Gazing into his eyes, watching the gray-green color darken, Liana reached down, untied the tapes of her undergarment, and shoved them over her hips and down her legs to her feet, where she stepped out of them. She stood in front of him wearing nothing except her white stockings and garters and her black leather slippers.
His mouth went dry. “Did I say lovely before? Because I meant beautiful. Liana, you are beautiful.”
“I hoped you would say that.”
“It’s all I can say.” Alex stood mesmerized by the sight of her standing naked amidst a pile of thin white muslin. “You take my breath away.”
“Come here, my lord.” She beckoned him with the crook of her finger. “And I’ll give it back to you.”
“Thank you,” he breathed in a reverent tone of voice.
“For what?” she asked.
“For allowing me this.” He wet his lips as his gaze took in every nuance of her appearance. “I’ve dreamed of seeing you like this every night since you climbed into my bed. And I’ve wanted to touch you without yards of nightgown shrouding you.”
Liana glanced down at the pile of clothing at her feet. Her pulse beat in the hollow of her throat. She trembled with emotion. She supposed she should be shy or ashamed or pretend to be coy, but she refused to be anything but honest. She wanted this man. And she wanted him to want her. She had dreamed of him since the night he’d danced with her at Lady Harralson’s ball. She’d imagined their wedding and their wedding night.
While the wedding had exceeded her dreams, the wedding night had not. He’d held her close while they slept and he’d taught her how to allow liberties and how to take them, but he hadn’t taken the biggest liberty of all. She might be an innocent, but she knew there was more to married life than the teasing game of seduction they’d been playing.
Liana had dreamed of having him see her, touch her and love her—dreamed of seeing him, touching him, loving him. And even though she knew those dreams would never come true, she had continued to dream them. Liana took a deep breath, gathered all of her courage and whispered, “Aren’t you going to kiss me?”
“I want to do a great deal more than kiss you.”
Liana gave him a brilliant smile. “Then why don’t you come over here and get started? Come, my lord, and take all the liberties you like.”
Alex looked like a man who had just been offered everything he’d ever wanted. Everything he would ever want, but was afraid to claim it as his own. “Liana, are you certain?”
“Touch me and find out.”
The husky timbre of her voice sent shivers down Alex’s spine. He didn’t wait for a second invitation. He closed the distance between them by dropping to his knees. He didn’t touch her at first, he simply positioned his mouth within a whisper of the pink nub crowning her right breast. Gazing up at her, he asked, “May I?”
“You may,” she replied in her prim and proper voice. “But only because you asked so nicely.”
Alex brought his hand up and caressed her breast, then kissed it, gently, reverently, as if it were the most precious thing in all the world.
Liana couldn’t describe the feelings of tenderness that overwhelmed her as he took her breast into his mouth. She pressed his head closer, urging him on as he suckled at her breast, tasting her, testing her, before gently nibbling it with his teeth, causing pleasure without pain, before pulling it into his mouth once again and increasing the pressure.
Just when Liana thought she might die from the pleasure of it, he let go of that breast and lavished affection on the other.
The touch of his lips was electric. She gasped in response as the warmth seemed to flow from his mouth through her breasts and down to her most secret woman’s place. She buried her fingers in his thick hair and held him tightly.
Alex took her response as encouragement. He trailed his hands from her waist over her ribcage to the underside of her breasts, kneading them with his thumbs, feeling their shape, measuring their weight and warmth.
The nervousness she’d felt at making such a bold move disappeared. She wasn’t a girl any longer; she was a woman ready to love him and be loved in return. If she waited for Alex to stop being so noble and willing to give her away, it might be years. “Please.”
“Tell me,” he ordered, his warm breath teasing the dampness on her nipple. “Tell me what you want.”
“More,” she moaned. “Touch me. Kiss me. Love me, Alex.”
Those were the words he wanted most to hear. “With pleasure,” he murmured, before he lived up to his promise by touching and teasing, fondling and sucking at her breasts, offering her the pleasure she craved. He kissed his way over her breasts and down her stomach until he reached the light blond curls at the juncture of her thighs.
Liana’s knees nearly buckled when he combed his fingers through her downy curls, dipping two of them inside her warmth, smoothing the hot honeyed liquid over her womanly folds and the tight little button hidden there.
She gripped his hair reflexively as he bent lower.
“What are you doing?” Her voice was an achy, breathless sigh.
“Kissing you.” His voice was a whisper of warm breath that tickled her curls and triggered a rush of more hot liquid.
“Alex?” Liana reached for him.
“Let me.” He looked up at her, his eyes a dark, almost charcoal gray shining with desire. “Take these few special liberties and give you pleasure.”
This was something new. Something he’d never done before. “How?”
“Did you know you have two pairs of lips and that both of them are meant for kissing?”
She knew enough to blush. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Young ladies never do.” Alex planted a kiss on the sensitive skin below her navel. “That’s how they stay young ladies.” He whispered against her skin, “And you, my sweet, are definitely a young lady.”
Liana shivered. “A curious young lady.”
“You know what they say about curiosity.” He kissed her again, then blazed a trail south with the tip of his tongue.
