The thought made him want to try harder to know her. Perhaps even…
But no. Vivianne had cut a groove in his heart no one else could fill.
He grasped Cassandra’s palm and raised her fingers to his lips. She held his gaze as he placed a kiss on the heavy gold band he’d fitted there just hours ago, and then into each of the four soft valleys between her knuckles.
Honored.
And he was. Truly.
He wanted to tell her. But he hadn’t given her any reason to believe him.
Instead of speaking, he took off his wrap, sat down on the bed, then extended his impossibly large legs beneath the sheet. Beside him, she was warm and sweet-smelling. Each time she took a breath, therise and subsequent fall of her chest made interesting contours in the fabric of her chemise.
Invitingcontours.
The importance of proceeding “the right way” slowly ceded to more primal urges. He shifted onto his side and cupped her neck. He placed a closed-mouth kiss on each of her cheeks and then brushed his lips over hers. Even brief contact burdened his breath.
She blinked up at him, bewildered.
He bent down again, moving his mouth along her jaw, following a dab of scent to a spot just beneath her ear. She sighed and placed a hand on the back of his neck. Every hair on his body stood straight.
He rested his forehead against hers and heard her breath quicken.
Encouraging.
Hesitantly, at least at first, he palmed her breast. But when he moved to stimulate her nipple, she made a sound of protest. He glanced up, searching her face.
She stared at him, a wild, desperate look in her eyes. Then, she dropped her gaze and threaded her fingers through his, returning his hand to the same spot he’d abandoned.
“Go on,” she whispered.
Lud,this was awkward.
Every time he’d been…amorouswith Viv, she had mewed and simpered, undulated and encouraged. Not so, Cassandra.
His wife did not push him away, but neither did she draw him close. Still, beneath his ungainly hand, her heartbeat fluttered faster than a fledgling’s wings. Her skin was heating. From what he remembered, warm skin was a sign of desire, wasn’t it?
He glanced beneath the tented sheet to where their legs mingled.
Yes, even her thighs had pinked.
She whimpered as she took note of his perusal, not with desire, but with what sounded more like deeply rattled mortification.
Perhaps he ought to have doused the lights?
His gaze flicked back to her face, seeking guidance. But she had turned her cheek into her pillow. The one eye visible to him was firmly closed.
“You are beautiful,” he murmured reassuringly. Whatever their reasons for marrying, this much he could truthfully offer. “I find you…enchanting.”
Her lids barely opened. She studied him in silence.
Wife.His wife.
He caressed her cheek, then moved his hand back to her breast, holding her gaze as he stimulated the peak. This time she did respond. Her back arched, her lips parted, and her breath deepened. Another small whimper escaped, this one leaving him light and woozy.
“Do you know what is to come?”
After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
