No Gentleman for Georgina (9 page)

Two months later

Georgina ran her brush through her hair as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was, finally and forever, Mrs. Paul Abbot. If she had thought herself happy on the day he had proposed to her in the club, now she was ecstatic. So much had changed since that desperate afternoon.

The door to her new chamber opened, and in the mirror, she watched Paul step through, his gaze falling on her and his smile widening.

“My parents have departed?” she asked as she got to her feet and turned to face him.

She was wearing a very pretty, very sheer night shift under her robe, but she was feeling a little nervous to reveal it. After all, Paul had been nothing but gentlemanly since their engagement, so they had not touched in an intimate way, save a few stolen kisses, in two months. Though she did often catch him looking at her with a certain hungry look.

A hunger she echoed at night in her empty bed.

“At last, yes,” he said with a happy sigh. “With all their good wishes.”

She smiled. “You have proven yourself to them, Paul. All your attention to their concerns, the way you have addressed them all so carefully over the weeks, it made such a difference. This morning as we were riding over to the church, both of them waxed poetic about you. If you ever worried about garnering their approval, you have done that and even more.”

He nodded. “Yes, it seems so, though I know they both still hesitate about the club—not that I can blame them. Either way, I am pleased, for I never wanted them to look on me as the fortune hunter your father once accused me of being.”

She shook her head. “They don’t anymore. And I never have, and as your wife, I would say mine is the only opinion that will ever matter.”

“Been talking to Annabelle, have we?” he teased as he moved toward her slowly.

She laughed, though her nervousness was beginning to increase as he reached out to stroke his fingers across the exposed skin of her wrist.

“I do like it when you say the word
wife
,” he said, his voice getting rougher. “Won’t you say it again?”

She leaned in and whispered, “
Wife
.”

“Yes,” he groaned. “Wife. My wife. And now I would very much like to consummate this union at last.”

She blushed. Paul was usually very proper, but now there was a dark and dangerous look to him. One that made her thighs clench as she remembered the intense pleasure he had given her not so very long ago.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” she whispered as she finally dared to loosen her dressing gown. With hands shaking, she slid it away and tossed it aside to stand before him in the short, sheer gown beneath.

“Good God,” he groaned, not moving but just staring at her for a very long moment. “You are beautiful.”

She smiled. Paul always made her
feel
beautiful. And now he was going to love her with his body as he had been for weeks with his words and his precious gestures.

“Will you…will you…”

She trailed off, unable to ask the question that was on her lips. He stepped toward her and glided just one finger beneath the thin strap of her chemise.

“Will I?” he encouraged her.

She took a long breath. “Will you remove your clothing this time? The last two times you weren’t able, and I admit I’ve been very curious. Mother wasn’t helpful in that arena, although Serafina and Annabelle and Gemma have given me some good advice in the past few weeks.”

He laughed. “I’m certain that is true. And yes, Georgina, I will remove my clothing tonight. I want to feel my body pressed against yours. I want to touch you in every way and I want to allow you to touch me. In fact—”

He cut himself off and stepped back to remove his jacket, then loosened his cravat. Slowly, he unfastened the crisp white shirt beneath and slid it away until he stood before her in only his trousers.

She caught her breath. Paul had always had a certain wiry strength to him. She had felt the muscles beneath his clothes when they danced or she stole a moment to kiss him. But now…now she could see him half-naked, and he was better than she’d ever imagined.

He was a finely defined man, with lean muscle at his stomach, strong arms and perfectly formed shoulders. Well, one perfectly formed shoulder. The other was scarred terribly.

She stepped forward and hesitantly allowed her hand up to touch the flesh mangled long ago. He allowed it, watching her closely.

“Does it still hurt?” she whispered.

He nodded slowly. “Not the flesh, but the damage beneath occasionally aches. Not so that I cannot do what I wish, but there is discomfort.”

She met his eyes. “I am sorry for that. And so proud of your bravery in saving others.”

