“You’re a lunatic, Hugh.” Shyness wasn’t strong enough to contain her wayward impulse. She slid down to kiss that hard flesh.
He lurched back against the headboard. “Bloody hell!”
She sat up and regarded him in consternation. “Was that awful?”
“Jane…”
She still couldn’t read his expression. Had her boldness repulsed him? “I liked what you did to me before. I wondered…”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and a hectic flush marked his pronounced cheekbones. “If I’d like something similar?”
She was so embarrassed, she wanted to disappear. “Yes,” she said in a small voice. “Clearly I was wrong.”
He swallowed again. “Ladies don’t…”
If her cheeks got any hotter, she’d go up in flames. Given how mortified she felt right now, that almost seemed preferable to facing Hugh’s censure. “I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Nervously she licked her lips. Did she detect a trace of him? Her forbidden kiss had been so quick, surely she only imagined a faint hint of musk and salt.
Hugh’s eyes flared. “Forgive you?”
He still seemed to have trouble speaking, which was strange when the kiss was over in a blink.
“Yes.” She licked her lips again.
He groaned and closed his eyes. “If you keep doing that, I won’t be responsible for the consequences.”
Relief flooded her. He still wanted her. Although she should have guessed that. The Tower of London looked more like granite than ever. “I might enjoy the consequences,” she said breathlessly. “I’m sorry if what I did disgusted you.”
He opened his eyes and stared at her in disbelief. “You can’t think I’m feeling disgust.”
“Aren’t you?”
His laugh was cracked. “Good God, the thought of you taking me in your mouth is a fantasy I never thought would come true.”
“You said ladies don’t…”
“I assumed you’d find the idea utterly revolting. After all, you were delicately reared.”
She crossed her legs and settled beside his hip. “I’m beginning to think I’m not so delicate after all. Do you mind?”
When he rolled his eyes, she wanted to laugh. “What do you think?”
She frowned. “So you’re saying you’d like me to kiss you…there?”
“If you can bear it.”
A smile curled her lips. “Actually I find the idea…intriguing.”
Hugh surged up and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her hard and long. By the time he finally lifted his head, she was dizzy. “I don’t deserve you, Jane. The day you married me, you made me the luckiest cove in England.”
She stared up into his brilliant eyes and saw he meant it. How odd. How unexpected. How wonderful. “Even after I put you through all that torture in Salisbury?”
His lips twitched, and he kissed her quickly. Jane’s wits had just started to settle. Now they were in a spin again.
“If you take me in your mouth, I’ll forgive you anything.”
Jane laughed at his outrageousness, even as a deep well of feminine longing softened her insides. He wanted her to pleasure him like this, she couldn’t doubt it. She ran one hand along his jaw, feeling the smooth skin. He’d shaved before breakfast. When he’d turned to her in the dawn, his whiskers had added a bristly touch to his kisses.