Chapter Eighteen
The woman with brilliant amber eyes kneeling on the bed was a breathtaking stranger. A magical curtain rippled around her. Soft as mist. Shining as the moon. Hints of subtle gold like shadows on silver. Leath looked at Eleanor’s unbound hair and thought of clouds and lace and filigree.
The abundance transformed her pure beauty to fierce magnificence. For so long, he’d yearned to see her like this. She was no longer self-contained Miss Trim, who had tantalized him for weeks. Instead she was a creature of fire and ice. She was the perfect mixture of allure and restraint. His desire mounted higher. And triumph, however unworthy, rose too.
Tonight this luscious creature would lie in his arms. He had the privilege of teaching her joy. Feeling that he touched something outside the realm of earth, he buried his hands in the silky hair, glorying in its texture. Then holding her face up, he pressed his lips to hers.
She trembled, reminding him that for all her lush beauty, she was new to this. His conscience howled, but the satiny slide of her hair in his hands and her warm scent made him deaf to principle.
All his life he’d tried to do the right thing. Mostly he’d succeeded. But when it came to Eleanor Trim, he tumbled headlong into sin. And smiled as he faced damnation.
He kneeled before her and kissed her long and luxuriously. She tasted like the promise of spring, even as winter settled its icy grip around them.
When she was sighing and kissing him back eagerly, he released the top button of her gray dress. The moment when the linen collar parted to reveal her throat thundered through him like victory. Still kissing her, he rested the tips of his fingers on the intriguing notch in the center of her collarbone, feeling her pulse kick and flutter.
He leaned closer and released another button. Then another as he nipped at her bottom lip, drawing a whimper of pleasure from her. Her excitement made his heart leap.
Leath stroked the sweet skin he’d uncovered. When he’d touched her like this before, he’d been too carried away with the encounter’s unexpectedness. Tonight he intended to take his time. Not just because she was a virgin. He’d wanted this woman for so long, he meant to engrave each incandescent detail on his mind. Even when he was a very old man, he’d relive the softness of her skin, her ragged breathing, her scent.
Another button. This was like undressing a nun. A nun whose mouth blazed passion and whose hair flowed in silvery temptation.
Six buttons. Six small victories. He slipped one hand under her gaping bodice and cupped her breast. He was gentle, leashing his hunger. She made another choked sound against his mouth. When his thumb flicked her nipple, she squirmed, squeezing closer.
She might hide her sensuality under plain dresses and severe hair, but he’d known from the first that her soul was flame. Now when she delivered herself to his caresses with an abandon that made his heart somersault, he realized that every fantasy fell short of warm, living reality.
“Eleanor, Eleanor, Eleanor,” he murmured, setting a rain of kisses to the corners of her lips, across her cheeks, down her neck. Every inch was glorious. He found a place at the curve of her shoulder where the scrape of his teeth had her crying out.
“Yes,” he hissed. “Yes, my darling, don’t hide what you feel.”
Eleanor released a choked laugh, even as she quaked under another nip to her neck. “You make me wild.”
Her voice cracked. She didn’t sound li
ke his efficient secretary or the woman who had dared him with her eyes even when pretending humility. He beat back his triumphalist mood and managed to speak softly, although determination infused every word. “I want to make you wild.”
The wonder was that he’d just started. He teased her nipple with more purpose, rolling, pinching, stroking, making her pant.
Until on a harsh cry, she shuddered, her hands gouging his shoulders.
Dear God in heaven. She’d come with just his touch on her breast. She’d go up like fireworks before they were done.
Humbled, he drew back to see her. She looked flushed and startled. And voluptuous. Her mouth was red and full. Slowly she opened her eyes until he drowned in topaz, radiant with lingering pleasure. And the seeds of knowledge. A reminder to take his time, get everything right. They had days—and nights—ahead.
An uncertain smile teased her lips. “That was…”
He smiled back. Nobody in his life made him smile like Eleanor did. If she left, his life would become a prison. “Surprising?”
Her smile widened and her eyelids lowered in a carnal expression that had him fighting the urge to push her onto her back now. “Well, that too.”
He slid his hand from her breast, delighting in the way her hair tangled about his wrist as if every part of her strove to cling to him. “I need to see you.”
“I hope you’ll return the favor.”
Shocked, he stared at her. “Really?”
She nodded. “I’m sure you’re quite magnificent.”
Heat seared his cheekbones. “I’m a horridly big bugger.”