by Amelia Grey
That would mean she couldn’t see his magnificent body. She didn’t like that idea. “I want to watch you,” she said.
A hint of a smile played at his lips. “Good. I want to look at you, too.”
Andrew reached down and pulled her blue gown up past her knees, past her thighs, past her waist to bunch just beneath her breasts. A shiver of anticipation shook her but she wasn’t frightened. She was enthralled.
He reached beneath her to her back and untied the drawstring that held her drawers on and gently stripped them down her legs and off over her shoes. He pushed her chemise up with her gown, parted her knees, and stepped between them.
Olivia watched his eyes as he looked down at that part of her no one had seen since she was a babe. Olivia was surprised that she felt no shame or embarrassment as he devoured her body with his eyes. All she felt was expectancy. She had been waiting for this.
“The length of your golden hair is not the only beautiful thing about you that I haven’t seen before. Your body is lovely, Olivia.”
“I’m glad you are satisfied with me.”
“Very. No woman has ever tempted me greater than you.”
“Is that a good thing or bad?”
A half chuckle sounded in his throat. “I haven’t decided. All I know is that even when I’m out at night gambling, drinking, or racing, I can’t stop thinking about you being here waiting for me to come home.”
Olivia smiled at him, showing that his words pleased her.
He reached down and cupped her waist, almost encircling it in his manly hands before letting his open hands plane softly down her stomach, down her thighs to the tops of her stockings and back up to her innermost part.
Olivia’s abdomen contracted crazily at his gentle touch. She gasped and slightly lifted her hips off the bed as he touched her core with the tender strokes of his fingers.
His eyes darted back to her face. “Are you all right?” he whispered huskily.
“I’m not sure,” she said a little breathlessly.
“Am I hurting you?”
“No. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’ve never felt anything so, so wonderful, so heavenly.”
“I’m only touching you. Relax and enjoy what is about to happen.”
Olivia felt her body lifting to meet the motions of his fingers. Delicious spirals of sensations she’d never felt before had her gasping for breath. She heard soft moaning sounds and knew they must be coming from her lips.
Slowly Andrew dropped to his knees in front of her and removed his fingers and replaced them with his mouth and his tongue.
Olivia was horrified and glorified at the same time. She gasped again and tried to rise.
Andrew’s hand flew to her chest and gently pressed her back down on the bed as he continued to caress her with his tongue. Within moments she realized she didn’t want to rise and stop him, she didn’t want to understand. She only wanted the amazing feelings to go on forever.
She didn’t care what he was doing to her. What mattered was the way he was making her feel.
The tension and the vibrations quickly built deep inside her. She picked up his hand from her chest and carried it to her lips. She purred and moaned into his palm while his tongue tormented her with a pleasure she had never experienced before. She arched her hips up to meet his mouth, not knowing any other way to respond to the new sensations wracking her body.
She didn’t know what was happening. She only knew it was building fast. If this madness of pleasure didn’t stop soon she felt she would burst with joy.
Suddenly she felt as if all the sensations that were bubbling inside her exploded.
“Andrew, Andrew,” she whispered into his palm before her arms fell limp at her sides.
The immensity of her pleasure was so overwhelming she suddenly wanted to laugh about how good she felt.
The pleasure he had given her saturated her heart, her body, and her mind, and she knew without a doubt that she loved her husband with all that she was.
Andrew rose up over her again, his honey-colored eyes dark with desire. She watched as his strong hands, his manly fingers, unbuttoned his trousers, releasing his long, thick, and pulsing shaft to her view.
The large size of him surprised her but didn’t frighten her. She was contented and ready for whatever came next.
Her legs remained off the bed. He remained standing over her for a moment longer, giving her more time to look at him before he bent over her and placed his manhood at her center. He held himself above her with one arm resting on the bed. She felt the hard push of him at her core. It was uncomfortable but not painful.
“You’re too big,” she whispered up at him.
He glanced down into her eyes and though his lips remained in a determined set, his eyes smiled at her as he said, “Oh, no, Olivia, watch me. It will fit.”
Suddenly his manhood broke through her barrier and slid inside her. She moaned from the unexpected pain and grabbed his shoulders. His hands circled her waist as he continued to push harder and further inside her.
“Hold on to me, Olivia.”
She wrapped her arms around his strong back and buried her face in his crisp neckcloth as he continued to thrust his hips up and down and submerge himself deeper inside her. She heard his labored breaths, as if he were running with all his might. His hands slid from her waist up to her back and he cupped her to him.
A moment or two later his body went still and slowly he let his body press down on top of her, giving her all his weight.
“Damn, Olivia, oh damn,” he whispered through heaving breaths as he rested his forehead on her shoulder.
She continued to hold him tight and said, “Did I displease you?”
He raised his head and looked down into her eyes. “No, no. What makes you think that?”
“You were cursing me.”
