The Bartered Virgin (8 page)

“Patience, my darling. First, we dine.”

And they did. David played waiter and unveiled succulent treasures from under silver serving platters. Saffron rice to go with her simmered chicken and wine sauce. Tender vegetables and plump, fresh rolls with freshly churned butter.

Winn sat across from David, watching him eat. The reflection of the candlelight in his eyes gave them a fire. He poured her another glass of champagne. “I think it’s high time we moved to tonight’s lesson.”

Winn dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “I agree.”

“Fine. I want you to go over to my bed and take off your shoes.”

Winn rose and did as he asked. She eyed the book and reached for it.

He stopped her. “Not yet. Wait for me.”

He climbed on the bed beside her. The counterpane had not been turned down, although the pillows were propped in the middle. He reclined against them. The dressing gown rode precariously open to expose his naked thighs. Winn averted her gaze and fumbled for words to express her uneasiness.

“I-I don’t believe it’s proper for you to be so unclothed.”

He took a deep breath. “I thought you did not want to be proper. You weren’t too proper this afternoon.”

Winn swallowed. “Yes, but it was daylight then.”

“And we were in a tree.”

She grimaced. “Please don’t remind me.”

“And things are different here in the candlelight?”

Winn thought for a moment. She licked her lips and gazed at the furniture. “Well…yes. I think so.”

“Ah. And what does your book say?”

There was the squeak of bedsprings as he reached over to retrieve the book. He handed it to her. “Now, what would you like to know about?”

She sat with the book on her lap. It was a little like Pandora’s box. Now that she had all the knowledge at her fingertips and David to explain it to her, Winn wasn’t sure if she wanted to go through with it. But she might never have the opportunity again. And, once tonight was over, David still might not want to marry her, no matter what he said. She would be free once again.

“Everything. I want to know about everything.”

“Then let’s begin.”

She waited for him expectantly. He merely stared back at her. Finally he let out a sigh and sat up. “I see I shall have to start at the very beginning. Only, please, let’s not get clinical. Give me the book and let me read a few pages. And try to get out of that contraption you’re wearing.”

“Oh, but I need help. The hooks are at the back and then there’s my corset and—”

“Never let it be said that I resisted a damsel in distress. Here, let me undo the hooks.”

Winn sat with her back to him. At first his hands went to the nape of her neck. He gently trailed his fingers across the expanse of her bare back. Her skin burned where he touched her. Her heart began a frantic flutter. The sensation left her breathless. He began to kiss the base of her neck and along her collarbone.

Winn sighed out loud. It felt wonderful, tingly and shivery at the same time.

“Wha…what are you doing?” Her own voice sounded dreamy and far away.

“I’m seducing you. You have run across that, haven’t you?”

She slowly nodded. “Yes, that’s what the woman does by taking her clothes off in front of the man. It occurs several times throughout the book. Sometimes she does it slowly, sometimes in haste. Sometimes the man rips off her clothes in desire. It…it sounds very savage.”

Winn felt the soft give of her satin bodice as one by one David dispensed with the hooks. At length, he slid her shoulder straps down to reveal her corset. He reached around and gently squeezed her breasts, first one and then the other.

“How do you feel?” he whispered as he kissed the line of her neck by her ear.

Through a haze of sensation, she summoned the strength to answer him. “My breasts feel as if they’re on fire. I want you to touch them without my corset on.”

He nuzzled her earlobe. “Funny, that’s what I had in mind.”

Slowly he began to unlace her. Winn wiggled impatiently as her satin-wrapped steel prison offered her more and more freedom.

“Faster, David.”

“Have you read the phrase
frenzy of passion
?”

“Yes. Is that why I want to be free of my clothes now?”

“Indeed. Ah, there. How do you feel now that your breasts are bare?”

How did she feel besides the fact that she could breathe again? They felt heavy and plumped, as if his touch had somehow changed their form. She allowed David to turn her toward him. She sat facing him, naked from the waist up.

“There, now we’re even. You have beautiful breasts, Winn. Silky white and flushed pink. Soft and round.” He molded his hands around them and lifted them one at a time as if weighing them.

