darkness before he found his way to her lips. Her kisses were shy too, but her fingers crept up his shoulders and curled in his hair in a decidedly welcoming way.
“You want to be here with me, don’t you?” he asked, just to be sure. “You didn’t get lost on your way back to the servants’ quarters?”
She went still, and he thought for one moment that she’d rise and leave him there, aroused and unsatisfied. But then she said, in a soft, whispery voice, “Yes, I want to be here.”
The way she said it had him rock hard. “I’ll make it good for you, my little pretty,” he promised. He kissed her again, entranced by her freshness, her reticence even as she pressed her body closer to his. “We’re going to have a fine time together this Hallowe’en night. You’re not afraid of ghosts and goblins, are you?”
She whispered in that same soft voice, “No, milord. I’m not afraid.”
His fingers played over her knee and then trailed up the bare skin of her thigh. She wasn’t bold and brassy like Dirty Esmeralda, but she was equally luscious in her way. He caught the hem of her shift and bunched it in his palm, drawing it upward. “I’m going to take this off. I want to be able to touch you everywhere and make you feel good.”
“That sounds...nice.”
He went by touch rather than sight, inching the garment over her head, though she tried to grasp it back at the end. “It’s all right,” he said. “I’ll lay it right here so you can find it later. I’ll let you back to your bed by dawn, so you don’t risk the housekeeper’s wrath.”
“Oh. Thank you. That’s very important.”
The formal, polite way she said this made him smile. “You’re a funny one, aren’t you? Silly girl.” He drew her closer, not to maul her or anything. He wanted to enjoy her for a while, trace her curvy waist and squeeze and suckle her bounteous breasts. She made the most erotic sighs as he caressed her. She twitched and tensed, and grasped his shoulders, giving herself up to sensation as they lay together in the dark. His mind wandered to thin, icy Lady Priscilla. No, he didn’t want to think about her now, not with this willing, warm angel in his bed. He stroked his palms up and down the maid’s back.
“What’s your name, missy?” he asked.
Silence again. The little imp. Did she think he wouldn’t recognize her in the light of day? Did she think he didn’t very well know who’d been making eyes at him all week?
“Mary,” she finally said. It was probably a false name, but that was all right. He’d call her whatever she wished as long as she spread her thighs for him and helped dispel some of his frustration this dreary night. Her feminine scent compelled him, and the feel of her curves made him want to thrust his cock inside her.
No, not yet.
The night was young and she was fun to play with, with her squirms and her little sighs. He petted her, stroked her, made soothing sounds as he dropped kisses upon her lips and down the column of her neck.
“Mary,” he murmured. “How I love your breasts.” He helped himself to a handful of one tit, and locked his lips around the other, nibbling gently at her nipple. He wasn’t the type of lover to spout poetry. He preferred to let his fingers and lips make the poetry, and she didn’t seem to mind. His hand tightened on her waist as he teased and licked the pointed peak. She panted beneath him as if she’d never experienced such sensation before. He suckled the other breast to hear the sound again, a moan of shock and discovery. Poor lass. Her previous partners must have been quick and neglected her pleasure. All the more reason to take his time.
“You like that, do you?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered in the darkness. “It feels wonderful.”
He paid court to her gorgeous breasts until her nails dug into his back, until her nipples were so hard and tight he could trace their contours with the tip of his tongue. He bit down on one rather