Page 80 of Texas Glory
He smiled warmly. “Then you can tell me that, too.”
“How will I know what you like?”
His smile deepened. “You’ll figure it out.” He trailed his mouth along her throat, up her neck, until his lips were near her ear. “But I guarantee I don’t want you lifting your gown for me. When I truly make you my wife, I don’t want you wearing anything at all.”
She gasped and stiffened. He ran his tongue along the delicate shell of her ear. “I’ve spent a month wondering if your body is as lovely as your face. Tonight I intend to find out.”
“Are you going to be wearing anything?” she asked breathlessly.
He dipped his tongue inside her ear before taking a quick nibble on her earlobe. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Is that the way it’s done?” she asked.
He lifted his head and met her gaze. “That’s the way we’re gonna do it. And if it takes me all night to get you comfortable with the idea, then we’ll take all night.”
She smiled warmly, her large brown eyes aglow like a thousand candles burning in the night. She placed her palm on his chest, her fingers splayed just above his heart, her hand steady. The only tremors he felt were those running through his body as he held his urges in check, not wanting to frighten her. He never again wanted to see fear of him reflected in her eyes.
“I don’t think it’ll take all night,” she whispered.
“Thank God for that,” he rasped as he again took possession of her mouth.
She ran her hands up his chest, and twined them around his neck. Groaning, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her body flush against his. Their bodies met exactly as he’d imagined it a hundred times: perfectly, the way the sky dipped down to touch the land at the horizon, blue against green, soft against hard.
He thought he could feel her heart pounding in rhythm with his, beating against the cloth that separated her body from his. Slowly, he moved his hands around to the lace that decorated her throat.
With a patience he hadn’t known he possessed, he worked the first tiny button free and trailed his mouth down to press a kiss to the newly exposed flesh.
Her arms fell away from him as he worked another button free and then another, his lips following the virgin trail that the parted material revealed. Her breath hitched as his knuckles skimmed the inside swells of her breasts. He planted a fervent kiss in the valley between her breasts as his fingers gave freedom to the last of the buttons.
He straightened and slipped his hands beneath the material at her throat. He could feel the slight tremors cascading through her, and feared they had little to do with passion.
“Look at me. Dee.”
Her eyes met his. “I think Boyd’s way was easier,” she whispered.
“His way would have cheated us both. I give you my word on that.” He raised his hands to cup her cheeks. “But I won’t force you to share your body with me.”
She pressed her fingers to her lips, tears welled in her eyes, and his heart sank. Boyd’s way may have been easier but he’d be damned before he’d only know a portion of her when he wanted to know all of her, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, inside and out.
“Share?” she asked. “I never thought of this as sharing.” She lowered her hands and smiled softly. “It’s not so frightening when I think of it as sharing.”
“I want to know all of you, Dee. Not just your face and the shape of your toes, but all of you.” He glided his hands down her face, her neck, and along her shoulders. Then he slipped the parted material off her shoulders.
The gown slid down her body and pooled at her feet, taking his breath with it. He scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
Gently he laid her down. He began to unbutton his trousers. Her almond-shaped eyes rounded.
“Don’t be afraid, Dee.”
“I won’t be,” she said.
“You can close your eyes if you want.”
“Don’t you think I’ve wondered what you look like?”
He suddenly wished he’d doused the flame in the lamp, that the room was clothed in darkness. Being self-conscious wasn’t something he was accustomed to feeling, but after putting her through the ordeal of baring her body, he couldn’t very well deny her the chance to see him. Holding her gaze, taking a deep breath, he dropped his trousers.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice low.