“Do you like this?” He flicked her rigid nipples with his thumb. She jumped, startled by the pleasant sting. “Sensitive, aren’t they?” Winn nodded wordlessly. “When I touch them, do you feel a warmth spreading through your body?”

He squeezed her breasts again, his thumb and forefinger lingering on the rosy tips.

“Yes…” The word was a mere breath of a sigh.

“Where?” he demanded as he began to kiss her. Just a nip at first, at the corner of her mouth. When no answer came, he forced it from her with deeper kisses.

“Where?”

There were no words to tell him where the heat began to pulse in her body. Instead, she took his hand and placed it at the juncture of her thighs. The heavy crush of silk guarded the place where she wanted him to touch her.

“Yes,” he crooned. “That’s right. Do you want to take off the rest of your clothes?”

She begged by kissing him back, allowing his tongue to play with hers. She pressed herself against him and gasped at the feel of his hardened chest against her bare skin. Her nipples brushed the coarse hairs, tormenting her even further.

“Now,” she managed to whisper.

“This impatience is known as desire. I’ll take off the rest of your clothes in a moment.”

She whimpered in disappointment.

“First, I want to continue your lesson. Lie back.”

Winn did as he instructed. A flash of inspiration shot through her and she reached for the belt of his dressing gown. He stayed her hand by forcing her arm over her head. “Not so fast,” he reprimanded.

“Why?”

“I want to suckle your breasts.” He dipped his head and flicked her nipples with his tongue. Each rosy peak stiffened as he gently plied his tongue. He chuckled softly as she arched toward him, urging him not to stop.

“My little Winn is impatient. Good, and sometimes not. Do you feel your nipples pucker when I touch them? They are aroused. So am I. You aroused me the first time you read from the book. You aroused me in the garden. You aroused me in the tree. Would you like to see what you’ve accomplished?”

Winn nodded furiously. Her hair became untangled. David patiently removed her combs and pins when they began to tumble out of her hair and fly across the pillows. He suckled her nipples to hard nubs once again before allowing her to sit up. When she was settled back against the pillows, he untied his belt and shrugged out of the dressing gown. It lay pooled across his lap, except for a swatch of material between his legs that stood straight up like a circus tent pole.

David took her hand and placed it on the hard, silk-covered appendage. “Go ahead,” he urged. “Uncover it.”

The object lurched under her touch. Hell’s bells! It was alive. She removed her hand.

“No, you don’t,” he said. “Not this time. There’s nothing under there that will bite you, peck you, or otherwise harm you. It’s just me. My penis. Or, as you have already christened it, a cock. No feathered fowl is hiding between my legs. Do you understand now?”

If baring her naked breasts before a man hadn’t embarrassed her, sheer ignorance did. Imagine—a cock was merely a vulgar term for a penis! If it weren’t for the darkened room, she was sure he’d see her turning beet red from head to toe. Winn picked up a corner of the gown and moved it off his thigh. She gasped at the sight presented to her. It looked like Michelangelo’s David, only bigger. Much bigger.

“Go ahead, touch it. Touch me.” He ran his index finger across her cheek, down the line of her jaw to her décolletage. It was only fair, she supposed, that since she allowed him to touch her, she should touch him. Suddenly something she remembered from the book made her smile.

“This is
pleasure
, isn’t it?”

“It will be when you stop staring and touch me.”

She placed her palm on the tip of his engorged penis. David emitted a load groan.

She pulled away. “Am I hurting you?”

“Dammit, you are now,” he moaned. “Put your hand back. Touch me. Don’t be afraid. That’s it. Wrap your fingers around it. Yes…”

Winn continued her exploration of his cock. She decided to call it
cock
as it seemed to please him. The bulbous tip was smooth. A tiny drop of pearl-like fluid seeped from the end. Suddenly David’s hand closed around hers.

“Anatomy lesson. Head. Shaft. Balls. Pleasure.” One by one he guided her fingers around him.

Suddenly, it all began to make sense. She felt bound to share her enlightenment. “I understand, David,” she began excitedly. “You have a gorgeous prick. If I run my hand up and down like this—” she demonstrated, much to his joy “—then you will have an orgasm. You’ll
come
.”