Andrew smiled and grunted a laugh. “I was not cursing you. Sometimes men swear when they feel good as well as when they are angry.”
She moistened her lips. “Does that mean I did all right?”
His burning, golden gaze held fast to hers. “You were perfect.”
Olivia smiled a little shyly at him and said, “So were you.”
Andrew lifted his head and looked down at his wife. He had given her pleasure before he entered her but didn’t know if that would be enough to blunt the pain of losing her virginity. But he hadn’t even kissed her on the lips. He knew he had to have release before he could love her as he wanted to, as she deserved to be loved.
“No, Olivia, I wasn’t perfect. Far from it. I should have been gentler. I should have but I couldn’t. I wanted you too badly.”
“I meant you were the perfect size.”
Andrew laughed and her arms tightened on his back and he realized he loved the way her womanly arms felt around him. He loved the way she felt cuddled beneath him.
“And it was only painful for a moment or two,” she added.
“It shouldn’t hurt at all next time.”
“I’ve never felt so, so many sensations at one time. There’s nothing I can compare it to.”
He smiled down at her, grateful that he had the good sense to see to her release before he grabbed his own.
“Nothing like it in the world,” Andrew said as his thoughts drifted for a moment.
He’d tried to get interested in two different women since he had married Olivia, but he hadn’t been able to. Both had left him feeling completely uninterested in taking them to his bed. He didn’t understand it, but Olivia was the only woman he wanted right now and he wasn’t going to fight his desire for her any longer.
She reached up and touched his lips with her fingertips. “I never imagined you could… do what you did with your mouth.”
Oh, damn. Her words, her touch, had him growing inside her again.
He caught her fingertips into his mouth and sucked them for a moment before releasing them and saying, “I have many things to show you about my mouth and about yours.”
She looked at him with innocent eyes that told him she wanted to know more. He took a deep breath and he grew bigger. He pressed into her with his hips. He hadn’t been wrong about her. She was passionate.
Very, very passionate.
He lowered his head and his mouth met hers in a gentle kiss, sipping lightly from her until he felt her lips part. His tongue slid between them and sank into the sweet hollow of her mouth, dipping in and out again several times, teasing them both with playful strokes.
This intimacy with her felt so right. He wondered why he had resisted her. His hand slid up to her breasts and he opened his eyes and looked down. They were still fully clothed.
Damnation, he had been in such a hurry he hadn’t taken one article of clothing off either of them.
He wanted to see her naked, completely naked, where he could have the freedom to touch her and taste her wherever he pleased. But she was too alluring and he was too settled inside her right now to bother with removing their clothing.
Their evening had just started. There was plenty of time for that later tonight. He wasn’t ready to withdraw from her.
With eager hands he slipped her dress off her shoulders and dragged down her bodice and her undergarment, freeing her breasts to his gaze and for his touch. He loved the purring sound she made softly in her throat as his hands skimmed over her nipples.
They grew hard and erect against his palm.
Andrew grew harder, too.
He took one nipple into his mouth and gently sucked its sweetness before moving to the next. Her whole body was delicious to him. He loved the way her nipples puckered for him as he gently sucked them into his mouth and played with them. He loved the full swell of her breasts. They were plump but firm.
No woman had ever tasted sweeter.
When he kissed her again it was with desperation. An unexpected urgency to take his pleasure from her once again burned inside him.
He slanted his lips over hers and he felt her shudder with desire. He felt her sudden intake of breath as he slowly started moving again. He loved the feel of his manhood cradled at the center of her womanhood.
They lay thighs to thighs, stomach to stomach, and chest to breasts. Hungrily his lips moved over hers. His hand continued to skim her breasts and he thought he might lose himself inside her again before he got her ready to join him.
He slid one of his hands between them down to her womanly mound; her hair was soft. With ease he slipped one finger to her core and massaged her. She lifted her hips in satisfaction. His stomach tightened. She was moist and throbbing. He smiled against her lips.
“Oh God, I want you as if I’d never had you.”
“I’m ready,” she whispered and lifted her legs and wrapped them around his back.
He withdrew and then penetrated her wet silkiness with one long push, going in as deep as he could with the first thrust. Her muscles tightened around him and he thought he might lose himself in her again with one stroke, but he held off.
He had to move slowly, very slowly so as not to end too fast. She moved with him, intensifying his pleasure. He groaned with a pleasure that superceded all that came before Olivia.
“Move with me. Stay with me,” he murmured against her lips.
“I’m feeling it again,” she whispered.
“Yes, Olivia, let it come. Take it.”
He kissed her more tenderly than he ever had, wanting her to feel the way he felt.
She cried out her release at the same time he spilled himself into her for the second time.
Andrew slipped his arms under her back and pulled her tightly to him. He’d never felt more satisfied, more gratified by a woman.
