Her face flushing with awareness, she reached down to put some order to her dishevelment, but Nicholas stopped her by covering her hand with his own.
"There is no need for shame or shyness between us, angel."
She averted her gaze. "I behaved like a wanton. I am not usually so… licentious."
"Only because you never before had the opportunity. I suspect you are quite a passionate woman at heart. There is a fire inside you that you keep hidden…" When she remained silent, he raised his fingers to her chin and forced her to look at him. "A man finds an aroused woman incredibly desirable."
Her flush deepened. "I never imagined…"
"How pleasurable lovemaking could be?"
"Yes."
His half smile was indulgent. "That was only a taste, sweeting. There is more – much more – for you to learn about carnal desire. And with your permission, I intend to spend the rest of the night showing you."
Aurora returned his gaze solemnly. She wanted Nicholas to teach her about passion. She wanted to feel that bewildering fire again. Tonight could be her only opportunity, this her sole experience with lovemaking. She might very well never marry again. If so, she would never again know a man's touch, or know what it was to be a woman. Yet there could be complications…
"Jane said… there could be a child from our… union."
His gaze never wavered. "Jane is very practical, it seems."
"Yes. She wanted me to know the possible consequences of being with you."
"There are ways to prevent conception, but it is possible a child could result from our union. Would that be so very undesirable?" he asked.
A strange longing filled her at the thought. "No." She would want his child, she realized. To keep some part of him after he was gone. "It wouldn't be undesirable in the least."
His expression softened. "Then there is nothing for you to fear."
Nothing except losing my heart. But the thought fled when Nicholas surprised her by sitting up.
"I suppose we should begin by shedding all these unnecessary layers of clothing."
When he reached down to help her, she reluctantly accepted his assistance. "The light," she murmured self-consciously, rearranging her bodice to cover herself. The lamplight was too bright to be merciful.
Nicholas hesitated a moment, but then obligingly turned down the lamp, leaving only firelight to illuminate the room. "Is that better?"
"Yes, thank you."
He took her hand and brought it to his cravat. "You may do the honors, love."
"You want me to undress you?"
The faint curve of his lips was devastatingly sensual. "That seems a fitting place to begin if we are to conquer your nervousness. It's only unfamiliarity that makes you apprehensive, sweetheart. When you become accustomed to me, you'll find you have nothing to fear." His compelling eyes held hers while his husky voice cajoled. "You may take the lead, set the pace. I won't force you to do anything you don't wish to do. You are in complete command."
Reassured in some measure, she tentatively did as she was bid, removing first his cravat, then his coat and waistcoat and linen shirt. His boots and stockings he removed himself. When she hesitated, he followed with his breeches and drawers.
When he stood before her, his tall, nude body lean and hard and well-muscled, she stared spellbound.
"I am your husband, Aurora," he said, his voice a velvet murmur. "You needn't fear me. I am just a man, flesh and blood like you."
He was not at all like her, she thought skeptically, viewing his naked, sun-bronzed flesh and taut sinews. He possessed a broad chest and narrow hips and powerful thighs, like the statues of Greek gods she'd seen. And the alien hardness springing from the curling, dark gold hair at his groin made her heart beat erratically. She didn't fear him exactly, but neither was she in the least at ease.
"Now your turn," he murmured. When she hesitated, he smiled. "Of course you are accustomed to a lady's maid. Would you like my assistance?"
"Yes."
"It will be my pleasure."
He began with her hair, pulling out the pins and letting the pale gold mass cascade down her back.
"You have beautiful hair," he murmured, his fingers gliding through the silken tresses. "Like spun gold."
After a moment, his hands slid beneath her hair to the fastenings at the back of her gown. Well-bred and shy about her body, Aurora stood silently as he dispensed with her gown and corset and stockings. Her chemise was the last to go. Feeling the cool night air caress her nakedness, Aurora shivered.
"Your body is exquisitely lovely as well," he said, turning her to face him. "I intend to show you all the pleasures it was made for."
