Chapter Twenty-Three

A spilled pot of tea and a soaked shirt later, Nick found himself barefoot and shirtless in Pippa's beautiful manor in one of the elegant upstairs bedchambers in a half-dry puddle of cooling tea and with her hands on his torso. He gave up trying to feign embarrassment because it was a lie, and he was neither good as lying nor at pretending to be a bashful lover. He knew enough of the human anatomy to know that he was well built. Plus, he had nothing to hide and, quite frankly, didn't want to. So, he laid his left hand over her right, pressing her hand on his heart. She must have felt his heartbeat for she raised he gaze and met his.

With the most beautiful blue eyes, she blinked at him. Then she stilled, only batting her long lashes expectantly.

Nick waited and squared his shoulders. With his body language, he gave her access. And she understood.

Pippa dropped the towel to the floor and trailed her right hand over his chest until it met her left near his abdomen. Her exploration was eager but also revealed her innocence. Nick knew how girls of her social standing were raised, protected, and coddled. Except that in all of her isolation, she'd been deprived of the love she needed to blossom in her pretty little greenhouse. Although Nick couldn't give her any of the riches that her standing required, he could give her the love her heart desired.

If he could allow himself and if she let him.

Time to find out.

Nick inhaled deeply and his chest grew wide. He took Pippa's hands and led them down to… and before he could consider how she'd react, she inserted her index fingers in his waistband. "I want to know," she whispered, looking down at his crotch.

"Pippa, if I go too far, you have to stop me."

"Why should I?"

"Because I won't stop unless you want me to." He placed a tender kiss on her forehead, then her cheek, and then her mouth. Nick shuddered at the thought of stopping because he wanted to go all the way. Stopping would probably kill him on the spot and yet he'd never go further than she wanted him to. "If you allow it, Pippa, I'll show you how you make me feel. Not how Violet and her husband make each other feel. Just you and me. Here and now. Do you want me to?"

"How?" Her voice was pierced with the awe of a young fawn taking in the smell of a lovely fresh clover for the first time. "How can you make me feel?"

Nick swallowed hard. He nodded but feared that by speaking now, his voice would break like that of a green boy. For that's what he felt like. He knew all too well that she was a virgin and inexperienced. She couldn't know what he did about the human body, much less what two bodies could do together. And yet, he felt like the inexperienced one. He was in her lavish house, and he had the impression that she'd brought him here on purpose.

"Did you mean to spill the tea on me?" He jerked his head back but tilted it to the side. Thinking of it, the tea had been lukewarm and looked rather light in color. "You watered it down so you wouldn't burn me, didn't you?"

Pippa pinched her lips and removed her hands from his body. Then she spoke with the poise of a governess trying to explain that cod liver oil would taste good. "I'm just so clumsy."

Nick broke into a smile. She was lying.

"I've rather cured you of clumsiness, haven't I?"

Pippa took a step back and brought her fingers to her eyeglasses, removed them, folded the temple stems in, and set the glasses on a side table with great care. "I'm very, very clumsy." She shook her head, but a telling grin built on her face, and the mischievous glint made Nick laugh. Oh, she was so sweet and innocent but also fiercely smart. She knew exactly what she was doing and that he knew. Well, good, then they were in agreement.

Nick stepped closer and took a wide stance before her, offering his body for exploration—no for anything she'd ever want—and waited.

"Dr. Folsham—" Pippa started but her breath caught as her eyes trailed over his upper body.

"Nick."

She inhaled and spoke with feigned gravitas. "Nick."

"Yes?" His voice was dark.

"As you know, I don't see well without my glasses." Her hands returned to his chest, and she trailed them over his muscles as if she couldn't stop herself. Side to side, from one side of his chest to the other, and then one hand found his waistband again, the other cupped the back of his head. "I need to feel for what I cannot see." And she inserted one hand in his breeches.

Nick gasped. She was brazen and oh, so sweet.

He leaned in but stopped short of her mouth just when she raised her mouth to his. Her hand slid farther, and her delicate fingers wrapped around his shaft.

Nick smiled but didn't touch her lips. Two could play a game of teasing.

*

He was a little cocky and sure of himself, but Pippa loved it. She couldn't quite say what his manhood felt like, but it was hard and hot in her hand and gave a twitch that she found most pleasing. She gave a gentle squeeze back and Nick smiled, his face so close to hers but still not touching.

But she wanted him to touch her.

Everywhere.

She wanted more of this teasing and the exploration. Yes, he was a little blurred now that she'd taken her glasses off, but she could easily make out the expression on his face, the boyish smirk and the manly seriousness. He was letting her lead.

Pippa hooked her index finger into his waistband and pulled. She stepped back and tugged. He followed a step, never stopping to kiss her. One more step backward.

"Pippa," Nick whispered. He knew what she was doing. Step-by-step, luring him closer to her bed.

