Chapter 17

The bedchamber doorshut with the softest pressure of his hand and Giles hurried to turn the key in the lock. What he intended to do was arousing, foolish, and altogether reckless. An event that could see him face her father’s pistol or blade on the field of honor.

Tonight, he would share Lilly’s bed for more than a quick massage. Tonight, he’d become her lover.

Lilly’s eyes followed him as he came closer, her glance flickering over his body. Despite her bold appraisal, glances that skittered along his nerves and hastened his heartbeat, she hid beneath the covers. Perhaps she wasn’t quite comfortable with her own suggestion to share her bed with him. If she’d changed her mind, he’d give her a chance to call a halt to this mad slide into sin. He wouldn’t hold her to her invitation.

He touched the bed, letting his fingers drag across the linen as he walked around to the far side. Lilly turned to follow his movements, and that was all it took to convince Giles that he was welcome. She lay on her stomach as usual, but her shoulders and upper back were already bare.

Lilly had stripped for him, but maidenly nerves kept her buried beneath the coverlet. That image clouded his mind so much that Giles could not move for a moment. She smiled shyly and then burrowed under the covers, dropping her face into the pillow.

Careful to keep his impulses under control, Giles removed his jacket slowly, but hesitated to remove more. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make love to Lilly, but the constricting clothing would slow him down. More than anything, he wanted Lilly to enjoy his touch, his attention, even at the expense of his own pleasure.

He reached for the blanket’s edge, exposing her bare upper back to the air. Once he lifted the counterpane fully, enough to admit him to her bed, he found that his ability to compartmentalize caring for Lilly had vanished completely.

He slipped into bed, boots and all, tugged the covers over his hips and pressed his lips to her spine. “Good evening, Angel.”

“Good evening.”

Despite the situation, a smile tugged at his lips. They both sounded so dreadfully formal, but he had to speak. He had to say something to mark the moment. Unlike the other women he’d known, he couldn’t relax into bed with her so easily or so quickly. He knew what he was doing would change Lilly’s life forever. Losing even part of her innocence deserved his utmost respect and care.

Rising so his weight rested on one arm, he touched her ribs, sliding his fingers over her skin, pressing little kisses along her spine. He stopped thinking, kneading muscles and caressing Lilly in a wholly different manner than normal, more sensual and erotic. Touches designed to soothe as well as deliberately arouse.

Lilly shifted, a slight rock of her hips against the bedding, letting him know he was affecting her just as badly as she affected him. He let his hands wander into her hair and pulled the pins free, letting the soft locks flow across her shoulder and spill onto the pillow. He pushed the sweet-smelling tresses aside and buried his lips in her neck. God, she tasted so sweet, so good.

Remembering that Lilly had needs he had to cater to, he sat up and straddled her carefully, while silently cursing his reluctance to remove his boots. But he couldn’t pause long enough to remove them. The night was passing and he didn’t want himself and Lilly found together like this. He gave her the massage she sorely needed, but when he was done he kissed the back of her knee, her ankle, and captured her wriggling feet to press a kiss to the arch.

“Giles?” Lilly complained in a whisper.

He chuckled. “I thought you might like that, but it seems you are far too ticklish yet to enjoy it fully.” He crawled up the bed and lay beside her, again resting his weight on one arm.

Lilly’s passion-clouded eyes held his. “Do you like that?”

He shrugged. “No one has ever tried before so I cannot say for certain.”

Lilly, dropped her head, thinking something through. He let her think. She might want to call the whole thing off and there was still time to keep her innocent. He could still walk away from her bed, although it would be with considerable regret.

Lilly’s bare toes slipped onto the top of his boots and pressed against him. With that small encouragement, Giles kissed her back, kissed a path down her ribs, letting his breath fan across the base of spine just above her glorious derrière. He debated whether to go lower.

“What do you like, Giles?”

He rose to his knees, straddling her so he could use both hands. He settled them at her waist, slid them hard along her sides until he encountered the first swells of her breasts.

Lilly lifted her chest marginally, and he palmed her breasts. Glorious, soft and a perfect fit to his palms. He dropped his mouth level with her ear. “I like you.”

Dragging his hands away, he let his fingertips graze her hardened nipples. She moaned, body trembling at the new sensation. Giles swirled his fingertips around the hard buds and then palmed her breasts again, squeezing and rolling her flesh to give her pleasure.

Lilly tried to turn over, but his position restricted her movement. He tweaked her nipple and she shuddered. He flexed his hips so his aroused cock pressed against the firm swell of her bottom. Even that slight friction drove him wild.

But he didn’t want to rush—he wanted to please her first.

Climbing carefully over her, he fell to the mattress. Sharing a bed with Lilly was overwhelming. He sucked in deep breaths, fighting to regain control.

“Is anything wrong?”

Lilly had turned to her side and was watching him with wary eyes.

“You are so beautiful,” Giles whispered, pressing a long kiss to her shoulder. Hair tickled his nose and he pushed it away, exposing more of her skin and a full, ripe breast.

Control was overvalued. He pulled Lilly to him, took her lips in a hard kiss and slid his body under hers. Soft, warm flesh branded his skin even through the clothing he wore. Lilly kissed him back, sliding her tongue into his mouth, setting off an avalanche of desire he had to fight hard to suppress.

She lay over his body, thighs spread and the heart of her pressed tight against his erection. She rocked, whimpering in frustration as pleasure built slowly. Too slowly for her, but much too fast for him. If she continued, he wouldn’t be able to wait for her pleasure to come.

He rolled her to her back, held his weight above so as not to crush her, and slid his hand downwards. As his fingers crossed her belly, she sucked her stomach in. When his fingers touched her curls, a needy moan broke free.