When instinctively she moved her arms in front of her body to hide from him, he gently pushed them aside.
"No shyness between us, siren." He ran a finger along her throat to the tip of her breast, the erotic feel making her draw a sharp breath. "What does it matter if I see your charms? Whatever secrets you share will be safe with me."
Her vision clouded at the reminder. Come tomorrow, he would be gone. Whatever intimacy they shared would go to his grave. But tonight was what mattered now. Tonight he was her husband, her lover. She could give herself to him without fear or shame. She could abandon her inhibitions, her natural reserve.
She reached up to touch his sensual mouth with her fingertips. "You said you wanted to forget," she reminded him, her voice soft. "Nothing exists, before or after this moment."
"So I did." Tender flames warmed the depths of his eyes.
He had beautiful eyes. Eyes that took possession of her wherever they touched.
He took a step closer then, bringing their skin in contact. The heat from his body leapt into hers, shocking, scalding.
Aurora trembled at the erotic sensation, feeling her breasts graze his chest, and below, the hot, throbbing maleness of him press against her stomach.
"Have you never wondered what it would be like to lie with a man? To feel his hard flesh deep within you?" Nicholas bent his head, his lips kissing a path along her cheekbone.
Yes, she had wondered, Aurora reflected dizzily. In the most secret corners of her heart, she had dreamed about a nameless lover who could rouse her to passion -
"But if you had," he answered his own question, "you could not properly admit it."
That brought a faint smile to her lips. "No. A lady would never admit to such things."
"No, never. But if you ever have wondered… now is the time to indulge your curiosity." Capturing her trembling hand, he enfolded it around the throbbing shaft of his manhood. "Touch me, love. Feel my flesh…"
Holding her breath at the alarming size of him, she accepted his bold guidance, learning the unique feel of him. The smooth velvet skin of his phallus. The granite hardness. The swollen marble head. The soft curling hair and heavy sacs beneath. He really was not so frightening. Not any longer. If she were honest, she would admit she found the differences in their bodies thrilling. His sheer masculinity called out to everything feminine in her.
His hands rose to her breasts then, cupping their lush swells. Aurora closed her eyes and sighed. How expert he was, she thought dazedly. His hands were a murmur against her body, his fingertips gliding over her flesh, fanning over her breasts in deepening strokes.
"You are enchanting."
He was the one who was enchanting, Aurora thought, unable to resist the exquisite languor that had stolen through her limbs. He had bewitched her.
Voluntarily her mouth sought his while she moved closer, straining to feel his flesh against her. A gratified murmur sounded deep in his throat.
He kissed her for the space of a dozen heartbeats, his lips at once soothing and arousing. After a while, though, he lifted her in his arms and settled her on the bed, then followed her down to lie beside her.
His eyes half shut, his gaze sensual and compelling, he began to stroke her aching breasts again, his palms rubbing the tautened globes, his fingers kindling arro
ws of impossible rapture in her tight nipples.
Aurora surrendered fully to him. It was magical to lie in his arms like this, to breathe in the warm, masculine scent of him, to feel his incredible touch. Then he bent his head, savoring her stiffened nipple with his mouth, and her breath lodged in her throat.
She wanted him, she realized. Wanted to experience the spark and fire between a man and a woman that he had shown her once before. His tongue flicked over the rosy bud, rasping slowly, before his lips closed to suckle the swollen crest. Aurora arched against the scorching heat of his mouth, her hands blindly seeking his hair.
He wanted her also, she knew it. She could sense it even before his erect manhood stirred heavily against her soft belly.
And then his wonderful, teasing fingers slid down once more between her moist thighs.
"You're wet for me." His voice was husky. "Your body is flowing with honey."
It was true. Her feminine cleft was sleek with wetness, her body aching shamelessly for him. She said his name, in a voice that sounded shaky, as he stroked the soaked bud. She should have been scandalized by his brazen passion, by her own wantonness, but all she could focus on was the magical caresses of his fingers and mouth.