His hands came from the back of her neck to her neck. As if he needed to drink from her, he pulled her close whilst leaning his body onto hers. There was little room left between them and it was still too much.

Pippa tilted her head sideways and gave him access to her neck. As if their minds were one, Nick responded by kissing a trail down her neck, tenderly and slowly. Then he reached the edge of her collar. He kissed the last part of her skin that was exposed and gently touched the edge of the fabric as if it were the barrier he wouldn't cross.

She wouldn't have any of it and raised her hand to pull her sleeve down. Nick broke the kiss and stepped back just enough to tower over her. Her hands were a little shaky, and her finger trembled when she tugged at the fabric and pulled her arm out. The other side came out more easily and the gown slid off.

Nick's Adam's apple jumped as he watched her. His gaze was serious but his eyes black.

When the fabric of her dress fell to the ground, he bent down to pull it down over her hips, letting his hands brush over the skin of her belly and then her side. Before long, she was only in her slippers, garter belt, stockings, and stays. Nick nudged her left foot out of the pool of fabric and Pippa put both hands on his glistening shoulders, watching the muscles flex as he pulled her foot out of her slipper. Then the other side. He quickly hung the dress over the edge of the settee but remained squatting before her.

And when he looked up at her, she saw a sincerity in his gaze that sent her insides into tumult. No one had ever simultaneously looked at her with such tenderness, concentration, and vulnerability. He blinked at her like a servant, waiting for the sentence of a queen. And Pippa understood, he'd spoken the words before, but this was the moment. If she allowed it, he'd fall in love. Oh, and she wanted nothing more than his heart because she knew hers already belonged to him.

Her hands still on his shoulders, she was slightly bent over him. He blinked up at her, his hands now wrapped around her calves. He began to stroke her legs. Even though she thought she'd be shy, it was vulnerability she felt more than anything else. But she knew she'd be safe in his arms.

Nick still looked up at her, begging for permission to continue. His wavy blond hair with tones of gold and amber fell deliciously over his smooth forehead. With his lips pursed, he clenched his teeth and the muscles in his cheeks popped and led Pippa's eyes to his angular jawline. She steadied herself and straightened so that her hands no longer reached for his shoulders, but she could still drive her fingers through his gorgeous hair. The messier it got, the more boyishly mischievous he looked. Pippa's heart beat heavily in her chest but her heart felt so light because it felt like it was meant to happen. He was so right for her, and she welcomed his every touch even more than fresh air entering her lungs after a swim in Brighton.

Nick ran his muscular hands over her lower legs and then caressed upward, going toward the knees. He unhooked the stockings from her garter belt with great dexterity and Pippa remembered that he must have done this before. He'd been with others.

A pinch of jealousy shot through her.

"What's the matter?" he asked, apparently noticing her frown.

"Do I please you?" Afraid to ask for fear that the answer would shatter her, Pippa held her breath. Again, she spoke before she'd thought about the consequences. A question deserved an answer and if she didn't want to hear his response, she shouldn't have asked.

"D-d…" Nick stuttered, which was unlike him. Usually the eloquent doctor, he wasn't like his usual self now. Half undressed, barefoot, squatting before her, he seemed younger, disheveled, and yet intent on what he was doing as if he were an arrow shooting through the air. And Pippa was his target, hit by Cupid's arrow.

He trailed his hands to the outer side of her thighs and then brought them to her behind. He cupped her bottom with a gentle squeeze and groaned.

"Pippa, you are—" He bit his lower lip and looked at her middle, then up at her breasts. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Pippa." She heard his words but could barely understand them. After a lifetime in Bea's shadow, and being called the ugly goose even when she was at a ball with her father had eroded her self-esteem. "You are so beautiful, Pippa. I…" He bit his lip again and took her hand, opened her palm facing up and placed a slow kiss in it. Then he closed her fingers and turned it over. "Pippa, if you allow me to love you, to make love to you, and to give you my heart, I promise I'll spend my entire life trying to live up to you." He blinked, and a tear escaped the corner of his eye.

A moment of silence hung heavily in the air as Pippa tried to understand. He was asking for permission to love to her. The gorgeous man at her feet who'd cured her of clumsiness with a little thing like spectacles. He'd come into her life wrapped in whipped cream and custard and since that moment, he'd vanquished the loneliness from her heart. He'd been a perfect gentleman and Pippa had the wicked ideas to abduct him, yet he knelt before her asking for permission to… to…

"I didn't think you'd want my love—" but before she could finish, he dropped his head on her belly button and deflated. He'd let go of her hands, and she placed them both on his head, into the silky mess of his gold-spun hair shining in the light from the fireplace. "Nick?"

"Hm?" He mumbled and something tickled her.

"Nick, if you want me and my love, I'd like nothing more than to be all yours."

Another tickle.

Oh my, what was he doing there?