A Little Mischief (31 page)

He cupped them and lifted them up one in each hand and caught her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and rubbed them with the lightest pressure. The ache between her legs grew more insistent.

The feelings his touch created inside her were so wonderful she found herself saying aloud, “Don’t let this end.”

“No, Isabella, it’s just beginning,” Daniel whispered as he dipped his head and covered one rosy peak with his mouth.

He sucked and flicked one tip with his tongue as his hands massaged the fullness of her breasts. Isabella lifted her chest up to him. Her arms went around the back of his head. Her hands played in the thickness of his hair as she gently held him to her bosom. He suckled first one breast and then the other, thrilling her with sensations that took her breath away.

“Daniel, I know you’ve kissed me like this before, but I don’t think it’s ever felt this good.”

He raised his head and gave her the sweetest smile. His lips were moist, full, and manly. “That’s because this is more relaxing than a wet, dark garden.”

“Much,” she answered. “I can hardly catch my breath.”

Daniel rose and pulled his shirt over his head and thrust it aside. Isabella gasped at how powerful he looked. She never imagined he was so muscular through his chest, shoulders, and arms. His wide chest tapered at the waistband of his black trousers. His stomach was flat and ribbed with muscles.

She laid her palm flat on the bulging swell of his chest and softly let her hand glide from one side to the other, and then up and down from his throat to his waist.

Isabella looked up at him with awe. “You look so powerful and so beautiful.”

Taking hold of her hand, Daniel kissed the back of the palm, and then the inside. He smiled down at her again with sparkling eyes. “You are the only beautiful one in this room.”

“I’m glad I’m here with you like this, Daniel.”

“Me, too.”

He bent over her and kissed her softly on each breast before catching her lips with his again. Isabella slid her arms around the widest part of his back. Her hands couldn’t be still. She loved the feel of his hard body, his muscles rippling beneath her palms as she kneaded and caressed the firm, naked skin.

Daniel let his kisses slip from her lips to the crook of her neck. She heard him breathe in deeply as if he were trying to take her inside him. Her lower stomach muscles contracted with a need she didn’t understand, but somehow she knew she wanted to feel his weight on top of her.

She moaned and squirmed beneath his gentle yet fervent touch and kisses until she finally dragged her mouth away from his and said, “Lay with me, Daniel.”

Daniel answered with a desperate, “Yes, Isabella, yes.” He stretched out beside her half on top of her and half on the settee. “I’ve wanted you like I’ve wanted no other woman.” He pushed his lower body alongside her thigh. “Feel what you do to me.”

Isabella felt the hardness of his manhood press tightly against her and it seemed natural to lift her bottom to try and get closer to him.

“I feel something very stiff. Is that good?” she asked.

“That’s very good,” he answered.

Her awareness of what they were doing increased. Excitement and anticipation built inside her.

When she felt the warm bare skin of his chest against her hard nipples, Isabella gasped with a pleasure she’d never experienced before.

Resting on one elbow, Daniel looked down into her eyes and said, “I’ll stop anytime you say. If it hurts too bad just let me know.”

She nodded, but couldn’t imagine that anything would make her want to stop. All she could think was that she wanted more and more and more. She was too eager to experience all he had to show her.

Her heart beat faster, her stomach contracted fiercely. She knew something even more wonderful than what she was feeling at that moment was going to happen. She sensed it all over her body and she couldn’t wait. She closed her eyes and concentrated on all the luscious sensations spiraling through her as Daniel continued to caress and kiss her.

“Oh, Daniel, I love the way your skin feels beneath my hands. It’s so smooth and your muscles are so firm. I love the way your body fits next to mine.” She let her hand rub down his chest to his waistband.

His lips caught hers again in a bruising kiss as his chest flattened against her breasts. He lifted the rest of his body on top of her. With a few quick motions he shoved her dress up and her drawers down. He parted her legs with his knee before letting his weight settle softly and slowly between them.

Isabella gasped again. Her heart beat so fast she was afraid she was going to lose her breath. A rising hunger like nothing she had ever known spread deep inside her.

It felt so natural for him to be on top of her. She lifted her bottom again and Daniel pressed his hardness against her softness while his lips ravaged hers.

She heard him moan as he dragged his lips away from her, and he asked on a shaky breath, “Am I going too fast?”

“No. I feel hot and out of breath, as if I’ve been running and—”

“Yes?”

“I feel as if something is missing inside me.”

“Good, that’s the way you’re supposed to feel.”

While he continued to kiss her madly, he put his hand between their bodies, and she knew by his movements that he was unbuttoning his trousers. She felt him shoving them down, and she moved her hands to his hips and helped him push them past his knees.

He started to lower himself to her again, but she stopped him by pressing her palm to his chest. “May I see you?”

She felt a tremble in the arm that held his weight off her. “Are you sure you want to?”

She nodded.

Daniel pushed backward and held his body up and away from her by holding on to the back of the settee.

Isabella looked at his pulsating shaft. It was beautiful. She reached out and touched its satiny length and its rigid hardness with her hands. She heard him moan with pleasure. She looked at his face. His eyes were closed. The expression on his face was so intense, for a moment she thought he might be in pain.

“Does it hurt?” she whispered.

His eyes opened and he looked down at her and smiled. “Oh, yes, it’s killing me. But no, it doesn’t hurt like you’re thinking. Have you seen and touched enough, my beautiful, inquisitive Isabella?”

“I like the way it feels,” she said, cupping him with both hands.

“I like it, too, but I’ve had all I can bear.”