In that moment he knew he didn’t give a damn about what she had done to marry him. He only knew that no other woman had ever made him feel as complete and contented as Olivia had, and she was his.
No woman had ever touched his heart like she had.
Heart?
Andrew shook those thoughts away as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck and inhaled her womanly scent. He wasn’t ready to think about anything having to do with feelings of the heart.
Sixteen
Olivia’s eyes fluttered open. It was daylight. She immediately looked over at the other side of the bed.
Andrew was gone.
The pillow still had the indentation where his head lay. Had he been gone long? She reached over and touched the sheets.
They were cold.
When had she drifted to sleep? The last thing she remembered was Andrew stretched out beside her, cuddling her in his arms. Her cheek lay on his warm, strong chest and their bodies touched all the way down to her toes.
In a rush of memory all the kisses, touches, and mating of their bodies flooded her mind. She smiled contentedly. Had she really touched him with such abandon? Had he really moaned with such pleasure that her very soul felt connected to his?
Or had it all been just a wonderful dream?
Olivia looked over at the pillow again. He had definitely lain on it.
Last night was not a dream.
It was real.
Her husband had not only been skillful at pleasing her, he had been masterful at teaching her how to give him pleasure. Such undeniable pleasure.
And there was no doubt in her mind that she had pleased him.
Feeling languid, she stretched her arms up and over her head and realized she was naked beneath the covers. Suddenly, she put her hand to her throat. That is, she was completely nude except for her pearl necklace. That was the only thing Andrew hadn’t taken off her during the night.
She sat up in bed and looked around the room. All her clothing had been draped over her slipper chair. Andrew must have picked up her clothes. She remembered him taking his time in disrobing her and throwing each piece to the floor.
Olivia lifted her hands up to her breasts. They were tender to her touch and there was a slight discomfort between her legs, but inside her heart she had never felt better in her life. She truly felt the happiness inside herself that Agatha had talked about.
But was Andrew happy?
She glanced at the clock on her dressing table and saw that it was half past one in the afternoon. She never slept past noon. But then she had never spent the night in a man’s arms before.
Olivia scrambled off the bed and over to her dressing table and poured cold water from the pitcher into the basin. If she hurried, maybe she could catch Andrew before he left for the day.
Within minutes she had washed, dressed, and put her hair in a neat chignon. After picking up her copy of Murder on the Thames she headed to the dining room, slowing down only as she approached the doorway.
She took in a deep breath, put a comfortable smile on her face, and walked inside. Her heart fluttered with the warm feeling of love.
Andrew sat at the table reading his paper. Clean shaven, hair neatly combed, neckcloth tied in a simple bow. He looked so handsome, so dashing. In that moment she knew that all the loving feelings she’d felt for him last night were still with her this afternoon and they were not going to go away. They had started the first night she’d seen him standing in the doorway of his home. Across the space, they had connected.
He had captured her heart and it now belonged to him.
Andrew lowered the newspaper when he heard her walk inside the room. Their eyes met.
She had an overwhelming desire to rush over and throw her arms around him and kiss him with all the passion she had discovered last night. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him and how much she wanted to be a good wife to him. All she needed were more opportunities like last night to show him.
“Good mornin
g, Olivia.”
His eyes had searched hers but his tone held no warmth and his lips had no smile.
She swallowed hard and her smile faded. There was no sign of the lover who’d been in her bed last night. A deep disappointment settled over her.
After all the lovemaking they had shared, she still wanted more from him. She wanted his love, his respect, his attention. She wanted him to believe that she hadn’t trapped him into marriage. She wanted him to believe she wasn’t trying to trick the marquis into marrying Lynette.
Olivia wanted him to believe she was worthy of his love.
But if he didn’t know that after the way she responded to him last night, a few more words from her would not change his mind.
“Good morning, Andrew,” she said, sounding a little stiffer than she had intended.
She laid her book on the table and walked over to the buffet to pour tea.
Andrew rose and helped her with her chair but didn’t touch her. She had expected more from him. Last night might have changed everything for her, but it was clear it had changed nothing for him.
An ache formed in her chest. Only Andrew could stop the pain.
Didn’t he know that she could have never responded to him as she did if she didn’t love him? How could he not know how she felt about him? Could it be that he knew and didn’t care?
She immediately opened her book and started reading, but after only a few words, her gaze stayed on the page but didn’t move. Her mind replayed the intimacies she and Andrew had shared last night.
How could Murder on the Thames compete with memories of her night in bed with Andrew?
Her thoughts tortured her with remembrance of his mouth on her lips, her breasts, and her most womanly part. She remembered the full feeling of his body throbbing inside hers.
“Olivia?”
Olivia jumped and looked up at Andrew. “Oh, did you say something?”
He gave her a half smile and her heart fluttered again, offering a little hope. “I called your name three times.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“That must be a very interesting book you’re reading.”