Page 65 of The Model Debutante
But coping with the servants was one thing, that merely needed acting and a show of self-confidence until she acquired the real thing. Of all her new acquisitions there was one which could not be dealt with in such a way. Her new husband.
Tallie swallowed, pulling the sheets up to her chin before she realised what she was doing and turned them down again.He has kissed you countless times, she chided herself.You have been in bed with him, for goodness sake. He has seen you naked. You have seen him, if it comes to that. Why so shy now?
If Nick had not been so restrained and proper for the four interminable weeks before their wedding she might not have felt so nervous. But he had acted with the most scrupulous propriety which unnerved her to the point where she almost convinced herself he was regretting the entire thing and was not in love with her after all. Then she would catch his gaze, see the passion burning in his eyes, hear the tenderness in his voice and she no longer doubted him.
A board creaked outside the door to her dressing room. It opened onto a tiny lobby and then into his suite. Tallie swallowed, folded her hands over the crumpled wreck of the sheet edge and attempted to look calm. There was a scratch on the panels and the door opened to reveal her husband clad in a splendid dressing gown of heavy crimson silk, his feetdisconcertingly bare.
‘You look very small in that big bed,’ he observed, leaning one shoulder against the doorframe. ‘Is it comfortable?’
‘…’ Tallie’s voice vanished into a squeak. She coughed and tried again. ‘Very, thank you.’ Why did he not come in?
‘I wondered if perhaps you were very tired and would prefer it if I stayed in my room tonight.’
For a moment a ripple of relief ran through her. She would not have to face the horrible possibility that she might not please him tonight. Tomorrow she would be rested, not so tense. A good night’s sleep would surely banish this quivering, feverish feeling which had been spreading through her limbs ever since she had placed her hand in his at the altar.
She opened her mouth to agree and heard herself say, ‘Oh no, Nick, no I am not so very tired.’ Before she could correct herself he was at the bedside flipping back the covers to reveal her modestly clad in the long nightgown of fine cambric which she had nervously chosen to wear. With one hasty, appalled glance she had rejected the dozen or so outrageous pieces of nonsense which Aunt Kate had encouraged her to buy and which her new maid had spread out for her choice.
‘Very restrained,’ Nick observed. ‘How does it come off?’
‘Er…over my head.’
‘And are you very fond of this garment?’ His long fingers were toying with the chaste satin ribbon which gathered the neckline.
‘No. Why?’
In answer Nick simply took the neck edges in both hands and ripped the nightgown firmly from top to toe leaving Tallie naked. Before her hands could grasp the edges again he bent down, scooped her up and strode back towards the door. ‘I have been having the most improper thoughts about doing this since the first moment I saw you in Harland’s studio.’
‘You have?’ Tallie gasped, wrapping her arms around hisneck as they swept through both dressing rooms and into his bedchamber.
‘Hmm.’ Nick’s voice was a throaty growl of anticipation which sent an answering echo through her. ‘And your hair…’ He set her on her feet, tugged at the ribbon which was tying her hair back and swept the freed mass out over her shoulders with both hands. ‘And that scent of jasmine has been haunting me.’ He buried his face in her hair and it slid across her naked skin. She shivered and instantly Nick cupped her face in his hands and looked intently down at her.
‘Are you cold? No? Then are you frightened?’
‘Um, a little bit,’ Tallie admitted. Nick seemed so big, so dominant, so possessive.
‘Did Aunt Kate say anything to you?’
‘Only that it would be all right and you were much too experienced to make a mull of it.’
‘Oh did she?’ Nick said indignantly. ‘And did you find that reassuring?’
‘Not very.’
‘Then let me assure you, Tallie, that I am not experienced in bedding virgins and I intend this to be the first and last time I do so. So we are going to have to muddle through this together and try not to make a mull of it jointly.’ She suppressed a little snort of amusement and he smiled. ‘That is better. Now then, where were we?’
Fortunately that appeared to be a rhetorical question because Tallie very much doubted that she could come up with a coherent answer. She burrowed closer against him as though to cover her nakedness with his robe and found that her fingers – quite of their own volition – were untying the knot of the sash. The edges fell apart and she was against Nick’s body.
Tallie froze, absorbing sensations, recalling how it had felt when she had woken in his bed and was held in his arms. Thiswas different. For a moment she was puzzled, then realised that standing she was pressed against Nick in a slightly different way. She could rest her head on his shoulder which meant she could let her lips graze against the side of his neck where the pulse beat so hard. The strangely exciting friction of his chest hair against her softness was the same; she wriggled and caught her breath at the way his breath caught in turn.
And like this, tight against him, there was no mistaking the extent to which she had aroused him.
‘Tallie,’ Nick murmured against her hair.
‘Mmm?’
‘Let me kiss you.’ She tipped back her head and his hands came up to her shoulders to push off the wreck of her nightgown. The fine cambric whispered to the floor as he bent to her lips and Tallie responded, opening to him, yielding to the demands of tongue and lips until suddenly this was no longer enough and the aching, throbbing feeling inside built into a clamorous demand which she could no longer pretend she did not understand.
Nick seemed to sense the change in her. He bent, caught her up in his arms, laid her on the bed. With one fluid movement he had shrugged out of his robe and was on the bed at her side.
