Sighing once she was done, Richard straightened, thinking surely Christiana would consider her duty done now, but apparently not. He was barely upright before she was reaching for the covered buttons on the front of his breeches.

“Christia—” Her name died on a choked gasp as her hands brushed against his groin through the cloth of his breeches as she worked and Richard simply stood there, feeling himself growing beneath this latest unintentional caress and incapable of doing a damned thing about it. Well, Richard supposed he could grab her hands and force her to stop, but frankly, he didn’t want to.

Damn. How could such an innocent touch have such an enervating effect on him? He certainly wouldn’t be growing were it a valet helping him undress.

The thought died as she got his breeches undone and the proof of her effect on him sprang from his opening breeches to nearly slap her in the face.

“Oh my, Dicky, what a big—” Her words died on a startled gasp as Richard grabbed her by the upper arms and yanked her to her feet. The moment he could reach her mouth he covered it with his own.

Chapter Eight

Christiana gasped with surprise when her husband jerked her upright, and then gasped again when his mouth covered hers. This was definitely an unexpected turn of events. The very last thing she would have expected. Dicky hadn’t kissed her since the wedding ceremony, not even on their wedding night during the supposed consummation. And he certainly hadn’t kissed her like this. This was . . . her toes curled against the wooden floorboards and a small moan slid unbidden from her lips as his tongue slipped into her mouth and stirred up a wealth of sensation within her.

Who would have imagined a simple kiss could be so arousing? Why had no one told her this? And why the devil hadn’t he kissed her like this before?

Christiana was sure the last year would have been much less miserable had she had this to look forward to every night.

That was as much thinking as Christiana’s poor passion-stunned mind could handle, and those thoughts drifted away to float in the far reaches of her mind as she was consumed by the different points of pleasure suddenly springing to life inside her. This was like their earlier dance times a hundred when it came to excitement level. Her lips were tingling where they met his, her breasts were tingling where they pressed against him, and there was a strange hunger that seemed to be yawning inside her, urging her to stretch and arch her back in his arms. She was so distracted by these things that she hardly noticed when his hands began to move over her. They were simply an extension of the kiss, shivering up and then down her arms. When he moved one hand to press against her bottom through the lace of her gown, urging her tighter against the hardness nestled between them, she went with it, pressing herself as close as she could get and moaning again at the wellspring of reaction it caused in her nether regions. The feeling was so intense that she nearly rubbed herself against the hardness prodding her, but then was distracted by his other hand traveling to and squeezing one of her breasts.