He grabbed her hand and stopped her. “Sooner than I want to. Now—” he paused to catch his breath, “—I want the rest of your clothes off.
Tout de suite!
”

“Oh,” she cried happily. “You desire me.”

“Right fucking now. Off with the birdcage. I want you naked under those sheets as fast as you can.”

David blew out the remaining candles, except for one on each side of the bed, then sat in a chair and watched her awkward striptease. He wondered for a moment if he should go to his trunk and retrieve the French letters he always carried with him. For all that Winn would be his wife in a matter of days, she might not want the immediate complication of children. She was barely a child herself, even if she’d been on the marriage market more than a year. Once he initiated her into the joyous world of sex they might want to enjoy themselves for a while before starting a family. On the other hand, the thought of not feeling her tight slickness against anything but skin seemed morbidly unpleasant. The odds were in their favor that they’d not get caught first time around.

“I’m ready,” she said in an anxious voice from his bed.

“About time. My erection is failing.”

“I’ll fix that,” she offered.

David climbed in beside her. “Yes, you will.” He closed his arms around her and drew her close, feeling her soft, tender form against him. He gave her a moment to get used to him.

“David,” she murmured.

“Hmm?”

“Will we sleep like this all the time?”

“Like what, dearest?”

“Unclothed?”

“I shall insist on it.”

“Even in winter?”

“Especially in winter. I shall have the furs brought down from the attic and beaten. We’ll put them on the floor in front of the fireplace in the master bedroom. I shall feed you grapes from Spain and citrus fruits from the tropics. And we shall sip wine and watch the fire snap in the hearth.”

Winn snuggled against him. “When will our children come?”

“Whenever they feel like it. Why?”

“Well, now that I’ve touched your cock, I’m bound to have a baby.”

David cleared his throat. “Winn, if my erection is ever to return, you must stop talking. I see you’ve been listening to old wives’ tales again. One does not become pregnant by mere touch.” He tilted her head to face him. “Just how far into that book have you read?”

“I couldn’t get past the part where the man…
manger la chagatte
—eats the woman’s pussy. It was just too distressing.”

“Ah, yes. The gluttonous male sidling up to a woman with knife and fork poised in hand.” He ran his hand down the curve of her hip. His fingers grazed over the silken curls of her mons. He heard her inhale sharply. “This—” he fondled her pubic hair, “—is
le minou
. Your pussy. And a rather nice one, too, if I’m any judge.”

“Oh, another vulgarism. A pussy is a cunt.”

“Eloquent but true. Now, lie back and learn.” He slipped two fingers past her lips and caressed her slick flesh. “Mmm…Nice and wet. My cock will slide into you very nicely. Ah, feel that?”

A sigh was his answer. “You desire me as much as I desire you. And there it is.” His experienced finger found her swollen bud. He delighted when she gave a tiny squeak and jumped when he tweaked the engorged nub between his thumb and forefinger. “Your clitoris, the very heart of your desire. My tongue will enjoy playing down there, which is what is known as eating pussy. Your limited fantasies are safe from any further perils of male cannibalism. You, however—” he turned her on her back and covered her with his body, “—are not.”

David kissed her with a force that meant the lesson was over. It was time for formal practice. His cock was stiff once again and he was anxious to drive it home. He had to remind himself to go slow. He didn’t want to scare or hurt her. Reaching down, he placed the tip of his penis against the hard nub peeping from between her lips. He rubbed himself against her. She opened her mouth and moaned against his.

“Yes, David. Yes.”

“Yes,” he assured her. His plan was to give her pleasure first, to relax her and make her more willing to accept him. Then he could enter her and have his own pleasure without the worry of tears or pain. It was time for Winn’s initiation into womanhood.

He began to move down her body, kissing her with purpose. By the time he reached her belly, her hands had become entangled in his hair. David wanted her to touch him, to fondle him, to become familiar with his body. He demanded it. Finally his mouth reached its destination.

He buried his nose in her nether curls. She was a treasure of red and gold. Damn, but she had the sweetest scent. Already his mouth watered at the thought of tasting her. He carefully eased between her outer lips, flicking her aroused clitoris with his tongue. She arched under him and pressed herself into his face.