“That it killed the cat.” She braced herself against his tender onslaught with a hand on his shoulder. “Is it going to kill me?”
“Only a little, my sweet,” he murmured. “Close your eyes and I’ll show you.” Then, he kissed her downy curls and traced the folds of her other lips with his tongue.
Liana reacted immediately, pressing her legs together, before opening them again to allow him access.
Alex took advantage, deepening his kiss, tasting the most secret part of her.
Liana squirmed as a myriad of incredible sensations surged through her body—all of them emanating from the place Alex was lavishing with attention. She moaned her pleasure and gasped out his name as the pressure within her began to build. “Stop, please...” She thrust her hips upward, seeking a release from the sensations he was creating.
Alex tried to pull away to gauge her reaction, to see if she wanted him to stop but Liana refused to let him go.
He kissed her again, teased her some more, harder, faster, softer.
“Please…don’t stop.”
Alex smiled against her. He wasn’t going to stop. Not until she found her release.
“Alex?”
He heard the question in her voice and the urgency and knew she was close to finding what she needed, what her body was seeking. He knew she needed reassurance, knew she couldn’t understand what was happening to her until it happened. He paused in his ministrations to reassure her. “It's all right, Liana, my love. Let go. Let it happen. I'm with you.” Plunging his tongue inside her, he lavished the sensitive button with attention.
Her muscles relaxed, then tightened, quivered, and finally relaxed completely as she cried out his name. Alex caught her around the hips as her knees gave way, pressing his face against the softness of her belly, supporting her, cradling her in his arms while she shivered in the aftermath of her magnificent climax.
Liana opened
her eyes and discovered she was pressed against Alex’s chest half-lying and half-sitting in his lap on the floor. “What was that?” she sighed.
“That, my darling Lady Courtland, is what the French call ‘the little death’.”
“I thought your kisses and your touches were the most wonderful things I had ever felt, but that… I have no words.”
He smiled a self-satisfied smile. “You don’t have to thank me, my lady, it was my very great pleasure to provide that tiny introduction to lovemaking.”
“If that was an introduction,” she reasoned, “more must follow.”
“More does follow,” he confirmed. “But only if you want it.”
“More pleasure?” Liana asked, practically shivering with anticipation at the thought.
“If you want more.”
“I do.”
“It seems I’ve heard those words from your lips before.” The smoldering look he gave her sent heat spiraling through her from her head to her toes. “Twelve days ago.”
“When you solemnly promised to love and cherish me, and worship me with your body.”
“Why don’t we continue this in the comfort of a bed?” Alex shifted her weight so he could get to his feet, then lifted her and carried her to a bed that had been turned down for just that purpose.
Liana looked up at her husband from her place in the middle of the comfortable bed. “Before we continue…” Her voice was husky with innuendo.
He loved the sound of it, just as he loved the sound of her prim and proper voice, and the sound of her surprised voice. “Yes?”
“Don’t you think we should continue on equal footing?”
For a novice seductress, Liana was proving to be very good at it.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I’m not wearing anything except stockings, garters, and shoes. While you are completely dressed. I don’t think that’s right, do you?”
Alex reached down, removed her shoes, and dropped them on the floor. “You’re right. I don’t think shoes belong in bed.”
She laughed. “I think you’re wearing too many clothes.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“Take them off for me,” she ordered, rolling to her side and propping her head on her hand so she had an unrestricted view of him. “I want to see you.”
Alex gave her a courtly bow. “As you wish, my lady.”
“And then I want to satisfy my burning curiosity and touch you. All over.”
“Never say I didn’t give the lady what she wanted.” Reaching up, Alexander Courtland shrugged out of his jacket.
“Boots next,” she instructed.
He lifted an eyebrow at that. “Are you directing me, Lady Courtland?”
“Assisting.”
Walking over to the bootjack at the foot of the bed, Alex toed off his Hessian boots one at a time, then walked back to stand beside the bed in his stocking feet.
Leaning over to reach the bedside table, Liana turned up the lamp.
“More light, my lady?” he teased.
“You know I’m curious,” she said. “I don’t want to miss anything.”
Alex had played this teasing game before, but never in front of a virginal bride. He realized that stripping off his clothes for Liana was far more exciting than any of the sex games he’d played before. He loved experiencing passion for the first time through her eyes and reactions. Everything was new to her and she made everything feel new for him
He unpinned his cravat and removed his neck linen, then unbuttoned his waistcoat and discarded it. He attacked the buttons on his shirt next. When he had it completely undone, Alex pulled his shirttail from his buckskin breeches.
“I like you like this.” Liana sighed. “It’s a shame you have to wear clothes.”
“You see me like this every morning,” Alex reminded her. “You watch me shave.”
“But you never let me touch you. It’s always ‘look, but don’t touch’.”
“I was only looking out for you. And I might say the same about you. After seeing you like this, I think it’s a shame you ever have to wear clothes.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I think I shall keep you in stockings and garters and nothing else.”
“I’m glad you approve. Now get cracking. I want to see what you’ve been hiding from me.”
