Perilous Princess: A Sexy Historical Romance Page 10

  She slid the clips from the cuffs and removed the cuffs themselves, noticing that his flesh was warm. His wrists were not at all slender and looked strong. She could smell his scent, which seemed to be very natural, unmarred by cologne, rising up from the inside of the jacket.

  She unbuttoned the jacket, her fingers moving swiftly.

  “You are a most unusual woman, Anna.” His voice was still low.

  “Life has made me what I am. Are you not glad that is so?”

  “Ask me that tomorrow.”

  Her fingers fumbled and she looked up at him, startled. He laughed in reaction and his long fingers cupped her cheek. “I am teasing, Anna.”

  “Then it is possible for a man to be dissatisfied by what happens in the bedroom? I confess, I had not thought of this. But Rhys, I am unpracticed. Completely! I know what happens, of course, but I have only ever read descriptions of…of…”

  “Shh…” His other hand caught her face, holding it still. “I know all of this about you. There is nothing you can do or fail to do that will ruin this for me, except for one thing.”

  Her heart lurched unhappily. “What is the one thing?”

  “If you fail to follow your impulses, or do what seems to you to be a pleasing thing, then I will be unhappy. If you stop yourself from doing exactly what you want to do, then I will be disappointed.”

  “Oh.” She stared at him, trying to put her thoughts back into order. That had been the very last thing she had expected him to say.

  “You have a remarkable mind, Anna. It would be a shame if you allow prejudices and other peoples’ morals to tarnish your original thinking.”

  Original thinking. A remarkable mind. Anna took a deep breath as happiness touched her. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever told me.”

  He unbuttoned his waistcoat swiftly and dropped it on top of his jacket, which Anna had hung over the arm of the rocking chair. “Then no one has ever said your hair is like a river of molten gold and loose like that, it makes a man want to stroke it and…more?”

  She shivered, the motion catching her by surprise. It wasn’t really a shiver. She wasn’t cold, quite the opposite. It was more like pleasure rippling through her. “I am not entirely certain what more you might do, but it sounds interesting,” she confessed as he reached for the buttons on his shirt. “No, let me,” she added quickly. “I want to explore. May I?”

  His hands dropped to his sides. “Of course.” His voice seemed even deeper and that sent another prickling wave down her spine.

  “This pleases you, doesn’t it?” She eased the buttons undone, which required her to stand much closer so she could reach them all and from this close, Rhys’ scent was very distinct. Warmth fanned against her, too. He was, she realized with a start, a man in his prime and she was about to find out what that really meant.

  Her fingers trembled.

  “Are you sure you can manage?” he asked softly.

  “I am enjoying this. Are you?”

  “More than you know.”

  “I want to know. I want to understand all of this and not just from books.”

  “Experience really is your teacher, isn’t it?”

  “When a woman can’t find the answers she needs within the covers of a book, she is forced to turn to experience to supply them.”

  “A practice for which there are peculiar dangers, as you have learned,” Rhys said. “But for now, for this moment, there is no danger. None at all. You are free to seek every answer you could possibly want.”

  Anna separated the shirt front now that it was fully unfastened and revealed a soft undershirt. “You have as many layers as a lady,” she murmured and pulled the shirt off his shoulders.

  “Not quite, unless we are referring to the abbreviated layers you favor.”

  She laughed and reached for the buttons on his trousers. “I was never able to determine exactly what a man wore beneath his shirt and trousers and direct questions would have earned me wrath and blows, so I was forced to guess.” She looked up at his face. Rhys was watching her hands as she tackled the buttons on his pants. “I am guessing that you do not have pantalets under these.”

  He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “No, I do not.” His voice was gruff.

  She loosened the last button on the trousers and opened them and her own heartbeat seemed to climb in reaction. Was Rhys’ heart doing the same thing? Was that why his voice was so rough.