“Soon, Angel. Just wait.”

Giles was not normally a vocal man in bed, but desire and Lilly prodded him to speak. He could not seem to help himself—just as with everything else to do with Lilly. He could blame it on being in bed with a naked woman and still being fully dressed. It was one of his least-used fantasies. To be the one to pleasure, to be the one to control what happened, was heady.

Thankfully Lilly seemed content to take things at his pace, to let him decide the position, too.

He kissed her jaw. “I have dreamed of being in bed with you for so long.”

Lilly’s eyes opened and the gray depths were stormy. “How long?”

Should he confess the whole? Should he tell her that every other lover paled in comparison to just this much pleasure? Giles dragged in a breath. “Since the first night I saw you in Huntley House.”

Confession was good for the soul, he’d heard, and it appeared to be very good for Lilly, too. Her hot little hands cupped his face and he groaned loudly at the desire he saw reflected back at him.

Fingers traced his jaw, burned a line to his ear and then scraped into his hair, torturing his body with gooseflesh. She curled her arm around his head and held his lips to hers. Convinced that kissing her was not to be given up, Giles gave her the kisses she demanded.

Yet he could not remain idle under such an assault, so he stoked the side of her body, feeling the end coming closer. When he brushed the bony ridge of her hip, he kept going. Caressing and kneading the globe of her bottom, he drowned in the scent of her body, the texture of her skin.

Giles broke the kiss and let his lips trail off her face, letting her body fall to the mattress in a messy heap. He kissed down her neck and into the valley between her breasts. He knew what he wanted. Giles took her nipple into his mouth the exact moment his fingers tangled in her blonde curls. He gave Lilly no time to protest. He suckled at her breast hungrily as his fingers parted her thighs and delved into her heat, reveling in her whimpers of pleasure and the sharp tugging at his hair.

“Oh, Giles.”

His fingers grew wet as he parted her folds and traced to her source of greatest pleasure. Lilly jumped as he petted her nub and his cock swelled in anticipation.

Giles lifted his head. The cords of Lilly’s neck stood out as she flexed, panting, aroused beyond anything she’d ever known. So damn beautiful that Giles couldn’t bear to take his eyes from her flushed face. Slowing his fingers, he waited for Lilly to look at him. He could not bear for her to avoid his eyes. “Sweetheart?”

Lilly’s gray eyes drowned him, her breath panted across his lips. “Now I know why you like this.”

Giles swirled his fingers again and she gasped, hips rising into his touch. “Now you know.”

He would not take her virginity, but there were benefits to allowing him free play. Giles would see her climax and enjoy doing so. His fingers slipped from her folds and he grasped one thigh and draped it over his so she was wide open. She would not need to hold herself still, she would be comfortable. That was all Giles cared about.

He slid his hand down her thigh and covered her mound again, kissing her lips while his fingers pressed and twirled. When her hips rose to meet his fingers again, he knew she would peak soon. She moaned and sobbed as the pinnacle neared.

“That’s it. Come for me, Lilly.” Giles rose over her possessively to watch her release that first time, and didn’t care that he would not even receive pleasure himself. He had never cared so much about a woman’s happiness before. Pleasing Lilly was all that mattered tonight.

Eyes locked, he increased the friction of his fingers, spreading her wetness until she arched again, sobbing his name as the release hit her squarely. Thighs clenched tight around his hand as she ground her body against his fist.

For a small, frail woman, her contractions went on a lot longer than he had anticipated. With his hand buried as it was, he felt every ripple of pleasure that shook her. He felt awed and proud all at once. God, she was heaven, and he wondered how he had ever thought desire existed before today.

Her thighs relaxed and he moved his fingers, only to find greater wetness than before. Lilly was dripping, and he could not help but grind his cock against her thigh. Once, twice, then a long, protracted moan burst free as he came in his trousers from just that slight friction.

Lilly clutched his head tight against hers until he slumped to the mattress, breathing hard to recover. He hadn’t needed to come that much in forever.

He hadn’t soiled his garments since he was a young lad in short pants, spying on the village girls washing in the stream. But Lilly had the damnedest effect on him. One he’d never encountered before. All his carefully thought out notions of pleasure had just been thrown out the window.

“Are you all right?” Lilly asked.

He lifted his head and grinned down at her. The earth shifted again and he pressed his lips to Lilly’s to prevent some banal comment from spewing from his lips. Her lips clung, her fingers threading into his hair as he tucked her tight against his body.

The way she moved against him convinced him that, given enough night hours, he could pleasure her again. But the night was passing. He had no idea of the time. They both needed to sleep and he needed to make an escape before dawn found him in her bed.

Regretfully, Giles turned Lilly, tucked his arm under her head and stretched the linen and counterpane to cover them both. Lilly sighed, pressing her lips to his wrist. Setting him alight with her simple gesture. He inched his hips back so they didn’t fit so snugly and pressed a kiss to her hair, waiting for his world to settle. “Time for sleep, little ghost.”

Lilly grumbled.

Capturing her hand, Giles threaded their fingers together and held them against her belly, savoring the companionable warmth between them. To his surprise, Lilly pushed his hand away and turned to face him. Laying her head on his arm, she placed her hand against his cheek. Lilly’s short nails scratched at his stubble once then grew still, breath turning even and deep.

Astounded by her sudden sleep, he listened to the sound of her breathing. He’d never remembered past lovers’ sleeping habits, but he would always remember this moment, sharing Lilly’s bed. A night beyond his expectations and an experience he wanted again. He only hoped that Lilly would say the same come morning.