To Wed a Scandalous Spy (27 page)

It was unbearably exciting, seeing the lust on his face, feeling the power she had over his response.

Then the button slipped from its hole and the bodice of her gown slipped down the front, hanging open but still clinging to her moist skin. He reached to pull it down the rest of the way.

Willa pulled back, suddenly too shy. She couldn't do it, not after being turned away so often.

Nathaniel looked into her eyes. "Is it my turn?"

His voice was gentle, but the look in his eyes was urgent and hungry. She shivered, and his gaze flew back to where her areolas peeked from behind blue silk. She wore almost nothing underneath, for she'd had little that would suit.

"Please?" Her voice caught on the knot of fear and heady longing in her throat. Perhaps if he were naked as well…

Nathaniel pulled off his open frock coat and tossed it to the chair behind her. Then he quickly undid his waistcoat and sent it flying after his coat. His stock he untied slowly, then whipped away to flutter across the room like a flag of abandon. Then, one by one, he slowly pulled the studs from his shirt, parting it teasingly so that it hung open but not off.

"That seems fair. Now you."

Willa licked her lips. His gaze riveted itself on her mouth, so she did it again. He swallowed harshly, and the hungry look in his eyes became almost tortured.

Heady stuff, this lovemaking. She felt her feminine might growing by the moment. There was only one problem. If she removed her gown, she would be naked but for her shift, while he would only be shirtless.

In the interest of fairness, then, Willa kicked off one slipper and raised her foot to the seat of the chair. Pulling up the hem of her gown, she exposed the lacy garter upon which hung her stocking.

Nathaniel thought he was going to burst on the spot at the first glimpse of creamy thigh. Oh, she was a wicked country miss. He watched as she leisurely untied the garter, letting it slide off her thigh with a satin hiss.

She tossed it onto the chair on top of his waistcoat and gave him a look of challenge.

He knew what she was doing and found it unbearably sweet that she was turning her fear and nervousness into a ribald little game for him.

Still, in the interest of moving things along, he bent and removed not one boot but two, tossing them past her to land beside the chair.

Her eyes widened, but he wasn't going to let her off easily. He smiled at her, cocking his head expectantly.

Willa swallowed. Then, bending, she rolled her stocking down with excruciating slowness, until she had to point her toe and kick it off onto the floor.

Nathaniel was going to die. The fact that she had no idea that bending over made the bodice of her gown drop open and expose her luscious breasts completely only made it more exciting. Losing that divine view when she straightened made him give a tiny groan of mourning.

Quickly he stripped off both socks and pulled his shirt over his head.

Willa froze at the sight of his bared chest. How could she have forgotten how beautiful he was? Why was she delaying the one thing she wanted in all the world?

With a sudden flurry of motion, Willa planted her other foot on the chair, stripped off the garter and stocking and tossed them aside, then stood to face Nathaniel.

He knew what she wanted, she could see it on his face, and the trace of arrogance there was not to be borne. Deciding to exert a little of her newfound power, she turned her back on him, then slipped the gown over and off and tossed it aside. Then, remaining with her back to him, as much for courage as for teasing potential, she untied the drawstring of her shift and let it slip down to hang very low at her hips.

He made a low tortured sound, and she looked over her shoulder to see his hands clenched by his sides and all arrogance gone from his face.

Good.

Then she turned to run for the bed so she could hide under the covers.

"Not so fast, wildflower!"

Nathaniel caught her in one arm and swung her around to face him, then stepped forward to kiss her—

And tripped over his own boots on the floor. With a violent twist of his body so that he would not land on Willa, he fell hard on the marble hearth.

"Oh, darling! Oh, Nathaniel, are you all right?"

He managed to pull in a deep breath but almost lost it again when he realized that Willa's heavy, soft breasts were pressed to his bare chest. He could feel her hardened nipples moving against his skin as she ran her hands over his skull looking for injuries.

Heaven. Being knocked unconscious by a nearly naked Willa was just this side of heaven.

