When he handed her the cup he made sure that his fingers briefly brushed hers, and then pointed out an antique rag doll on his mantelpiece. As he pointed, he let his other arm rest casually on her shoulders for a fleeting moment, withdrawing it before the contact could alarm her. For Marina that touch triggered an almost overpowering need to feel herself wrapped in his arms, and she tried to imagine how it would feel if he kissed her.
‘Come on,’ said Matthew, draining his cup. ‘Let’s go and look at the little pups.’ He put out a hand to assist his visitor to her feet and as his strong fingers closed round hers she shut her eyes for a moment, feeling a rush of blood to her face and neck.
When they walked out through the doorway Sir Matthew stood to one side to let her pass. Their bodies brushed against each other, another moment of fleeting contact that stirred Marina’s starved senses. By the time they reached the heated outhouse where the Dalmatian bitch and her litter were kept, Marina’s legs were wobbly and she was finding it hard to breathe deeply enough.
‘There you are,’ said Matthew, opening the top half of the divided door of the puppy area. ‘What do you think of them?’
He stood directly behind her as she looked, allowing his breath to move strands of her fair hair, and although he wasn’t touching her, Marina felt as though he were. She could sense every part of him; his hands, his broad chest and his strong thighs, all so close it was unbearable.
‘They’re sweet!’ she exclaimed, and at that moment the pups’ mother decided to bark at the unknown visitor. With a tiny squeal of surprise Marina stepped backwards and at once her imaginings became reality as their bodies collided and his arms went around her.
‘It’s all right,’ he said softly. ‘She won’t hurt you. She’s only protecting her young. No one will hurt you here,’ he added, feeling her trembling.
Marina didn’t reply. She simply stayed with the back of her body pressed against him and relished the sensation. Hesitantly he allowed his hands to move slightly up and down along the sides of her body from beneath her armpits to just below her hips, and the caress was wonderfully tender.
‘You didn’t really come about the pups, did you?’ he asked.
Marina hesitated. He was right, she wasn’t in the least interested in the puppies, but to admit as much was beyond her. To her surprise, she found that she couldn’t deny it either – it seemed too ridiculous when this man, the first she’d found attractive for many years, so clearly understood her, and she decided to keep silent.
Matthew bent his head and kissed the top vertebra of her spine, sending a thrill of excitement through her. Then he turned her towards him and kissed her on the tip of the nose, as though she were a small child. ‘Let’s go back inside,’ he said softly. ‘My housekeeper will have gone by now; we’ll be quite alone.’
For a moment she froze, uncertain that this was what she wanted. She had terrible visions of it all going wrong. Of being asked to dress up in something extraordinary, have handcuffs put on her wrists, or worse still, to discover, once her clothes were off, that this man she wanted so urgently didn’t find her attractive.
‘What’s the matter?’ he murmured, his hands cupping her face.
‘I don’t want it to go wrong,’ she confessed, her eyes looking nervously away from his.
‘It won’t go wrong. How could it? Relax, sweetheart, leave it all to me.’
Still trembling, she allowed herself to be led into the house, feeling a tremor of apprehension as he locked the door behind them and then drew the curtains. ‘Better to be certain of our privacy,’ he murmured, and then at last he took her in his arms and began to kiss her.
No one had ever kissed Marina Corbett-Wynne in the way that Matthew Stevens now did. His mouth plundered hers, but softly, tenderly, and when his tongue eased between her parted lips and swirled over her gums she sighed and relaxed against him even more.
Emboldened by this he let his tongue invade her further, and suddenly she found that she was responding in the same way, her tongue darting inside his mouth as she felt her excitement increasing.
Matthew’s arms gripped her firmly and as they kissed he skilfully unfastened the tiny buttons down the back of her carefully chosen pink dress. Then, when he’d finished he stepped back from her a little and eased it off her shoulders so that it fell in a heap around her ankles. Marina stared at him, anxiety clear in her wide eyes as he studied her. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘Take off the rest of your clothes for me.’
