Lessons in Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

a dress more appropriate for a dinner party than an evening at home. Far too much of her bosom was revealed, as if she wanted him to stare there. And her hair . . . tumbling down her back like an opera singer’s. She’d thought that putting effort into her appearance would be a subtle way of inviting her husband to seduce her. But now she was too exposed. Stripped of any pretense of innocence in this game.
    “You are so beautiful,” James said simply. His eyes did not leer; they glowed, and her heart swelled in response.
    “Thank you.” Her voice seemed to disappear in the large room, but it did not matter. Her husband was drawing closer.
    He whispered her name, touched his hand to her cheek, and when she raised her head to look at him, he kissed her. Her eyelids fluttered closed at the first soft brush of his mouth. Then his tongue grazed her bottom lip and she opened for him, welcomed him into her body. The kiss was soft and slow. Not a promise of more to come, but an act in and of itself. As if they had a lifetime to explore each other’s bodies. And they did.
    James broke the kiss first, and she was forced to lean against him for support. “I have been dreaming of kissing you all day,” he murmured.
    Sarah tried to hide her pride. “But we only just kissed a few hours ago.”
    “Yes. And however short a time before we kiss again tonight, I’m certain it will feel an eternity. Men are quite cursed. When a man desires a certain woman, he can think of little else.”
    She blushed and put a little distance between them, unable to flirt and look him in the face at the same time. “Mm? And what of women?” From the corner of her eye, she watched him follow her progress as she strolled from the doorway toward the window.
    “I’m not sure,” he finally answered. “Have you ever found yourself consumed with thoughts of kisses?”
    Sarah curled her fingers into the drapery and squeezed hard to push some courage into her veins. The curtain rod gave a small creak, so she forced herself to loosen her hold. Then she took a deep breath and turned toward her husband, though she couldn’t manage to raise her gaze from the carpet. “Yes,” she admitted to the reds and golds of the Oriental tapestry, “even more than kisses . . . sometimes.”
    They both held their breath after that. Only the ticking of the clock, suddenly loud, pierced the silence for a few torturous moments. Her heart struggled in desperate panic.
    James finally inhaled, then breathed out one soft word. “More?”
    She’d forced out all the bold talk she could, so Sarah only nodded.
    “I was afraid . . .” he started, then shook his head. “I was afraid I had frightened you.”
    That made her smile, and she managed to glance up for a brief moment. “I was afraid I had frightened you .”
    The unbearable tension broke on the wave of his laughter. “Never think that. You please me to no end, my love.”
    “Will you . . . ?” She cleared her throat. “Will you stay for dinner, then?”
    His smile changed subtly, shifting from amusement to satisfaction. “Yes.” His eyes drifted down her yellow gown. “I had no plans to go anywhere at all.” Then he met her gaze.
    Oh, mercy. Now James was changed, too. A different creature than when he’d first returned from work. Instead of joviality, his green eyes glinted something dangerous. His jaw was harder, etched from a material more ruthless than flesh.
    The new mood in the room reminded her of the countryside in the fall, when buck deer would suddenly transform from gentle, pretty animals to fierce creatures bunched with muscle. The males wanted something, and they seemed mad with that want. But the doe responded, just as Sarah was responding to her husband’s possessive gaze.
    It was frightening to be wanted so. Frightening and stunningly exciting.
    When he stepped toward her, Sarah tensed with the impulse to flee. She was too new to this to respond any other way, regardless of her intentions.