She was trembling with desire by the time he left off arousing her breasts and shifted to cover her with his body. Sparing her most of his weight, he settled between her thighs and began kissing her again, holding her attention. She was hardly aware of his intentions until he began easing the velvet smooth head of his manhood inside her.
When she tensed, he kissed her more deeply, his tongue penetrating her mouth like his shaft was doing. Not allowing any resistance, his powerful thighs kept her own thighs parted as he slowly, slowly sank lower, pushing forward with inexorable pressure.
Aurora stiffened, gasping for breath. She felt sure she could never accommodate his enormous size, and yet her body was opening for him, stretching painfully, his alien hardness filling her…
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to catch her breath.
He was not moving now. "Look at me, sweet siren." There was tenderness in his eyes as he gazed down at her.
She lay rigid, feeling excruciatingly full of him. "It… hurts."
He kissed her temple. "Only the first time. The hurt will go away and all you will feel is pleasure." His gaze plunged deeply into hers. "Trust me."
Incredibly, she did trust him. He lay completely still, waiting for her to grow accustomed to his impalement and the feel of his thick member deep inside her. Eventually she felt a blurring of the edges of her pain.
He brushed back a tendril of hair from her cheek. "Better now?"
"Yes." It wasn't unbearable now. The burning had lessened.
After another long moment, she stirred her hips, tentative, testing. The discomfort was definitely fading.
He feathered a kiss at the corner of her mouth as he withdrew, but when he carefully slid upward once more, she felt the rise of heat in her again. He kept up the slow, deliberate rhythm, coaxing her with his hard body, until hot, urgent longing began to clamor inside her.
The hunger was as timeless as man and woman. She whimpered feverishly, her nails digging into his shoulders as she instinctively matched his rhythm. He squeezed his eyes shut like a man in pain, his breathing rough as he moved inside her, thrusting gently into her melting flesh.
When she was on the brink of climax, he reached down between their bodies to find the engorged bud of her sex. Stunned, she arched against him, straining, crying out as the shattering, burning tumult broke within her.
Nick captured her wild moans with his mouth but never stopped, using all his skill to prolong her ecstasy as wave after wave of rapture convulsed her slender body. When she bucked and writhed against him, he clenched his teeth, striving for control, trying desperately to keep his savage need in check as he lay buried deep inside her.
It was too much. A great shudder moved through his frame as Nicholas at last let himself fill her with the hot desire that he'd felt for her from almost the first time he saw her. A hoarse moan ripped from his throat as he plunged into an endless raw pleasure so intense it seared.
Finally it was over. He was shaken as he lay there in the darkness, yet eventually consciousness returned. When he felt her trembling beneath him, a fierce tenderness engulfed his heart.
Easing his weight to the side, he pulled the covers up over them and drew her into his arms. His body wrapped around her, warming her, calming her.
They lay there together, weak in the aftershocks of pleasure. After a long moment, he lifted his head.
In the firelight, she looked like a wanton angel, with her tangled cloud of hair, her pale ivory skin, her lush lips swollen and wet from his kisses.
It was amazing that she should have such an effect on him, Nicholas thought absently. She was physically inexperienced, totally virginal, and yet making love to her had created a tumult of feelings inside him that were entirely unexpected. The fierce sweetness of it had possessed him totally.
Perhaps the marriage vows they had spoken meant more than simply a cold business arrangement, bonding them together in ways he had never intended.
Wife. The word was strange, engendering even stranger feelings of longing and need. He wondered if he would leave an heir, if they had made a child. A son… or a daughter. The thought brought an odd ache to the vicinity of his heart.
As if she could sense his bewildered reflections, the woman in his arms stirred. She was watching him, Nick realized, her luminous blue eyes searching. Desire knifed through him again, sharp and insistent, but he clamped down on his lusts, reminding himself of her virginal state.
