He brought the corset to his nose, breathing her scent. “So you did.” He tossed the garment to the floor.
He knew the precise moment her anger gave way to caution. It was when he sat on the bed and took off his left boot. When it dropped to the floor, her pulse took to racing in her throat, but she didn’t move to cover herself with her hands.
“I don’t suppose there’s any point in asking you to wait until we get to know one another?”
“Nope. Seeing you get rid of one husband due to lack of performance doesn’t incline me in that direction.”
She sighed and clenched her hands into fists. “I was afraid of that.”
He dropped his other boot to the floor and tugged off his socks. “Anything else you’re afraid of while we’re on the subject?”
Her chin came up. “Would it make any difference if there were?”
He stuffed his socks in his boots and patted the bed beside him. “Come here.”
Her chin came up another notch. “Is that an order?”
“Nope. That was more in the line of a request.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought you might like to talk a bit.”
“I wasn’t aware talking was part of,” she waved her hand descriptively, “this.”
“Now that we’re on the subject, just what do you know of ‘this’?”
“Enough.” Her arms crossed over her chest. “I’ve seen animals procreating.”
He could imagine what that impression left her braced for. “Any chance you caught a glimpse of your folks?”
Her response was an emphatic, “No.”
“Any chance you’ve done any of this before?” he asked as he unbuttoned his shirt.
“Are you calling me loose?” She looked ready to throw the wash basin at him.
“Hell, no! I was just checking the level of your experience.”
“Any gaps in my experience are more than made up through observation and practical intelligence.”
The woman was holding onto her composure through sheer willpower, but he’d eat boot leather if her “observations and practical intelligence” had her anywhere near the reality of his lovemaking.
“Could we just get this over with now?” interrupted his thoughts.
He got to his feet, dropped his shirt to the floor, and pulled her into his arms. She stood stiff as a board. He smiled at the silent protest. “Going down fighting, huh?”
He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer. He stroked his hand down her hair, working it loose from its makeshift knot.
“I won’t lie to you, Elizabeth,” he said as her hair spilled down her back and over his hand like liquid silk. “I am going to make love to you tonight. Most of the things I’m going to do will embarrass you. Some of them, hopefully, will make you feel good. A few might scare you, but nothing I intend is supposed to hurt. If it does, you have my permission to wallop me and scream blue murder.”
He thought the snort that preceded her “A lot of good that will do me,” might have been laughter. He tugged on her hair, hoping to see her face. She had damn strong neck muscles.
“I’m not looking at you,” she informed him when he tugged again.
“Why?”
“Because I want to talk.”
“About what?”
“I want to know about the scary things.”
“Not the ones that’ll make you feel good?”
“If they feel good, I’m not going to mind them, am I?”
“No arguing your logic, darlin’.”
“So?”
“Well, it’s going to be tough to pick them out random-like.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t need to hit me.”
Aw, shit! He rested his chin on top of her head, remembering what the gambler had done. “I don’t hit, darlin’.”
“Then what do you do?”
He rocked them subtly, enjoying the drag of her pert nipples across his skin, amazed she was still in his arms, terrified as she must be. Facing down a man in a bedroom wasn’t something most ladies were schooled in. “I usually start with kissing.”
“On the mouth?”
“Yeah, but I imagine I’ll work my way down to your neck and then your…” He couldn’t think of a word that wasn’t offensive, so he just plunged in with the truth. “your breasts.”
“You want to put your mouth on my bosom?” Her scandalized whisper seared his skin.
“Yeah,” he confirmed huskily. “I’d definitely want to do that.”
Her forehead rubbed back and forth against his chest as she thought on that. “You wouldn’t bite?”
Lord above! What kind of animal did she think he was! “You might feel my teeth a time or two, but no. I’m not the biting kind.”
He thought she relaxed a bit. “How would you do it?”
She was killing him with the images she brought to mind. His cock was so hard, he was afraid he’d shatter. He couldn’t resist dragging his thumb across the plump nipple so close to his hand. It might have been his imagination, but he thought she pressed closer. “I’d start out real gentle-like, brushing my lips across your nipple. A woman can be very sensitive there.”