Page 58 of The Society Catch
Joanna struggled against the desire to surrender utterly to the sensations flooding through her and managed to gasp, ‘Your leg?’
‘Just give me a moment,’ Giles shifted his position, winced, then smiled down into her wide, anxious eyes. ‘Provided you don’t kick it, we will be fine.’
She fitted against him so well, Joanna realised hazily, burying her face against his neck, feeling the reassuring strength of his shoulders under her hands which were trembling with nerves. Lower where she still tingled from the pleasures his fingers had wrought she was overwhelmingly conscious of his aroused body and tried desperately not to think, simply to trust Giles and endure the next few minutes.
Giles bent his head to whisper against her lips, ‘Trust me sweetheart,’ then he thrust into her. There was a fleeting sensation of pain, more of discomfort and tightness, then he was lodged deep within her and she realised that they were joined, that this was Giles whose body was cradled within hers and that her own body was opening around him, caressing him, holding him.
Her eyes fluttered open and she found his, a mixture of awe and anxiety in them. ‘Giles.’ Her voice was an unsteady whisper.
‘Sweetheart, are you all right? Did I hurt you?’
‘No, yes – just a little. Oh Giles, I do love you.’ Her body was telling her to move so she tried, tentatively. In answer Giles began to move too, the rhythm of his passion overtaking her caution, sweeping her along on a building crescendo of sensation which she recognised from his earlier lovemaking. But this was fuelled, driven, by his body too. She was part of it, swept up in it, her head moving restlessly on the pillows, her fists clenched against Giles’s chest as she cried out with pleasure. It reached a point where she could not withstand the tension any longer, her body arched into his, driving him deeper, convulsing around him as he cried out and the two of them collapsed back on the bed in a tangle of entwined limbs, their mouths locked in a final, desperate kiss.
Chapter Twenty Six
Joanna came to herself to find that Giles was still lying above her, his weight on his elbows, his forehead resting against hers. Her wide open eyes were so close to his that their eyelashes tangled and he smiled and raised his head to look at her better.
‘Thank you,’ he said simply.
‘It was all right?’
‘You were perfect. I could not have dreamed of anything more perfect. That you want me, that you trust me – I cannot imagine a more wonderful gift.’
‘I loved it too,’ Joanna said, uncaring how brazen that sounded. ‘Giles, I had no idea it would be like that. I thought perhaps you would find me clumsy. Everything I did was just instinct.’
He bent his head to kiss her slowly along the line of her collarbone. ‘Your skin is like silk. Instinct? You have the most wonderful, sensual, loving, natural instincts, Joanna. Just think how good we are going to be together the more we practice. I foresee the need for a lot of practice.’
He rolled carefully over onto his back and stretched like a cat. ‘I feel so good.’
‘Even your leg?’ Joanna sat up rather unsteadily and looked at the bandage which appeared, by some miracle, to still be in place.
‘I wouldn’t want to go on a route march,’ Giles admitted, cautiously flexing the foot and grimacing as the damaged tendons stretched. ‘I am going to have to make love to you at least three times a day, simply to get enough exercise.’
‘Oh.’ Joanna feigned a pout. ‘Only three times?’
‘Minx,’ Giles said appreciatively. ‘If you carry on sitting there looking so utterly delectable I will just have to …’
He broke off at the sound of the door handle being rattled. Then they heard Alex’s voice on the other side raised in what Hebe always referred to as his “parade ground shout”. ‘Giles! This door is jammed.’
Giles shouted back at the same volume, ‘It’s locked, you idiot.’
‘Then open it.’
Joanna pressed her hands over her mouth to suppress the giggles.
‘How can I?’ Giles demanded. ‘I can’t walk.’
Joanna hissed, ‘Ask him if everything is all right. He sounds drunk.’
‘Lord, Hebe. I had forgotten.’ Giles raised his voice again. ‘Is everything all right? How is Hebe?’
‘Couldn’t be better!’
‘Heisdrunk,’ Giles commented, grinning. ‘The baby has come?’ he shouted back. ‘Really,’ he added, dropping his voice again, ‘This is a ludicrous way to have a conversation.’
‘Then make him go away and I’ll open the door,’ Joanna said, hopping out of bed and searching frantically for her stockings. ‘I can hardly let him in now, can I? Look at this room.’
‘Indeed,’ Giles drawled regarding the havoc from under sensual, hooded lids.
