on of her body she rarely thought about.
“Victoria, did anyone...” He paused the unfastening of her gown. “Well, I know you haven’t a mother so I just wondered if anyone...explained the marriage bed to you?”
She smiled to herself as his concern wrapped around her. “Dearest Jane wrote me a letter, explaining everything.”
“While I’m grateful for your friend’s forethought, I’m going to forget you ever told me that.”
Victoria laughed softly but then Taviston pushed the dress from her arms and it fell to the floor with a rustle. All coherent thought left her as she stepped out of the aquamarine pool. Her corset was next to go, in a maddeningly slow process as he ever so methodically unlaced it.
Then his hands circled her waist, and she tipped her head up to catch his hazy gaze of silver, gratified to see desire kindling there. His hand trailed up her bare arm and smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. As he cupped her head in his hand his thumb traced her cheekbone. Her eyes drifted closed at the gentle touch, so intimate. Victoria hadn’t been touched in such a way for as long as she could remember.
“Are you ready?” His steady whisper reached her ears.
A moment ago, her mind had been a muddle, but his words brought everything back into focus. What if she said no? Would he stop? Of course he would. Her husband, kind and thoughtful, would never proceed without her assent. She mentally shook her head. Why would she say no? She loved him and she wanted him. Lifting her eyelids, she found passion overwhelmingly evident in his eyes, accompanied by the smallest measure of panic.
“I am,” she whispered back. “I thought you would go on about the kidnapping all night.”
The final word of her sentence was lost as Taviston’s lips claimed hers. She rose on her toes and folded her arms around his neck. The fierceness of his kiss abated after a minute and Victoria savored the taste of his firm, port-flavored lips.
He briefly dragged his mouth away and muttered, “Thank God,” while walking toward the bed. Victoria eagerly followed. Taviston sat on the solid cherry footboard, which brought their heated gazes level. Yanking off his boots and stockings with lightning speed, he then pulled her between his hard thighs and resumed kissing her; nipping at her lower lip until she unsealed her jaw and allowed his tongue to sweep inside. A moan escaped her throat, and he intensified his invasion.
Taviston wanted her. Victoria now had no doubt of that. They were so good together, perhaps she could use their passion to make him love her. If she just gave of herself...
In desperation and without hesitation Victoria broke away and bunched the hem of his shirt in her hands. “I know I’m not an expert, but it seems to me we have too many clothes on.”
She lifted the shirt over his head and threw it heedlessly to the floor. Then she set her hands loose on his bared skin, reveling in the hard muscles. His eyes darkened into stormy pools. He anchored one hand on her bottom, sending a delicious buzz up her spine, while the other hand slid up to untie her chemise.
Victoria smiled smugly, enjoying the escalating spark they bandied between them. Her smile vanished with a gasp as cool air and then his palm rasped over her nipple. Chemise hanging about her hips, she pushed into the strong hands kneading her breasts.
Then Taviston changed course and tweaked his thumbs across her sensitive nipples. This way, that way, then back again. The rhythmic pulsing almost buckled her knees.
She tried to hold herself up but sagged against his unyielding frame when his tongue picked up the pattern deserted by his thumbs. His grip tightened around her waist and Victoria secured her trembling fingers in his inky black hair. She could do nothing but wallow in the sensual thrum of his tongue on first one breast, then the other.
How could he not know she loved him?
“Taviston...” The words wouldn’t slip past her throat.
Abruptly, he withdrew from her breasts and swept her up in his arms, bearing her to the bed and lying down beside her. His gaze was intense as he rasped, “Use my given name.”
Always commanding, this duke. Here in the intimacy of their marriage bed, she found his order made her flush with heat. Victoria ran her tongue over her bottom lip before responding. “Charles...”
Then she pulled his head down and locked him in a kiss, trying again to convey her secret love in actions rather than words. When his lips strayed away, burning a path across her jaw and neck, her curious hands found their way to his breeches. Given the tremors racking her, she was surprisingly nimble at opening the fastening and releasing his sex. Occupied elsewhere, Taviston seemed unaware of her actions until she boldly curved her fingers around him.
He jerked back. “Perhaps you could slow down a bit,” he managed to say roughly.
“Why?”
“Why?” He sighed. “This is your first time. Savor the moment.”
“I assumed we might be able to do this more than once in our married life, so I would not necessarily have to savor this first time. Besides, you cannot tell me you went slowly your first time.”
Taviston collapsed back onto the mattress, grinning. “I know for certain I did not talk this much.”
She giggled but wanted nothing more than to return to the matter at hand, so she went on the offensive and threw her body atop his, kissing him deeply. He protested not at all. His hands roamed her bare back, stopping short of delving beneath her chemise, which still covered her waist and thighs. She moved her hips back and forth, regretting the linen barrier keeping her out of contact with the part of her husband she was most curious about right now.
Taviston tolerated her gyrations for mere seconds before hauling her body upward. His lips, warm and wet from dueling with hers, latched onto her breast once again. Victoria’s hair fell in a curtain around her and she lost herself in the pleasurable suckling, failing to notice that his hands were busy as well. He wrenched her chemise up and molded his feverish hands to her buttocks. Without warning his finger burned a path across her skin and found its way to her damp, tingling center.
Victoria jerked herself back and down, which only allowed him to maneuver even deeper inside her. Breathless, she stared in wonder at his grey eyes. The candlelight played off the tense and rigid lines of his face. Never had she imagined such a profound intimacy, yet she knew there was even more to come.