“Just what do you have in mind, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice holding a husky edge.
“You will see all in good time,” Eleanor replied. “You must cultivate a little patience.”
When she lightly licked her lips, he followed the seductive movement avidly with his gaze. As he watched, she raised her hand and touched her fingers to his lips, then trailed them down his throat, along his lace cravat, then lower to the buttons of his coat. Unfastening those, she pushed aside the lapels and opened his waistcoat as well, exposing his fine cambric shirt.
Placing her hand on his chest, Eleanor could feel his heart pounding hard where her palm lay. Then, with her own heart thudding in nervous anticipation, she slowly grazed her hand downward to his flat abdomen to hover over his loins.
Damon was watching her with intent focus, no doubt wondering how far she would go.
“You make an alluring temptress, bright-eyes,” he murmured when she hesitated, “but do you have any idea what you are about?”
Her mouth curled playfully. “Truthfully, no. I have learned some things from my friends who are married and from you yourself. I know you grow hard when we are kissing, and that it is painful for you when you cannot find relief-”
“Indeed, extremely painful,” Damon supplied.
“-but otherwise, I have little experience in carnal matters. I suspect you will need to tell me what to do.”
A glimmer of humor shone in his eyes. “Your book does not advise you?”
“Not specifically, no. My book is for ladies.”
“What do your feminine instincts tell you then?”
“That I should try to arouse your desires. I thought I would begin by caressing you the way you caressed me two nights ago.”
“That would be a good start. You can use your hands or your mouth to arouse me.”
“My mouth?”
Damon smiled at her surprise. “Yes, darling. I told you, there is much about lovemaking that you have yet to learn.”
A tremor of excitement ran through her. “Will you teach me, Damon?” Eleanor asked coyly, her tone belying her agitation. “Will you show me how I can give you the same pleasure you gave me?”
“Gladly.”
The dark gleam in his eyes revealed his approval as he caught her hand and drew it against his loins. He was already greatly aroused, judging from the large bulge in his breeches. Eleanor could feel the thick ridge of his male member beneath the satin. She also felt how his body tensed at the slight pressure of her hand.
Hoping to increase his tension, she slowly slid her hand over the swollen hardness, stroking gently. A flare of heat sparked in Damon's dark eyes, giving her encouragement. But did she dare go further? Eleanor wondered, her entire body tightening at the forbidden thrill rushing through her.
Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she used both hands to unbutton the front placket of his breeches. Then drawing a slow breath, she opened his drawers and bared his naked loins to her gaze.
She stared, fascinated by his male anatomy and the long, dark phallus that jutted from the curling hair at his groin. He was every bit as virile as she had imagined him to be.
Reaching out tentatively, she brushed the surging, silky flesh with her knuckles. His rampant member jerked involuntarily, making her breath catch.
“Did I do something wrong?” Eleanor asked, drawing back her hand.
“No, not at all. Touch me again.”
“Where?” she queried unevenly.
“My sacs. The head of my cock.”
Obligingly, she cupped the heavy sacs beneath his arousal. His flesh was smooth and hot, she noted, savoring the feel of him. Moving upward, she traced her forefinger over the blunt, rounded head of his shaft.
At her light touch, Damon sucked in a breath. Emboldened by his response, she shifted her fingers lower to stroke the full length. Then letting her fingers curl around him, she cradled the rigid shaft with her palm.
The hot, granite thickness of his manhood felt strangely erotic and quivered in her hand. In response, something deep within Eleanor shivered in purely sensual reaction.
“Is this the way?” she asked.
“Yes,” Damon replied, his voice suddenly hoarse. “But stroke me harder.”
His hand moving over hers, he coaxed her to fondle his straining erection. When he gave a soft groan, Eleanor looked up and found herself caught in the smoldering heat of his gaze.
Ensnared, she was hard-pressed to breathe or to calm her own pounding pulse. A yearning filled her, a welling bubble of desire that threatened to burst inside her.
Struggling to gather her control, however, she reminded herself of her aim and offered Damon a smile that was both sweet and seductive, innocent and tantalizing, as she went on exploring the hardness and detail of him.
Damon was caught in her enchantment; his entire body clenched with the arousal that simple smile had awakened in him.
He had never seen Eleanor quite like this. She was vibrant and intoxicatingly alive, a sparkling-eyed beauty who radiated temptation.
When another groan escaped him, she asked almost tauntingly, “Does that hurt?”
“It's pure torment,” he answered truthfully.
“Good. I like making you feel the same torment you have made me feel.”
She was succeeding utterly, Damon decided. He felt as if he might burst. His primal impulse was to draw Elle beneath him and make violent love to her; he wanted it more than his next breath. And yet he knew he had to go slowly out of respect for her virginal state…
Then suddenly, she left off arousing him.
“I have a surprise for you,” Eleanor murmured, her voice husky.
“What surprise?”
Her eyes, vividly blue and fringed with black lashes, met his. Those eyes had a suspicious glimmer in them, Damon noticed.
“You will see soon enough,” she replied. “Close your eyes.”
Damon thought about disobeying. He was so aroused, he felt feverish, so he was in no mood for any more teasing or seductive games. But when Eleanor repeated her command, he dutifully shut his eyes and clenched his jaw at the savage ache that continued to twist and tighten his loins.
“No peeking now, my lord,” she added as he heard her rise from her kneeling position.
Something in her tone seemed off, which prompted Damon to ask, “Can I trust you, Elle?”