Historical Romance May 2017 Books 1 - 4. Bronwyn Scott
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hope you’re right. After hearing so much about the deed, I’d hate to be disappointed.’
‘You won’t be.’ He entangled his fingers in her hair, dislodging her curls from their pins as he brought his lips down to cover hers.
She gripped his shoulders and her knees began to fail. This was it, the moment they would at last become more than friends, but man and wife. She followed his lead, trying to match his moves as though they were engaged in a game of chess, but she soon gave up. All she could do was feel his breath against her cheeks, his hands gliding up her back and the anticipation engulfing her insides when he began to undo the buttons of her dress. Button by button he freed the silk from her shoulders until it dropped down over her hips to pool at her feet.
He leaned back to take in the curve of her waist beneath the stays and her breasts taut against the confining boning. Her skin tingled with the expectation of his touch, but instead he shrugged out of his coat and waistcoat before pulling his shirt over his head to reveal his captivating chest. He was all hers now and she was free to do anything with him. She touched his stomach lightly while he slid his hand up along the satin around her waist before reaching behind it to undo the laces of her stays. While he worked, he pressed light kisses to the tops of each breast, making her breath quicken before she inhaled sharply as her stays came loose and dropped to the floor.
The chemise billowed out around her as she stepped forward to caress the line of him, as curious about him as he was of her. Beneath his breeches she saw the evidence of his need and wanted to see more. She undid one button of his fall, waiting for him to stop her, but he watched with a crooked grin, his pupils as wide and dark as the next button she undid. At last the fall gaped open and she hooked her fingers inside the waist of his breeches. His chest expanded as her fingers brushed the smooth skin beneath while she pushed the buckskin down over his hips.
She followed them lower, coming face to face with his desire and wondering how she’d accommodate such a thing. She stood up fast, embarrassed for the first time this evening. He didn’t leave her to suffer, but gripped the sides of her chemise and pulled it over her head. She stood before him naked, her breasts heavy beneath his admiring gaze, but she made no move to cover herself. She trusted him to guide her tonight.
He caught her by the waist and pulled her to him again. Her breasts flattened against his chest while his member pressed hot and full against her stomach. He clasped her buttocks as he brought his mouth down against hers, raw and hungry in his need. With small circles he traced the line of her neck. She arched back while he dipped lower and lower until his lips took in the tender point of her breast. She cried out, digging her hands into his hair as she braced herself against the sensation his caressing tongue created deep inside of her.
Aware of the ache he’d raised, he slid his fingers down her hips, trailed them across her stomach and then slipped them between her legs.
None of the books ever described this! She rose up on her toes, his caresses pushing her toward something just out of her reach. Then he withdrew and she moaned in frustration as she lowered herself, but he didn’t allow it to last. He gathered her into his arms and carried her to the bed, continuing to tease her tongue with his.
The sheets were cold as he laid her on them and then covered her body with his. He gently nudged her legs apart with his knees and settled between them. She gasped as he pressed against her and she opened herself wider to him, ready to take him in. He didn’t push forward but lingered there, painfully close and yet holding back.
She shifted her hips toward his, trying to draw him in, but he moved away again.
They’d been apart for too long, across too many years and so much sadness. She wanted to be one with him, to claim all of him as he was claiming all of her. She brought her lips to his ears. ‘Please, don’t draw away.’
He stilled in her arms. His heart beat against her chest and he rested his cheek against hers so she couldn’t see his face. She didn’t move, wondering if she’d made some mistake and if he’d slide off and leave her with the terrible, aching need in her body and her heart.
At last he rose up on his elbows. Sweat glistened on his forehead. ‘Are you sure you truly want me?’
‘I always have.’
He claimed her mouth with urgency, as if he could kiss her deep enough to erase their time apart. Then he brought his hips forward and in one smooth motion joined with her at last.
* * *
Jasper muffled her mouth with his, taking in her cries of pleasure as she took him into herself. He wrapped his arms tight around her, groaning as he claimed her innocence, selfish in his desire to have it and her. This was how it should have been years ago, with nothing between them, not her experiences or his, their lives intermingling in a way no one could interrupt. Her fingernails dug into his back as he stroked deeper into her, wanting to bring them so close they might never be apart. In the sweet entwining of her legs with his, he could feel her pulling him into her. She wanted all of him and he would find a way to give it to her, to be the man he’d promised he would be.
With her breath fast in his ear, her whimpers vibrating through his chest, he drove them toward a release greater than their bodies until at last their pleasure crested and they cried out together.
* * *
‘Was it all you expected?’ Jasper asked as she lay beside him, her hair spilling across the pillow and over her shoulder to cover the pink tips of her breasts.
‘It was more divine than I could have imagined.’ She stretched like a cat on her back beside him, making her full breasts arch and stoking the fire which still smouldered inside him. ‘I probably shouldn’t tell you so. It’ll make you arrogant.’
He turned on his side to face her and laid a hot hand on her stomach, making small circles around her navel. ‘Good, I take pride in my skills.’
The dolphin clock chimed ten times. Each knock of the tiny hammer against the bell stilled his hand and stole some of the calm he’d experienced during their lovemaking. In her arms he’d forgotten about the hell by the Thames and all the steps that had led him to it and everything it meant.
‘What’s wrong?’ Jane asked.
‘Nothing. I’m not used to being home at night. I’m usually at the hell.’ It was a half-truth.
She rolled on her side and pressed her supple body against his, bringing her lips tantalisingly close to his. ‘I’m sure Mr Bronson can do without you for one evening.’
‘I’m sure he can.’
‘Are you certain this is where the auction is being held?’ Jasper asked as they ascended the stone stairs into the building in Somers Town.
‘The paper was quite clear on the matter.’ To Jane’s amazement, he’d been incredibly solicitous in accompanying her here, despite her having woken him from a deep sleep this morning. Over the last two weeks, Jane and Jasper’s lives had settled into a quiet routine. They spent afternoons and evenings in preparation for the opening of the club, then dined together before retiring upstairs for more intimate discussions. Afterwards, Jasper would go to the gaming room and remain there until dawn when he returned home to sleep while Jane rose.
‘From what I remember of London, this seems an odd place for a lady of, what did the advert say?’
‘Fine breeding fallen on hard times.’ Jane read from the cut-out advertisement for the auction to sell the goods of a genteel lady who’d recently died without heirs. Despite the very questionable neighbourhood, the quality things being sold to clear the deceased woman’s debts included a fine set of china Jane hoped to purchase for the club. As a married woman with her husband by her side, she was free to travel here and to bid on anything she liked. It was a welcome change from the last auction she’d attended.
From an open upstairs