Merrick by Claire Cray Page B

sound much
more ridiculous than it felt, when he said it aloud like that. But… “I am a
man, sir,” I said at last, hesitantly. “It struck me that you would find my
untoward behavior...disgusting.”
    “Would I have
touched you that night if I found you disgusting?”
    My eyes widened a
notch.
    “I would have
thought,” he murmured, as his hands moved slowly down my arms. “That would have
put you at ease somewhat.”
    “I thought it was
a dream,” I whispered.
    The look of
disbelief on his face would surely have amused me at any other time.
    “I hoped it was a
dream,” I added in a smaller voice.
    “Then it was you
who found my behavior disgusting?” His hands met my knees now, squeezed
them through my night shirt, and moved up my thighs. The linen dragged a bit
beneath them.
    I shook my head,
thoroughly disoriented. My heart was thumping in my chest.
    “Suppose I enjoyed
it, William?” Merrick’s hands were near my hips now, his thumbs stroking my
inner thighs, and his face was closer to mine.
    “Enj…” I
swallowed, trying to find my voice again and failing. “Enjoyed, sir?”
    He replied in a
whisper. “I enjoyed it very much.”
    I closed my eyes
and took a breath as his fingers crept up my hips, dancing over the ridges of
my stomach and spreading over my ribs. “ Enjoyed it…”
    I could not quite
get the words to sink into my mind. I was reeling. Enjoyed it? What…the notion
was so absurd it made my head swim a little, which was the last thing I needed.
    “Do you find me
disgusting, then?” He was so close that his breath touched my lips.
    I exhaled sharply
as his fingertips found my nipples. “No, s…” Drawing a shaky breath, afraid to
move lest I – what? Encourage him? Discourage him? – It was hard to keep my
wits about me as he teased those inexplicably sensitive little peaks until they
were stiff and aching for something more.
    “No?” His lips
touched my cheek then, moving there with the softest touch, less a kiss than
the suggestion of one. One of his hands moved from my chest to my neck,
slipping around to the back of my head and gently twining his fingers in my
hair. His mouth moved closer to mine then, moving softly against the corner of
my lips as he breathed his next words. “Do you desire me still, William?”
    I suddenly
realized that my breath had deepened, my chest rising and falling in slow
heaves, and my heart was pounding beneath the fingers that continued to tease
and stroke me there. My head would have fallen back if not for the hand that
cradled it, so stunned I was by this turn of events, so dizzy I was from the
hunger that he stoked with his caresses.
    I could not answer
him. I could not…
    “Or are you still
intent on purging this desire?” His lips brushed over mine, tantalizingly
close.
    I felt a rush of
breath leave my own lips, and it might have been either of us who sealed up the
space between us.
    I devoured his
kiss as hungrily as he crushed his lips to mine, and when I heard his soft
groan of pleasure I could not stop myself from reaching up and plunging my
fingers into his hair.
    It was as soft and
silky as I had imagined, just like his lips; and the clean taste of him was
more thrilling than I could have conceived. His hands moved restlessly over me,
lighting my nerves up wherever they touched.
    Nothing could have
prepared me for how it felt to melt against him like this. It was as though my
body had found its true purpose, and that was to be caught in Merrick’s arms
and consumed.
    I gasped when the
kiss was broken, opening my eyes to find his perfect face still close to mine,
his golden eyes turned fiery with lust and moving appreciatively over me. He
was kneeling between my legs, and I had slipped to the very edge of the bed to
get closer to him. My nightshirt was rumpled about my lap, nearly exposing me.
    Merrick’s eyes met
mine and locked me in their gaze. “Have I put your mind at ease?” He ran his
thumb gently over my lips and then