"Are you all right?" he murmured, pressing a kiss on her forehead.
"Yes." A sigh whispered from her. "That was… wonderful."
A smile touched his mouth as a fresh wave of tenderness flooded him. "I'm gratified you think so."
"Was that… was I… a disappointment for you?"
He lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "Quite the contrary, siren. I've never experienced lovemaking quite so delectable." At her slight frown of skepticism, he gave a soft laugh. "It's true. Perhaps you're too inexperienced to recognize the fierce control I had to exercise, but it was all I could do to keep from ravishing you." He leaned forward to brush a kiss on her nose. "I could make love to you all night long… but I suppose I must show some consideration for your innocence and let you sleep."
A look of sadness passed over her face, and she reached up to touch his mouth with her fingers. "I really don't want to sleep. If this is my only night with you, I want it to last as long as possible."
He gazed at her, wanting to chase away the shadows in her beautiful eyes. She was thinking of the morning to come, he knew.
Shifting his position, he eased over her.
"So do I, angel," he whispered huskily as his mouth lowered to find hers. "So do I."
Chapter Six
In his embrace I discovered the wonder and the anguish of desire .
Confusion was Aurora's first reaction as she slowly stirred awake. Her body felt unusually sensitive, her lips and breasts tender, while an unfamiliar discomfort throbbed between her thighs. Blinking at the sunlight filtering through the chinks in the shutters, she tried to place the strange, spartan bedchamber. More bewildering, she was pressed against a hard, warm, male body that was decidedly nude…
Memory came rushing back full force. Her marriage. Her husband. Nicholas Sabine.
For a moment she lay in his arms remembering, her cheek against his shoulder, their limbs entwined. For much of the night he had made love to her with exquisite tenderness and passion. What she had expected to be a brief, obligatory bedding had become a true wedding night. Nicholas had awakened her to desire, given her her first taste of ecstasy, leaving her trembling and shaken.
And she had surrendered to him completely, responding with an abandon verging on desperation. Despite their pact, the dire future he faced had added a primal urgency
to their lovemaking.
Aurora bit her lower lip hard. Last night he had made her forget her sadness, but the dreaded morning had come. Today he would die.
She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't allow herself to care for him. He was a condemned man…
Yet it was already too late. She had begun to feel a deep affinity for her new husband, which made it all the harder to think of him dying.
The tears she'd been fighting started slipping down her cheeks and onto his bare shoulder. When she felt him stiffen, she realized he was awake.
Determinedly, she drew a shaky breath, trying to stem the flow of tears.
"I don't want you to grieve for me, Aurora," he said in a low voice.
"I c-can't help it."
"God, please don't cry… I would rather face a brigade of charging cavalry than one weeping woman." His hand came up to caress her cheek. "Your tears are the worst possible torture for me."
"I… I'm sorry."
She closed her eyes while his thumb carefully wiped the tears away. After a while she drew another shuddering breath, determined not to weep. Yet she could no longer bear to remain idle while he went to his death.
"This cannot be allowed to happen," Aurora vowed, her own voice low and fierce, "I won't allow it. I intend to visit the governor at once and compel him to stay your sentence. Sweet heaven, how could I have been so blind not to think of it before now?"
Disentangling himself from her nude form, Nick sat up, turning his back to her. "Might I remind you of your promise to help my sister?" he said quietly. "Your cousin has arranged to escort you to Montserrat today – this afternoon."
"I can't leave here as long as there is a chance your life could be spared."
Nicholas raked a hand through his hair. He had feared this very response from her. She wouldn't abandon him to his fate, not now. Not after the incredible night just past. The passion that had blazed between them had shocked them both, creating an emotional bond that would be hard to break.
With a silent oath, Nick glanced down at her to see tears glistening wetly on her lashes. It made him ache to see her crying, yet he couldn't allow his fate to come before his sister's. He couldn't take the risk. Somehow he had to sever the bond between them.
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