“Oh, good.” Daisy moved to help him as he stripped off her drawers and stockings.

Her eyes widened as he began to unbutton his trousers. Curious but shy, she reached down to help him. A shaky endearment left his lips as he felt her small, cool hand slip beneath the unbuttoned placket of his falls. She stroked carefully, learning the length and hardness of him, loving the way his body trembled. “How should I touch you?” she whispered.

Matthew shook his head with an unsteady laugh. “Daisy…I’d rather you didn’t just now.”

“Did I do it wrong?” she asked in worry.

“No, no—” He gathered her against him, kissing her cheek, her ear, her hair. “You do it too well.”

His hands swept over her in sensitive strokes as he urged her back against the pillows. He undressed and levered his body over hers, and she shivered at the delicious textures of him, hairiness and smoothness and heat. Too many things were happening at once—she couldn’t compass all of it—the moist, hot drift of his mouth, the long coaxing fingers, the brush of his hair against her br**sts, her stomach…

The silky swirl of his tongue in the hollow of her navel sent fire licking through her veins. Hazily aware of the area his mouth was traversing, she stirred beneath him.

Not seeming to realize just where he was kissing her, Matthew persisted, sliding lower until Daisy let out a muffled yelp and pushed hard at his encroaching head.

“What is it?” he asked, rising to his elbows.

Crimson with mortification, Daisy could hardly bring herself to explain. “You were too close to my…well, you accidentally…”

As her voice faded, understanding dawned in Matthew’s eyes. Quickly he bent his head to hide his expression, and a tremor ran through his shoulders. He replied with great care, still looking away from her. “It wasn’t accidental. I meant to do that.”

Daisy was astonished. “But you were going to kiss me right on my—” She broke off as his gaze met hers, laughter dancing in his blue eyes.

He wasn’t embarrassed at all—he was amused.

“You’re not shocked, are you?” he asked. “I thought you were well read.”

“Well, no one would ever write about something like that.”

He shrugged, his eyes glowing. “You’re the literary authority.”

“You’re making fun of me,” she said.

“Just a little,” he whispered, and kissed her stomach again. Her legs jerked against his restraining hands.

She began to chatter nervously as she felt his mouth wander to her hip. “In s-some of the novels I’ve read, there were certain parts, of course…” She inhaled sharply at the sensation of his teeth gently scoring over her inner thigh. “…but…I suppose they were written so euphemistically that I didn’t qu-quite understand…oh, please, I don’t think you should do that—”

“What about this?”

“Definitely not that.” She twisted to escape him.

But his hands had hooked beneath her knees and he held them apart as he did wicked things with his tongue. She began to shiver as he found the sensitive flesh he had touched before, and his mouth was soft and hot and demanding, suckling until rapture flooded her from that place where his mouth possessed her, and when she begged him to stop he tormented her even more, licking, nuzzling deeper and deeper, and suddenly the pleasure uncoiled and she was crying out in dazzling relief.

After a long time Matthew moved upward to hold her. Fiercely she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He settled between her wide-open thighs, shaking with the effort to be gentle. She was invaded by a sundering thrust, and Matthew murmured love words against her throat, trying to soothe her even as he pushed farther, taking her, holding her.

When they were completely joined he went still, trying not to cause her further pain. He was so hard inside her, and Daisy absorbed the curious feeling of being possessed, of being utterly helpless and at the same time…in this moment he belonged to her utterly. She knew she filled his mind and heart even as he filled her body. Wanting to give him the same pleasure he had given her, she arched her hips.

“Daisy…no, wait…”

She lifted again, and again, straining to be closer to him. He groaned and began to press downward in a subtle rhythm. Crushing his mouth over hers, he shuddered from the intensity of his cl**ax.

They were both silent for minutes afterward, while Matthew held her close and cradled her head against his shoulder. He withdrew from her carefully and hushed her with his lips as she protested.

“Let me take care of you.”

Daisy didn’t understand what he meant, but she was so enervated that she lay with her eyes closed as he left the bed. He returned soon with a damp cloth, neatly wiping her perspiring body and the stinging flesh between her thighs.

When he lowered beside her, she burrowed against him, sighing in pleasure as he drew the covers over them. She moved until her ear rested on the sturdy beat of his heart.

Daisy supposed she ought to feel ashamed, locking herself in his bedroom and demanding to be seduced. Instead she felt triumphant. And strangely precarious, as if she were balanced on the edge of a new kind of intimacy that went beyond the physical.

She wanted to know everything about him—she had never known such devouring curiosity about another person. But perhaps a little patience was in order until they both had time to adjust to their new circumstances.

As the warmth of their bodies mingled beneath the bedclothes, Daisy was filled with the overwhelming urge to sleep. She had never suspected how nice it would be to lie quietly in a man’s arms, breathing his scent, his strength surrounding her.