Page 81 of The Lord Next Door
They spent only an hour at the ball, but that was long enough for Victoria. In the carriage on the way home, she didn’t want to break the delicious spell of anticipation that pulled between them.
Inside their town house, he took her hand and led a fast pace up the stairs. When she nearly tripped on the final steps, he swung her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way, as if she weighed nothing.
She felt smugly happy when David ordered a grinning Anna out of the room and shut the door on her.
They were alone. Her arms were about her husband’s neck; his arms held her close—as close as possible with skirts and petticoats puffing up her gown where it draped from her legs.
He let her down very slowly, so that her body rubbed against his. Then he pressed her up against the door and kissed her again, quick and deep and full of hot pleasure. She had felt certain David was hiding a passionate nature; every night’s gentleness and intimacy had only proved it. But now she felt giddy with the knowledge that he had to touch and kiss her, had to have her.
His hands kneaded her shoulders as they kissed. With a sudden tug, her breasts were suddenly overflowing the gown.
He looked down at what he’d revealed, then murmured her name as he dropped to his knees. His mouth on her breasts made her melt inside, made every passionate feeling roar to unfulfilled heights. He licked her and nipped her and drew her nipple into his mouth, then worked his magic on the other breast. If he hadn’t been holding her up with the press of his body, she knew she would have collapsed in a boneless heap.
David let his fingers caress her breasts as he spoke. “How do we get you out of this gown?”
She licked her lips. “Anna…sewed me in where the bodice meets the skirt.”
He groaned and dropped his head to her chest. She let herself hold him then, circle her arms about his head, feel the texture of his hair.
He suddenly turned her around and began to unhook each clasp in the bodice.
“I’m ripping the stitches,” he said.
As each thread popped, she gave a delicious little shudder. Soon her bodice slid to her waist, then the heavy mass of the gown fell around her feet. But there were still so many clothes between them.
David dispatched them quite professionally, layer after layer of petticoat, then her corset, all while she still faced the door. She took a deep, satisfying breath, expanding her lungs for the first time that evening. She wore only her chemise over her drawers, and even that had fallen to her waist. Then there was only stillness behind her.
“Turn around,” he said.
She did so, leaning back against the door, hands pressed to the wood. David was sitting back on his heels, watching her with so much expectation.
Then as he looked into her eyes, he reached for her chemise and pulled it off. He tugged on the string of her drawers, then guided the loose fabric slowly down her hips until she was naked.
Trembling, she let him look, knowing that the passion in his eyes was all for her. His hands settled on her hips and then skimmed down her thighs.
“Stand with your legs apart.”
She obeyed, stepping out of her drawers, then held her breath as his fingers trailed up her thighs, then brushed across her curls. She gasped, but he didn’t linger, just continued to caress a path up her stomach to her breasts, which he touched and teased until she was a quivering wreck.
“Please, David,” she whispered, not knowing what she wanted. Could he give it to her?
He smiled as his hands began a downward journey. She watched the concentration on his face, experienced the knowledgeable gentleness of his hands. When he reached her thighs, this time he trailed his fingers up the insides, taking his time until she thought she’d whimper with the sensations he wrung from her. Was he really supposed to touch her there?
And then he did, caressing deeper and deeper with each sweet stroke. His fingers glistened with wetness.
“David,” she whispered, “why am I the only one who’s nude?”
Still kneeling at her feet, he looked up into her face. “Because I can’t bear to stop touching you. Trust me.”
She nodded. He leaned forward to kiss her stomach, and then his fingers resumed their questing. She felt a sudden surge of passion and groaned.
Then he was pressing soft kisses lower and lower, and she stopped breathing in shock as he put his mouth where his fingers had just been.
“David!”
He met her gaze, and licked her.
Her head slammed back against the door as she experienced the beginning of a pleasure that seemed too powerful to exist. She really did collapse this time, and he caught her, then swung to his feet and strode to the bed. He set her on the edge, spread her thighs even farther this time, and looked at her.
