Page 82 of Secrets of the Marriage Bed
‘I don’t like it.’
She froze.
‘I adore it.’ He flexed his hips and she felt the hard ridge of his arousal against her hip.
Oh, yes, he liked it, a lot. ‘In that case...’ She did it again, feathering the brush-like end around and over his chest, up his throat and across his lips.
He bared his teeth in a feral sort of smile and snapped his teeth. She whisked it away before his teeth closed over it. She explored his reaction to its touch on his manly nose, across the straight golden brows and across the sharp angles of cheekbone and jaw. He closed his eyes in pleasure at the soft sweeping stroke, but sucked in a breath when she traced the curvaceous shape of his ear. The sound set off little flutters low in her abdomen. Delicious.
She resisted the urge to squirm against his erection. Instead she teased her own lips to see how it felt.
His eyes grew heavy, watching the little tuft waft lightly back and forth. Not as soft as a feather, she decided. A bolder, more assertive sensation. Tingles tightened her nipples.
She gave him a naughty smile. ‘I think it would make a fine paint brush. I could paint you pretty colours.’
‘Could you now?’ He gave her the lazy smile of a male who was charmed and entertained.
She tilted her head and stroked her braid brush across each cheekbone. ‘Blue here.’ A dab at the end of his nose. ‘Red.’ A feather-light stroke across an eyelid. ‘Purple.’
He grinned. ‘You would have to catch me first.’
She tickled his ear and a deep laugh erupted from his chest.
Unable to resist, she leaned forward and kissed his smiling mouth. He caught her by the nape, angled his head and deepened the kiss. She turned into him, pressing her aching breasts against his hard chest, resting her hands on his shoulders, her tongue sliding against the slick heat of his. Heat pooled between her thighs.
While their lips clung together, he rose effortlessly to his feet and carried her to his bed. He untied the belt of her dressing gown and drew it off. A moment later he laid her out naked on his bed.
* * *
His wife was a pagan goddess. Comfortable in her skin. Glorious in her nakedness with a glint in her eyes that was an invitation he could not have resisted, even if he wanted to. She looked good enough to eat, sprawled in abandon on his bed. Irresistible.
‘I think we need to be rid of that braid,’ he said, eyeing the powerful weapon that had driven him nearly mad. ‘May I?’
Teeth nipping her lower lip, she nodded her assent. His shaft twitched at the seductive sight of her lush mouth. Her gaze dropped to where the fabric of his robe jutted away from his groin. She licked her lips.
‘Do not worry, it will still be there when needed.’
She smothered a laugh with her hand, her eyes dancing. He gazed at her beautiful body, with its lovely swells and hollows and long slender limbs. She was so lovely, he really didn’t deserve such loveliness in his bed. But here she was and he would not disappoint.
He leaned over her and stroked the long rope of her hair, neatly plaited for sleeping. ‘Such a pretty colour.’
She made a face of disagreement. ‘It’s brown.’
‘Caramel. Toffee with a glint of gold in the sun.’
‘Yours is gold,’ she scoffed.
‘Believe me, to me it is glorious.’ He freed it from its ribbon with a quick tug. Slowly, he unravelled the plait from tip to root and stroked his fingers through the long, soft waving tresses, arranging them around her on the pillow and pulling them forward over her breasts. He caressed the soft strands with his fingertips. ‘This is how Godiva must have looked.’
She chuckled. ‘It feels thoroughly debauched.’
‘My speciality.’ He shed his robe and lay down alongside her. He buried his face in the fragrant mass of silk. Jasmine.
A moment later, she rose up and leaned over him, her hair gliding delicately across his shoulders and forming a veil around them both.
She lowered her head and kissed him so sweetly, his heart ached. He enfolded her lithe body in in his arms. This woman was special, precious. And she deserved so much better than him.
With gentle hands she stroked his hair back from his face and looked down into his eyes. ‘You are a lovely man,’ she whispered. ‘Beautiful.’
