Evelyn repeated her words, eager for more of this magnificent consequence, and he reared, wrenching at his boots, tossing them aside. Stockings and breeches followed, cursing tailors and bootmakers alike.
Delighted and terrified in equal measure, she marvelled at his muscled chest, yearned to touch, but evidently Casper’s restraint had splintered as he fell atop her once more, all that potency squashing her to the mattress.
Evelyn bit that corded throat, dug nails where she could, felt his blunt girth searching, jutting and demanding. She ought to be afraid, a missish virgin shivering in fear, but lovers were created for this, her body made for Casper.
A plundering thrust and he stole into her core, grunted, grasped her thigh and bucked again. She closed her eyes, cried out at the sharp pain, no worse than a kettle burn, but not knowing if it would continue.
She shifted her hips…but nothing stirred.
What that it?
She ratcheted one eye open.
Casper’s face twisted with the strain of torment, lips parted and gasping, cheeks ruddy and eyes as burning blue coals. His arms flexed either side of her, chest as bellows, glistening with bronzed hairs. Lower, their bodies merged to golden shadow.
“I must…” He swallowed deeply.
Smiling, she halted his mumbled words, knew his desire.
And she arched, drawing him deeper. “Love me, Casper.”
A profound groan, then shallow thrusts – testing, sinking, withdrawing and seeking once more. Deeper, then deeper still, till fullness enveloped her – no longer painful but odd and good.
His lips scraped upon hers, chin bristles raking down neck to breast, hips gently rocking – no longer odd but perfect.
Then breath-taking.
Casper’s mouth flitted up. “You teased me so,” he rasped and lunged. “You taunted me.” He rocked. “You seduced me.” He bucked. “You beguiled me.” He drove hard. “Always mine, Evelyn. Always.”
His hips continued their pounding in the ruthless rush for that sweet agony. Casper reared, forearms upright as his pace became savage and unbridled, the rapture coiling within her, his gaze fixed and feral.
“Evelyn,” he gasped.
Her body pulsed, ecstasy sweeping through her, vivid as gold and precious as diamonds, lustrous and blissful. She clamped her thighs around Casper’s hips, nails scrabbling for his skin, her core clenching in torrid endless waves.
A guttural roar at her ear, and her glazed eyes flickered to witness Casper pitch his head up, throat exposed and taut, teeth gritted, the length of him plunging deep as was possible.
Another harsh shove and he groaned, head dropping, skin rippling, her name a benediction upon his lips.
He fell atop and she relished the heat and pressure, their bodies pulsing and entwined.
Closing her eyes, she brushed his damp spine with feathered stokes, tracing to firm buttocks that still twitched beneath her roving fingers. Velvet kisses peppered her neck as sated pleasure flowed and the candlelight flickered.
They lay awhile, skin cooling in the night before he rolled to drag the coverlet up and pull her close. Never had she experienced such rapture, and she snuggled against his chest, savouring its warmth, loved feeling his muscles swell, kissed a raw burn and relished him quake.
“Evelyn… My love.” Lips brushed her forehead and hands meandered her sides but now that the rush of passion had been met, the sensation evoked was comfort and intimacy, affection and adoration.
Opening her eyes, she observed the exhausted shadows beneath his eyes, heard his breath slow to a peaceful tempo and felt his body become lax with sleep.
And a hidden facet of Casper was now revealed to her – the fatigued man behind the commanding duke. So she stretched up to kiss his brow, heard a murmur and held that man close until the candle met its final end.
* * *
Tea.
Strong tea.
Evelyn had no wish for this particular dream to end.