  Then she remembered his directions to follow her instincts. So she pulled the trousers down, revealing underwear that was as soft as the undershirt.

  Except that the front of the drawers was billowing out, like a pavilion.

  Her heart thrummed madly. She knew what lay beneath the soft wool. She knew what was causing that tenting.

  She swallowed, her hand hovering. She didn’t know what to do next. She didn’t know if she had the courage.

  So instead she lifted her hands and gripped the edge of the undershirt and raised it.

  Rhys hissed. “You’re teasing.”

  She shook her head. “This seemed less…dangerous.”

  “Everything you do is dangerous, Anna. You are driving me quite mad, to the point where I can barely stand still. I want to pick you up and take you over to the bed and finish this, but I am fighting all my instincts and making myself stay still.”

  She looked up at him, startled. Then she smiled. “That is a good thing, is it not? To drive you mad, I mean.”

  “It is a good thing until you stop. Then it is simply torture.”

  Her smile widened. “I will remember that.” She pushed the undershirt up as high as she could go, then Rhys lifted it the rest of the way and dropped it to the floor behind him. At the same time, he kicked back the discarded trousers and removed his shoes and stockings.

  Now he stood in only the drawers, which stretched around his hips and thighs and were strained over the front, where the organ beneath was most certainly ready for the activities to come.

  Anna found her attention pulling back to the congested hump. But she forced herself to examine the rest of him. Rhys stood still as she deliberately and openly ran her gaze the length of him. “This is the first time I have seen a man unclothed. Nearly unclothed,” she added.

  “Naked is a better word,” he said. Now there was no mistaking the hoarseness of his voice.

  “It is a wicked sounding word.”

  “You like the sound of it?”

  “Yes, I must admit I do.”

  “Then use the word as long as it pleases you.”

  “Then, I confess I have never seen a naked man before.” She rested her fingertips against his chest. There was muscle there, just beneath the flesh and it quivered as she touched it.

  There were also two nipples, that looked smaller than her own, but were tight and hard just as hers were. Breathing quickly at her own daring, she ran the tip of her finger over one of them.

  Rhys hissed, quickly drawing his breath inward.

  “You like that?”

  “Yes, but not as much as you like it.”

  She could feel her nipples brushing against the cool silk of her nightgown, which teased the tips and reminded her of when Rhys had done that. Yes, she had enjoyed it. She cleared her throat and very deliberately rested both hands against his chest, then slid them down. There was a patch of coarse hair in the center of his chest, but the rest of his flesh was bare and surprisingly soft.

  Obeying her instincts once more, she ran her hands around his waist, until they met over the indentation of his spine. Then, her heart almost leaping out of her chest at her own daring, she dropped them lower, until she could feel the rounded cheeks of his behind under them. She cupped both of them, feeling the heat of him beneath the cloth.

  The reach behind forced her to step even closer, so that the large protuberance at the front of his drawers brushed against her nightgown.

  Rhys drew in another unsteady breath.

  Anna liked that sound. It was intoxica
ting, similar to drinking champagne. She wanted to make him make such sounds more often.

  She slipped her fingers under the top of his drawers, where the center button was and flicked it open with a twist of her fingertips. The hole the button had been pushed through was stretched open, but not as badly as the one beneath. She barely had to tilt the button into the hole and it popped open without effort. The next button was even more eager to be released and by then, her hands were right up against the mound. She could feel it quivering against the back of her fingers and the heat was enormous.

  As she released the fourth strained button, the drawers loosened around Rhys’ hips and dropped away from her hands and down to the floor. He stepped out of them and kicked them away, while Anna stared.

  She understood from her reading that a man’s organ enlarged and hardened in order to complete intercourse, but this…this was not what she had expected at all.

  “Touch, if you want,” Rhys said, his voice a growl.

  She lifted her hand toward it. “Is there a better word for it than mine?” Her own voice was strained. She could not tear her gaze away from it.

  “There are dozens of words.”

