Page 36 of Mistress of Misfortune

“Yes, and my good name has been restored. Since she did not know my whereabouts, Lady Carlton wrote to my brother. She is arranging for her family to repay the money I gave her for their passage.” Her knees wobbled and she fell to them. “I am glad he is dead. I am glad, do you hear? I wanted to laugh and dance and go to London and spit on his grave. What does that make me?”

Harshad knelt before her, and touched his brow to hers. “You saw a terrible thing. You chose to save the child. Lucetta, you ruined your life to save them all.” He softly pressed his mouth to her right eyelid, and then her left. “You are blessed in the eyes of God.”

“I don't believe in God anymore,” she whispered.

“I will believe for both of us.” His mouth touched the corner of hers.

In possibly the most wanton, reckless and wholly natural impulse of her life, Lucetta turned her face so that her lips were on his. For a moment Harshad went still and then his arms were around her, pulling her against his hard body, his fists bunched in the back of her dress.

Lucetta had no knowledge of passionate kisses, but Harshad quickly educated her with his lips and tongue and even his teeth. He kissed her as if he wished to do nothing else for the rest of his days, openly, wetly, as if starved for such a thing. She behaved in much the same manner, at first a bit awkwardly, but the delight and heat that billowed inside her soon swept away those girlish feelings and brought her into panting, full-blown womanhood.

“My sweet,” he gasped after he wrenched his mouth from hers. “We must stop this now.”

“Absolutely not,” she snapped, tangling her fingers in his curls. “You will kiss me again, and again. That is what I want. And you, you want it just as much.”

“I am a man.” He dragged her hand down to the front of his trousers and pressed it over the long bulge beneath the rough fabric. “I want to join with you. Put myself, put this, inside your body.”

She would let him do anything he liked to her, but having a baby out of wedlock would bring shame on their child. “We will have to marry before we do that.”

His expression cleared. “Yes, please. I would like that very much.”

Lucetta felt hot and faint as she slowly rubbed her palm over the ridge of his erect manhood. “I can tell.”

“Now I am blessed by God.” He spread his hand over her lower belly, and rubbed her there with the same, slow deliberation. “We could marry very soon?”

She took a note from his book and said, “Yes, please.”

* * *

Thanks to novels,Meredith had some notion of what she had asked of Alistair. As he undressed them both she knew it felt very different from reading words in books. Pinned beneath his large, heavy form made her feel hot, but not from the weight or press of it. No, this was more an internal burning, kindling upon waking in his arms, and flaring from the moment he placed his hand on her womanly curves.

Breast,she thought, correcting herself. That is my breast he caresses now. And he likes it. He keeps looking at it in an admiring fashion.

“Meredith.”

She glanced up at him, suddenly aware of how fiercely she was concentrating. “Yes, sir?”

“We do not have to do this now.” His voice sounded gentle and yet somehow strained. “We could delay it until we have had more time to…discuss such matters. Perhaps even become engaged.”

He was trying to be kind to her, again, and suddenly Meredith could not bear it. “Colonel Thorne, I am naked, in your bed. I am not interested in discussing this or the possibility of marriage. That can come later. What I wish to do now is make love. Now, if you please.”

“I am at your command, my dear.” He smiled a little. “We will begin with our mouths. You know how this is done. Part your lips for me.”

As soon as Meredith did so, he put his mouth over hers in an open kiss, and pressed his tongue between her lips. The sensation felt even more delicious than the first time he had kissed her, likely because she enjoyed the gliding strokes, the taste of his mouth, and the rumble of sound he made in his chest.

Alistair lifted his head. “You may do the same to me now, if you wish.”

Meredith nodded, and reached up with her mouth, somewhat awkwardly imitating the kiss he had given her. He sucked on the end of her tongue lightly as she did, sending a peculiar burst of sensation into her breasts.

“Oh, dear.” She glanced down. “Something is amiss with me.”

He looked at her breasts, which appeared flushed and somewhat swollen to Meredith. The oddest aspect was how her nipples had changed. The soft rosy tips had turned a darker color and contracted as they sometimes did when she was chilled. They also ached with something like pain that was perversely almost pleasurable.

“You are becoming aroused,” Alistair murmured to her. “Desire causes this, and when it engages our senses our bodies change. Women show very subtle but definite signs of sexual arousal. As you have noticed, your nipples grow hard. You may also feel a dampness between your thighs.”

“Indeed.” She felt utterly fascinated. “How does a man's body change?”

“In far more flagrant fashion.” He moved against her so that she felt the hard length of him against her folds. “What you feel is my cock. When I am aroused, it becomes erect, so that I may penetrate you.”