Now it was his turn to blush and dart his gaze away. “I am half-naked now, Georgina. It is time to remove that very pretty night shift.”

She smiled and stepped closer, letting her body just brush his. “Then
I
will be completely naked. It seems unfair.”

He put his hand beneath her gown straps and glided them down at the same time. “It seems perfect,” he retorted as the gown pooled at her feet and she stood before him in nothing more than her skin.

She had never been naked with him. She’d always had some tiny protection of her gown, as bunched and lifted as it had been. But she found she wasn’t awkward as he stared, his eyes lit up with fire. No, she felt nothing but powerful, beautiful,
his
.

“I have waited for this,” he growled as his hands slid down her arms, cupped her hips. “I have imagined it for years.”

“Well, I’m here. And I’m yours,” she reminded him. “For always.”

He nodded, but surprised her by stepping back. Swiftly he toed off his boots, and removed his trousers in lightning speed. Her eyes widened as he straightened up and she saw a man naked,
her
man naked, for the first time.

His…member—a cock, Annabelle had called it when she tried to explain what would happen on Georgina’s wedding night—was very large. And it was already hard.

“It will fit?” she asked, needing a little reassurance even though the sight of him like this was exciting.

“It will. And by the time it does, you will be ready for it.” He reached for her hand and guided her to their bed. The firelight danced off the coverlet and she shivered as he urged her to lie across it.

He took a place beside her, lying on his side to face her.

“You liked what happened before?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. Sometimes I would try to touch myself as you had touched me in the wax exhibit and found some echo of the pleasure, but never quite the same,” she admitted.

His eyes fluttered shut. “You don’t know what you do to me,” he muttered, almost more to himself than to her. When he looked at her again, he was smiling. “I’ll repeat that and more, Georgina. I promise you.”

He leaned over her and lowered his mouth to hers. She lifted into him, wrapped her arms around his neck, relaxing into the pleasure of his deep, probing kiss. When she sighed and shivered against him, he broke the kiss and glided lower, letting his mouth move against her throat, her collarbone. Finally, he settled his lips against her breast, just as she had been dreaming about him doing since the day of their engagement.

His tongue swirled around her, blurring her vision and making her back arch as she moaned with pleasure. It was amazing that when he touched her elsewhere on her body, her sex responded so strongly. She tingled between her legs and she felt hot moisture beginning to pool there.

He shifted to the opposite breast, sucking hard enough that she gasped and her fingers tangled in his hair to encourage more of the sharp, focused pleasure.

He looked up at her, his dark eyes focused on her face even as he continued to lick and suck her. She locked gazes with him, the intensity between them making the sensations even more powerful.

He smiled against her flesh and then he moved again, his mouth moving over her stomach. Her eyes went wide. He wasn’t going to…he couldn’t…

He gently parted her legs with his warm hands and settled between them. He said nothing, but stared at her sex as if memorizing the look of her. She tensed as he traced her entrance with just the tip of his finger. Then he shocked her by burying his mouth against her and kissing her in that most intimate place.

At first the kisses were chaste and closed-mouthed. But soon he darted his tongue out to trace her slit. And his fingers joined in the torture, spreading her lips open, giving him better access.

If she had felt heat and wetness gathering there before, now there was nothing but lightning bolts of intense sensation. She lifted her hips toward him and he chuckled as he swirled his tongue around the tiny little bundle of nerves at the top of her sex. What had Annabelle called that? Her clitoris?

Well, he had found it, and now he was suckling it as he had done with her nipple. Only the sensation he created was far more powerful, far more intense. She found herself flexing her sex in time, her breath coming short, her vision blurring, and suddenly she was on the edge of ultimate pleasure.

“Please,” she panted, staring at him, grinding against him to find release. “Please.”

He sucked even harder, and she couldn’t stop the keening cry that escaped her lips as little explosions of pleasure rocked her, spiraling forever, making her body shake out of her control. And he gave her no quarter as she shook beneath him, continuing the assault of his mouth until she flopped, spent against the pillows.

