Chapter Six: Page One

Selphie Tilmitt was not some green girl. She had been kissed before, on several occasions. How could a lady hope to discover true love if she kept every gentleman at arm's length? Besides, she had a lively curiosity about the passionate side of relationships between men and women. Some of the kisses she'd received had not been very pleasant. Others had been quite pleasant indeed. The kiss she experienced now, in a starlit rose garden on an enchanted midsummer night, was so different from all the others it might have been another act altogether. Selphie felt instinctively that this was her first kiss of true love, and she vowed it would not be her last! The gentleman of her dreams held her in an embrace as tender and yearning as it was strong and protective. At first, his lips brushed against hers with the gentle delicacy of a butterfly's wing or the first warm breeze of spring. More than all the words in the world, his kiss assured her she was a rare and wondrous lady. Like the chivalrous knights of old, he would give her his whole heart in homage, asking nothing in return but permission to cherish her. Selphie was not some damsel in a tower, however, content to be admired from afar. She repented if she had ever let him think so. Pressing her lips to his with greater urgency, at the same time she let them melt against his with a subtle quiver that begged for more. He did not hesitate to oblige her, but swept her up in a masterful embrace, beguiling her to part her lips so he could push their kiss to breathtaking depths. Selphie yielded to him with a sigh of exultant surrender. Their kiss held all the comfort and contentment of homecoming while promising a lifetime of new discoveries and thrilling adventures to delight her. She had been right to wait for this — to wait for him. If only she had not been wrong about so much else! "Please don't stop!" she gasped when he drew back a little. She wanted nothing to wake either of them from this summer night's dream into which they'd strayed. "Wed me, then!" He rained kisses on her ear and neck as he spoke. "And I will never stop." The featherlight graze of his lips against her skin tickled in the most delightful way. How might it feel on other parts of her body? "Wed?" A froth of laughter bubbled out of her. "Is this not rather sudden?" "Not half soon enough." He continued to ply kisses down her neck and over her bare shoulder. "I have waited for you too long."