But Nathaniel wanted to be on the other side of heaven. Better yet, the inside of heaven.

Reaching for her, he wrapped both arms about her and rolled them both to one side, away from the cold marble and onto the deep, soft rug.

"Oh, you are all right. I was so afraid the jinx—"

There was no choice at all. He had to kiss those words right out of her mouth.

Once the jolt of fear for him had passed, Willa forgot to think at all. There was nothing in the world but the taste and smell and feel of Nathaniel above her.

He kissed her deeply, braced above her on one arm while the other pulled her shift down to her ankles. Quickly she pedaled it off, then gasped into his mouth as he moved his body between her knees.

"Shh," he said into her lips. "Not yet."

She relaxed, allowing her legs to fall open fully as he lay down upon her, pressing his body into the parting of hers with his trousers still covering him. As long as he kept them on, she had nothing to worry about.

Then his hands began to travel her body with knowledge and thoroughness, and she forgot to worry at all.

«
^
»

Nathaniel couldn't believe the woman who moved and sighed and shivered beneath him. Never had someone responded to his every touch, seemingly his every thought.

He'd assumed that he had made love before, but never had it been like this. Never this generous, this achingly tender yet fantastically wild.

She was on fire beneath him, sighing and writhing, stimulating him almost beyond bearing. And taking him further by the moment were the words that kept falling from her lips.

"I love you, Nathaniel, I love you so."

He couldn't wait any longer. She hadn't come to orgasm yet, but she was swollen and wet to the touch and shuddered with every flick of his fingers. He should take her all the way, but he needed her so badly…

"Wildflower, I need to—" He fumbled at his trouser buttons, then gasped as her hands slid down his belly to help him. His own were shaking so badly that he took them away and let her take over.

Willa's fear was gone. All she could feel now was the blinding ache within, plus a burning need to see Nathaniel naked. Now.

She slipped the buttons quickly through their holes, taking care, at every opportunity, to stroke her knuckles against the rigid length hidden behind the fine tight wool. He quivered every time. Delicious.

Then he was free. His erection sprang into her waiting hands, but she gained not a moment to explore it. Nathaniel pulled away, frantically tore his breeches off, and rolled back between her thighs.

"I need you so, wildflower. I should make sure—"

She wrapped her arms about his neck, pulling him down for a hot, wet tender-rough kiss. Then she pulled back and gave him a deadly serious look.

"If you don't take me now, Nathaniel, I will hit you."

His reply was to thrust the head of his erection into her.

She threw her head back, gasping. "Yesss."

He withdrew, making her whimper with loss. Then he pressed in again. Every stroke rubbed against
that
place, the sensitive place that Willa herself had only touched in the bath.

It felt wicked and outrageous and very good. And it didn't hurt at all.

He did it again and again, faster and faster, until her head tossed against his forearms and she whimpered out loud.

Then he did something, lowered his body and tightened his arms about her—and thrust deep inside her.

The stretching, bursting pain was shocking. She cried out in distress, her hold on his shoulders becoming panicked, and she shook her head wildly when he bent to breathe reassurance into her ear.

"Shh," he whispered. "I'm sorry. It will pass. Shh."

He held her tightly, not moving within her any longer. She gulped once, still panting from the shock, then let her trust in him and the heat of him relax her. The searing eased as she expanded and warmed around him.

"Better?" His voice was tender.

She pulled back her head and smiled up at him, nodding, even as she drew a last shuddering breath.

Then she punched him hard on the bicep.

"Why didn't you warn me you were going to do that?"

"If I had, you would have tensed, and it would have been much worse."

"Oh." She considered that for a moment. Then she punched him again.

"Wildflower, we are really going to have to talk about your propensity for violence."

"Fine, after we talk about how you know so much about deflowering virgins."

He laughed weakly at that, and the movement of him within her made them both gasp.

"Willa," he said tightly, "if I swear to you that you are my first and only virgin, may we please continue to copulate our brains out?"

Her eyes went wide. "There's more?" The idea made her shudder beneath him, and she felt him pulse within her.

