He pushed her back toward her bed, and she shuddered as he leaned her against the high edge so she no longer had to support herself as he kissed her and kissed her until her entire world condensed down to their mouths and tongues and lips. Finally he broke away, staring down at her, his breath as short as hers, his hands shaking as he lifted them to cup her cheeks gently.

“I want to touch you, Thomasina,” he whispered, his voice broken and cracked and raw.

She blinked up at him, this man who looked like the one she would marry in a few short days, but also seemed different. Jasper had never let her see past his cool façade, but right now his walls were down. He was passionate and heated and driven, and all his energy was focused on her.

He also seemed to expect an answer to his statement, and she struggled past the lump in her throat. “Aren’t you already touching me?” she asked with a nervous laugh.

“Intimately,” he said, letting his hands slide down her throat, across her collarbone, down her shoulders and arms.

She felt the pressure, the heat, through the fabric of her gown, and suddenly and shockingly wished that it wasn’t between them.

“If you don’t want me to,” he continued, “if you want to wait until we are properly wed, I will walk away tonight and be pleased with just being able to kiss you as I’ve fantasized about for far longer than I should have. But I cannot express to you how much I want to touch you until I feel you flutter with pleasure.”

She felt how wide her eyes were. It was almost as if she couldn’t blink anymore. What he was describing was not something one bore, that was for certain.

“You would…claim me?” she asked with uncertainty.

He smiled again, but this time there was something a little pained to the expression. “I would very much like to do that, but I think once I start, I’ll never want to stop, and that would make the next few days rather awkward. So, no. I would not…er…claim you, as you put it. Just pleasure you. Touch you but leave you untouched.”

“That makes no sense,” she said, and found herself smiling even though this entire situation was fraught with odd emotion and desire and a great lack of understanding on her part. Why in the world had no one educated her better?

“No, this kind of sweeping thing never does.” He held her stare a moment. “Let me show you. You may say no any time you like.”

“I’ve heard that is not true,” she said. “That once I say yes, there’s never again a no allowed.”

He recoiled as if that thought were an anathema to him. “Not with me. Let me be very clear, Thomasina. You may say no to me at any time. You said I would claim you, which implies some kind of ownership, but I have no interest in that. You are the only person who controls your body, your mind, your heart…I would never try to bend you or take that away. If at any point you don’t want anything I do, you say no and that ends it. We may discuss it further, but I will never do anything, especially in our bed, that you don’t enthusiastically agree to.”