Charlotte adjusted her outfit carefully and took one last look around her bedroom before she smiled. Everything was perfect. She only hoped Colin would agree.
She opened the door between her two chambers and found him sitting at her writing desk, staring out at the swirling snow, his back to her. For a moment, she smiled at the image. He was such a large presence at her very delicate and feminine escritoire.
“I’m ready for you,” she said.
He got up and turned toward her. “And it’s about time…” he began with a teasing tone that trailed off as he saw her outfit.
Charlotte grinned. She had carefully modified one of her prettiest, silkiest chemises so that it looked quite like an ancient roman shift. She had piled her hair high on the crown of her head and wrapped her upper arms with golden bracelets.
“This is better than a fantasy,” Colin breathed as he crossed toward her slowly. “I asked to be bathed by my lover, and instead I am greeted by the goddess Juno, herself.”
Charlotte turned her face with pleasure and embarrassment at the compliment. She would never grow accustomed to such words coming from Colin’s mouth. At least, she never intended to. She intended to drink them in and revel in them.
“Come inside,” she said, stepping aside to motion him into her bedroom.
He sucked in a breath as he looked around him. She had transformed her bedroom as well. Her large bathtub sat in the middle of the room, steaming from the hot water awaiting him. Candles had been lit all over the room, adding to the glow of the firelight. Rose and orchid petals spread on the floor and floating in the bathwater gave the heady scent of flowers to the air.
Colin bent and picked up a petal from the floor. Holding it up in wonder, he said, “Flowers? In the midst of a storm?”
She smiled. “In the orangery I keep a few plants to have fresh flowers in winter. I had the servants pick the prettiest ones.”
“This is a fantasy,” he said as he let the petal fall from his fingers to the ground. His gaze grew heavier, more taut with desire as he stared at her. “Better than a fantasy.”
“Divest, my lord,” she ordered softly. “If I am to bathe you, I do not want your bathwater to get cold.”
“Yes, goddess,” he said with a deferent nod as he released the knot that closed his robe and let the fabric fall away.
The air left Charlotte’s lungs in a whoosh of heavy breath. Dear God, but he was a specimen of a man. Lean muscle tapered down his chest, his arms, and his legs. Years of fencing and riding had kept him in perfect condition.
And then there was his cock.
Charlotte had not seen a great many, of course. Her husband had been her one and only lover. But she had heard a great deal of discussion of such things from her married and widowed friends. Enough talk that she had a sense of what to expect from the average man.
Colin was in no way average.
She shivered just thinking of how good it felt when he pressed that long, heavy length of muscle deep into her body. Already her thighs clenched, wet heat trickling from inside of her as she anticipated the moment when these little games of fantasy ended and they joined together once more.
Colin seemed immune to her perusal. He turned away, revealing buttocks as muscular as the rest of his lovely form, and lifted one foot into the steaming bath. He sighed as he slowly eased himself under the surface of the water.
“Great God, I needed that.”
She moved forward and knelt on the pillows she had stacked beside the tub in preparation for this moment.
“I imagine you would after your long, cold ride,” she said as she took up a sponge and soap.
He arched a mischievous brow at her. “If you recall, my last ride was quite hot and wet, my dear.”
Rolling her eyes, Charlotte wetted the items in her hands, lathering the sponge until the foamy soap soaked every pore. Then she leaned forward and began to swirl delicate circles across Colin’s broad, wet chest. He made a hissing sound of pleasure and shut his eyes.
“I am at your mercy, great goddess of…” He hesitated and one eye came open. “What was Juno goddess of?”
Charlotte faltered in her strokes before she said, “Marriage, I believe.”
“Ah.” He settled back again. “How appropriate.”
She was quiet for a while. The only sounds in the room were the soft sloshing of water, the swish of the sponge across Colin’s skin, and his occasional groan of pleasure when she teased her fingers below the surface of the water and stroked his belly.
“You know, I do not think I was specific enough in my fantasy,” he finally said as he sat up a little and looked at her.
Charlotte couldn’t help but smile, even as she let her fingers under the water one more time. But this time she did a little more than tease. She cupped his cock and found him fully erect beneath the cloudy water.
