Conscious of how he looked at her, she wanted to melt into his arms and throw herself at him. She’d be patient for he would have to make the first gesture. And when he did, what would she do? His full chiseled lips made her pray he would seek hers. She begged his touch in unspoken words, a supreme act for her.
It might have been courage or foolishness or some other emotion that propelled her when she walked to him, gazed with deep and hopeful eyes, and gathered every ounce of courage she possessed. “I also wish to give you another present.”
“I believe I told you once that I did like presents, but I don’t see anything else,” Raven assessed her empty hands.
This astute, articulate man could be obtuse. She would have to play the part of the anxious widow. Her eyes glanced demurely before she lowered her gaze, and said in a soft sensual tone. “Your present stands in front of you, should you wish to accept. It is me.”
His smile stilled in the moonlight. Samantha liked the way firelight danced off his eyes in response.
“I see the shock on your face. I’m not presumptuous. There is something between us that we should not deny. Please believe me when I say this. I’m at a loss here, and I have a great need of you to show me things I have never experienced before.” The supplication became a sultry invitation.
There, she said it.
“Never?” Raven asked with significant interest in his voice.
Samantha decided it would be best not to answer, and ignored his question. What should she do now? Would he reject her? In a display of bravery, she waited for his response and steeled herself for anything and everything, but she hoped secretly he would oblige.
Then she faced him. “In our last conversation, you did offer your services. Have you changed your mind?” Good gracious, where did the hussy uttered words come from? Her lips? Her heart? Her insanity?
“No,” he answered. “I am yours to command.”
She moved toward him.
Raven thought it more than a walk…she swayed—a slow waltz where her hips were pronounced. It attracted his attention, true. Not promiscuous, or flamboyant, or sexual, yet it spiraled to more than that. All three combined with the addition of grace and allure. In other words, she exuded femininity like the goddess she was.
Samantha stood in front of him, “I command you to make love to me.” She tilted her chin to him.
“A command I’m happy to obey,” In his imagination, Raven likened her to a statue of Venus, all luscious curves, oval chiseled face and long hair that begged to be touched—by him and his hands. Her eyes were luminous verdant pools. Her gown accented her shoulders, breasts, and hips. To him, she was the essence of feminine charm. A sensual aura surrounded her like a halo. The vision in his mind heightened his desire again. Everything within him ached for her soft touch—here, there and everywhere.
Raven took her to him and held her in his arms. “Your skin smells of sensuality, and your fragrance permeates the closeness between us while my body responds to yours with pleasant sensations.” The words he uttered were foolish when all he wanted to do was to strip her naked and make love as she commanded him. What were promises or proposals when the heat within him soared like a raging forest fire inflamed by a woman with seemingly unworldly eyes. Damnation.
“Samantha, do you have any idea what you do to me?” The bulge in his trousers sought to escape when he pressed into her. His body tightened, and his major muscle stood at attention. A strong emotion overwhelmed him, and he became awestruck and somewhat disbelieved when he asked, “Do you know what you’ve offered, Samantha? If I refuse, I would indeed be a scoundrel. If I accept, I compromise you. I promised your aunt…”
“If so, why did you invite me here? For secret kisses and nothing else. We can do that anywhere on the estate.”
The moment she moved her hands to his chest, his reaction was volcanic.
“Could it be that you don’t want me? Am I mistaken? Or is there another reason?” she asked.
Raven tried to summon his noble intentions, but there was no response. He encircled her with his arms, one hand splayed in the small of her back. Explosive currents raced through him. “I must know what your intent is. Do you realize how much you offer me?”
Samantha blushed. “Yes, I do. I don’t seem to be able to live without a thought of you that dominates me. Your masculinity consumes me. You personify manliness and I yearn for you to fulfill me.”
“I don’t know if I can offer a commitment in return.” Raven’s warm breath whispered into her ear.
“I don’t recall I’ve asked for any.”
