Harland ran his fingers through his hair, trying to recover from the pain of having left her after only just having entered her. It had required every ounce of will. He still trembled from the effort.

He rubbed his hands over his face, the scent of her clinging to his skin, making his cock ache all the harder to return and finish the business at hand. Or at thigh, rather.

But it wasn’t just business, was it?

The words with which she’d inadvertently pierced the tough hide of his heart echoed through his mind. What is this but nothing that I don’t give—freely, completely, and with the whole of my being? They’d haunt him for the rest of his days.

She hadn’t been giving him herself, she’d been giving him a gift—a gift to him who could never be worthy.

“My lord…”

He looked back to the masked woman upon the small bed. She’d drawn herself up to partially sitting, legs closed, and she kept her knees close, almost obscuring her breasts, but not quite. Her hair was a tumble, her face pale.

Something clicked in his brain. When she’d left, she’d gone alone. She hadn’t been escorted by anyone else. It could only mean she hadn’t been supposed to have been at the ball. She hadn’t been invited. Still it seemed like he knew her from somewhere—somewhere far away. In another life, perhaps.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No. Not at all.”

“You should have told me.”

“You expected different, my lord?”

Holy hell. Yes. Yes he had.

“I didn’t…I didn’t mean to displease you.” Her voice sounded small.

“Displease me?” Harland angled his body to face her. “Is that what you think?”

She said nothing.

“How old are you?”

“Too old to want to own my age, my lord.”

“And you’re really still a…a…” Apparently the “v” word belonged in the same category as the “w” word. Unable to complete the sentence, he raised both brows in question.

“Is that so very wrong?”

How was it possible he’d been unable to notice all the signs that in retrospect were so obvious? “You must understand. I don’t go about deflowering women.”

“Whoever said you did?”

“I’ve never been with a v…” He cleared his throat. “…with an inexperienced woman before.”

“I didn’t know it mattered. Truly, I didn’t.”

Hand covering his face, he shook his bowed head. A minute ago he’d been warmly ensconced in the snug passage between her legs.

The moment was gone.

He’d smashed it. It was all going wrong. All of it. If he could have held back some of his shock and changed tactics more smoothly mid-stream, there wouldn’t be so much ground to now recover.

“Please, my lord, I don’t want you to be sorry.”

Sorry? Is that what she thought?

He glanced out the window. The first hint of the coming dawn smeared a grey-ish lavender over the eastern sky like a graceless bruise.

There wasn’t much time.

Resolution took hold within him. “We’ll have to start all over again.” He pulled his legs back upon the bed.

He ran a hand down the front of her, gliding from the line delineating the bottom of her ribcage, over the roundness of her belly, and back up again, ending at a breast. When he traced a circle around her nipple, the little protrusion grew into a hard point.

The solidity of her mixed with that unabashed female softness. The only thing he might ever want to change was the addition of a good stone or two. Let her be good and ample. All the better for him to grasp as he made love to her.

“We’re going to have to do this right. That is, if you still want to.”

* * *

Abigail came alive under his touch. “Were we doing something wrong?” According to her limited knowledge, which thankfully expanded beyond the few clipped explanations and overheard whispers with which she’d patched together some information over the years, they’d been managing well enough. The rather shocking illustrations she’d once paged through in an old book she’d found hidden at the top of a previous employer’s clothespress had answered more than a few questions, and it hadn’t seemed they’d been doing aught differently.

“Yes. First of all, we can’t take any chances on the outcome. I will have my pleasure, there’s no question about that, but we must ensure you also have yours.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“If you trust me, I’d like to show you.”

She gave a little nod.

“Good. Now lie back.”

He came down next to her, head supported on his hand to look her over. The surface of the bed accommodated them both side by side, but just.

“By God, but you’re beautiful.”

He leaned forward to nuzzle her ear, voice low and rough. “There’s something particular I have in mind to do to you. You might be terribly shocked. I can stop if you want, of course, but I want to ask you to try to put aside qualms for a few minutes to try what I have in mind to see if you enjoy it as much as I think you will.”

Abigail’s mind searched for possibilities as to what he might mean and drew nothing. “What is it?”

“I’d rather show you.”

She smiled. “But I will be terribly shocked?”

“Well—”

“I assure you I can withstand things that would shock others.”

He returned her smile, his hand went down her body again, this time going all the way between her legs, stopping to stroke back and forth with gentle pressure on that hard spot at the apex. The seat of all her most secret pleasures.

She relaxed into his attentions.

“I suppose you like touching yourself there, don’t you, wicked wench?”

Abigail’s face warmed—partially from the service he was doing her, partially from him having so easily guessed at what she’d always thought nobody would ever know about her.

“This isn’t so shocking, my lord. Not like you made it seem.”

“Patience, Miss S. We’ve only just begun.”

* * *

She wanted to gift herself to him?

Only one way to respond: In kind.

Harland hoisted himself on his arms to hover above her, starting with his mouth upon hers and moving lower. The line of her neck melted into the slash of a collar bone. That smooth, feminine chest quickly gave way to something softer and more feminine still. He placed a reverent kiss upon each breast.

Then he moved lower still. When he pushed apart her legs, her whole body jerked in surprise. “Told you I’d shock you.”

His cock flexed at the sight of her. The hair was a few shades darker than what was upon her head. The flesh was dark pink, the inner furls edged at the tips with brown. A high pleasure point that was none too small stood at the top. And she was so damp from arousal.

So much beauty. So much woman.

“I don’t know what you mean by this.”

He stroked the inside of one of her thighs. “I mean to work my mouth on you until you climax.”

“You can’t want to do that.”

“Oh, but I do.” He grinned up at her.

Already the womanly perfume was enough to drive him mad. Harland’s cock begged to bypass these precursors and go right back to working itself inside of her. Selfish beast of a thing it was, his cock. It didn’t understand that this was more than simply the one and only opportunity they had together, this woman and he.

It was her first experience of the act. His entire life had narrowed to only two reasons for existing. The first was making the experience unforgettable for her. The second was ensuring that no other man that might come after him ever measured to the standard he set.

“Try it, Miss S. That’s all I ask. If you can’t abide it, we can move on to what comes next.”

“What comes next?”

“You’ll see.”

He started at the top flicking his tongue on the clitoris. He traced his way down each petal one at a time and then worked his tongue around the entrance point in small circles.

“Is that so terrible?”

“Not—not really.”

“Good. Now hush yourself. Lie back and relax and let me do this for you.”

He clamped his mouth onto her and began to suck. Soon her hips began to rock. She reached down to run her fingers through his hair. “Oh, please, my lord, please. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”

After she shook and cried out, she lay panting.

He covered her, easing himself down and finally gave in to what he wanted, kissing her and piercing his hardness into her body, still so tight and swollen from coming.