“Weren’t you?” she asked innocently, while she took him in hand and stroked him base to head. “Where do you require more detail, my lord?”
“I should have said that I wanted to wash my lover, as well,” he groaned as he caught her beneath her arms and pulled her closer.
The soap in her hand fell away as Charlotte kissed him. Water sloshed between them, wetting her chemise until it was transparent and dripping between her breasts, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even care when Colin pulled a little more and she was forced to rise up until she was half in the tub with him.
“Wouldn’t you want your lover to have a few less layers?” she finally asked when he let his mouth leave hers and instead trailed it to her neck, where he sucked ever so gently on the tender flesh he found there.
“Oh yes,” he purred in her ear. “Most definitely.”
She shoved away from him to rise. She knew what he saw. Her chemise clung to her breasts, revealing her taut nipples, her flat stomach. The heated humidity of the bath was causing her hair to fall from its updo. But he still looked at her like he would like to rip her clothes away and devour her whole.
She decided it was best not to make him wait. Shrugging out of the wet chemise, she let it fall to the ground around her ankles. She reached up to remove her bracelets, but he shook his head.
“Leave those on, my beautiful, delectable goddess,” he said as he reached for her.
She stepped over the edge of the tub. Although it was large, there wasn’t much room for the two of them together, and Colin didn’t make it much easier, forcing her to straddle his lap.
“You are a cad, sir,” she whispered as she settled over him. His cock rubbed between them, pressing to her belly as she rocked her hips back and forth against his.
“I think I’ll lick you clean,” he murmured back as he lifted her a little higher until her breasts were at the level of his mouth.
She let her head dip back as he captured one aching nipple. He sucked, tugging the swollen flesh between his teeth and swirling his hot, talented tongue around and around the bud until she was groaning with utter pleasure. Then he switched to the opposite nipple and repeated the action.
And all the while his wet fingers moved. He stroked along her sides, massaging her naked flesh until he cupped her gyrating hips. When he found the curve of her backside, he smiled against her flesh.
“I have always admired your beautiful body, Charlotte,” he whispered as he continued to lick and caress her breasts.
His fingers slipped down, parting the globes of flesh, granting him access to the little rosebud there. Charlotte gasped as he circled his wet finger around the opening.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, but she didn’t resist him. His mouth felt too good, his body felt too right, even that finger, which was pressing with greater intent and pressure, awoke nerves in her she never knew she had.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said softly.
She groaned as his finger slipped inside a fraction. A strange combination of pleasure-pain rocked her. Part of her wanted to pull away, but another part, a greater part wanted to feel more. To give something to him that she had never shared, or even thought to share, with another man.
As he eased deeper with that questing finger, he positioned her wet and ready slit over him. She moaned softly as he thrust upward, gliding into her sheath with no resistance.
It was as deliciously full feeling. His hard, heavy cock invading her in a way that was pure pleasure and comfort. And his thick finger in a way that was foreign and wicked. Meanwhile his mouth was so hot on her breasts, licking her nipples, stroking the valley between in a way that reminded her of the intimate kiss they had shared in the parlor.
Her senses were overloaded, overwhelmed and without warning a powerful orgasm rocked her. She arched against him, driving both cock and finger deeper as she clenched and tremored against both. He let out a low curse and thrust up into her release, pounding into her from below and swirling his finger in and out from behind.
She clenched and relaxed against the pressure as her first orgasm faded away. Now that the intense driving need for pleasure had been sated, she settled down against him, rolling her hips in time to his thrusts, really feeling the strange invasion of his body in hers.
“It’s so good,” she panted, amazed by how something that was surely wicked could make her feel so alive.
“I want everything to be good for you, Charlotte,” he panted from below her. “I want to make you tremble and scream and beg for more. I never want you to forget this.”
She rocked back, forward, always being filled on every stroke. Shutting her eyes, she drowned in sensation, and once again the intensity of pleasure, the impending anticipation of release, mounted deep within her loins, pounding in time with her heart.
“Come for me, Charlotte,” he whispered against her breast.
