Suddenly You(9)

The brown-striped fabric slid open, revealing a chemise made of silky zephyr cotton, overlaid with a lightly boned corset that hooked up the front. Amanda wondered if she should instruct him how to unhook the corset, but it immediately became evident that Jack was familiar with the process. Clearly this was not the first corset he had ever encountered. Her ribs were compressed slightly as he brought the front edges of the garment together and detached the row of small hooks with miraculous ease. After he urged her to pull her arms free of her gown, and she lay before him with her chest covered only in thin, nearly transparent cotton, Amanda felt horribly exposed. Her hands actually shook with the effort not to snatch up the bodice of her gown and cover herself.

“Are you cold?” Jack asked in apparent concern, noting the telltale tremor, and he drew her up against his chest. He was effortlessly strong, vital, the heat of his skin seeping through his linen shirt, and Amanda began to shiver for an entirely different reason.

Jack nudged the strap of her chemise down her arm, and lowered his mouth to the white curve of her shoulder. He touched her gently, the backs of his long fingers drifting over the round shape of her breast. His hand turned over, and his hot, slightly damp palm cupped the top of the slope until her nipple ached sweetly and rose into his hand. His fingertips toyed with her, stroking through the zephyr cotton, pinching tenderly. Amanda closed her eyes and turned her head enough to press her mouth to his cheek, lured by the faintly bristly surface. Her lips tingled as she dragged them down to the place beneath his jaw where the scratchiness blended into smooth, silken skin.

She heard Jack mutter something in Gaelic, his voice blurred and urgent, and he clasped her head in his large hands. He lowered her back to the settee cushions, and his head moved over her chest. His mouth caught at her breast, and he kissed and teased her through the cotton sheath. “Help me pull down your chemise,” he said hoarsely. “Please, Amanda.”

She hesitated, her rapid breath mingling with his, and then she moved to release her arms from the sleeves of her dress. She felt Jack tugging at her chemise until it crumpled in a thin ring around her waist, leaving her upper torso completely bare. It seemed impossible that she was stretched out on the settee with a man she didn’t know, her body half naked, her corset discarded on the floor. “I should not be doing this,” she said shakily, trying in vain to cover her plump br**sts with her hands. “I should never have allowed you past the front door.”

“True.” He threw her a crooked grin as he removed his shirt completely, revealing a torso that seemed too perfectly muscular and finely honed to be real. Unbearable tension knotted inside her, and she struggled with inhibition and modesty as he bent over her. “Shall I stop now?” he asked, cuddling her against his long body. “I don’t want to frighten you.”

Her cheek pressed against his shoulder, and she relished the exhilarating sensation of pressing her bare skin against his. She had never felt so vulnerable, so willing to be vulnerable. “I’m not afraid,” she said, her voice dazed and wondering, and she withdrew her hands from between their bodies, so that her br**sts pushed directly against his chest.

An aching sound came from his throat, and he buried his face against her throat, kissing her, working his way downward. His mouth covered her nipple, tongue stroking the sensitive tip, and she bit her lip at the startling pleasure of it. The tip of his tongue circled lazily, tasting, tickling, while the heat of his mouth burned like steam. He moved to her other breast, making her whimper in frustration at his slowness, his endless leisure, as if time did not exist and he were going to spend forever feasting on her body.

He lifted her skirts and settled between her thighs, so that the hard ridge behind his trousers fitted against the front of her drawers, where the fine linen had become perplexingly damp. She lay motionless, though her entire body ached to lift upward into the weight and texture of him. Bracing his elbows on either side of her head, Jack stared at her flushed face. He rocked his h*ps into hers, and she gasped at the intimate pressure of him, sliding exactly against the place she wanted it most. He was wicked, to have such knowledge of a woman’s body. The motion drew pleasure up from between her thighs and sent it flowing through intimate channels of her body. She felt drunk, vibrantly alive, stimulated beyond bearing. Gasping, she put her arms around his back and felt the heavy flex of muscle as he moved again.

There were still layers of clothing between them, trousers and shoes and undergarments, not to mention the troublesome heap of her skirts. Suddenly she wanted to be rid of it all, to feel his entire na**d body against hers, and this longing shocked her even as she struggled to press closer to him. He seemed to understand what she wanted, for he gave an unsteady laugh and caught one of her hands in his. “No, Amanda…tonight you’re going to remain a virgin.”

“Why?”

His hand covered her breast, squeezing gently, and he dragged his half-open mouth over her throat. “Because there are a few things you need to know about me first.”

Now that it seemed likely that he would not make love to her, it became the thing Amanda wanted most. “But I’ll never see you again,” she said. “And it’s my birthday.”

Jack laughed at that, his blue eyes gleaming, and he pressed a hard kiss to her mouth, and hugged her close while he murmured endearments in her ear. No one had ever said such things to her before. People were intimidated by her self-possession and no-nonsense demeanor. No man would ever dream of calling her adorable, sweet, darling…and certainly no one had ever made her feel that way. She both craved and hated the effect he had on her, the appalling sting of tears in her eyes, the heat of passion rising in her body. Now she knew exactly why she should never have sent for this mysterious man. It was indeed better not to know about this, when she would never have it again.