A Lady of Persuasion (The Wanton Dairymaid Trilogy #3)(61)

“Oh, I want,” he said, his voice regaining a bit of that devilish charm. “Believe me, I want.”

Framing her between his arms, he leaned forward and drew her nipple into his mouth, licking and teasing it through the muslin of her shift. Her hips jerked upward as the pleasure lanced through her, and her mound brushed against his erection. He moaned around her nipple, then gave it a gentle bite. “Be still,” he murmured.

Bel obeyed him, as best she could. She lay perfectly, miserably still as he leisurely suckled one breast, then the other. All the while, a terrible need built in the cleft of her legs. She felt her flesh swelling there, growing moist and ready. So ready.

She was far past ready and well into desperate when at last his hand slid down the length of her body, lingering over her breast, her hip, her thigh, and finally gathering to a fist around the hem of her shift. He drew the fabric up over her waist, then eased his palm up the slope of her inner thigh. As he approached her center, Bel panted with anticipation.

So close. Closer. Closer still, but just not quite—

There.

His hand cupped her sex, and Bel couldn’t lie still. She rocked against the heel of his hand—

once, twice. And then she came, in a bright explosion of bliss and relief. With a throaty chuckle, Toby raised his head from her breast. “My, that was fast. Almost too fast. I shall have to take care, or this will all be over too soon.”

It couldn’t be over soon enough for Bel. The climax had merely blunted the edge of her desire. She still ached for him, but now she felt a strange sense of remorse … and guilt, that he was denying himself because of her.

“Toby, please,” she said, lifting her head with great effort. “Release me now.”

“Oh, no.” He shook his head. “No, my darling. I know this is the moment where you long to pop out of bed and pen charity leaflets, or roll bandages for the dispensary. But I shan’t let you. I’ll not allow you to do penance for something that isn’t wrong. The desire between us—it is nothing but what God intended for a husband and a wife.”

Sitting back on his haunches, he drew her shift up and up, until her br**sts were bared and the thin muslin bunched under her arms. “Look how beautiful you are,” he said, lightly stroking his hands over her nude, trembling body. “You are everything perfect and right.”

Bel looked down at her full, rounded figure, illuminated by unforgiving sunlight. Lucidity pierced the fog of her brain. Heavens, it was only the middle of the day, and he had her tied nude to the bedpost… She hoped he’d been serious when he’d told her all the servants had been dismissed for the afternoon.

“So lovely,” he murmured, gently spreading her legs.

Dear Lord. Must he examine her there? She closed her eyes, shivering with pleasure as his fingers explored her tender, sensitized flesh. Her bound hands curled into fists. “Toby, please stop.”

His hand stilled, and he looked up. “Why? Am I hurting you?”

“No, but you’re making me uncomfortable.”

“By touching you?”

“By looking at me.”

“Why should you be uncomfortable? I’m simply admiring my beautiful wife.” Dropping his eyes again, he resumed stroking her, tenderly parting the folds of her sex. Bel squirmed. “Couldn’t you admire a different part of me?”

“I admire every part of you.” He withdrew his hand. He crawled up her body on hands and knees, surrounding her. Covering her, like a blanket. “I admire this glorious dark hair …” He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “This stern, serious brow…” His lips brushed the place between her eyebrows. “This exquisite nose … these luscious lips… the adorable turn of your chin …” He trailed soft, sensual kisses from her nose, to her mouth, to her jaw. She wished she could thread her fingers into his hair, pull his mouth back up to hers for a deep, lingering kiss. But her hands remained bound above her, and Toby continued along his downward path.

“The delicious curve of this neck …”

He kissed his way down her center, pausing to rest his chin on her breastbone, plump her br**sts with his hands, and give her a cheeky grin. “And I think you know how much I admire the view of this happy valley.”

His mouth dipped lower. “Your navel tastes of apricots,” he murmured, tickling her with his tongue.

“It does not.”

“How would you know?” he teased. “And here …” He settled between her thighs and lowered his mouth to her core. “Here, you taste of paradise.”

Bel whimpered with pleasure as his lips and tongue caressed her most intimate place. She’d grown more accustomed to this form of… attention, since their wedding night. He brought her to climax this way nearly every time they made love—and clever devil that he was, he’d learned how to bring her there quickly.

He’d also learned—clever devil that he was—how to take his time.

He teased her mercilessly with his mouth and hands, until she was molten with desire. As he slid a finger inside her, she bit her lip so hard it bled.

“Cry out,” he told her. “Don’t fight it. I live for those passionate noises you make.”

“Toby.”

“Ah, that was almost it. The one from earlier, you know—when I carried you across the river?