Come Lie With Me - Linda Howard [61]
He saw the fixed expression in her enormous golden eyes and began to speak softly to her, making her realize his identity. With silent desperation she stared at him, her nails digging into his shoulders.
“It’s all right,” he murmured soothingly. “You know I won’t hurt you; I’d never hurt you. Let’s get you out of this,” he said as he began thrusting the bunched cloth at her waist down over her hips, then stroking it away from her thighs. He leaned on his elbow and looked at her, drinking in and savoring all the details that he’d only dreamed about before. He steadied his shaking hand by flattening his palm on her stomach and sliding it over her satiny skin. One finger dipped into the tight little hollow of her navel, and she gasped again, but though her nails were digging so deeply into his shoulders that she’d broken the skin, the blind fear had left her face. Her eyes were locked on him, letting him know that for him, she would do this. Though she was afraid, she trusted him, and she would give him this one last gift, the pleasure of her body.
His hand slid lower, insinuating itself between her thighs and exploring, as he’d tried to do so many times before. She clenched her teeth in shock and tried to control her body’s instinctive movement, but her thighs tightened as she tried to dislodge the alien touch.
“Honey, don’t!” he cried. “I won’t hurt you, I swear.”
Dione swallowed and slowly regained control of herself, forcing her legs to relax. He was shaking all over, his body dewed with sweat, the color in his face as florid as if he burned with fever; she felt the heat of his skin beneath her hands and wondered vaguely if he weren’t really fevered after all. His blue eyes were glittering wildly, and his lips were red, swollen. She removed one trembling hand from his shoulder and touched his face, placing her fingertips on his lips. “It’s all right,” she whispered thinly. “I’m ready.”
“Oh, God, no, you’re not,” he groaned, kissing her fingers. “I wanted to wait, but I don’t think I can.”
“It’s all right,” she repeated, and with a muffled cry he moved to lie fully over her.
All of the love she felt for him welled up and made her body pliable for his touch; with her eyes wide open and locked on his face, she knew that this was Blake, and that she would do anything for him. Though her heart was slamming against her ribs with almost shattering force, though her entire body shook, she clutched his shoulders and drew him tightly to her.
He tried to be gentle, but the years of celibacy had destroyed a great deal of his normal self-control. When he parted her legs and felt the silkiness of her thighs cradle his hips, he moaned deep in his chest and took her with a single strong movement.
Hot tears burned her lids, then slid down her cheeks. This wasn’t the agony she’d expected, but her body had been untouched for twelve years, and the pain and shock of his entry were all too real. To her astonishment, her flesh didn’t flinch from him; she still lay soft and willing beneath him. She began to weep in earnest, not from the pain, which was already fading, but because suddenly she realized that Blake had given her as much as he was taking. He’d given her back her womanhood. The years had wrought their healing miracle, after all; it had taken Blake to make her realize it, Blake to make her love enough to overcome the past.
He lifted his head from her throat and saw the tears, and he paled. “No,” he croaked. “Dee, what have I done? I’ll stop—”
Inexplicably the tears mingled with laughter, and she caught him tightly, preventing the removal of his body. “Don’t stop!” she said joyously, the words clogging in her throat. “I didn’t know…I had no idea! No, don’t ever stop—”
He caught the babbling words in his mouth, kissing her wildly and deeply, relief making him drunk. “I’m going to have to stop,” he panted, beginning to move rhythmically