The moment reeled him. He knew full well decisions based on emotions were not always wise ones. Could this be too good to be true? Was there an ulterior motive? This beautiful widow offered herself to him without condition? Was it entrapment she had in mind? Or was she true?
He’d waited for this night with her. Should he not enjoy it and all she offered? Damnation.
“Raven, there is an insatiable desire within me. My body loses control, and I find myself in need to reach out to you with the purity of a sensation so strong it makes me hungry for you in a physical way. I don’t know if I make sense to you, but it’s as if we are one soul, a single essence.”
“The use of the word purity does not signify coming from a widow,” he said, brow furrowed.
She ignored his pointed response. The softness in her voice was melodious. “This is a night for truths between us. Gaze at me, dear Raven.”
“Yes, Samantha?” He looked deep into her eyes, his mind and needs in conflict with each other. After all, she appeared to be a most agreeable woman, and his wants became greater than his control. She stood tall, extended her arms. “What more can I do? Let me breathe the air that you do. Please take the gift I offer.”
Samantha pleaded, “I need fulfillment and you are the only man for me. You might say I came to a scientific discovery in a logical manner. Now, I believe passion has entered into the equation.”
He looked into her eyes and saw forever. Her hands alongside his face demanded. The touch of her hand to his jaw seared. He kissed her lips, then plundered.
He stopped and withdrew his mouth, but her words fell on anxious ears.
“I have chosen you for all that you are. Will you now choose me? We can forego tomorrow, but for tonight, we have each other. Let fate decide our destiny.” She reached for his hand and placed it on her swelling breast. “Raven?”
“Yes, Samantha?”
“Do you feel the magic in the air?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Yes, I do,” Raven said. Enslaved with Samantha’s response, he was desperate to possess and protect her. These dual needs consumed him. The lady did say she expected no commitment from him. His new found emotions galloped, free to roam.
Samantha turned her back to him. “Please untie my laces. I desire to undress. Will you assist?” Her voice, her smile, her salacious suggestion, were greeted with the mastery of his hands stripping her bare and naked in short time. She stepped out of the puddled clothes on the floor with the grace of a nymph.
She raised herself on her toes and kissed his lips with great hunger, his tongue sought hers, which she accepted, and returned in kind as he’d taught her at the auction luncheon.
The undulated light from the lake and its rippling movement cast shadows and illumination at the same time. Passion struck in an awesome wave of desire, need, want—all the important things, all at the same time, demanding to be satisfied, pulling at him, pushing him forward, and dragging him to action. The yearning became too powerful to ignore.
The warmth generated between them could start an inferno. Raven wanted—needed—to feel her white hot heat. Never had it been like this. Yes, never.
For want of her, he would hurdle any obstacle.
For want of her, he would do everything.
For want of her, he would do anything.
“You have bewitched me,” he declared. “I’m in awe of every mome
nt of this time with you.”
The moment seared.
His touch?
Her touch?
Their touch?
His sensual kisses again probed and scorched her. His hungry body wanted to respond to her urgent needs. Mutual needs. Mutual wants. Mutual delirium.
He threw off his jacket and waistcoat, undid his cravat, and flung it in the air. Soon all but his trousers were gone. He went to her and carried her to the bed in the far room. With great care, he laid her upon the covers.
He moved toward her, removed her silk stockings and shoes a bit hastily. Her hair fanned the pillow. He engaged her eyes, and hoped she was anxious for him to do all he needed.
Samantha observed in excitement and perhaps mystery. Raven tore open his breeches, and stared in amazement at the bulge of his maleness. With his arousal released, she couldn’t help her curiosity and fear. Rather bigger than expected, but how would she know big from small? How could that fit inside her?
She’d never gazed upon a naked grown man. Panic threatened to overtake her, but she managed to keep her apprehension under some control and quieted her anxiety. On an impulse, she reached out to touch him—there, much like a child touches a flame it knows will burn. Her trembling fingers found forbidden places.
