“Until my father dies, I will say nothing,” Janice replied firmly. “I want him to leave this world with a peaceful mind.”
“And then?” he asked pointedly.
“We shall see,” she said cryptically, with a grim smile.
“I wish I could be of assistance to you,” Bernard said, frustrated.
“But you can,” she replied. Her eyes were soft and silver with reflected moonlight.
He frowned, puzzled. “How? Tell me what I can do, and I will do it.”
“Like this,” Janice whispered, stepping into his arms. “Just hold me, Bernard. That is enough comfort.”
For a moment, Bernard was frozen, then he did as he had dreamed of doing and wrapped his arms tightly around her while Janice tucked her head under his chin and snuggled into his chest. They stood that way for a long while with neither saying anything, merely savoring the joy of being together.
Presently, he put her away a little to look into her eyes, and Janice, with a little giggle, put out her forefinger to touch his Adam’s apple.
“What is so funny?” he asked, laughing as he stroked her hair back from her face.
“I love the differences between us,” she whispered as she tickled the little knob on his throat with her forefinger.
He chuckled, and she watched two adorable dimples appear on his cheeks.
“I do too,” he said huskily, as his gaze dropped to her lips. “These are so soft.”
He dropped a tender kiss on her open lips, but it soon turned into something much hungrier as he swept his tongue inside her mouth to begin a sensual dance with hers.
Apart from their one kiss by the loch, Janice had had no intimate contact with Bernard, and now she felt overwhelmed in the most beautiful way, as his body surrounded her like a warm cloak on a cold night. Janice thrust her fingers into his hair, loving its silkiness as she drew them through it. Then instinctively, she ground her hips against him and felt the hard mass of his manhood chafing against her belly.
Her body responded in its own animal way, becoming warm and wet for him. She had never been with a man, but she was ready to give herself to him there and then if he allowed her to.
Bernard was intoxicated by the smell, feel, and taste of her, and when he cupped her breast in one of his big hands and felt her nipple harden under her gown, he was lost. Without parting his lips from hers, Bernard turned her around and flattened her against the stone wall under the stairs. They provided a complete pool of shadow in which they feasted on each other.
Bernard’s hands and lips were everywhere, and Janice pushed herself harder against him, trying to inch ever closer, although there was already no space between them. He broke the kiss, breathing heavily, then cupped her bottom with both hands and squeezed them. They were firm but soft, and each cheek fitted into his hand perfectly.
“God help me,” he groaned. “You are driving me mad.”
When Janice let out a whimper of delight, he lost control and threw back his head, roaring his passion into the night. Fortunately, their position under the stairs and the hubbub of the party inside drowned out the noise, but Janice heard it, and it drove a surge of power through her. This big, strong, powerful man was completely under her spell, and she loved it.
Presently, Janice felt a tickling sensation on her leg as Bernard began to pull her dress upwards, and then he sank to his knees, his body sliding down hers, driving pulsing waves of pleasure straight to her core. She squealed as she felt his lips on her thighs, his mouth moving upward and ever upward, peppering tiny kisses on her tender skin as it went until there was an entirely new sensation as she felt something tug and lick her very center.
When she realized what he was doing, she was shocked, in a delicious, wanton way. Her hips bucked involuntarily, her hands fisted, and she threw her head back as she felt something like the throbbing of her arousal, but much, much, much stronger.
It felt as though a strange sensation inside her was straining to reach for something even stronger that was just out of reach. What was happening to her? What was Bernard doing to her? After a while, she decided she did not care. This was too glorious for words. When she finally reached what she had been seeking, she felt as though she had just experienced an explosion. Her whole body shuddered with what she could only describe as ecstasy for a moment before she fell back to Earth and into Bernard’s arms.
13
Bernard was no longer using his rational mind. His actions were those of his primitive animal self as he delved with his tongue into the soft folds of Janice’s vulva, driven on by her cries and moans of satisfaction.
He went on inflicting sweet torture upon her until he heard her screaming his name and knew that she had come to her climax. Reluctantly, he stood up and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her once more as she shuddered against him, whimpering in the aftermath of the strangest and most wonderful sensation she had ever felt.
Janice was still innocent, and no one had ever explained to her exactly what went on in the bedroom between a man and a woman. She had always been too shy to ask her father, and although she could possibly have asked her maid, she did not want her lack of experience to become fodder for household gossip. Kitty would never hurt her on purpose, but she had a loose tongue.
She had heard the maids whispering about it and knew there was more to know. There had to be because although she had been through the most glorious experience of her life, she still had a sense of being unfulfilled.
“Make me yours,” she whispered. “Here. Now. No one can hear us or see us—they are all too busy. Please, Bernard. I need to know what it is to love a man, and I know you will be gentle with me.”
Bernard took a deep breath in and slowly let it out again. The last few moments had almost reduced him to a state of helplessness, but he had to deny himself and Janice, even though it was the most difficult thing he had ever had to do.