His permission set off the second explosion. This time she did scream, writhing and thrusting against the hardness of his body, milking his cock, almost desperate to draw out his pleasure with her own.
She opened her eyes and looked down at him. Colin’s wet hair was slicked away from his eyes, his neck strained with pleasure and the attempt to hold back the flood of his own release. He held her stare steady, watching every flicker on her face, drinking in each shudder and thrust of her body.
“Come for me, Colin,” she cried, mimicking his words.
His eyes widened and he bit back a groan before he pulled away from her body, leaving her bereft as he spent himself away from her. She frowned as he moaned and collapsed against the back of the tub. Although she knew exactly why he was so careful, she couldn’t help but feel cheated by not sharing that moment of his ultimate pleasure with him.
“That was magnificent,” he said after they had been quiet long enough that their panting breaths had calmed. He straightened up and shifted so that she had a little more room in the cooling bathwater. “Better than every fantasy.”
Charlotte smiled, strangely triumphant that she could give this man his fantasies when he had so much more experience than she had.
“And now it is your turn,” he said, giving her a wicked wink.
Charlotte felt a thrill low in her belly, but she ignored it as she pushed to her feet and climbed from the tub. Wrapping a large towel around herself, she shook her head.
“My only fantasy at this moment is food,” she said, and laughed.
His eyes lit up with desire and Charlotte cocked her head in wonder. He truly did only have one thing on his mind. Not that she wasn’t grateful that one thing involved her, but the fact that anything and everything she said could arouse him also served as a reminder that for him this was just a physical affair. Just sex.
For her own sake, she couldn’t want anything more. She already knew the consequences of such a thing.
“Food to eat, Colin,” she said with a laugh. “I think it is morning.”
He pushed to his feet and suddenly her appetite for breakfast faded. Water sluiced from his muscular frame, trickles trailing along his stomach, his legs. Even his cock, still semierect after their encounter, had rivulets dripping from it.
Turning her face away with a gasp, Charlotte grabbed for her robe. “I-I believe your things were placed in your usual room down the hall.”
Colin nodded and didn’t ask for further direction. He had always had a room of his own in the house. Her parents had accepted him as family almost from the moment he first appeared with Damien at thirteen. Whereas other guests were ensconced in the guest wing, Colin’s room was next to her brother’s, just across the hall from her own; and this nearness had caused so many long and sleepless nights for her as an infatuated girl.
Thank goodness she wouldn’t have to sleep alone now that she was an overheated woman.
“I will meet you in the breakfast room in an hour,” he said, interrupting her thought as he wrapped himself in his own robe.
“Colin,” Charlotte said, facing him again.
He crossed to her in a few long steps and wrapped his arms around her waist. Their bodies molded. Charlotte felt the heat of his touch, but there was something more. Something comforting about his embrace.
It made her want to push him away, but with great effort she remained steady.
“Do try not to make it utterly obvious what is happening,” Charlotte said, and blushed. “The servants will already guess and whisper about it, but if you are seen walking half naked from my chamber…”
He smiled before he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I will be cautious. The breakfast room. One hour.”
She nodded as he slipped away from her and headed out the door. When he was gone, Charlotte let out the breath it felt like she had been holding since he first walked into the parlor the afternoon before.
She looked around. Her bed was a tangle of sheets, petals and clothing had been strewn along the floor, and bathwater dripped from the edge of the tub and pooled along the hardwood beneath.
No one who came into this room would have any doubt as to what had occurred here. Charlotte sighed as she attempted to ignore her embarrassment.
She did trust the servants. Word of her transgressions would never leave this house, and they would tidy up while she and Colin breakfasted. Upon her return, no doubt all evidence of the night she had shared with Colin would be gone.
Nonetheless, she would never again view this room in the same way. For the rest of her life, when she stepped into this chamber, she would think about how Colin had looked in her bed. She would recall their bodies tangling in the sheets, in the tub, on the floor, against the wall.
The servants could erase the evidence, but no one could take the memory. And as she rang for her maid to help her clean up and dress, she wasn’t certain if that was a blessing or a curse.