She went rigid, and shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t. You do it.’
Matthew put out a hand and with the middle finger drew a line down her body from her chin to the valley between her breasts. ‘I’d much rather you did it, then I can admire you as I watch.’
Marina swallowed. The atmosphere in the room was electric. Her need and his desire were almost physically present and she realised that if she didn’t do as he asked something would be lost.
‘I want to watch you,’ he said. ‘Seeing a beautiful woman undress is very arousing.’
His voice was deep, a soft chocolate voice, she thought to herself, and the words increased her desire. Hesitantly she reached for the waistband of her slip and then, bending forward from the waist, allowed it to drop to the floor to join her dress. She stepped out of it and Matthew admired the curve of her slender legs and the way her high heels pushed out her buttocks in a provocative way; an effect which was totally at odds with her normal appearance. He could feel his penis growing hard already. Her hesitancy and slight awkwardness were an aphrodisiac in themselves.
Marina’s left hand drifted down the naked patch of skin between her stocking top and high-cut panties as she wondered whether or not the stockings should come off next. The movement, involving the slight downward tilt of her shoulder, meant that the slender strap of her camisole slipped down the top of her arm. At this hint of disarray Matthew’s mouth went dry. She’d been so perfect, so cool and composed the night before, and now she was stripping for him, her slim, desirable body coming alive beneath his gaze. Without taking his eyes off her he began to remove his own clothes.
Once the shoulder strap had slipped, Marina decided to remove the camisole top next. She peeled it over her head to reveal a tiny, see-through lace bra that failed to conceal the rosy pink nipples beneath.
‘Go on,’ muttered Matthew, discarding his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. ‘You’re just as incredible as I’d imagined.’
His words encouraged her. Slowly she unfastened her stockings and rolled them down her legs until finally she had to step out of the high-heeled shoes that were giving Matthew such pleasure. Once the stockings were off he looked directly into her eyes. ‘Put the shoes back on again, please,’ he said with a catch in his voice. ‘You look so sexy in them.’
She’d never been told she looked sexy before and without hesitation she slipped the ivory-coloured shoes onto her bare feet and then removed her panties. As she bent over to step out of them her tiny, tight buttocks were thrust out and Matthew could hardly stop himself from running a hand over the delicious curve.
Finally all that Marina was wearing was her bra, and all at once she became conscious of her nakedness. Without thinking she thrust the leg nearest to Matthew forward so that her thigh hid her most secret part from him. This unconscious piece of teasing brought his straining and now naked erection fully upright until it was resting against his stomach, its head swollen and red.
Marina saw that he too had undressed and found that she couldn’t stop looking at the clear evidence of his desire for her. ‘Take off the bra, Marina,’ he reminded her. Almost in a daze she obeyed, and then at last he stepped towards her and reaching out he let his hands cup the undersides of her tiny breasts. ‘Are they sensitive? Do you like them caressed?’ he asked in a low voice.
‘Yes, oh yes!’ she murmured, and to her delight he let his strong capable fingers play over the rapidly swelling globes, touching them lightly at first but with increasing pr
essure until he finally let himself caress the delicate nipples and watched them grow into small, pale-pink peaks. Unable to remain so detached he pulled her unresisting body against his and felt those tiny nipples brushing against the dark hairs of his chest as he rubbed her close.
Marina suddenly began to struggle against the pressure of his arms. She felt as though he was crushing her and all her fears and doubts started to return. Immediately Matthew released her, gently pushing her back into the armchair she’d sat in earlier, when she’d arrived.
He pulled her legs straight and slid her down the chair a little until she was half-lying and half-sitting. She looked at him apprehensively, and he wondered what she’d heard about him, or whether it was simply the result of some ham-fisted lovemaking by her husband. Whatever the reason, he was determined to make this special for both of them.
