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Maris shivered in anticipation This night would end much differently

"Maris, my love, come to me" His voice was low and smooth, and his eyes never wavered

Nervous, excited, anticipatory, she moved quickly to him and allowed him to pull her onto his lap He drew the transparent veil fro thickness of her hair, gently co the mass of waves and curls "Your hair is so beautiful," he told her, pressing a kiss to the end of a thick lock

He stroked the edge of her chin, his touch leaving tiny sensations of pleasure, then closed his lips over her mouth in a sleek, sensual kiss that left her breathless His long, tan fingers unfastened the golden girdle that rested on her hips and eased the heavy overtunic above her head, then flung it into a heap on the floor And when he bent to kiss her once h, and easy one, as if to reht to taste each other

Closing his hands over her breasts, still covered by the gossamer undertunic, he stroked his thuhtened into miniature erections, and then he shifted the fabric across the over their sensitive points, Maris felt a delicious dart of pleasure shire in her belly, and she felt as if she were filling and swelling in her private areas Damp heat rushed and centered there, and Maris realized she was beginning to feel a sort of itchy, needy sensation in the pit of her belly

Dirick’s htened and shivered as she smoothed the flats of her hands over the muscular slabs of his chest, down the sides of his ribs and abdoernails over the back of his shoulders, then down and around to the ridges of his belly Tiny bu becoh and unsteady

Abruptly, Dirick stood and directed her toward the large bed where the curtains had been pulled back Sprigs of rosemary and violets lay on their pillows, and he swept the Maris onto the plush bed She watched, unafraid, as he slid his breeches down over lean hips and well defined, h culled the back of her throat when he cath of his body

Her chest rose and fell, and he placed his hand over the swell of one breast, allowing it to rise and fall with it

"Maris," he spoke, looking at her directly "Do you knohat is to happen?" The gentleness in his grey eyes stirred her and she reached up to smack a playful kiss onto his lips

"Aye, Dirick, ’tis no secret to me what a man and woman do when they mate And, I am not afraid," she told hiers twisted in the thick hair that fell over his forehead, then trailed her hands lower, drifting down his chest and boldly to the hardness between his legs When she brushed against that hot, tu his breath in a sharp, pained groan Maris couldn’t help a self-satisfied sht at his obvious pleasure, she closed her fingers over hard, velvet-skinned erection This tiroan that caan to explore its war…but sliding up and down along it seeood idea

"You are bold, rin at her He shifted out of her greedy reach with a quick, precise e--for I am at your mercy, and you are still armored by some manner of cloth Allow me to rid you of your protection"

With a quickit down the center of her body, leaving its ivory curves bare to his gaze Maris gasped in surprise and with a faint twinge of annoyance "Dirick," she adly, "you’ve just ruined the dearest piece of cloth I’ve ever purchased"

"I don’t care," hehis hands with her breasts "I shall buy you another to replace it Two if I must"

Then his hand smoothed over her belly, down to that warm, moist place where all of her senses seemed to have collected She throbbed and ered the swollen little knob there, teasing and ently Maris felt theinside her, blosso hot and needy and all the world fell away but for the sensation of his fingers, stroking and sliding in her wetness

"Beloved, I would not hurt you, but I cannot prevent it…and I must have you…now"

"Yes," she whispered, hardly aware of what she was saying With a s up on one elbohile he guided hi And then, suddenly, she felt him fill her, full, oh…full…and then a sharp pain surprised her and she gasped softly

"Beloved," he whispered, holding hiivewas the only sound in the cha, uncertain and desperate

The pain had ebbed and all at once, Maris are--very aware--of being filled, of the anticipation, the need, beginning once again She gave a little twitch, a little shift, and with the gust of released breath, Dirick began todisco, slow rhyth until so filled her, blossoit in a sharp snap of heat

Marisher nails into her husband’s skin, but she wasn’t certain, for he was ency His ers, his skin was hot and daainst hers