To her great relief, he made that low growling sound in his throat that meant he was pleased, and took over the kiss again, moving his lips gently across hers this time, alternately sucking her lower lip into his mouth, then her upper one, as though he was tasting and savouring her.
Only when she’d relaxed a little did he transfer his attention to her throat, nibbling his way down her neck, then back up to nuzzle and nip at her ear lobe. Almost delirious with pleasure, she let her head fall to one side to grant him better access.
And he nibbled all the way down her throat again until he’d dipped below her collarbone and was edging the bodice of her gown aside with his teeth.
This was the point where a good girl would have made some form of protest. But Henrietta had wondered last time what it would feel like to have his mouth on her breasts. Had spent night after frustrating night wondering whether she was not sufficiently feminine enough for him to want to explore any further.
Well, he definitely wanted to explore further now. His fingers were already dealing with the fastenings. So she stifled the small, almost token twinge of conscience by telling herself this would be her last chance to satisfy her curiosity in that regard.
Almost as though he knew she might balk at this step, Lord Deben draped one of his legs across hers, pinning her very effectively in place while he tugged the loosened material aside so that he could gain access to her breasts.
She shut her eyes. It didn’t prevent him from looking at her breasts, but it was all she could do to deal with her sudden attack of shyness.
He dealt with it for her most effectively by covering one breast with the palm of his hand, whilst suckling on the other.
She gasped. Had she thought she was delirious with pleasure before? This was so much more. She wanted him never to stop. To that end, she took his head in her hands to hold him in place.
He gave another growl of approval. But then his hand moved away.
She was just about to voice her disappointment, when she realised he had only stopped ministering to her breast to devote attention to the rest of her body.
He’d told her she’d want his hands on her body, hadn’t he? And she did. She did. It felt wonderful to have his hand sweep along her rib cage, caress the indentation of her waist, trace the swell of her hip. Especially as he kept right on licking and nipping at her breast. If he’d stopped doing that, she might have had to do something, like begging or pleading, but as it was, it was all completely perfect.
Except that for some reason, the better it got, the greater grew her need, until she was almost weeping with longing.
When he stopped, abruptly, suckling at her she almost did cry out.
Fortunately, he was only shifting position so that he could kiss her mouth again. In gratitude, she wrapped her arms round his neck again. The material of his waistcoat abrading her bared breasts felt so utterly right that she found herself arching herself against him to increase the friction.
She hadn’t thought her body could experience more pleasure than he’d given her so far. And yet every new thing he was doing kept on stoking her higher and higher.
The feel of his hand on her hip was making her squirm under the barrier of his leg. As though he knew exactly what she needed, he moved his hand round to the apex of her thighs, at the same time as sliding his leg lower down hers.
When he pressed the heel of his hand against the exact spot where her desire was growing the strongest, she felt as though she was going to explode. She wanted to do something with her legs. They were pressed too tightly together. And she couldn’t move them, to relieve her aching need, not only because Lord Deben’s leg was holding them down, but also because her skirts were just too restricting.
She was almost beside herself with excitement. She’d heard the phrase before, but she’d never experienced it. Her whole body was writhing and yearning, just as though it wanted to be somewhere else, even when just here was the most enjoyable place it had ever been.
She needed...she needed... Oh, thank God, he was reaching down and sweeping those bothersome skirts out of the way. Now she could hook one of her legs over his, and turn towards him a little... No, he did not permit that. He pushed her on to her back again, though he rewarded the boldness of her left leg by caressing her bared thigh, then sliding his hand under her knee and bending her leg still further so that he could push his own between hers. Then somehow he’d managed to slide his hand up the inside of her thigh and he was pressing the heel of it against her feminine mound again.