William reached down her leg and slowly drew off a lace stocking and garter. Then he brought the dainty bare foot to his mouth for a kiss. Bess curled her toes in pleasure, allowing him a peek at her pink cleft as his hands slipped off the other stocking.
Her teasing, wanton behavior told him she was becoming highly aroused and that she was inviting him to make love to her. But William didn't want this deflowering to be painful. If he gauged her sensuality right, she had a long way to go yet before she was in full-blown arousal. He would wait until she was begging and writhing in white-hot need, so that all she would experience when he mounted her was pure sexual pleasure.
He stretched out beside her on the bed, then came up over her in the dominant position and pulled her into a fierce embrace. One of the most beautiful things about her was her mouth, and he knew he'd never have enough of it. He splayed his fingers into her hair and lowered his mouth, molding his lips and his body to hers as she lay captive beneath him.
At first his kisses were tender and melting, then they turned sensual as his tongue delved deep, tasting her honeyed sweetness and tempting her tongue to duel with his in a play of love that felt like hot, sliding silk. These kisses aroused a ferocious hunger that became rough and elemental in their intensity. Her full breasts were crushed against the hard, sleek muscles of his chest, the hair on his chest abrading her nipples, turning them to diamond-hard jewels.
Now he traced the outline of her mouth with the tip of his tongue, licking her full, sensual lower lip, then sucking it into his mouth as if it were a ripe strawberry. A flame ignited between them, burning their mouths with a smoldering, savage heat that made their blood surge and pound wildly until raw moans of passion erupted from their throats.
William rolled to his back and took her with him, so that now it was Bess who was in the dominant position. She gazed down at him, smoky-eyed, then with feverish hands and mouth explored his body and his maleness to the full. She cupped and stroked and rubbed and kissed and licked every naked inch of his muscle-hard body. Never had he experienced such a splendidly uninhibited female in his life. Then, suddenly, she wrapped her legs about his thigh and began to ride it, raking his flesh with her nails and panting, “Rogue, Rogue, please.”
He stroked the inside of her thighs to loosen their grip on him, then he took her down to the bed and rose above her, suddenly looking ruthless and completely masterful. She needed him to be in full control. She needed him to dominate her completely so she could yield to him. And he became everything she needed.
He positioned himself so that the head of his phallus touched her cleft, then he thrust inside her sheath with a steady pressure that did not falter at the barrier but thrust through it until he was anchored deep. She was so tight, a hot shudder jolted through his body, then slowly, with long, drugging strokes, he began to make her his.
Never in her wildest imaginings had Bess ever dreamed anything could be so powerful and cataclysmic. At first there was pain, but she didn't fight it, she welcomed it, relished it, loving the fullness and instinctively knowing the pleasure would drown everything with exquisite liquid tremors.
He knew when her passion suddenly soared above every other sensation, for she began to writhe and arch her body and her legs slid high about his back, holding him captive until her ravishing was complete. She craved more kisses, then, when even they weren't enough, she slid her scalding mouth down the powerful column of his neck and she began to bite his shoulder.
He felt his seed almost start two or three times from the silken torment, but with an iron will he stroked deep and strong, knowing the surging wave was building inside her as surely as it built inside himself. He urged her on with raw whispers of love, taking untold pleasure in her cries of passion. Then, suddenly, she screamed and clung to him tightly, and a cry was torn from his own throat, as miraculously they climaxed together.
Each felt the throbbing and pulsing of the other as they were fused together in this fierce mating that allowed them to unleash all the pent-up desire that had been building for years. They were unable to move for long minutes as they lay entwined, their heartbeats thudding against each other, conjoined as if they were one being.
Bess mourned the loss of his weight when he lifted himself from her body, but he slipped his strong arms about her and gathered her close, gazing down at her with love. She was luminous in the candlelight, her flaming hair gloriously disheveled from his loving. Her creamy thighs bore the tiny drops of blood and pearly semen that proclaimed her lost innocence. Bess was soft with surfeit and languorously put her arms about his neck.
“I didn't know,” she murmured in wonder. “I had no idea it was like that.”
He smoothed damp tendrils from her forehead. “My love, it is seldom like that. Only for a special few is it earth-shattering.”
Bess felt soft and small and exceedingly feminine. She loved the smell of his male-scented skin, loved the salty taste of him that lingered on her tongue. She loved the heavy languor that came with being sated; she even loved the heady, musky smell of sex that floated in the air.
The corners of her mouth lifted. She had found her perfect mate. He was so strong and virile and dominant that she could be weak and helpless if she so chose. Yet he was so much a man that if she felt like being assertive and opinionated and bossy, it didn't threaten him, it amused him.
She lifted her mouth to his. “Rogue Cavendish, I have lost my heart to you.”
He grinned down at her and patted her thighs with a corner of the snowy sheet. “By the look of things you've lost more than your heart tonight. Any regrets, beauty?”
Bess stretched like a sensual cat with a bellyful of cream. “My innocence? I didn't lose it; I flung it away with great abandon. My only regret is that you didn't make love to me sooner,” she said dreamily.
“I'll make up for that, never fear. God, how long I've wanted you in bed beside me. All night. To have you fall asleep in my arms, to awaken you with a kiss, makes me the luckiest man alive.” He lifted her between the sheets and tucked the blanket about her. She curled beside him and closed her eyes. He curved an arm about her and cupped a breast, glorying in the lush weight of it. Safe inside their warm cocoon, her body and her senses replete with love, Bess slowly drifted off in blissful slumber.
In the middle of the night, William awoke and found the place beside him empty. His eyes were drawn to the flickering fire in the hearth and he saw Bess standing before it, her beautiful body bathed in the fire glow.
“Are you all right, love?” He slipped from the bed and covered the distance between them.
Her face was radiant. “I'm so happy—I just couldn't sleep.”
He moved behind her and cupped her shoulders, drawing her back against him. “That's excess energy— sexual energy.” He shuddered as her bottom brushed across his groin. His hands moved down from her shoulders to cup her breasts, and he felt her quivering response. “The firelight loves you as I do. It touches you everywhere, making you glow, making you hot.” His fingers traced her rib cage and stroked across her belly, then they threaded through the fiery curls atop her mons and he rubbed his palm against her.
Bess turned to face him and went on tiptoe to slide her arms about his neck. With a low moan she said fiercely, “I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again.”
“I know what you need.” His voice was like dark velvet. “Will you let me burn off all this delicious sexual energy?”
She nodded her consent and gasped as he lifted her onto his marble-hard manroot. With his hands beneath her bottom cheeks, he moved purposely toward the high bed. “I'll make you sleep.”
Just after dawn Bess opened her eyes and stretched sensuously. William, in black leather pants and linen shirt, came to the bed. “Sweetheart, I wanted to surprise you. I'm on my way to buy you a mount so we can ride together. I thought I'd be back before you awakened.”
He dipped his head to kiss her and she came up on her knees to him, a naked supplicant, sliding her arms about his neck. “Take me with you. Teach me how to buy a horse. Let me do the bargaining.”