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He turned back around to give her his most devilish look. “I had no idea you were so ticklish.” He tickled her some more. “This is certainly important to know.”
“Oh, stop,” she gasped, “please stop. I can’t bear it.?
?
James smiled down at her with all the love in his heart. It had been so important to him to make this first time perfect for her. He had been dreaming of it for weeks, of how he was going to show her how exquisite the love between a man and a woman could be. And if he hadn’t exactly pictured himself tickling her toes, he had pictured her with a smile on her face.
Rather like right now.
“Oh, Elizabeth,” he murmured, leaning down to press a gentle kiss on her mouth, “I love you so much. You must believe me.”
“I believe you,” she said softly, “because in your eyes, I see what I feel in my heart.”
James felt his eyes go wet with tears, and he had no words to express the torrent of emotion her simple statement had unleashed. He kissed her again, this time tracing the outline of her lips with his tongue as he slid his hand down the side of her body.
He felt her stiffen with anticipation, her muscles quickening beneath his touch. But when he reached the core of her womanhood, her legs parted slightly to receive him. He toyed with her curls, and then, when he heard her breathing grow shallow and raspy, slipped in farther. She was already ready for him, thank God, because he wasn’t certain he could wait another moment.
He nudged her legs farther open and settled between them. “This may hurt,” he said, hearing regret in his voice. “There’s no other way, but it will get better, I promise.”
She nodded, and he noticed that her face had tensed up slightly at his words. Damn. Maybe he shouldn’t even have warned her. He had no experience with virgins; he didn’t have the slightest idea what to do to lessen her pain. All he could do was be gentle and slow—difficult as that was in the face of the most intense desire he had ever felt—and pray for the best.
“Shhhh,” he crooned, smoothing his hand over her forehead. He moved forward an inch or so, until the tip of his manhood was pressed up against her. “See?” he whispered. “I’m nothing out of the ordinary.”
“You’re huge,” she retorted.
To his utter shock, a burst of laughter escaped his lips. “Oh, my love, normally I’d take that as the highest compliment.”
“And now…” she prodded.
His fingers trailed lovingly over her temple to the line of her jaw. “Now all I want is for you not to worry.”
She gave her head a little shake. “I’m not worried. A little nervous, perhaps, but not worried. I know that you will make this wonderful. You make everything wonderful.”
“I will,” he said, his words fervent against her lips. “I promise I will.”
Elizabeth gasped as he nudged forward, entering her. It all felt so strange, and in an odd way, so right, as if she’d been made for this moment, crafted to receive this man in love.
His hands stole around to cup her buttocks, and he tilted her slightly. Elizabeth gasped at the difference that made as he slid easily in until he reached the proof of her innocence.
“After this moment,” he said, his voice hot against her ear. “You will be mine.” And then, without waiting for a response, he pushed forward, capturing her surprised “Oh!” with a deep kiss.
His hands still wrapped beneath her, he began to move. Elizabeth gasped with each thrust, and then, without consciously realizing it, she began to move as well, joining him in an ancient rhythm.
The tension that had been tickling her insides grew stronger, more urgent, and she felt as if she were straining against her own skin. And then something changed, and she felt as if she were falling off a cliff, and the world exploded around her. A second later, James gave a hoarse shout, and his hands clutched her shoulders with impossible force. For a moment he looked as if he were dying, and then his face was washed with a look of complete bliss, and he collapsed atop her.
Several moments passed, the only sound their breathing as it slowed to an even pace, and then James rolled over onto his side, pulling her against him and nestling against her like two spoons in a drawer. “This is it,” he said, his voice drowsy. “This is what I’ve been searching for my entire life.”
Elizabeth nodded against him, and they slept.
Several hours later, Elizabeth woke to the sound of James’s feet moving across the wooden floors of the hunting lodge. She hadn’t felt him leave the bed, but there he was, slipping back into the bedroom, naked as the day he was born.
She was torn between the urge to avert her eyes and the temptation to stare shamelessly. She ended up doing a little of both.
“Look what we forgot,” James said, waving something in the air. “I found it on the floor.”
“Lady Danbury’s letter!”
He raised his brows and gifted her with his most rakish smile. “I must have dropped it in my haste to have my way with you.”
