(ROBERT HERRICK)
“My restraint is as wheat stalks in the wind, when I’m with you.” Miles lips roamed to her shoulders and collarbone before they met the sleeve of her gown.
He hooked a calloused finger within and eased it lower, her breath exhaling with the slow slide of silk.
Then his mouth pressed to her decolletage, the swell of her breasts and that breath hitched, stopped entirely as his hand caressed her ribcage while the other sought the fastenings of her bodice.
A huff of exasperation warmed her skin.
So she sat up and twisted in his arms to face the lushness of the conservatory. “Tiny buttons instead of ties. Better closure and a nicer finish but can be a trial to undo.”
His lips nibbled her ear. “And I will delight in unbuttoning every single one, kissing all that is revealed.”
Such a statement of intent sent a curious sensation coursing – all shiver and sweetness and surrender – but no time formusing as his fingers slipped the first button free. Then a kiss upon her bared skin.
She felt each one give, her breath shallower with every release, every kiss upon skin then chemise, until the bodice slackened and the sleeves slipped. Then came the nudge of rough fingers at the laces of her stays before they too loosened.
Yet she raised her arm to keep them in place and, despite the conservatory’s temperate climes, she quivered, a sudden breathless hesitation for what was to come–
“I force myself to say this,” bit out Miles, a finger trailing her shoulder, “but if you wish to cease…”
She twisted back.
His eyes were dark with restraint, fist clenched at his side.
“Oh, no. You are in my domain now, Miles Firth. But I shall require guidance.”
And she stood, the dress and stays tumbling to the floor in a soft heap until she was only clad in her chemise, autumn petticoat and stockings.
Miles reached out and placed a heated palm to her waist. “You’re so beautiful, my Verity.” And he drew her to the chaise once more.
This kiss was deep and consuming, and now she could feel the heat of him through the thin cotton of her chemise, the muscles of his arms clenching around her, the leather of his buckskins abrading her thighs.
The petticoat slipped to the floor with nary a whisper and then his lips were at her shoulder, a place where he’d always paused as a youth. Yet now there was no hesitation as the chemise sleeves slipped to display her breast.
Before she could think to cover herself, Miles’ broad hand did so instead, cupping and caressing, his calloused thumb stroking the tip. She couldn’t withhold her moan, head tipping back and before she knew it, his lips were there also, laving and teasingand feathering till she seized hold of his hair and yanked his head up, pressing her own lips to his in unabated need.
She knew enough of what would happen this night but she’d never imagined the intimacy, the frisson, the sheer hedonism that made one fevered with desire, and she hardly cared when her chemise was removed entirely.
Through his buckskins, the girth of his manhood pressed just so, and she wiggled, wanted…
He pulled back with a coarse mutter and her eyes widened as Miles threw off his shirt then yanked off his boots to fling them aside, one taking the flower head off aPlumbago rosea.
She grinned; he growled.
And then she was pushed backwards, the cushion meeting the back of her head as his powerful body hovered over her.
She still wore her stockings and felt sinfully wicked, endeavoured to tug him down but it was akin to tugging a boulder.
“Don’t want to crush you,” he rasped.
“I want to be crushed,” she whispered. “I want all that powerful strength on me. Surrounding me. Possessing me and–”
Her words were stifled by his lips as he sank down, her legs parting of their own accord to embrace his slender hips.
Hands brushed and caressed – too much and not enough – but when he dragged his mouth from hers, pulled his body away, she moaned and made to grasp him again.
“Wait,” he rumbled, a sound that caused such ragged feeling to flow within her – wits unsteady and disordered. And then the wait became heaven as his mouth lapped at her breast and his rough hand wandered to her stomach, then lower.
