disrobing her. The sky-blue satin was embroidered with flowers and edged in blonde lace, much like the corset she had admired in the shop’s public rooms.
“I bloody well love it.” Tom traced the lace over the tops of her breasts with a lone finger, the touch like a brand. “It matches your gorgeous eyes, a blend of the sky and seas.”
She swallowed as he continued his delicious caress. “Unhook it.”
Though she scarcely understood where this new Hyacinth—bolder and more demanding than she had ever been before—emerged from, she was embracing it.
Tom did not need to be told twice. He worked over the hooks. The laces had not been cinched tightly. She had seen to that as well when she had dressed for this evening. Everything facilitated the removal of her undergarments. Her new corset fell to the floor with ease.
Beneath it, she wore a chemise only, no stockings or drawers. The allure of the chemise was in its near transparency. Tom cupped her breasts, thumbs brushing over her hard nipples. His mouth was on hers once more, and they kissed and kissed.
Her fingers trailed over his warm, smooth flesh. The planes of his back. The hardness of his chest. As their tongues slid against each other with sinuous decadence, she moved down his taut abdomen. Lower still. Until she cupped his rigid cock through the thin barrier of his trousers.
How delicious he felt in her hand, this part of him so forbidden and yet pulsing with warmth and desire. She knew an answering ache between her thighs. She, too, had spent all day yearning for him. Wanting to feel him inside her again.
He growled into their kiss before pulling his lips from hers.
“I need you,” he rasped.
“Yes.” The lone word was all she could manage.
In a frenzy, they divested each other of the remainder of their trappings. Stockings, trousers, chemise, shoes and boots. Gone, all of it. More kisses. They moved toward the big bed, hands all over each other. Neither of them could seem to have their fill. She reached for his bare cock, grasping him from the root, stroking. He was so thick and big. The notion of him fitting inside her would have been impossible had not they already achieved such a feat. She reveled in the velvet softness of his skin, ran her thumb over his tip, where wetness seeped from the slit.
“Minx.” He nipped her lip. “I am trying to make this last.”
She appreciated the sentiment, but she had been waiting for him also. And she was greedy now. Desperately impatient. She thought she would perish if she went another minute without him joining with her, taking her to the heights of ecstasy.
Having never known passion before, now that she understood what it was like, she was insatiable. How had she lived four-and-twenty years without this? Without him?
Hunger surged again, threatening to overwhelm her. Her nipples grazed his chest with each breath she took. “I need you, Tom.”
Her words wrung a growl from him. In the next instant, they were on the bed together. Tom pulled her atop him so that she straddled him. But he surprised her by grasping her hips and urging her up his body.
“Come here, sweet.” His eyes burned into her, voice low with sensual intent.
She was helpless to do anything but obey as he guided her to his mouth. His tongue slicked over her pulsing flesh. She balanced herself over Tom’s handsome face, trembling as he licked her, then sucked her sensitive nub.
What could she do but give herself to him and the sensations he elicited? She was sure this was wicked. That it was wrong. All those years of living under Southwick’s edicts could not be so easily erased by time or this new desire. But neither could she stop herself. It felt too good.
Tom held her to him, his hands caressing her hips. His tongue was inside her, and she was coming undone with such unfettered ease. He slid a hand up to her breast, cupping her possessively, his thumb rubbing over her painfully erect nipple. Just when she thought the dam inside her would burst, he returned to suckle her pearl again. One draw on her intimate flesh was all it took. She was trembling, shuddering, white-hot bliss rocketing through her as she spent.
She was still awash in delicious pleasure when he rolled her to her back and plunged inside her. One deep thrust and she was filled. Stretched. His lips glistened with the evidence of her