‘This is ideal,’ she said to Jacob, who had shown no sign of tiring as she had led him from room to room, assessing each one as she went. ‘The curtains will have to be taken down and those carpets rolled up and I don’t need any of this furniture,’ she said, looking around at the settees, chairs and side tables. ‘I wouldn’t want to get paint on them.’
‘Excellent,’ he said.
She looked around the room, her mind full of possibilities. ‘Thank you, Jacob. This is wonderful.’
‘My pleasure,’ he said with a comic bow and a sweep of his hand. ‘I just want you to always feel that you belong here, which is more than I ever felt as a child. Although, with you in it, I must admit this house is becoming a lot less like a dungeon and more like a home.’
‘Well, I suppose that’s a compliment,’ she said with a laugh. ‘But thank you. And I was right, wasn’t I? You can be kind, generous and thoughtful.’ She was tempted to give him a hug, to express just how grateful she was, then thoughtWhy not?She reached up and kissed the cheek of the man she now knew she was in love with.
‘If you keep doing that, my resolve for us to remain just good friends will be sorely tested.’ The words held humour but his voice was soft, suggesting he too was reacting to the intimacy of her touch.
She looked up into his eyes, her heart hammering in her chest, her arms still holding his shoulders.
‘Then let’s test that resolve, shall we?’ Her words were little more than a whisper.
‘Test it?’
Heat tinged Margaret’s cheeks. She was hoping he would not ask that question, would not expect her to spell it out, but she had come this far; she would not retreat now. ‘You said you wouldn’t expect me to do what you rather quaintly referred to as my wifely duty.’
Surely now he knew what she was saying, but he said nothing in response.
‘Well, I want to. We can still remain friends, but…well, friends who are sometimes…well, a bit more than just friends.’
‘Margaret, my God, I do want you in my bed, so very, very much, but I would never want you to think you have to do anything you don’t want to. I don’t want you to feel that you owe me.’ He cast his hand towards the room as if suggesting she was offering herself to him in payment for providing her with a studio.
‘It’s not that. Whether we wanted it or not, we are now man and wife. I will not be marrying any other man, and well, I want to know what intimacy between a man and a woman is like.’
‘You want me to satisfy your curiosity?’
Margaret knew that curiosity was among the many things she wanted satisfied, even if it was not the most pressing one, so she nodded. ‘Yes, Jacob, I am asking you to show me what it is like when a man makes love to a woman.’
He said not another word but took her by the hand and quickly led her up the stairs towards his bedchamber.
Chapter Fifteen
The door closed behind them. Margaret’s heart was beating so hard she was sure Jacob must be able to hear its pounding and maybe even see it thumping against the bodice of her dress.
She had no idea what would happen next. The only instruction her mother had given her was to let her husband do what he wanted and to take her lead from him. So, with nerves, excitement and expectation waging a war within her, she waited for him to do what he wanted and let her know what he wanted from her.
He leant down and lightly placed his finger under her chin, lifting her head slightly so she was looking into his eyes. ‘Are you certain this is what you want?’ he said, his husky voice almost unrecognisable.
Margaret was never lost for words, but the restriction in her throat made it impossible for her to sayYes, this is exactly what I want, so instead she nodded.
‘Remember, if you change your mind at any time let me know. Ignore everything you’ve been told about wifely duty.’
Again, she nodded, wishing he’d hurry up and kiss her.
‘I don’t want you to—’
Her kiss interrupted whatever he was going to say. She didn’t want words. This was what she wanted, to feel his lips against hers. To feel his arms holding her tight. To be so close she was enfolded in the warmth of his body, to lose herself to him.
His hand slid around the back of her neck and he kissed her, his lips hard, hungry and insistent. Oh, yes, this was what she craved. Her body moulded into his, wanting every part of him to be touching every part of her.
‘Oh, God, I want you so much,’ he murmured as his lips nuzzled her neck. ‘I have to get you out of your clothes so I can have you. Now.’
With trembling fingers, Margaret undid the top button of the line down the front of her blouse.
‘No.’ He took hold of her fingers and lightly kissed them. ‘I want to undress you.’
