plans. He would move in on St. Aubin when the man approached Lady Burberry. After that, it would be over quickly, and he would join his bride. It was difficult to leave his bride slumbering behind, but he planned to spend many future mornings traveling to heaven with her.

He dressed quickly and was just pulling on his boots
. He smiled to himself as he remembered what a chore the task had seemed on that morning he first encountered Lily. She had truly changed his life.