Maid for a Duke (A Christmas Novella)

Chapter 9

"You are very good at that," Katherine said breathlessly. Elijah had been teaching her all about the joys of kissing over the past hour or so. She had to admit, she rather liked the feel of his tongue stroking hers. She was extremely nervous at first, but the more it went on, the braver she got.

A couple of times she found herself gripping his shirt with her hands, or running them through his hair. And he seemed to like it. A lot.

He smiled at her compliment. He brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. He seemed to do that a lot. It was almost as if he constantly had to be touching her hair. He complimented it more than once today.

"It's all you, Kitten," he said as he kissed her neck.

"I find that...hard to believe." Heavens, she could barely speak with him doing that. "I'm not experienced." He definitely is, she thought and jealousy tore through her.

"It's not about the experience. It's about the person you're with." He met her stare when he added, "It's different with you."

She felt Elijah's finger brush across the strings that tied the back of her dress together. "May I take this off?" He asked in a deep voice.

Unable to speak as nervousness and excitement shot through her, she nodded her head. After they both got to their feet, Katherine turned to give Elijah her back. She heard him take a deep breath before he started working the laces of her dress. When he finally had it untied, he pushed the material from her shoulders and it fell to the floor.

When she felt his lips on her neck again, she tilted her head to the side, giving him better access. "And your corset?" He asked in a whisper.

"Yes," she breathed.

He made quick work of untying her corset and hesitated before he took it off of her body. When he didn't ask to remove her shift, Katherine turned towards him with a frown. "Why did you stop?"

He reached out and cupped her face in his hand, running his thumb along the outline of her lips. "I find myself a little...overwhelmed."

She was surprised by his statement. He definitely was a man of experience, not to mention, he was also extremely talented. Katherine had no idea where her brave impulse came from, but she grabbed the bottom of her shift and lifted it over her head. When she dropped her shift and her drawers to the growing pile of clothes on the floor, Elijah seemed completely taken aback.

Katherine grew even more nervous as he ran his gaze over her body not once, not twice, but three times before he met her stare. Did he like what he saw? Or didn't he?

"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Elijah said with a catch in his voice.

He reached forward and pressed his lips against hers. Katherine wrapped her arms around him as he deepened in the kiss. When he instructed her to lay back down on the blanket, he rested on his elbow and gazed down at her with a sultry smile.

Elijah couldn't believe Katherine was laying here, naked before him. The light from the fire reflected off of her skin, making her even more beautiful if that were possible. He had never felt skin as soft as hers before. He seemed unable to stop touching her.

He sensed her nervousness and was being as patient and slow as he could with her.

"What about your clothes?" She asked.

As soon as she agreed to this, he made the rational decision to keep all of his clothes on. Tonight, he just wanted to show her what real passion felt like.

"Mine stay on tonight."

Elijah was sure she took the hint, but she asked anyway, "Why?"

"Because, beautiful, you are extremely tempting. If I take any of my clothes off, I cannot promise you that I will not spend the rest of the night taking pleasure from inside your body."