He laughed. “How can I be hiding anything from you? I sleep naked.” Alex pinned her with a look. “And you sleep with me.”
“And you always wrap the sheet around you.”
Alex recognized the note of frustration in her voice. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. There’s nothing subtle about men. We cannot disguise our passion,” Alex told her as he casually unfastened his breeches and pushed them down over his slim hips.
Liana widened her eyes at the sight of him. All she could think of was how magnificent he was. She had never seen a man completely naked. And never like this. Standing tall and fully erect. He was beautiful. His wide shoulders tapered into a narrow waist, into slim hips and long strong legs. His chest was covered with dark curly hair that also tapered down into a long slim line that encircled his navel and pointed to the hard erection jutting from another thatch of curly dark brown hair. He was big. He was all male. He was completely aroused.
“You’re beautiful,” she breathed.
He laughed again. “Men aren’t beautiful, sweetheart.”
“You are.” And all mine.
That thought came unbidden. Liana tried to shut it out, but there was no shutting out the sight of him or the effect it was having on her. She was flushed and hot and damp and swollen in places she couldn’t name. All because he was standing there, looking back at her with that look in his gray-green eyes.
“I like looking at you.” Liana licked her suddenly dry lips.
Alex’s erection responded to her words and her gesture by becoming harder and even more prominent. “And I like looking at you. I’d say that puts us on equal footing.”
“I’m dying to touch you,” she confessed. “May I take liberties with you?”
Alex wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. Had he died and gone to heaven? She was a virgin. She wasn’t experienced. She couldn’t know what she was saying or what affect her words had on him. Except she did. There was no way to hide his aroused state.
Liana patted the bed beside her. “Come join me, my lord, and let me explore you.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice.
Alex climbed into bed with her, then leaned down and kissed her.
His kiss was hot and sweet and the essence of temptation. Liana pulled Alex down until she could press herself against him. She flattened herself against his chest, rubbing her aching breasts against the hair covering it, loving the feeling.
The twin points of her breasts pressed into him and Alex groaned.
Encouraged by his response, Liana began to explore everything she could reach, trailing her hands over his shoulders and down his back. Alex groaned again, mating his tongue with hers as he showed her what he wanted. Liana continued her exploration. She moved her hands lower until she reached the tight smooth skin of his buttocks. His muscles bunched and rippled under her hands as Alex held her tightly, half-lifting her off the bed as he ground his hips into hers and rubbed his throbbing erection against her. He pulled his mouth away from hers and began to trail hot wet kisses on her face, her neck, her throat, over to her ear lobes. “Liana, let me love you.”
“Please…”
Alex started with her breasts, dipping his head and trailing his tongue along the valley between them. He licked at the tiny beads of perspiration. The scent of her perfume—the orange vanilla—he’d come to recognize as Liana teased his nostrils. He worked his way down the valley, his tongue igniting little brushfires wherever he touched her. He tasted the skin above her ribcage, trailed his tongue over her abdomen, circling her navel before dipping his tongue into the indention.
While Alex tasted her with his tongue, he teased her
with his fingers. He skimmed his hands over the sensitive flesh covering her hipbones and outer thighs. Easing his way ever closer, Alex massaged the womanly flesh surrounding her mound, then tangled his fingers in the lush blond curls covering it.
Liana couldn’t get close enough to him. Her anticipation rose to a fever pitch. She began to quiver and make little moaning sounds of pleasure as Alex traced the outer edge of her folds with his finger before gently plunging his finger inside. Liana arched her back to bring herself closer to him.
Alex gritted his teeth. The slick, warm feel and the scent of her were driving him mad. The swelling in his groin grew until he was near to bursting. He couldn’t wait any longer. He had to be inside her. He had to feel himself inside her, feel her surrounding him, feel them joined together the way husband and wives were meant to be joined.
Alex withdrew his fingers and placed his hands under Liana’s hips, lifting her slightly as he leaned forward and positioned himself to enter her in one fluid motion. “Wrap your legs around my waist. Now.”
She did as he instructed, bracing himself, expecting a great deal of pain as Alex lunged forward and buried himself inside her. There was discomfort at first, but no real pain, as her body welcomed him.
Alex kissed her cheek, then her eyelids, and finally, her mouth. He kissed her gently, tenderly, reverently, and held her as if she were precious and fragile.
Liana shifted her hips experimentally and bit her bottom lip as the pleasure began to build once again. She lifted her hips and Alex understood. He fought to go slowly, fought to maintain control. His body strained with the effort. Liana tightened her hold on him. She put her arms around his neck and held on, then locked her legs around his waist once again as he began to move within her.
Gently, slowly at first, then faster…faster…
Liana followed Alex’s lead, matching her movements to his until they developed a rhythm uniquely their own. She kissed him as they moved together—kissed his arms, his shoulders, his neck, his chin, the corner of his mouth. And she trusted him to lead her to that place that seemed just beyond her reach—the place where she became him and he became her—the place where the two of them became one. And then suddenly, she felt him shiver uncontrollably, heard him shout her name, and Liana let herself go with him.
A Bachelor Still Page 28