Fingertips skimmed each other sensually. A smile that opened slowly, upper lips a single breath away, her tongue a slither of invitation one moment, stilled the next, only to venture closer again. Slippery, dazzling the senses, forbidden, but it was desirable in its implication. The thrill spiraled higher and higher into a mad vortex of lust, pure, and—simple. A sin so delightful, it spun around to make one unable to resist, to give everything for the touch—the infinite pleasure of mating. She moved her mouth closer until there was no space left to hide—only to join in a kiss of blissful ecstasy. Ahh…
Entranced, Samantha closed her eyes, sighed and withdrew her hand when he moaned, but she couldn’t help but open them wide to feast on him, his erection, and his euphoric expression. So that was what he liked.
Oh, what was happening? A voracious hunger filled her. She was—not real, yet very real in the torment well below her waist. Samantha writhed beneath him in unbridled rapture. Her temperature soared to greater heights. Every time a part of him touched, it felt like a lightning strike, which inundated her with sensations she never knew before. The dampness in her lower body, all silky, liquid and hot demanded. The emotions he withdrew from her made her feel like a divine female creature—a goddess of mythical proportions.
Samantha sighed in wonder at the sight of him. Every moment seemed to contradict the one that went before. Flooded with thoughts and feelings, she sensed her immense power, breathed it in freely, and could taste the supremacy of the sensual woman who now dwelt within. A sexual female in great need of him is what she’d become as a delicious shiver convulsed down the center to her waiting bud.
She knew something in her searched for the mindless infinite pleasure he could bestow. The carnal urges in her body commanded with impatience. She admired his body, all sinew and muscle, naked and glorious in its masculinity, but her impatience caused her body to arch and propel toward him. The inevitable would not accept containment any longer. Her body squirmed beneath him, slick, hot and molten.
In the throes of passion, Raven’s practiced hand aroused her, sliding in and out driving her to the edge. Then his full cock, eager and at the ready, teased at her oh-so-wet entrance, probing. He struggled to control his strong sexual desire. All his instincts told him something was wrong, but not one to be cautioned or denied, retreat no longer became an option. His kisses burned a path down the center of her body, detouring to lick each breast, and slid down to her stomach. His fingers moved in circles. He glanced up and saw the pleasure on her face. “Do you like this too?”
He lingered a while, sensed her excitement and anticipation. Her purrs urged him on until her hips bucked. This time, he used his lips as he caressed the nakedness of her inner thighs, and managed to kiss every inch of her satin skin that hinted of lemon and cloves—but mostly her scent of hot, smoldering passion. His kisses were now long and slow, inflaming her reaction. His mouth persuaded hers to give more and more of her sweet self to him. He gloried in the naked woman squirming beneath him, his power evident in his seeking member.
He slid his fingers down farther, ignored her female apex for the moment, skimmed the inside of her legs open, spread her wider with his knees and positioned himself at her entrance again. His mouth lowered to her sacred core and started to nibble at her swollen bud. He heard her startled response.
“Oh, no, Raven. No, don’t,” she protested with the expression of a skittish maiden.
He raised his head and looked into her eyes and noted the flush of her cheeks, which he took to be a sure sign of her heightened hunger. Leaning his head lower, his tongue languished within her warm, moist secret place without mercy. She arched again to protest, clutching his back in the throes of intense want. Now her more receptive response challenged his advances.
“Oh,” she moaned. Her anxious body encouraged him to continue. “This should not be new to you,” he whispered in a hoarse voice.
“Don’t stop.”
“Never.” His voice was a feral growl.
The days and nights of his lust for her took its full measure. He wanted to possess her body and then later, her actual soul. All sweet female sensuality, the touch of her hands raking through his hair, spurred him on. This time, it loosened from his queue and fell forward on each side of his face like a wild savage.
Raven kissed her lips, her throat until the sound of her moans spurred him further. The scent and taste of her core still on his mouth unhinged him. The intimacy between them compelled him to continue into what he knew would be blissful oblivion. He sought her lips again and parted them, and his tongue devoured her and left them breathless.
