And she kissed him again.
This time he kissed her back, hard, telling her to open her mouth, and she did and she felt his tongue sliding over her bottom lip, then inside. It was different, this kiss, urgent, on the wild side. He raised his head just a moment, and said, his hand suddenly cupping her breast, “Meggie, I’m not a virgin.”
* * *
Chapter 14
OVERWHELMED BY that kiss, that surprise attack that had ambushed her and made her want more, exactly of what she wasn’t certain, but she was eager to find out, managed to get herself together since this was obviously the way things were done, and said, “It’s all right that you’re not a virgin. I am not blind, Thomas. I believe that boys are somehow supposed to become experienced, that it is expected, that they aren’t viewed by other men as being manly unless they do this, perhaps quite frequently.
“I have also seen how boys do not seem to be able to control themselves when it comes to the fairer sex. They step near a girl and begin to stutter, their hands shake, and they say the stupidest things. Just look at what William did.”
“Men can control themselves. It is a matter of will, and a matter of character.”
“I know that you would never take advantage of a female, for yours is an excellent character. Are you also strong-willed when it comes to matters of the flesh, Thomas?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter. I must consummate our marriage or it isn’t really a marriage.”
“A good idea.” She saw him looking at her so sternly, as if he weren’t certain about something, and just couldn’t help herself. She kissed him again, his shirt fisted in her hands, and she was pulling him down toward her, kissing whatever part of him she could reach.
He said against her mouth, “I will take your virginity, make you bleed, and only then will you be safely wedded, not before. Then there is no going back, Meggie. You’re mine.”
That brought her kisses to a stop and a frown to her forehead. “I don’t know why you are worried about this, Thomas. I don’t want to go back. Wait, I don’t like the sound of this bleeding business. What bleeding business? What does that mean?”
“Oh God, Meggie, I wish you had asked your mother to explain this to you. Don’t you know anything at all?”
“I now know all about tongues, although it’s still a bit difficult for me to speak in them just yet.”
Speaking in tongues. He tried to smile at that, but couldn’t, and said, “But you don’t know what we are going to do?”
“Well, not in any sort of elaborate detail, no.”
“How about in a vague general sort of way?”
“I believe you must take your clothes off. I was swimming once when I was very young with my dratted boy cousins, and they took off their clothes. They were certainly different from me, but I don’t know how it all would work to make a baby.”
“I did ask, didn’t I?”
“Are you jesting with me, Thomas? Perhaps laughing at me?”
He seemed to think about this for a goodly number of seconds. He said more to himself than to her, “No, I wouldn’t jest about this, not at all. Now, it must be done, it must.” It was almost as if he was angry with her, Meggie thought, suddenly panicked. He said nothing more, didn’t kiss her, just picked her up in his arms and walked to the large tester bed. “I’ll be your maid,” he said, sat her down on the edge of the bed, realized the buttons on her dress were in the back and pulled her to her feet again. Thomas saw that she was pale, his exuberant Meggie looking a bit on the ragged edge, particularly since they were this close to the bed and his hands on her. He kissed her hard and fast, didn’t try to part her lips with his tongue because he thought she just might bite him in her nervousness, then turned her around. He unfastened the long line of buttons down her back.