Her Leading Man (26 page)

Still shaking his head, he smiled down at her
.
It
was the tenderest, most endearing smile Christina
had
ever
received from anyone, and it made her want to
burst into tears of joy. Good
heavens, if a sexual encounter
could turn even a hard-headed
sensible
woman like her into a weeping willow,
it was definitely
a powerful instinct.

“
I’m only amused because we have to
remove
trousers from you, Christina. I guess the days of
lifting
a
lady’s shift and skirts are long gone.”

After hesitating a moment—she still didn’t know
whether his
amusement was a good thing or a bad
one—Christina said, “Yes. I guess they
are.” And
since she knew this was not the appropriate time to
go into a feminist
diatribe, she left it at that and unbuttoned
her trousers.

When she’d undone the last button, Martin helped
her slip the pants
down her legs. “You have gorgeous
legs, Christina. You’re beautiful all
over.”

“
Thank you.” His comments did much to
relieve
her mind of lingering doubts about his opinion of
her as a sexually
attractive woman. In fact, if he
hadn’t said a word but only continued to
gaze at her
with that compelling hunger, she’d have known he
found her
irresistible. Which was a very good thing,
because she felt the same way about
him
.

After she’d removed her trousers, she lay back
against the pillows,
naked but for a pair of newfangled
undies that could be worn by ladies under
trousers.
The
regulation pantaloons bunched up too badly
to serve the purpose, and while
ladies
were
not encouraged
to wear trousers, clothing manufacturers
had begun bowing to
the inevitable.

“
My
God,” Martin whispered. Several times.

She held her arms up, hoping he’d quit staring at
her and resume
kissing her
.
She assumed he’d done
this before and knew how it was
supposed to go.
Although she herself had full clinical knowledge of
how sexual congress
was achieved, she was an innocent
regarding the act itself.

Fortunately, Martin didn’t delay any longer, but
took her up on her
invitation. He wrapped his arms
around her and proceeded to all but
worship her body
with his hands, mouth, and tongue. Christina hadn’t
known a man’s mouth
could be used so thrillingly,
but when he tantalized her breasts with his
tongue,
she
nearly shrieked with the rapture of it all.

Arching into his caress, she cried out, “Oh, Martin!
That feels so—so—”
“Good” was completely inadequate
to describe the sensations she was
experiencing,
so she left off even trying to express herself and
only
moaned.

“
You feel like heaven to me, Christina,” he
said,
rather poetically, Christina thought. She also
thought
it
was lovely of him to say so.

She was getting impatient. The pressure that had
been building in her
nether
regions
was now pulsing
and throbbing and all but crying
out for some sort
of release. Hoping she wouldn’t shock Martin, she
reached for his
trouser buttons.
“Here,” she said
hoarsely, “take these off.”

“
Yes,” he said, and his voice was gruff, too.
“I’ll
do it.”

Quick as a whistle, he suited the action to the
words. Christina
shoved her own drawers off and
watched breathlessly as he stood and stripped off
his
summer-weight trousers and his drawers. For a few
seconds, he stood
naked before her, as if assessing
her state of emotional
well-being.

Christina understood why he did that and thought
he was being quite
considerate under the circumstances.
An erect male member was not
something
a
normal young woman would be prepared for. It was
. . .
well
,
rather shocking,
actually.

Fortunately, Christina’s medical training served her
in this moment of
crisis, even though she hadn’t quite
anticipated this. She swallowed and, in
what she considered
a gesture of courage, held out her arms in
invitation.

Martin took her up on the invitation instantly,
although
not
roughly. He sat next to her and lifted her
into his arms. “Are you frightened,
darling?”

He’d called her “darling!” Again, Christina nearly
lost control of her
emotions and started blubbering.
Again, her strong Mayhew character saved
her from
the
ignominy. Besides, it would be unfair to
Martin
if she were to cry. He’d surely think she was
apprehensive
or unwilling, and that would never do. He
might even refuse to
carry this incident out to its
completion, and Christina was pretty sure she’d
never
recover
if he didn’t do something to assuage her craving
soon.

“
I’m not
scared, Martin. I want to do this.”

“
So do
I.”

He kissed her so tenderly and so sweetly that the
momentary hiccup in
passion
Christina had experienced
when she’d seen his large and alarming
manhood
was
soothed in no time at all. He caressed her
body with his clever
hands, sending shock
waves of
sensation through her and making every single one
of the cells in her
body
stand up
and sing.
It
wasn’t long before his hand had smoothed its
way down her
stomach to the thatch of dark
curls
between
her thighs Christina sucked in a breath,
knowing the time was drawing near.
She could hardly
wait
!

Martin paused, perhaps misinterpreting her gasp.
“Are you all right,
Christina? Do you want me to
stop?”