His arousal engorged him further. It would be so easy to get lost in her body. To make sure he pleasured her first, he paced himself, but he couldn’t remove his eyes from Samantha. The dreamy expression on her face excited him. Pleasuring her became important to him to make their first intercourse together memorable in every way. A patient man under normal circumstances, the core of him needed some respite to control the sensations he experienced.
The alluring appeal of her arms pulled him even closer. Oh, darling Samantha, how she tested him. He centered his phallus at her entrance and sought entry. He waited so long for this moment and now she was his for the taking. Oh, glorious elusive attainment—then in a surprise, his cock encountered a barrier. When he gazed, he saw her face wince at his strong attempt.
Samantha blurted out. “I’m a virgin, Raven. I don’t know what to do.” Tears trickled her cheeks. Her head turned from him.
He heard the words but didn’t believe.
He understood the words but didn’t comprehend.
He paused, but the sensation demanded and became uncontrollable. To come this close to his idea of heaven and be denied—his need became great, greater than his will power. Damnation. Double damnation.
Raven attempted to withdraw his shaft but she mewled like a wounded kitten. Then in a wanton manner, the decision was made for him. She pulled him closer with arms encircling him like a strong chain forged with lustful iron, sinful steel, and the devil’s pleasure.
She would not let go of him.
Her limbs encased him at his waist, as her hands slid down his spine to his buttocks. There was no denying his engorged member now. He managed to find the words in between thrusts, “Forgive me, my dear. I’m afraid this will hurt. Keep your gaze to mine. I’ll help you find paradise. Stay with me.” Bracing himself on his forearms, he plunged forward, paused, waited for her to adjust to his length and penetrated her inch by slow inch until with the last plunge he became sheathed in her warm wet pool.
The tense expression on her face lessened; her breaths increased. Passion introduced itself to her body.
Damnati
on, was this another test?
Her head moved from side to side now in obvious enjoyment. He fought her and himself.
Too late.
She won.
He lost.
What sweet misery. What delightful madness. What a magnificent obsession.
The pain of Samantha’s sheared maidenhead forgotten, he guided her along the journey into a new world of pleasure.
“I feel so strange and on fire,” she lowered her hands to his shoulders. “I feel like a woman meant to pleasure a man such as you.” She smiled up at the ceiling of stars, then turned to him, “Desirable, too. Raven, you make me feel like magic.”
Beneath him, her soft moans and sweet purrs were music to his ears.
“Don’t stop. Help me relieve this exquisite torture. I have much to learn. Teach me. Show me now.” Hands again raked his tangled hair in haste. He accepted the body that pressed upward, and the prodding hips that begged him without words.
His questions became forgotten.
His promises became forgotten.
His honor became forgotten also.
He kissed her armpits and then each side of her body. His mouth seared over her like there was no tomorrow—only this moment. He forgot everything because he wanted to take her, thrust and ravish. His aching cock plundered. Her body arched and met each of his stabs with the same intensity. The world of ecstasy beckoned them. His thrusts became more powerful, and were answered in kind with her acceptance of them. He drove her higher and higher, sent her to the edge again, but this time, it was different. The sensations were enormous in their power, strange, oh-so-pleasurable, as passion claimed them.
Naked slick splendor, salty wet lips, and exquisite rhythm ravaged Samantha. Moonbeams exploded from the sky in sequence when the exquisite euphoria started. Fervor roared over her in a swamp of wondrous waves. The physical sensation became like immersion in a pool of warm, fragrant heated water that caressed and washed over her. Soon it scorched. Her cheeks flushed and her arms enclosed around his neck. She smothered him with kisses below his ear lobe. He smelled of musk mingled with sweat, a dear sweet taste, and all became nectar to her lips. She sucked on his ear and felt him shudder. Sweet heaven. She wanted more.
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