The Countess Page 0,41

a tugging at the back of his breeches.

Christiana had continued forward until she was now behind him and appeared to be trying to pul down his tight knee breeches.

"What are you doing?" he asked with surprise, wheeling around to face her.

"Helping you undress." She tried to get around behind him again.

Richard turned with her. "There is no need for that. I can manage on my own."

"Do not be sil y, Dicky. You died today. You shouldn't undress yourself." She continued to circle him like a bul dog looking for an opportunity to bite, and he just kept turning with her.

Growing dizzy, Richard final y grabbed her arm to stop her, and stated firmly,

"Thank you, but I real y can manage to - " The words died on an exasperated sigh.

The woman wasn't listening. She had given up trying to get to the back of his pants, however, and was now working to remove his dark, double-breasted blue coat. He had undone the buttons before trying to climb the tree earlier. Al she had to do was push it off his shoulders, which she now did from the front, rising up on her tiptoes as she did. She wasn't very steady on her feet, however, and ended up leaning against him, her lace covered breasts pressing against his chest as she worked the material off his shoulders and down his arms.

"There." Smiling brightly, she tossed the expensive coat Daniel had bought him only that day to the side. She then set to work on the white, quilted, singlebreasted Marseil es waistcoat he'd worn beneath. This time she had to undo the buttons, and Richard tried again to dissuade her from the duty.

"Truly, Christiana. There is no need to assist me. I - " Despite obviously being a little unsteady on her feet due to drink, she was surprisingly quick with the buttons and he paused as she now pushed that off his shoulders as wel . This time she did not catch the item of clothing she'd just removed, but let it fal to the floor and simply stood staring wide-eyed. He was now bare from the waist up except for his cravat.

"Oh my," she breathed final y with something like surprised wonder. "What big shoulders you have."

"Er . . . aye, wel . . ." Richard grimaced. She wouldn't have been saying that had she seen him six months ago. He'd been a pitiful shadow of a man after the il ness he'd suffered. Fortunately, he'd fil ed out again since then and was probably more fit now than he had been before George had so disrupted his life and nearly ended it.

Richard shook these thoughts away and glanced sharply to Christiana when she suddenly slid her fingers into the front of his breeches. He thought she was going to try to tug them off from the front as she had tried to do earlier from the back, but then realized she had merely taken hold to steady herself as she dropped to her knees before him.

Even with the hold she had on his breeches, she lost her balance and fel forward, banging her head against his groin before steadying herself. Much to his relief she also then removed her hand from his pants. When she then reached for one of his feet and yanked it out from under him, Richard grunted in surprise and grabbed for the window ledge behind him, leaning heavily against it to stay upright as she lifted his foot between them.

"My, what big feet you have, Dicky."

Richard grimaced. He hated the name Dicky, and would have told her so, but instead grunted again and now held onto the ledge to keep from sliding forward and dropping to his butt as she raised his foot even higher and then rested it against her chest to free her hands so that she could work the buckle of his shoe. Richard simply stared then. His shod foot was nestled between her breasts like a lover's head and he had the sudden mad thought that he'd rather his face was there.

He was actual y disappointed when his shoe slid off, until she resettled his now unshod foot against her chest again to set to work on his stockings. Richard stayed completely stil , hardly breathing as he stared at the way the curves of her breasts cuddled his stockinged foot. He was hard-pressed not to wiggle his toes to feel the flesh surrounding them, but then his attention was