She lowered her gaze. “Never mind.”
“I insist,” he said through his teeth.
She did not want to talk about this on her wedding day, of all days. “I told you I would undoubtedly receive an offer of marriage this Season. To that end, my family had pre-selected the most opportune candidates to enhance Father’s…” She broke off at Sterling’s vicious curse.
“When I asked what you’d been told, I did not mean…that,” he said, slashing one hand through the air in vague emphasis. "I wanted to know if your mother had discussed the act of making love with you. I wanted to assure you that though it might hurt the first time, it would improve with practice, become pleasurable for both of us. I did not anticipate…Christ, Annabelle.” He dragged a hand through his hair and glowered—at nothing in particular as far as she could tell.
Her heart sank. “Are you angry?”
He glared at her. “No.”
“You certainly look angry.”
“I’m not,” he said in sullen reproach. “May we return to the subject at hand?”
She nodded, not bothering to hide her glumness.
He harrumphed, jaw flexing. “I cannot even recall now what my point was.”
She regarded him. “You wanted to know if I was as ignorant about lovemaking as I seem.”
His gaze snapped back to her. “No.”
She swallowed over a hard lump. “I’m sorry to disappoint.”
He grasped her shoulders, then, as if he meant to shake her. “No, damn it. I wanted to…I wanted you not to be afraid. I wanted you to trust me.”
“Oh.” A ray of hope flickered to life in her chest. “I do, and I’m not afraid…of you at any rate. Maybe I’m a little worried about doing everything all wrong, as I undoubtedly will.”
“Annabelle—”
Now that she had started, she could not stem the tide. “I told you I’d never been kissed before and never wanted anyone to try. But, the truth is, when you kissed me—oh, all right, whenIkissed you—I wanted more kisses. When you touch me”—she closed her eyes and gave a little shoulder waggle of delight—“I want more touches. When you—”
Her words cut off as Sterling’s mouth took hers in a voracious kiss. One strong arm hooked around her waist, dragging her into him. Meanwhile, his free hand undid her clasps, fingers nimble as a lady’s maid’s.
“Annabelle,” he breathed against her lips, “My God, how I want you,” he all but moaned, ridding her of her dress in seeming record time.
She clung to him as he dragged her gown past her hips, and bent to kiss her neck. The stubble of his beard scraped her skin with exquisite friction, and his thick hair tickled the tip of hernose. It smelled so nice, like lemon and sunshine, and oh, the funny things happening in her belly—and lower. Warmth, and she would swear, moisture, thrummed at the apex of her thighs.
He feathered kisses across her chest, moving steadily lower to trace the lacy edge of her corset with his tongue. “Do you like this?” he demanded in a hoarse rasp.
She nodded, and realizing he could not see her, answered in a husky voice she hardly recognized as her own. “Yes.”
“Do you want to touch me, Annabelle?” he asked, between kisses.
“Yes.”Oh,yes.
He straightened, a slow pirate’s smile curving one corner of his mouth, and shrugged out of his shirt. Then he took her hands, placing them flat against his chest.
Heart pounding, she traced her fingers over the supple flesh and hard contours and ridges, marveling as his muscles twitched and jerked at her touch. Helpless to resist the impulse, she kneaded her fingers into him, then scored his skin with her nails. “You’re so different. Not like me. You’re like…Zeus.”
He barked out a laugh, then hissed in a breath. “‘Like Zeus.’Woman, you don’t know what you’re doing to me. What you do without even trying.Hell’s teeth. It will be a miracle if I make it inside you.”
With that, he swept her into his arms and fell backward onto the bed. “Hold onto me, love,” he ordered in guttural tones, his elbows digging into the mattress to drag them toward the pillows.
Then he rolled her onto her back, eased onto his side, and gazed down at her. His fingers traced her cheek, down her neck, along the lacy edge of her chemise, leaving a trail of fire. Then they went lower, still, finding and caressing one hardened nipple.
The sensation was indescribable. Intoxicating. Enthralling. She could not hold still. She shivered and shimmied as delicious tingles swarmed through her.
