of her face with his hand then kissed her cheek and her neck. The soft kisses might have tickled her if there wasn’t something else stirring within her.
Her mind unwittingly went to the time when Lilly had encouraged Emilia to take Benjamin to her bed. Since then, she hadn’t thought much of that conversation, but now, as Aaron brought his mouth back to hers, she did recall Lilly saying that it wasn’t hard for a lady to encourage a gentleman to be intimate with her. She had mentioned offering him a certain look or touch, which Kitty was sure had to do with flirting. But those looks and touches had to go beyond a certain point if they were meant to be more than mere flirtations at a ball.
Come to think of it, Kitty was sure Lilly had also mentioned removing clothes. That made her think of what Aaron had said about seeing her in her nightclothes. Lilly would probably tell her if she wanted Aaron to get into the bed with her—and find out exactly what the ‘other things’ were that Aaron had alluded to—then she should remove her gown.
Since she was unable to coax him into telling her by asking, she might as well try it. Unfortunately, the particular gown she was wearing had a ribbon tied in the back. She was going to need his help.
She waited until he was done kissing her before she said, “I want to be your wife, Aaron. I want our marriage to be complete.” Despite feeling a bit awkward, she turned her back to him. “If you untie the ribbon, I can take off my gown.”
He didn’t respond right away, and for a moment, she thought he might say no, but then she felt him untying the ribbon. After he was done, he removed it from her gown. She was about to lift the gown over her head when he kissed the side of her neck. Her skin warmed in pleasure. His lips were as gentle as before, but there seemed to be something more sensual in his kiss than had been there when he was kissing her neck before.
He dropped the ribbon and moved his hands to her waist. She thought he intended to keep his hands there until he brought them to her breasts. The tingling sensation was back, and this time, it was accompanied by an unfamiliar ache between her legs. She would have panicked if everything didn’t feel so good. He left a trail of kisses down the side of her neck, and she heard a low moan escape his lips. She wasn’t sure why, but the moan excited her even more.
He let go of her breasts then proceeded to lift the gown over her head. She might have given more thought to the cool air around her if he hadn’t started unlacing the strings in the back of her corselet. Once he discarded the corselet, he removed the rest of her undergarments except for her stockings. At first, she thought he intended for her to keep them on, but after he carried her to the bed, he removed them.
He took a long moment to study her body. She didn’t know exactly how to describe his expression except that it seemed to be a mix of tenderness and desire. And it made her feel powerful. Lilly was right. The removal of clothing could persuade a gentleman to come to a lady’s bed.
Aaron’s gaze went to hers before he lowered his head and kissed her. On instinct, she cupped the back of his neck and pulled him closer to her. He let out a low moan and deepened the kiss. He traced her lower lip with his tongue. It took her a moment to realize he was asking for her to part her mouth for him. When she did, his tongue brushed hers. She wouldn’t have thought this was a way someone might kiss another person, but after taking a couple of seconds to think it over, she decided she liked it. She wiggled closer to him and gave herself over to discovering the other things he was going to do to her.
He proceeded to kiss and touch her. Up until this moment, it hadn’t occurred to her how personal kissing and touching could be. He not only kissed her mouth, but he kissed other parts of her. Parts where his hand had been. Parts her clothing had covered up. Parts she couldn’t imagine letting anyone else touch