As he returned to the bed, his gaze caught hers. He untied his cravat and another shudder went through her body. She was about to see him completely naked and there was nothing she wanted more. She sat up on the bed and pulled off both of her gloves, then kicked off both slippers. Next, she began plucking hair pins from her head. Unlike the gloves, which ended up on the floor, she laid the pins carefully on the bedside table. She would need those later if she ever hoped to leave this room with a modicum of dignity.
Grinning, Lucas sat on the edge of the bed. While he pulled off first one boot and then the other, Frances didn’t remain idle. She slid across the mattress until she was on her knees behind him. He’d already discarded his cravat and as he began unbuttoning his shirt, she wrapped her arms around him from behind and gently bit his earlobe as he had done to her once in the library. She slipped her tongue along the crevice of his ear. His powerful body trembled. She reveled in the feeling of power. To make this strong, capable man tremble was a heady sensation, indeed.
She helped him pull his shirt over his head. He tossed the garment on the floor before he turned toward her again and slowly pushed her back onto the bed. He was naked from the waist up, with only his breeches on. He kissed her again, deeply, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Soon, he pulled away from her and she let her eyes wander over his broad chest with its smattering of dark hair, and his muscled abdomen.
“What do you think?” he asked, nuzzling her collarbone.
“I think you’re magnificent,” she breathed.
His hands had traveled behind her back and were steadily undoing the long row of buttons on her gown. When they finally were free, she sat up and helped him pull the gown over her head. It, too, met the floor with haste and she was clad only in her stockings and shift.
“I’ve never done this before so I’m not entirely certain how to proceed,” she admitted, her cheeks burning. She felt it best to be honest even if it made her feel like a ninny.
“Don’t worry,” he said, biting his bottom lip in a way that made her want to kiss him again. “I have and I do.”
“Good then,” she said, nodding like a complete fool.
But when he kissed her again, lowering her onto her back once more before moving down her body to caress her breast through her shift with first his fingers, then his tongue, she was mindless. She moved against him, her hips rocking of their own accord.
“What would you have me do next, my lady?” he asked in a husky tone.
She lifted her head and looked down at him through lust-fogged eyes. “Is that Lucas, the footman, talking?”
He gave her a roguish smile that made her squirm. “Your wish is my command.”
A hundred thoughts raced through her mind, each one more tantalizing than the last one. He was at her service…in bed? What could possibly be better? She searched for the perfect response and finally breathed, “Pleasure me.”
His eyes flared and he inclined his head toward her, the roguish smile still on his lips. “As you wish.”
Frances sucked in her breath. Truthfully, she had little idea what she’d meant by ‘pleasure me.’ She’d once read something along those lines in a book she probably shouldn’t have been reading. It seemed like the appropriate thing to say to one’s lover while in bed. She only hoped he knew what it meant. Fortunately, he hadn’t hesitated or given her a strange look or anything, so she was fairly certain he knew what to do next.
Moments later, Lucas shifted his weight farther down her body. She had scant idea what he was planning to do until she felt her shift moving up along her thighs. His handsome face was hovering just above the juncture between her legs. He couldn’t possibly mean to—
Oh, God. His strong warm hands pushed up her shift until she was completely exposed to him. Then he lowered his head and Frances forgot to breathe. She was resting on her elbows watching him with wide eyes until the first hot lick pushed through her folds. An involuntary moan escaped her lips and her head fell back, her hair spilling onto the pillows behind her. The second lick made her thighs tense. The third made her knees fall apart. The fourth made her groan his name. In her entire life she’d never imagined anything like this. Pleasure me, she’d said. She’d had no idea.
Lucas’s tongue found a spot at the apex of her thighs. He rubbed it, once, twice. She cried out. He rubbed it again and her hips jerked. Then he sucked the tiny nub into his mouth and she nearly came off the bed. His large hands held her hips tight and pressed them back onto the mattress, pinning her in place as his mouth tormented her. He licked her again, giving her just a moment to catch her breath, before his tongue circled the sensitive spot again and again. His tempo increased and her fingers grabbed at his dark hair. She wanted to pull him away because the feeling building between her legs frightened her, but at the same time she wanted him never to stop. She grabbed at his broad shoulders, trying to tug him up to her.
“Let me love you more, Frances,” he
