He was proved to be right when she turned her head and he caught sight of eyes that almost overflowed with tears. “I’ll bet my folks will never want to see me again.” She looked too sad to be believed, her face drawn and pale, her hands clenched into fists as she brought them from her pockets to scrub at her eyes.
“You’re going to hurt your eyes that way,” he said, walking in the room to settle beside her on the sofa. Reaching out, he gripped her fists in one of his big, wide palms, and then held them to his lips. His mouth made a feast of her skin, his teeth barely touching her knuckles, his tongue tasting a bit of the soapy residue left from the dishes she’d washed.
She looked at him, mournful now. “Connor, I’ve made a real mess of things, haven’t I?” And then her mouth curved a bit. “The funny part is that I’m already attached to my baby. I can’t blame him for any of this. His mama made a big mistake, but I can’t regret that I’m to have a child. Do you think God makes us able to accept the retribution for our sins? In this case, I’ll have a baby without a father, but I’ll certainly do my best to raise him up right, even without grandparents.”
“I think God loves us, Loris. Especially those of us who make mistakes and then regret them as you do. But I also think that He loves every child born into this world, whether it is legitimate or not. The baby will have a name. I’ll see to that.”
“After everything I’ve done to you, how can you want to marry me?” Her words trembled out of her mouth. Her tongue emerged just a bit, touching her top lip, dampening the surface. “I won’t hold you to that,” she said. “If you just stay here and take care of things till the baby comes, I’ll figure out what to do afterwards.”
“I asked you to be my wife last summer. And I meant it. I’ll never walk away, not once you’re my wife. And that means more than just a wedding ceremony. I hope you understand that. I won’t be satisfied with just a good-night kiss. I’d prefer to wish you good-night about an hour after we go to bed. Okay?”
She swallowed convulsively, and he watched as her face flushed, a dark blush that ran down her throat. It was all he could do not to pull open her dress to see where that blush ended.
“Okay, Loris?” He repeated the word, knowing that once she made a commitment to him, she would stand by it. And a lifetime obligation was his goal. If she swore on the Bible he knew she kept by the bed, muttered a word of acquiescence in his direction, or even nodded, he would accept it as holding as much value as the wedding vows themselves.
“Yes. Okay.” And then she frowned. “Why an hour after we go to bed?”
“When I’m done loving you.”
“Loving me?” She seemed to be in a trance, and Connor knew exactly what to do to make her understand his plans. With a smooth turn of his arm, he circled her shoulders and scooted her closer to him on the sofa. Then with another unexpected movement of his body, he carried her to the sofa seat beside her, her head resting on the arm. He leaned over her, his kiss hot and needy, his lips opening over hers.
Unless he was mistaken, she’d not been kissed this way before, for she seemed innocent in her response. And then her own tongue joined with his, stroking his with long slow motions, finally seizing it and suckling with a gentle pressure.
He thought he might explode, and he broke the kiss to view the woman beneath him. She was breathless, and she opened her mouth to breathe. She looked just the way he’d imagined. Her hair was coming undone from the pinned-up mass she’d concocted on the back of her head, and her eyes were wide with wonder.
Well, maybe not wonder, he decided, but at least it was surprise he saw in her face. He’d take surprise for now, and hope for ecstasy some other day. He watched the rise and fall of her breasts, full beneath the bodice of her ordinary dress, and once more he sought the fullness of her lips.
Her dress was dark blue and, when he lifted from the kiss, he thought it matched her eyes almost exactly. How a dress could look so appealing to a man was a question he didn’t stand a chance of solving. For it wasn’t the dress that held him in thrall, but the shapely form of the woman who had donned it this morning and would remove it tonight.
In his bedroom.
“Connor?” She sounded just a bit apprehensive, perhaps even frightened, and he set about putting her at ease.
“I won’t hurt you, Loris. I promise to wait until we’re married to make you my bride. I only want to kiss you a bit and maybe touch you a little. I miss how we used to please each other when we were courting.”
Loris blushed as she remembered, then hesitated. “Y-You won’t hurt me? Will it be different after we’re married? James said—”
She halted abruptly, as if speaking his brother’s name aloud might set off a fuse in Connor. But he knew without her going any further what she wanted to ask. And so he gave her the answer she sought.
“It usually only hurts the first time a woman makes love, Loris. After that, her maidenhead is gone and the pain with it. I’ll not hurt you. I’ll wait until you’re ready for me, and I’ll be careful. Especially with you carrying a baby.”
She blushed again, and he allowed himself the right to view the sight he’d denied himself just a while ago. Her buttons came undone easily, though one hand came up to encircle his wrist as he took his time with the enjoyable task.
“What are you doing?” Her whisper was truly frightened now.
“Looking, sweetheart. Just looking at you. I want to see just how far your blush goes. I’m willing to bet it reaches almost to your belly button.” And then he laughed aloud as the last button gave way and he pulled her vest up to reveal her midriff.
It was pink. Not as rosy as her cheeks, but definitely more so than was her usual color. He pushed it higher and her hand dropped from his wrist and she lay quietly beneath his exploration. The very peaks of her breasts were firm and puckered, whether due to the unveiling he’d instigated or because she was aroused by his kisses, didn’t matter much. It only mattered that he had, one way or another, had an effect on her.
He touched her breast, circled the crest gently with one long finger, and then bent his head to take the darkened bit of flesh into his mouth. She jerked beneath him and whimpered. “What is it?” he asked, fearful he’d hurt her.
“Don’t…”
“Don’t what, sweetheart?” He bent closer again and kissed her lips with tenderness as his goal. Whatever his brother had done to her, apparently she hadn’t enjoyed having her breasts touched, and a surge of anger swelled within him. “I’m sorry, Loris. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I only wanted to kiss you, snuggle a little.”
“You didn’t hurt me, Connor. I just thought…” And again she halted, her words fading into silence.
He cupped her breasts in his palms and held them close together, then bent to draw a line with his tongue down the crevice he’d brought into being. She shivered and he felt an easing of her tension. Her hand moved to his neck, then slid through the darkness of his hair, holding him in place.
“You like that?” he asked softly, blowing on the dampness his tongue had left behind.
“Yes.” A single word, but it carried a meaning he relished. She would come to him eagerly, when the time came. Until then, he’d leave her untouched. For Connor Webster was an honorable man, and if he’d done this to her in the big bed upstairs, he wouldn’t have been able to stop until her tender body belonged to him.
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