‘I’m going to touch you all over,’ he whispered, and Marina felt herself shaking with nervous excitement. ‘Only little touches,’ he continued, ‘and I want you to tell me if they excite you or not.’
Her long fair hair, carefully piled on top of her head before she left Leyton Hall, had now fallen down around her face and neck, and he pushed it back behind her ears before lightly stroking his thumbs twice over her temples. She sighed with satisfaction and her whole body started to relax again.
‘Was that good?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
Next he touched each of her eyelids in turn and when she gave a contented sigh he ran his thumbs down each of her cheekbones. This touch sent strange tingling sensations down the sides of her neck and he saw that her nipples, which had become quiescent again, were beginning to stiffen. ‘Nice?’ he asked.
‘It’s all nice,’ she said with a slow smile.
‘You must say which you prefer,’ he insisted, but Marina knew that she couldn’t because so far it was all delightful.
His thumbs and fingers went on to stroke her nose, lips and chin before moving to her shoulders. Here he used one finger only and ran it along each of her naked shoulders in turn, stroking twice over tiny two-inch areas until she felt that she wanted to scream with pleasure.
‘Quite sensitive, I think,’ he said to himself, watching her nipples rise to taut peaks, and he proceeded to repeat the process along her inner arms, paying particular attention to the soft insides of her elbows.
As he swirled his fingers there Marina felt her internal muscles start to move, slowly stirring as though awakening from a long sleep, and her stomach, although flat, felt swollen and hard.
Her eyes looked huge and the pupils were dilated, while her mouth was moist and pliant. Matthew knew that if he took her at that moment she would quickly climax. His own body was clamouring to possess her but he also knew that by prolonging the foreplay the end result would be even better for them both, and she was such a novelty that he decided to savour the moment.
He stroked her hands, her fingers and the highly responsive flesh across her hipbones. Then he caressed her legs, the backs of her knees, her calves, ankles and finally the high arches of her fine-boned feet until he reached the toes. There he let a finger play across the pad beneath every toe until Marina was squirming restlessly in the armchair, every inch of her except for her stomach and genitals brought to fever pitch by the incredibly slow and sensuous process.
To her shame she felt damp between her thighs, something that had never happened to her before, and she tried to clench her thighs together so that Matthew wouldn’t realise.
He allowed his hand to rotate in soft circles across her abdomen and used the other hand to part her legs so that he could cup her sex, pressing gently but firmly against the entire area. The arousing pressure sent sharp darts of excitement up behind Marina’s pubic bone and across her lower belly and without realising what she was doing her legs fell apart and Matthew’s fingers brushed against the opening of her sex-lips and felt her dampness. Marina closed her eyes.
‘Look at me,’ he commanded in a gentle tone. ‘Please, Marina, open your eyes.’
Reluctantly she did, and he gazed deeply into them, his fingers straying softly through her pubic hair and just touching her slowly opening labia. ‘That’s a compliment to me,’ he assured her. ‘Don’t be ashamed of your sexuality.’
‘But I hardly know you,’ she protested, aware at once of how ridiculous this sounded since she was sitting naked and open to him in the armchair of his drawing room.
‘We’re adults, and we’re enjoying ourselves, that’s all that matters,’ he assured her. ‘Now, can you kneel up and lean against the back of the chair? Rest your arms on the top of it and move your knees back a little.’
As Marina got into position, Matthew knelt between her outspread thighs, putting his arms round her waist and pulling her buttocks back towards him until the angle was just as he wanted it.
‘Rub your breasts against the material of the chair,’ he whispered. Reluctantly Marina shifted her weight slightly, but once her nipples had felt the stimulation of the raised pattern on the brocade she got more and more excited and started breathing heavily as her breasts became engorged with blood.
Once she was lost in the sensations Matthew took his throbbing erection in his right hand and swirled it slowly around the excited woman’s outer sex-lips. As they parted for him he did the same within the inner lips, teasing her damp and trembling flesh before letting the tip of his penis rest against the opening of her sex.
