The Marriage Parley

CHAPTER TEN

Margaret's heart pounded so hard he must have been aware of it beneath his hand.

"Maggie." Richard's voice roughened as he stared transfixed at his hand against her chest. "What are you doing to me?"

"I thought I might keep you." Her attempt to lighten the mood earned a small smile from him.

He shifted his hand, spreading his fingers over the swell of her breast until he brushed her nipple. The touch sent a tendril of desire into her core.

Other women enjoyed coupling. She had seen them in their unrestrained pleasure, but until Richard had kissed her, she had never understood desire. Never felt the burning need to have a man's hand touch her, everywhere, for him to fill her flesh with his and possess her.

"Maggie?" In his fiery blue gaze was a question.

Shyness kept her dumb, but she pressed her breast deeper into his embrace.

With his free hand he cupped her nape and brought her forehead against his. "Jesu, you unman me."

Maggie raised herself on her toes and pressed her lips against his. As he had done to her, she flicked his lips with her tongue.

His mouth opened hungrily over hers, as his hand caressed her breast.

The taste of him made Margaret crave more and she slid her arms around his waist. She splayed her palms over the hewn muscle of his back, his skin warm through the linen of his chemise.

She craved the feel of his skin, and she slid her hands beneath his chemise to his back.

Richard hissed in a breath, and his kiss grew wilder. He owned her mouth, demanding she give him all she had.

His long fingers slipped beneath her bodice and pushed it aside. The touch of his rough palm on her breast made her crave the embrace on other parts of her. On her thighs and her bottom, her woman's place that he'd set afire with need.

Breaking the kiss, he put his mouth to her nipple and sucked.

And dear God, that was even better than his hand. Margaret gripped his silky, wheaten hair and held him there. The pulls at her nipple found an echo between her thighs and she moaned her need.

Richard seemed to sense her desperation because he bunched her skirt in his hand until he could slide beneath. He palmed the back of her thigh, raising her leg over his hip.

Exposed as she was to his touch, Richard caressed the curve of her bottom before his fingers drifted into the seam between her legs.

There he stroked through her flesh until he found a place that made her wild with lust. The place that only she had ever found for herself.

Dropping to his knees before her, he shoved her skirts into her hands.

He placed one of her legs over his shoulder, exposing her to him.

Shyness beset her, and Margaret tried to put her leg down.

"No." Richard held her knee. "Do not rob me of this."

He pressed kisses against her parted thighs, moving higher.

Surely he did not mean to—

Dear God, her knee buckled at his mouth there. Modesty said to push him away and not allow it, but the pleasure of his mouth on her flesh refused to listen.

He sucked and licked along her flesh, concentrating his tongue on the special place that made her pant with need. Desire built in her with each caress of his tongue, and then he added his fingers.

He pushed first one, and then two fingers inside her. Where she had only felt discomfort and awkwardness before, now blossomed with pleasure, soaking his fingers and easing their passage.

Her pleasure crested in a shattering wave that collapsed her knees.

Richard caught her and held her against him.

Margaret clung to him. She had just experienced what other women had described to her and she understood so much more now.

Pressing against her stomach, Richard's rod reminded her that he had yet to find his pleasure.

Made bold by the sated flush of her flesh, she stroked him through his braies.

He groaned and flexed his hips against her hand.

"Like this." He wrapped her fingers around him and stroked the length.

Margaret had no idea where she found the courage, but she told him what she wanted. "Be with me." She tightened her grip on him. "Be inside me. Please."

A new ache had started between her thighs. An ache for what she stroked in her hand. He was so much bigger than her late husband, and it made her want him more.

"Be sure, Maggie." He lifted her onto the table and pushed her skirts up. Lifting her knees, he placed her feet on the table and bared her wide open. Gaze locked on her core, his long fingers stroked between her thighs, where she needed him most. "Once I have you, I will not let you go."

"I want you." Margaret felt nothing but driving need for him to join his flesh with hers. "I want you inside me."

Richard groaned and loosened his braies. He palmed his rod, stroking it through her wetness, driving her near madness with how close he was to doing what she craved.

Margaret wrapped her legs around his buttocks and dug her heels in.

Richard pressed into her. Slow but sure, he parted her flesh with his until he had fully seated himself.

It was indescribably, the feeling of completeness and Margaret lay back on the table. She wanted him to own her as only he could.

He pushed her knees higher and his rod deeper into her. Long, smooth strokes made her crave more. She whispered what she wanted, "More."

Harder and faster Richard drove into her.

The table creaked beneath her back as he took her with driving force.

Margaret reveled in it, her completion building deep within her core and spreading through her. She panted his name, trying to tell him what she hadn't the words for.

"Come for me, Maggie." His voice was no more than a growl.

Damp flesh slapped against damp flesh.

Margaret thrust her fist in her mouth to quiet her cries as she drew closer and closer until her pleasure exploded through her in a rush. She moaned his name as she crested.

Richard thrust harder into her convulsing flesh, until he stilled and with a grunt emptied himself inside her.

In the aftermath, he lay his head against her breast, both of them panting hard.

"Maggie," he whispered and held her against him as he straightened. "You have ruined me. Forever."