Isabella shivered with anticipation and nodded.

When he settled back between her legs, she felt the length of his body and the length of his long, hard shaft pushing against her.

Into her mouth he whispered, “Oh, Isabella, what you do to me is so powerful. I’m filled with wanting you.”

“I feel it, too, my lord. I feel as if something has been building inside me and it’s about to explode.”

“Oh, yes, Isabella, it is. I’ll see to it.”

He dipped his head lower and sucked her breast into his mouth again, harder than he had before, but it didn’t hurt. He laved and nibbled first one and then the other. His savage treatment only made her lift her buttocks and press tighter against him.

“Mmm, you taste good,” he murmured against her skin. “So sweet and firm. I can’t get enough of you.”

His hand slipped between them again, and she felt a maddening pressure against her womanhood. It felt right for the force to be there, but it was as if her body wouldn’t give in to his demand.

Suddenly his shaft broke through, and she felt a searing pain and just as quick a fullness that took her breath away. Isabella jerked with a whimper of shock, but Daniel held her close to his chest, kissing her forehead, her eyes, her cheeks, and her lips. She gasped at the fullness, the wonder; the unimaginable feeling of being joined with Daniel.

Her arms tightened around his back when he tried to push away from her. “No, don’t stop,” she begged.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he whispered as his lips traveled to her ear. The warmth of his breath comforted her.

Isabella was so filled with wonderment that she could only nod.

Daniel covered her lips with his and kissed her tenderly as his body started moving slowly, up and down. In and out.

“Join me,” he said. “Help me love you.”

Isabella did so and lifted her body to meet his. It seemed awkward at first but within moments they were moving together as one. Joy leaped inside her. Daniel loved her. They were making love. Her heart swelled with so much love for him she had to fight back tears of happiness.

Something was building inside her. Daniel kissed her tenderly; his hands massaged her breasts as his fingers rubbed her nipples. Isabella closed her eyes and gloried in the feel of Daniel’s mouth on her lips, his hands on her breasts, and his body moving deep inside her.

She clung to him and moved with him until a spiral of sensations came together in an explosion of gratification. She let out a pleasurable cry of completion. Her fingers dug into his buttocks and held him to her for what seemed like a long, long satisfying time.

When her grip on him relaxed, his hips started pumping again and for a few more moments he rocked into her. His breaths came in heavy gasps until she felt his body shudder. His arms slid under her back and he pulled her close, tight, sinking himself as far into her as he could go.

Isabella smiled to herself. For her it was over too quickly. They lay quietly for a few moments with only their breathing breaking the silence.

Isabella felt no shame or regret. What she’d shared with Daniel had exceeded her expectations. The only thing that would have made their time together any better is if she’d been able to tell him she loved him.

Maybe she did regret she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t have him think in any way that she meant to trap him into marriage by insisting they have this short time together.

“My dearest, Isabella,” he whispered into her ear. “You are so perfect for me.”

Isabella was breathless, wrung out. She was so satisfied she felt like a pool of hot wax, yet she had never felt better in her life. She was contented. She threw her arms around him and laughed with vigor.

Daniel lifted his head and looked down on her with a curious expression. “Why are you laughing?”

“I’m happy, Daniel,” she said. “You have made me very happy.”

“Me, too.”

“I mean it, Daniel.”

“So do I.”

Isabella inhaled. She was filled with an overwhelming satisfaction, and all she could do was lie in Daniel’s arms and smile.

“It was more wonderful that I thought it would be.”

He braced himself with one elbow. “It was just as heavenly as it has been in my dreams.”

“You dreamed about what we just did?”

“Many times.”

“I love the way it makes me feel when you kiss me and touch me.” She ran her hand over his smooth, muscular chest. “I love the way your skin feels against mine. I love the way you feel inside me when you are big and—”

Daniel took hold of her hand and stopped her. “That’s enough about that for now. We must straighten our clothes before your maid comes looking for you.”

A deep pain of loss struck Isabella, and she tried to push it away. She had known this time had to end, but she didn’t want it to. She had to find the strength to accept it. She took a deep breath and shored up her courage. She didn’t want to be sad for what she wouldn’t have with Daniel. She wanted to be glad for what she’d shared with him just now.

Daniel rolled off her and helped her to rise from the settee. He turned his back to her and started rebuttoning his trousers.

Isabella pulled her sleeves back up on her shoulder and started arranging her corset, wondering where she would get the courage to tell him good-bye.

It was heartbreaking to know their time together had been so short. She wanted to stay here with him forever, but she knew that wasn’t to be.

She pulled up the bodice of her clothing. “Thank you for spending this time with me, Daniel, and for showing me what happens between a man and a woman when they come together.”

Daniel swore as he spun around, almost falling over as he tried to shove his foot into his boot. A scowl curled his beautiful lips. “Don’t say things like that, Isabella, and don’t thank me.”

“But I do.”

He picked up his other boot. “What just happened between us was more than just a man and a woman coming together.”

A glimmer of hope fluttered to life inside her. “It was for me. It was very special.”

“It was special for me, too.”

She bent down and picked up her pelisse. “I hadn’t told you, but my father is coming home.”

Daniel halted his movements, his boot half on. “He is? When?”

She slipped her arm into her sleeve.

“His letter said by the end of the month.”

“That must make you happy.”

“I want to see him, but…”

“But what? He’s been gone years, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, but I fear he will insist I go back to the country to live again. I knew by the time I turned twenty-one and could return to London on my own, you would already be married. That’s why this time alone with you was so important to me.”