He rose back up her body, braced himself over her and stared down into her face. “You are so sweet,” he drawled.

She shivered as she realized he was talking about her flavor, an intimate knowledge only he would ever have. The thought thrilled her.

“And now will you, will we…will you claim me?” she asked, still panting from release.

He smiled, his expression soft. “Yes. At last.”

He settled between her still-spread legs, positioning himself carefully. She felt the nudge of his cock at her slick entrance and waited for the breech. But instead, he simply stared down at her.

“I love you, Georgina,” he whispered. “There may be a little pain, but I promise you I will go slowly.”

“You couldn’t hurt me,” she said softly as she cupped the back of his neck and drew him down for a kiss. “Right now I could fly.”

Their lips met, and she tasted her own earthly flavor on his tongue. She was so enraptured by it, so aroused by it, that she hardly noticed him move. Then he was sliding inside of her, slowly, gently. Her eyes went wide as there was a burst of pain, and he stilled immediately.

“And now I’m yours,” she said, trying to relax against him. It was truly more odd than painful now. She felt very full with his big hardness inside her. Full, and yet it was also an anxious feeling. Like she was waiting for something.

For him to move.

“Are you ready?” he asked. “Because you won’t be mine until you quake around me.”

She shivered. So he could give her pleasure this way, too? It seemed the possibilities were endless, and she couldn’t help but thrill at the thought of exploring each and every one now that they were free to do so.

“I’m ready,” she assured him.

He slid forward again, further and further, until he was fully seated in her body. He stopped once more, his voice strained as he groaned, “My God, you are tight. So perfect.”

She shifted beneath him and an electric shot of pleasure arced through her. Her eyes went wide as she looked up at him. She flexed her hips again, and he made an almost pained sound.

“I’m trying to be gentle,” he said, his voice heavy with strain. “But you’re making it very difficult.”

“Then don’t try,” she whispered. “Please, please…”

He didn’t force her to finish the question she wasn’t certain how to ask. He just began to move inside her. He was slow at first, grinding his hips in small circles as he took her. And the pleasure she had felt from his lips flashed back to life. She clenched his shoulders, gasping for air as his thrusts began to be a little harder, a little faster.

Pleasure was like an approaching wave. She felt it coming, she wanted it to crash over her, and yet when it did, she yelped in surprise as much as relief, clinging to him as he continued to take her in those long, strong strokes.

His face twisted in pleasure, his lips pressing together, his neck strained, and finally, with a cry of her name that echoed in the room, he stroked one final time and she felt his hot seed move within her.

He collapsed over her and she clung to him, reveling in his weight, in his heat and in the fact that at last she was truly and fully his.

Finally, he moaned and moved off her, gathering her to his side and into his arms.

“Was that all right?” he asked when both of them had caught their breath. “Was I too rough?”

She laughed against his chest at the idea that her moans and cries of pure pleasure could be misconstrued as anything else. “It is funny you ask me that, because I was just thinking that
this
was what the fuss was about. If I had known, I might have snuck out my window weeks ago and come to you, rules be damned.”

He chuckled as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I would not have denied you, I cannot say otherwise. But now we are wed and I can have you however and whenever and wherever I would like.”

She rolled over and perched herself on his chest where she could look into his eyes. “That sounds very promising. You mean there is more to learn?”

He swallowed hard. “Oh, so much more, Georgina. And I’m going to teach you, and I’m going to learn what you like and what makes you quake and what makes you scream.”

“I very much look forward to it, Mr. Abbot.”

“I very much look forward to every part of our life together, Mrs. Abbot,” he answered as he leaned forward. “Because I am so utterly in love with you.”

Then he kissed her and she lost all her retorts, all her agreements, everything but how deeply she loved him. And how happy she knew she would be for the rest of her days.

The Notorious Flynns