He groaned. "Oh, wildflower, there is so much more."

And he began to show her. With slow, long strokes he introduced her to her own depth and sensitivity. The pain, was gone, leaving a pleasantly throbbing ache that was eased only by his deepest thrusts.

She ran her hands all over him while he thrust into her. She stroked her fingertips across his chest and she kneaded the flexing muscles in his shoulders as his speed increased.

And when the feeling within her grew from pleasant ache, to tumultuous pleasure, and then to shuddering ecstasy, she dug her nails into his buttocks and screamed her release.

His roar joined her cry as he plunged fiercely into her for the last time. Then, rolling both of them, he ended up on his back with her sprawled panting across his chest.

Nathaniel couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. Even now, he was trembling in reaction to his profound orgasm. It had never been so good. Never.

"You've killed me," she whispered, still shuddering from the aftershocks of her climax.

"Then it is mutual murder, I'm afraid." He drew a deep breath, enjoying the warm, slick weight of naked Willa on his chest.

"Mmm. I must not be quite dead yet, since I'm thirsty."

He laughed, and she lifted her head and grinned at him. She looked beautiful, with her dampened curls trailing over her flushed face, falling before her thick-lashed blue eyes.

"How could I have ever thought to resist you?" He raised a hand to cup her cheek. "My beautiful country minx."

Her eyes widened, then she blushed. Smiling shyly, Willa slipped from the circle of his arms and walked to the washbasin on the commode.

It was a view that Nathaniel had never before seen. The line of her graceful spine ended in the womanly swell of her full, rounded bottom. Erotic little dimples dotted the base of her spine, and on one buttock rode a single perfect beauty mark.

His breath left his body in a rush. Abruptly his exhausted desire rose once more.

Willa bathed herself, then pulled her shift on over her head, and the fabric fell over his view, hiding that luscious derrière from his sight.

"Take it off," he ordered.

Willa turned and placed a fist on each hip. "You presume, sir," she teased.

In one lethal motion, Nathaniel was out of the bed and standing before her. Willa's eyes widened at his monumental erection.

His gaze intense, Nathaniel repeated his command. "Take… it… off."

Shivering in response to his tone, Willa solemnly took the hem of the shift in both hands and pulled it up. When Nathaniel responded with a low animal noise, the shiver became a full-blown quiver.

He stopped her when her arms were above her head. "Don't move," he commanded. Willa couldn't see past the fine lawn of the shift over her face. The lack of knowing what came next sent a fresh tremor of excitement through her.

She felt Nathaniel move behind her, so close she sensed the heat from his naked body. Large hot hands ran over her bottom, teasingly at first, then with hard urgency.

"Oh God, wildflower. You are so beautiful." Nathaniel's voice was a breathless, reverent rasp.

He slid his hands around her to caress her breasts and pull her back against his erection. Willa stood absolutely still for as long as she could but finally couldn't resist an experimental rotation of her hips.

Nathaniel's groan was impetus enough for more experimentation. Slowly, Willa rose on her toes, letting Nathaniel's shaft slide into the cleft of her buttocks. Then she pressed back against him, rocking slightly side to side.

It was more than he could stand. With hard hands he turned her to face him, ripping the shift away to get to her lips.

He kissed her hard, plunging his tongue into her as he grasped her bottom and pulled her up to meet him. Willa wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, kissing back with equal urgency.

Nathaniel pulled her tightly against him, groaning into her mouth as his erection slid up and down against her slick, hot center.

"The… bed," suggested Willa breathlessly.

Nathaniel only growled and took two steps toward the wall. Bracing her with his arms, he leaned her back against the papered wall and thrust into her clinging warmth.

Willa gave a tiny shriek of surprise. Nathaniel froze.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No… I… simply didn't know—"

Fighting for control, Nathaniel tucked his face into her neck and breathed deeply.

"Don't stop," she said.

"I should stop. Oh, wildflower, I don't know what it is, but you wake up the animal in me."

"Well, the animal in me likes the animal in you," she said softly.