Driven almost out of her mind by the incredible feelings between her thighs, Marina waited for the sudden thrusting that her two husbands had always seemed to enjoy so much, but to her delighted surprise Matthew didn’t do this. Instead he eased his penis inside her a little way, circled his hips and then withdraw, while at the same time his free hand located her clitoris and he carefully stroked the side of the shaft.
Suddenly all the pleasure Marina had experienced up to this point seemed to run riot. The small sparks of excitement turned into piercing darts of intense sensation like electric currents running through her. There was an aching tightness just below where his finger was massaging her that seemed to get worse with every movement he made.
She closed her mouth tightly to stop herself from moaning aloud as her body began to clamour for a release from the almost frightening tension that was consuming it. Her breasts had never been so full and hard; her stomach muscles had never been so tight and when he slid his penis back into her a little further than the first time it seemed as though she was melting between her thighs.
Matthew worked slowly and steadily, gradually allowing more of his erection to slide inside her, and sometimes on the inward stroke he would hear her breath snag in her throat as he brushed against her G-spot. He tried to make sure that each time this happened his fingers also touched the stem of her clitoris.
Now Marina was certain that she was going to burst. Even through closed lips she could hear herself making strange, unintelligible sounds and her hips and thighs were trembling from unsatisfied sexual tension.
At last Matthew inserted the full length of himself and when he did so, he realised that his own self-control was going. Suddenly his hips took on a life of their own and he found himself thrusting fiercely into the slender woman.
He felt her body tightening, saw her head go back as the tendons of her neck strained with tension and he quickly drummed his finger against the side of her clitoris. This, combined with the friction caused by his movements and the quick touches of his erection against her G-spot, splintered Marina’s starved body into a thousand pieces.
The tight muscles felt as though they had gone into cramp-like spasms and she was flooded by a rush of warmth as the dreadful aching sensation exploded deep within her. Her whole body twisted into shattering contortions until finally she slumped exhausted and bewildered over the back of the chair.
Matthew fell forward as well, but he was careful to put his hands on either side of her so that she didn’t have to take his full weight against her. Af
ter a moment he eased her round and, seating himself in the chair, lifted her slight frame so that her buttocks were across his naked thighs. She leant against his shoulder, her skin damp from their lovemaking, and he stroked her softly as her breathing slowed and her pulse gradually returned to normal.
‘It’s been a long time for you, hasn’t it?’ he said gently.
Marina nodded. ‘I married for the first time when I was nineteen,’ she explained. ‘He was a very sweet man, but neither of us were at all worldly. We’d been friends since we were children and the marriage was probably as much for our parents’ benefit as our own. As for James, well, I imagined him to be something he wasn’t, and then tried to change him to what I’d thought he’d be. Sex has never been in the least pleasurable for either of us, and these days he finds his enjoyment elsewhere.’
Matthew had heard all about that, and knew very well the kind of enjoyment Lord Corbett-Wynne craved, but he kept silent. He had no wish to humiliate the lord’s wife at a moment like this. ‘But you’ve had other lovers?’ he asked.
‘None. I’ve never met anyone I was attracted to, until now.’
‘I’m very flattered, Marina. Last night at dinner, all I could think about was what it would be like to make love to you.’
‘And now you know,’ she said softly.
He smiled. ‘Now I know, and it was even better than I’d imagined.’
She sighed. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been in love before.’
Luckily for Marina she didn’t see the look of astonished panic that crossed her lover’s face. She was delicate and beautiful and he knew that he’d enjoy making love to her for some time yet – there was so much she had to learn. But she wasn’t the kind of woman he would ever fall in love with.
He was a robust man who enjoyed far more variety and excitement in his sex life than Marina Corbett-Wynne would ever wish to provide. He doubted if he’d marry again, but if he did it certainly wouldn’t be to someone like her.
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