kiss. “To clear the dishes!”
Gerard sighed and lifted her off him. He strode across the room, catching up a chair as he went, and wedged the chair under the doorknob of the door into the hall. He went to the sideboard and shoved it until the corner of it blocked the other door. He turned back to Kate, who was watching with her mouth open and bright spots of pink in her cheeks, and took off his jacket and tossed it aside. “Now, lift your skirt.”
Katherine was speechless—and, to her intense shock, aroused. He wanted to have her here, in the dining room, where dinner still sat on the table, growing cold. The pendant he had given her brushed against her breasts every time she moved, sending ripples of gooseflesh over her skin that seemed to course straight between her legs. He wasn’t having an affair with that lady in Milsom Street. That mattered a great deal to her. She grasped her skirt and pulled it upward a few inches.
“Good,” he murmured, unbuttoning his waistcoat as he watched her. “Further, please.”
Her face was hot as she complied. Her knees shook as she exposed them.
He dropped into a chair and crooked one finger at her. “Come here.”
Slowly she did, still clutching handfuls of her skirt. Gerard sat forward and skimmed his palm over her leg when she stopped in front of him. “You have lovely legs.” His eyes were as bright as blue flames. His hand stroked higher, up her thigh. “Lift your skirt higher,” he said softly. “All the way, Kate.”
“This is indecent,” she whispered.
“And the shift.” A wild, sinful grin touched his mouth. “There’s nothing indecent about a wife pleasing her husband.”
“This really pleases you?” But it was obvious it did. Katherine took a deep breath and inched her skirt higher.
“If you ever have doubts about how to please me, I shall be glad to tell you just . . . exactly . . . what to do.” With a deft turn of his wrist, he flipped up the hem of her dress and petticoat, completely exposing her. Katherine flinched, but he held tight to her clothing and kept her in place. “I told you this morning,” he murmured, tracing his fingertips down her belly into the curls between her thighs, “men are simple creatures. Let me touch you like this . . .” His fingers drifted lower, and Katherine quivered. “Kiss me as you did a few moments ago . . .” He tucked the folds of fabric into her fist, then slid his free hand around her hip to grasp her bottom and draw her nearer. “And I shall be a happy man.”
She had to brace one hand against his shoulder as his wicked fingers teased her. Of their own volition her hips began to move, rocking into the delirious sensation he caused. “I shall”—he slid one long finger inside her, and Katherine almost fell over—“I shall try,” she gasped. It was torture to stand here and let him caress her like that.
“And if you respond to me as you did last night . . .” He laughed quietly, and pushed another finger inside, sliding high and then withdrawing. “As your body is doing now—Good Lord, Kate, I can’t wait . . .” He tore open the buttons on his trousers, then hauled her forward. “Spread your legs to either side of me,” he rasped. “Now sink down—there—Yes—like that—” He threw back his head and groaned as she eased her weight down, onto his organ. It was awkward and strange, with her legs draped over his and his fingers still stroking her as he slid into her.
Perhaps because of the different position, it didn’t feel as intrusive this time. She pressed her slippers into the carpet and tried to balance. He grabbed her waist and held her as he slid lower in the chair. “You are in command,” he said tightly. “Do as you wish.”
She didn’t move. “Tell me what to do.”
His eyes flew open, and he looked at her. For a moment the silence stretched taut, Katherine balanced on the balls of her feet, Gerard breathing hard beneath her, the junction of their bodies hidden under the billows of her skirt. “Hold on to my shoulders,” he said at last. “Push with your feet to rise up, then fall.” She tried it. When she sank down, he flexed his hips to surge upward into her, and she gasped. “Do it again,” he commanded. “And again.”
She caught