  “Give me one. I don’t know what to call it. The books…they say ‘organ’, but eyes are organs. So are stomachs. It’s not a pleasing word.”

  “Cock,” he said softly. “Many call it a cock, in male company only.”

  “Cock.” She tried it out. “I like the sound of that.” Her fingers hovered over the shaft. His cock was thick and was beating with the pulse of his heart. She understood that it was anticipation making his cock jump like that.

  There were veins showing along the shaft and she could see them beating. The end of the cock flared into an oddly shaped cap that was almost purple. She wanted to touch it and curled her fingers over, as if she would take it in her hand. But then she remembered his growl and complaint about teasing and pulled her hand away.

  Rhys groaned. “There is a point where a man cannot wait any longer, Anna.”

  “Are you at that point?” she asked.

  “I am nearing it.”

  “I want to examine you while you are naked, first.” She stepped back and let her gaze move from his feet to his face. He was watching her with the same dark, impatient expression. His jaw rippled as she looked and his throat worked.

  “Turn around,” she commanded.

  He drew in a long, heavy breath, then turned and presented his back.

  His shoulders were broad. It was not just the shaping of his coat. Beneath them, his back arrowed down to the hips in a vee shape that was very agreeable. His rear was even more pleasing. It was small and tight and rounded. His long legs were well muscled in the thighs.

  She had made the mistaken assumption that he was a lean man, but while he had no extra pockets of plumpness anywhere, he was not at all skinny. There were no protruding bones, except at the shoulders and hips. The muscles were all well-formed.

  As he turned back around, Anna sighed. “I have absolutely no basis for comparison, but I do find your appearance very pleasing.”

  There was a small furrow between his brows. “Take off the nightgown,” he ordered.

  Her heart squeezed. So did the flesh between her thighs.

  Moving slowly, she lifted the silk over her head and dropped it over the rail on the end of the bed behind her. She felt exposed as she turned back to face Rhys, but it seemed only fair that as he had been on display for her edification, she should stand still for his examination.

  But it was hard to stand still.

  As Rhys studied her, she swallowed. “You find me pleasing?”

  “Very.”

  She touched her chest, between her breasts. “I am not…womanly, here.” Her father had referred to her once as flat-chested and her dressmaker in Germany had gone to great lengths to sew ruffles inside her dresses and corsets, to “enhance her womanly charms”.

  “Oh, yes, you are womanly,” Rhys said flatly. “Whoever said otherwise has no idea what a real woman is.” He took a step closer. “Remember, I know how you respond when I kiss your breasts. You’re absolutely a woman, Anna.”

  Her body seemed to heat all over. Her heart jumped again. “Perhaps you would do that again?”

  Rhys smiled. “That and a lot more,” he promised. His arm curled around her back and his body touched hers and she jumped.

  “That feels delicious,” she said breathlessly, for the heat of his body seemed to be touching points of her own and making them even hotter. Her breasts were glowing with languid warmth.

  He kissed her. Kissing while naked was very different from the few kisses he had given her while corsetry and clothing came between them. Anna could feel the promise of what was to come in the way they fit together. The touch of him against her was a goad of its own. She could feel his cock brushing against her belly and every time it did, little sparks seemed to flitter out from the point of contact.

  His tongue thrust into her mouth, harder and more driving than ever before and she heard herself moan in reaction. She wanted more. Her whole body leapt, the nerve ends burned with heightened sensitivity. The brush of her hair against her rear felt wonderful. The touch of Rhys’ fingers against her flesh felt even better.

  Then he slid his lips and tongue over her chin and down the length of her throat and Anna sighed, her head tilting back, as she guessed the direction he was taking.

  He bent his head, but did not kiss her breasts. Instead, she felt his arm under her knees and he lifted her. “You’re almost falling down,” he murmured and put her on the bed and settled next to her.