Her heart made a wild swoop. “Stop? Good heavens
no! If you stop now,
I’ll die.” Dramatic, and not
something she’d expect herself to say under
normal
circumstances. But, she reminded herself, these
circumstances
were far from normal, and her heart and
body seemed determined to rule
her brain.

“
All right.” He sounded relieved, which only
made
sense.

His fingers gently caressed her curls for a moment,
before one of his
fingers searched more deeply.
Christina’s heart plunged, her blood raced, her
juices
flowed, and she all but shouted in anticipation.
When
another
finger joined the first, and Martin began tenderly
probing the damp
crevice where so much feeling
c
entered, she reached for his sex, too. Heck, she
might as well join
in the fun.

Martin groaned with pleasure, and she was
pleased. His fingers
dipped a little deeper and rubbed
a little harder, discovering, with a
little probing, the
absolute center of her female desire, and she arched
under his
touch.

He kissed her hard. She was a little surprised when
his tongue gently
pried her lips apart and entered her
mouth. It was as if this were a preview of
what other
parts of their bodies were going to be doing—and
the sooner the
better, in her opinion. She’d never
heard about this kind of kissing. Or
perhaps she had.
Maybe this is what some of the actresses with whom
she’d worked before
called “French kissing.”
They’d
always discussed it in low tones and giggles,
and
Christina
hadn’t paid much
attention. Her mind had
always been on loftier matters.

Not any longer. Now she
tasted Martin’s mouth
much as he was tasting hers, as
their hands and fingers
worked magic on each other. She felt a
moment
of
panic when he pulled away from
her.

“
Are you ready, Christina?” His voice, ragged
and
breathy, contained an element of urgency.

She was as ready as she’d ever be, she imagined,
so she nodded. “Yes,
Martin. I’m ready.”

“
I’ll
try not to hurt you, darling.”

If he kept calling her “darling,” Christina wasn’t
sure she’d survive
this experience dry-eyed. Nevertheless,
she nodded and managed to smile. Her
heart
hammered against her rib cage like a trapped bird,
and her blood felt
as though it were boiling in her
veins. She’d never understood the
metaphors of love
before this moment.

As gently as could be, Martin pressed her onto
her back. She opened
her arms to him, he guided
his rigid sex to the opening of her female
treasure,
and
she shut her eyes as he thrust into her.

She was surprised by how little pain she felt. She
guessed she was one
of the lucky females whose
maidenheads weren’t so securely, attached as to
be
difficult
to break through. Thank God, she thought
with what someone else might
have
considered
blasphemy
, but which was for her a heartfelt prayer of
gratitude to her
Maker. Christina’s God was an inclusive
one who didn’t expect everyone in His
world
to
adhere to one specified mode of behavior.

Martin, panting and straining, had not moved since
he’d conquered her
virginity. He’d pressed his head
onto the pillow next to Christina’s face.
She turned
to
see his eyes clamped shut in what looked like agony.
His muscles were
taut and straining
.

Oh dear What
did
this
mean?

She said gently, “Martin? Are you all right?” She
knew all about
women, their bodies, and how painful
initiation into the rites of the flesh
could be; she’d
never
heard that men suffered pain, too.

He lifted his head and smiled at her. She took
heart. “I’m
fine, darling. I was
worried about you.”

How sweet he was. “I’m fine, Martin.” She caressed
the back of his head
and urged his face closer
to hers. He, obliged, and kissed her
tenderly.

Then, ever so slowly and carefully, he began to
move in her. At his
first plunge, Christina’s body reacted
as if she were a firecracker and
someone had
lit her fuse. Merciful heavens, how good it
felt.

“
Oh,
Martin!”

He stopped moving instantly. Her eyes popped
open, and she found
him gazing worriedly down at
her. She wanted to shake him and tell him to
stop
being so
blasted considerate.

Through
clenched teeth, he said, “Christina?”

Grabbing his shoulders, she tried to give him a
shake, but he was
too strong. So she said, “Keep
going, for heaven’s sake! This is too good! Don’t
you
dare
stop!”

With a sigh, Martin allowed his eyelids to drift
shut. He also
resumed the slow rhythm of his lovemaking
.
Christina allowed her body to take charge
and do what it
wanted. What it wanted to do was
meet each of Martin’s thrusts with a lift
of her hips.
Then it wanted to grind against him a little bit, an
activity that drew a
groan of delight from Martin.
Then her legs decided to clamp around his back
and
hips.

He seemed to like that, too. It wasn’t long before
his
strokes became
deeper, longer, stronger, and
quicker. She matched him stroke for stroke. Odd
little
noises
came from her mouth, too, which she later
decided was only another one of her
body’s methods
of enjoying itself.