The Reluctant Bride (Regency Undone) Read Online Free PDF

longer.’  
    ‘Thank you.’  She spoke with a quiet dignity that irrationally made him feel pleasure that he had for once pleased her.   
    He scowled, determined not to relinquish all his authority.  ‘There is however one condition ...’ 
    She looked at him warily. 
    ‘From this moment forth we will sleep together as man and wife and there will be some degree of intimacy between us.  I gave you my word that I would not force the consummation of our marriage upon you and I will keep to that but I will join you in your bed that we might get to know each other a little better.   That you might become more used to my proximity.  Those are my terms.  Do we have an agreement?’
    Sophia’s eyes flashed at him.  ‘Some choice!’ she snapped.  
    ‘It is the best you will get - and I think you should consider yourself lucky to have escaped so lightly.  Now ...’ his look was challenging.  ‘A kiss to seal the bargain I think?’
     
    Sophia glared at him but then a cooler expression entered her eyes.  It was not as if she had never been kissed before after all.  The occasional flirtation at a Coming-Out Ball, the odd experimental kiss with Edward.  It was not such a big thing and it seemed to her that men got far more enjoyment out of kissing than women did.  But the way he’d kissed her that morning …
    She closed her eyes and raised her mouth, shutting down the memory.  She would simply pretend he was Edward. 
    Still she tensed as she sensed him moving in. 
    But his kiss when it came was bewildering, causing her eyelids to flutter open again in confusion.  For it was not raw and demanding and ...  frightening as it had been that morning but light and warm; teasing her lips as if he had all the time in the world - as if he enjoyed the taste of her. 
    Her hands fluttered against his chest and then away again as she felt a perplexing response rising from her own untutored lips.  They quivered tentatively beneath his, becoming accustomed to the firm pressure he was applying – a pressure that deepened as he drew her to him with a little shudder and allowed his warm tongue to gently explore her mouth in a manner that was not ... unpleasant.   In fact the more it probed, the more it appeared her feelings were thrown into confusion ... her legs beginning to buckle beneath her until she was actually clutching weakly at his shoulders as if she would never let him go. 
    She didn’t understand what was happening to her.  She let out a little gasp as his fingers found and gently squeezed her nipple.   How could anything feel so good ?  
    Hearing it her husband laughed exultantly all traces of his previous anger gone. ‘That’s right Sophia,’ he whispered, ‘Give in to the pleasure of it.’
    The pressure of his hand on her breast increased as he pressed her against the door, his muscled thighs rippling against hers so that she could feel their hardness pulsating into her. He began to thrust subtly against her and she let out a little moan, bemused by the fire that ignited in the sweet valley between her legs.  She had never felt anything like it. 
    She felt his hands tugging impatiently at the ties of her bodice ripping it swiftly apart to expose the pale skin of her breasts.   She gasped throwing her head back against the door, aware she should be doingsomething to stop him as he lowered his head and drew first one breast then the other into his mouth.  But the sensations being wrung from her were too delicious to want to put an end to them.  Her nipples spiked into taut peaks under his ministrations, and the subtle thrusting of his thighs against hers was making her feel wanton.
     ‘Tell me, does this not feel good Sophia?’ he breathed against her skin.
    ‘ Oh ... yes! ’
    His hand took over on her breast, his thumb running delicately over the swollen tip as he raised his face to drink in the crimson flush of arousal in her cheeks. 
    Sophia was bemused.  This was so