AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My craft? Oh, my darling Hetty, the statue is but a poor reflection of the inspiration.” His voice had dropped lower still, a gorgeous growling sound that seemed to echo from his chest and through her bones in a delightful wave. “I have only done my best to depict the goddess I have been so blessed to have in my home—first as my model, and now as my wife.”
Henrietta shivered as Daniel nuzzled her neck, breathing lightly across the sensitive flesh and sending little quivers of delight through her, even as goosebumps raised over her arms.
“Come, my wife. I shall show you how much a goddess you truly are.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
It took every ounce of Daniel’s self-control and discipline not to drag her through the door and hoist her onto the bed and take her, without delay. His erection was a straining, painful hardness, confined within trousers that he desperately wanted to shed. Henrietta seemed no less eager than he, following him into the room willingly in his arms, eyes sparkling and cheeks rosy with desire.
He shut the door with his foot, then pushed her insistently against the wall, winding his hands in her hair to loosen the ribbons of her hairdo, at the same time as he claimed her mouth in a searing kiss.
He had thought to dominate, but Henrietta had learned from their last encounter, and she met him on equal ground, lips parting, tongue questing, teeth nipping and teasing until he could no longer restrain the rough noises he made. He feared his fragile control would snap.
He drew back, looking at her kiss-reddened lips, the languid and dazed expression of pleasure on her face, through which a spark of teasing challenge still shown through.
She was a maiden, his Henrietta, and he intended to give her passion and pleasure and gentleness all three, that she might enjoy her first time fully, and well enough to seek pleasure from him again and again, until they were both exhausted, and the sight of her face in the throes of passion was emblazoned on his mind so vividly that no nightmare could ever again get past the memories of love and ecstasy shared between them.
He slid a hand down her back, searching for the ties to unlace the bodice of her dress and scowling when he found nothing. He was beginning to think he might simply spin her around and rip the dress off—Sarah or a seamstress could surely repair it later—when he noticed a teasing gleam sparking brighter in his new wife’s eyes.
“Something amuses you?”
“The dress…” She leaned forward to breathe the words in his ear. “It ties in the front, my lord. I did remember how much you enjoyed that particular fashion, that day in your studio.” She daringly swiped the tip of her tongue across his neck and nipped at his earlobe, and he couldn’t help the low growl that rumbled from his chest.
“You little minx...”
“Yourminx, dear Daniel.”
Having been informed of the location of the fastenings for the dress, it was no trouble to find and undo them, to leave the garment loose and threatening to slide away.
He was tempted to drag the dress down, to leave her in her underthings—or better, bared completely to his touch. He held back, wanting to give her all the attention, all the lavish devotion he had dreamed of showing her in the past several weeks.
There would be time enough to make the dreams that had plagued his nights and left him aching with desire a reality.
He held her shoulders, dressed still clasped loosely in place as he gave her another lingering kiss, then nipped her ear and traced his way down her throat with lips and teeth and tongue, committing to memory every gasp, every shiver, every movement that made her arch and sigh against him.
He bit lightly at her collarbone, not hard enough to leave a mark, and she squirmed and clutched at him. He smiled against her shoulder and licked the spot with his tongue, using the distraction of the moment to draw her dress down her arms, to her waist, revealing her corset and chemise.
He couldn’t help the little growl of frustration at the continued impediments, and she laughed against his neck, taking the opportunity to make her own teasing explorations of his neck, and sending bolts of heated lust straight to his already aching groin.
The corset cords were in the back, and he made quick work of them, even though he couldn’t see them, his nose buried in her hair and breathing in the faint scent of jasmine and orange blossom. Enticing and perfectly blended with a scent that was uniquely her own.
Finally, the corset was loose, and he pulled it free and threw it to one side. The dress slid loosely over her hips, then down to puddle on the floor. He would rather have seen the chemise go with it, but at least he had not had to deal with the petticoats., which had gone to the floor with the dress.
The thin material of the chemise clung to her curves, highlighting her shape tantalizing him, mesmerizing him.
* * *
There was no self-consciousness when Daniel removed her dress and corset, not when she could see the lust and desire shining in his eyes, turning the moss-green to emerald fire with the darkness of forest glade swirling inside. Never mind the incredible bulge she could see tightening and swelling in his trousers.
Daniel was lavishing attention on her shoulders and her neck, placing little teasing kisses along her shoulders, behind her ear. It was difficult not to melt into his touch.
But he was still clothed, and she wanted to see him, as she had not been able to in their previous encounters. She managed to get her hands under his jacket, to the buttons of his waistcoat. She managed to undo them with only a bit of fumbling. Once both were loose, she traced her hands up his toned abdomen to his shoulders and pushed the cloth back and away.
Daniel made a frustrated sound and released her momentarily to shake the offending garments off his arms. Then, without prompting, he snatched the cravat and unwound it from his neck to toss it aside with the jacket. “Blasted thing.”
His temporary distraction allowed her to get her fingers on the buttons of his shirt, working them loose as she had the waistcoat. Daniel froze, something other than lust flashing across his face before his hands dropped to his sides.
He was nervous, and she wondered why. But he made no move to stop her as she undid his shirt and moved aside the fine linen cloth to bare his upper body to her gaze for the first time.
