She snorted. “It’s summer, so I won’t catch a head cold.”
Brand led her down a short set of wooden stairs to the deck below. “Still, we shouldn’t take chances.” There were two doors opposite each other in a short, narrow corridor. He pushed open the door on the starboard side. “This is my cabin. The other belongs to whomever else is sailing with me.”
“This is marvelous.” She glanced about the tight quarters, and he saw the cabin through her eyes. Cherrywood cabinets and cupboards gleamed and lined every wall but the one the wide bed was shoved against. On the top of one cabinet, a carriage clock rested. Directly opposite the bed was a small secretary that could also be used as a lady’s vanity, for there was an ornate mirror with legs that rested on the smooth top. In one corner a cheval mirror with carved waves in the wood frame rested. “It’s like a luxurious home upon the sea.”
“That it is.” As soon as he’d ushered her inside, he closed the door behind them. “In the event that you should feel a chill, I’d be glad to warm you.”
“You haven’t lost your charm.” She sighed when he came up behind her and maneuvered them in front of the cheval glass.
“Aye, and I vow to you right now that I’ll never lose you again either.” He manipulated the tiny buttons from their holes, and when the golden gown sagged, he encouraged it down her arms and torso, and then finally off her body. A groan rose in his throat, for the outline of her hardened nipples was evident behind her damp and clinging shift.
“Somehow, I don’t think you will.” She leaned back against him and raised a hand to cup his cheek. “You’re mine, now and always.”
“Yes.” He tugged the remaining pins from her disheveled hair. They clattered upon the deck with soft pings. “I brought the tortoiseshell combs. I remembered you said they belonged to your mother.” In a bout of panic, he patted his wet jacket, feeling for the outline of the fripperies. Yes, they hadn’t been lost to the sea.
“You’re a wonderful man, Brand Storme.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I could do.” He stepped away long enough to divest himself of his boots and clothing. Soon the hardwood was littered with his garments and hers, for he couldn’t wait any longer to see her nude. “I don’t know how to be a husband, one you’ll be proud to call your own, but I’ll do my level best to be the man you need.” He stood behind her once more, cupping her breasts, watching her in the cheval glass.
When she smiled, his world tipped sideways, and he fell into the sapphire depths of her eyes. “We’ll learn together, for I’ve never been a wife. I don’t want to fail either.” She shivered as he rolled her nipples. “But it’s inevitable, for we’re fallible.”
“Indeed, yet at the end of the day, I’ll still have you, and that alone is something to find pride in, regardless if it is one of the deadly sins.” He didn’t want to talk anymore; there was no need. Everything he wanted to say could be accomplished by touch, by caress… by love.
The warmth of her beneath his hands was as comforting as his favorite pair of gloves, and the silkiness of her skin pushed him to the borders of madness. Brand nuzzled the crook of her shoulder as he teased her breasts, plucked at her nipples. When she trembled, he walked her over to the wide bed and gently tumbled them onto it, where he spent copious minutes learning every inch of her body with his fingers, tongue, and lips.
Each moan and gasp she made went straight to his stones, but he didn’t stop showing her how much he adored her. The faint scents of apple blossoms and the sea filled his nose. A slight tang of the salt from the water lingering on her skin added a comforting flavor to his play. Elizabeth writhed beneath him. Each time she reached for him, he batted her hands away, for he wasn’t nearly done worshipping her form.
Slowly, he kissed and suckled her breasts, teasing her nipples with his tongue until she arched her back and begged him to leave off. Randy bastard that he was, Brand slipped a hand between her thighs and encouraged the tiny bundle of nerves out from hiding. He manipulated that bud, that center of her pleasure, within an inch of its life, applying various degrees of friction. When she cried out, tumbling over the edge of a gentle, cresting release, he grinned against her soft skin. Not nearly done, he nibbled a path between her breasts and down her torso, lifting her hips as he went. When he buried his head between her thighs, licking the place he’d just touched with his fingers, a curious sound of a moan mixed with a scream issued from her.
“Brand, stop!” The urgency of her whisper only pushed him to continue. “Surely this is too wicked and sinful.”