  This was a familiar place. They had lain together like this before, but this time, everything was different. They were married and they were naked—

  She drew in a sharp, ragged breath as Rhys sucked the tip of her breast into his mouth. There was a delightful tugging and his tongue scraped over the very end of her nipple, sending shooting sparks of delight throughout her body.

  The flesh between her legs throbbed again. Sharply. Her hips lifted as if they had a mind of their own.

  Rhys smoothed his hand over her flat belly, past the twin rises of her hips. His fingers curled over the mound between her legs and Anna drew in another shaking breath.

  Her legs fell apart. She was shaking too much to hold them together and besides, she sensed that this was right. She had to give Rhys’ hand room.

  His fingers slipped between her thighs and pressed up against the innermost folds, then pushed past them, sliding right between them. She could hear a slick sound and realized that was her. She was slippery with moisture.

  He stroked her flesh as his mouth played with her breast and Anna thought she might faint from the double sources of pleasure. She couldn’t lie still on the bed. Her hips kept thrusting and her head pressed back against the pillow. She couldn’t catch her breath and began to pant.

  Then Rhys pushed his fingers up just a little bit higher, to the pounding, pulsing flesh there and Anna moaned. It was perfect. It was exactly what her body was longing for.

  He rubbed the flesh there and the pleasure built inside her. She couldn’t focus on anything but the rising delight. It climbed higher and higher. Her body was trembling with it. Her heart was almost hurting.

  Then, the pleasure peaked. It shattered over her and every single nerve ending seemed to sparkle and melt, while every muscle she had tensed and gripped. She held still while the thrilling excitement washed over her in waves.

  It didn’t stop abruptly, but seemed to fade reluctantly and slowly, until she became aware once more that she was lying on the bed in Rhys’ arms, his long body pressed up against her flank, as heated and tense as her own.

  Her breath was still hurried and every limb felt heavy.

  Rhys rolled over her, his knee pushing her thighs apart. Anna held still. Her books had explained this part very well, in the clinical terms that did nothing for her the way words like ‘naked’ and ‘cock’ did.

&nb
sp; And Rhys’ cock was pressing against her. It was more heated than he.

  He leaned over her, his shoulders flexed. His eyes were glittering underneath the half-lowered lids and every tendon was tensed.

  His cock pressed inside her, just a little way. “Try to relax,” he breathed.

  “I am relaxed,” she said truthfully. She had heard of other brides whose ignorance of the marriage bed had made this moment a fear-filled and painful one. But she consciously tried to relax, to let him inside her with no resistance.

  But there was a physical barrier he had to overcome. He pushed up against it and held still, then pushed a little more. There was no pain, but the sensation of tightness was intense.

  Rhys held still for a moment more. He was breathing as heavily as she.

  “Deeper,” Anna whispered, for that was what the small, silent voice was insisting upon. She needed him to press deeper.

  And he did push deeper, until his body was as hard against hers as it was possible to get.

  “Oh….” She breathed the word out on a sigh. So many things she had read and not properly understood suddenly made sense.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No. Not at all. It’s…it’s very nice, Rhys.” It was. Her body, still recovering from that marvelous peak of sensation, felt like it was gathering around his cock. Almost…squeezing it. Then muscles she did not know she had did flex and squeeze around him and at the same time Anna gasped, Rhys groaned.

  “That will end this far too soon, if you insist upon doing that,” he said hurriedly.

  “Then this isn’t ended?”

  He smiled. “Not quite.” Then he began to move against her and she could feel his cock pull out. Before she could protest, he flexed his hips and his cock pushed back inside and his body kissed hers, pressing against the still quivering bud of flesh that he had massaged to bring her such pleasure.

  He moved faster, the thrusting more hurried. There was no pain at all, but there was a low-grade pleasure focused around his cock inside her and the touch of his body against hers. Her breath grew ragged once more.

  Rhys picked up her leg and hooked her heel over his rear. “It will feel better for you, this way.” It took him two breaths to say it all.