Mistress - Amanda Quick [67]
“My sweet Lady Starlight.” Marcus slid his big hand slowly down Iphiginia’s throat. He eased her delicate white shawl aside, exposing her bare shoulders. “You cannot know how I have ached to touch you again.”
“Yes. Please touch me. Please, Marcus.” Iphiginia turned her head to kiss his hand. She felt the soft cashmere shawl fall from her shoulders and drift down to pool at her feet.
She was dazed by the moonlight and his touch. Nothing seemed quite real and yet her senses had never been more acutely alive. His fingers probed gently, seeking the fastenings of her gown.
A small, distinct shock went through her when Marcus found the tapes, undid them, and slowly, reverently lowered the bodice. The soft, scented air wafted over her bare breasts.
She buried her face against his cravat.
“Beautiful.” Marcus covered her nipples with his palms. “So beautiful.”
Iphiginia felt her breasts swell and become incredibly sensitive beneath his warm hand. She shivered at the realization that, although he had touched her with dazzling intimacy the other night in Lartmore’s statuary hall, Marcus had never actually seen her nude.
Until tonight no man had ever seen her naked.
She should have been mortified, Iphiginia thought. But the sensual admiration in Marcus’s voice was having just the opposite effect. He made her feel exquisite and irresistible.
The urge to explore him as he was exploring her swamped any lingering hesitation. She reached up and began to untie his cravat with trembling fingers.
“Yes,” Marcus whispered.
A moment later the ends of the long neckcloth hung loose.
Iphiginia looked at him. The hard planes of his face were etched in moonlight and shadow. His eyes were brilliant. His mouth curved slightly in a small smile of unmistakable sensual hunger.
“Marcus?” She did not know how to ask the unformed question. She only knew that she wanted more than a kiss out here in the moonlight.
“Why not?” he said, as if he had read her mind. He drew his thumb slowly along the line of her jaw. “I had thought to wait until we had returned to the privacy of your bedchamber, but some things cannot be put off.”
He bent his head and kissed the curve of her shoulder. She shivered in his arms and thrust her hands beneath the edges of his shirt. Deliberately she flattened her palms against the strong, sleek muscles of his chest.
“You feel wondrously fine, my lord,” she breathed, awed by the feel of him. “Altogether magnificent. You remind me of a statue of Hercules that I once viewed in Venice.”
Marcus gave a muffled laugh that quickly turned into a groan. “Be warned, I am no statue, madam, although at the moment a certain part of me is certainly as hard as stone.”
“I am aware of that,” she whispered. She could feel the bulge of his manhood pressing against her. It both intrigued and alarmed her.
He released her reluctantly to shrug off his coat. He spread the garment out on the floor of the ruin. Iphiginia glanced and then raised her eyes to meet Marcus’s gleaming gaze. She knew without being told that he was going to lower her down onto the coat and make love to her.
All the great mysteries of the cosmos were about to be explained. She knew that if she wanted to stop this from going any further, she must speak up now.
She smiled at Marcus and said nothing at all.
Marcus appeared momentarily mesmerized by her smile. For an instant he did not move.
Then, with a hoarse exclamation, he caught her up in his arms and lowered her to the coat.
Iphiginia reached for him as he came down on top of her. She drew him to her, holding him tightly as if she could keep him with her always.
“Iphiginia”
Marcus’s touch was no longer deliberate or restrained. He rained rough, urgent kisses across her breasts. His powerful hands trembled as they moved over her body. He caught one of her nipples between his teeth and bit gently as he pushed his hands up beneath her skirts.
A thrilling sense of anticipation poured through her when she felt his fingers on her inner thigh. He was going to touch her again the way he had in Lartmore’s statuary hall.