“Don’t you think God wished to endow the humans He loves with the ability to show that love to each other?” He chuckled when she pressed her fingertips to her lips in an effort not to utter any more sound. “I am endeavoring to love you, Lizzy, now that I know exactly what that means.” Then he resumed the exquisite torture designed to send her flying a second time.
Which she did in short order. Despite her attempt to quell her response, the muffled scream sent pleasure directly into his engorged length. A flush appeared on her chest and cheeks, a sure sign he’d worked her properly over. As she went pliant on the bed, Brand situated himself between her splayed thighs. He took her hands, threaded their fingers together, and brought them up above her head, pinning them to the pillows.
“You’ve shown me what it’s like to go into a relationship with my eyes free of the blinders I’d had, which is quite the feat, for I only have one.” With a gentle thrust, he entered her honeyed heat and didn’t stop moving until he was fully seated in her snug passage. “This act is so much better, more meaningful, when there are genuine feelings behind it.” Awe from that fact lingered in his voice as he stared into her eyes. “I love you, Elizabeth.”
Dear God, it’s wonderful being able to say that to someone!
“I love you too, but for the love of everything, if you don’t finish me, Brand Storme, I shall refuse to marry you out of principle!”
He laughed at that, for she was adorable in her desire. So many little things he adored about her, it might take a lifetime to discover them all. “I’ll strive to never disappoint you in the future.” Then he moved within her, treating her to long, smooth strokes designed to titillate and tease, to draw out her pleasure as well as his.
Oh, but his Lizzy would have none of that. She tightened her hold on his fingers, nipped at his chin while squirming beneath him. “Don’t hold back today. I want to feel the full effect of you and rejoice in knowing you are mine, and that no other woman will ever have access to your body as long as we both shall live.”
If he hadn’t already been tip over tail for her, that would have done it. With a soft cry, he claimed her lips in a hard kiss at the same time he thrust deep. Over and over, he tangled his tongue with her as his hips pumped, his strokes fast and hard. He released her hands so he could grip her hips, tilt them up to allow for greater penetration. With every push, the mattress rocked, and her breasts bounced. She wrapped her hands about his forearms, encouraged him with murmured words while she tried to move her hips to match his rhythm.
When that still wasn’t enough closeness, Brand left off. He slid from the bed, brought her with him until her hips and bum were balanced on the end, then he took her legs in hand, held them steady while he thrust his full length into her passage.
A scream issued from Elizabeth, unmuffled. She twisted her hands in the bedclothes, thrashed her head back and forth while her eyes shuttered closed. With the damp tendrils of her hair spread about his pillows and her body flushed with desire, never would he forget the picture she made.
Urgency rode his member as he stroked into her for all he was worth. All too soon, the familiar tingling in his stones signaled he’d find imminent release. Her body was too lush, too exquisite, too new that he couldn’t rein in his excitement or passion. “Lizzy, I’m coming.” But he didn’t want to explode without bringing her with him.
“Give me all of you,” she whispered as one of her hands drifted to her nipple and plucked the hardened bud.
Brand did that and more. One of his frenzied thrusts, her body went stiff and then relaxed. She cried out his name, over and over, like a litany. Her feminine walls fluttered around his shaft, pulling him deeper. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she went pliant in his hold. “Of all things holy on land or sea,” he murmured seconds before he lost himself to bliss. He didn’t just fall over the edge into pleasure. Oh, no, this time he hurtled through that wilderness and into a new place where white light enveloped him, and his body literally let go. Never had he spent so powerfully or as long. He ground his pelvis into hers as his prick pulsed, shot out his seed.
As before with her, he hadn’t worn a sheath, but now, the thought of possibly having a child with this woman enhanced the sensations currently threatening to tear him apart.
With a quiet shout, Brand collapsed against her, his face between her breasts. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him and held him close. The sounds of their ragged breathing filled the air, competing with the drum of his heartbeat loud in his ears.
Eventually, he stirred, only enough to resettle her on the bed and join her, holding her close in his arms. Now, he wasn’t afraid of the fall, for she would always be there to catch him if things went awry. A satisfied grin took possession of his lips. Loving Elizabeth was like steering a ship—a delicate touch and a firm hand—and he couldn’t wait to see where life would take them, for, after everything, he was a wildly fortunate man.