“You didn’t have to become a doctor to help people, did you?” she persisted. “You could have built a hospital, couldn’t you have?”
“Thanks to my rich grandfather who left me a trust, yes, I could have. But I wanted to do something on my own. If I could ever find another doctor who’s interested, I’d like to open a women’s infirmary, something a great deal more complete than that two-bit clinic that’s set up for them now. I’d like a decent place where women like my mother could be treated. But all the doctors say gynecology is treating women whose illnesses are in their heads.”
“What about Blair?” she asked, suddenly alert.
“Blair? But she’s a wo—.” He broke off at the look in her eyes. “Perhaps. When she’s finished her training. Let’s not start talking about her again. Come over here.”
“I really think I should go…”
“Houston!” he snapped. “Is this the way it’s always going to be? Will you always refuse me?” His voice was showing his growing anger. “If we get married, will you still refuse me then?”
“If?” Blair whispered. “If we get married?” What had she done to cause this? Could he be thinking of calling off the wedding after only one evening with Blair? Was Houston so much warmer to Lee than this that he considered her reactions tonight unforgivably cold?
“Sweetheart, let’s not argue.” He opened his arms to her.
Blair hesitated only a moment before she remembered Houston’s caution about not arguing with Lee. Perhaps if she kissed him just a few more times, then he’d be satisfied and take her home to safety.
She went to him, let him hold her, her body full against his and, as he began to kiss her, she forgot about everyone except the two of them.
Leander held her close to him in a way that was almost desperate, almost as if he feared that she’d disappear, and Blair was acutely aware that this could be the only time in her life that she would be near this man who made her feel like this. His mouth held hers in a deathless grip, never letting her go as she clung to him.
When his hands went to her back and his skillful surgeon’s fingers began to unfasten the hooks and eyes at the back of her dress, she had no thoughts about stopping him. The dress began to fall away and, as her shoulders became visible, Lee kissed them, ran his hands over her skin until it tingled.
Within moments, the dress was in a heap beside them and the rustle of the pink silk taffeta petticoat between them was a further spur to their growing passion. Leander’s long legs moved over the stiff fabric, twisting it and pulling it from her body at the same time.
Blair couldn’t move away from his lips and her hands buried themselves in his long, clean hair and she could smell the deep male scent of it.
“Leander,” she whispered, as his lips moved own her arm and his hands rid her of two more petticoats. Satin, taffeta, and the softest of cottons surrounded them, cocooning them together in the warm glow of the firelight.
His hands on her body seemed to be everywhere, stroking her, caressing her, removing clothing with infinite care and slowness, sliding each piece of fabric down her skin, exposing more of her to his touch.
With his hand on her leg, running up and down over her silk stocking, his lips on her earlobe, she realized that he was still wearing his clothes and she began tugging at them.
In removing his own clothing, he did not use the care he did with hers, but instead, pulled it off with a force just short of violence.
In medical school, Blair had seen many men nude, and once she had seen Alan with his shirt off, but she had never seen a warm, alive man with dark, sunbrowned skin coming at her with the fire in his eyes that Lee had now. For a moment, she pulled back from him as he moved to draw her back into his arms.
There was caution in his eyes when she withdrew from him, but Blair didn’t see it. All she saw was Lee—his skin, his lovely skin, curving around firmly muscled shoulders, tapering down to his flat stomach. With interest, she looked downward, curious as to the difference between a man who was alive and one who was dead—the only way she’d seen a man who was fully nude before today.
“Do I pass inspection?” he asked, and his voice was husky.
Blair didn’t answer as she drew him to her and put her arms around that skin that glowed so.
Leander wasted no more time in removing the rest of her clothing, slipping the garters off the hose and even unbuttoning her shoes, all without ceasing his caressing of her, so that by the time Blair was completely bare, she was beginning to feel that
her passion was rising to a level that might eventually cause her to burst.
Nothing she had ever felt before prepared her for the feeling of her skin against Lee’s. With a gasp of pleasure, she clung to him, slipped her leg between his and tried to get closer to him.
Lee pulled her over on top of him, kissing her, his hands running down her back, over her thighs, and back up her buttocks, lingering by her sides at her breasts.
His mouth never left hers as he rolled her to her back and slowly spread her legs with his own.
In theory, Blair knew how the human species reproduced itself. They’d had special classes for unmarried women at her medical college, but none of the teachers had mentioned the passion involved in the act. She had not guessed that a woman felt this way, that it wasn’t an act purely for the purpose of procreation, but it was an act of love and lust.
She was ready for Lee when he entered her, but it still hurt, and she gasped with the pain. He lay still for a moment, his breath hot on her neck, his lips quiet as he waited for some sign from her.
Blair recovered from the first moment of pain and began to move her hips slowly, her hands on his back and moving downward over his hips. Only Lee’s jagged breathing in her ear showed her the supreme effort he was exerting to control himself with her, to hold back so he didn’t hurt her.