"You are very good at that," Katherine said breathlessly. Elijah had been teaching her all about the joys of kissing over the past hour or so. She had to admit, she rather liked the feel of his tongue stroking hers. She was extremely nervous at first, but the more it went on, the braver she got.

A couple of times she found herself gripping his shirt with her hands, or running them through his hair. And he seemed to like it. A lot.

He smiled at her compliment. He brushed a few strands of hair out of her face. He seemed to do that a lot. It was almost as if he constantly had to be touching her hair. He complimented it more than once today.

"It's all you, Kitten," he said as he kissed her neck.

"I find that...hard to believe." Heavens, she could barely speak with him doing that. "I'm not experienced." He definitely is, she thought and jealousy tore through her.

"It's not about the experience. It's about the person you're with." He met her stare when he added, "It's different with you."

She felt Elijah's finger brush across the strings that tied the back of her dress together. "May I take this off?" He asked in a deep voice.

Unable to speak as nervousness and excitement shot through her, she nodded her head. After they both got to their feet, Katherine turned to give Elijah her back. She heard him take a deep breath before he started working the laces of her dress. When he finally had it untied, he pushed the material from her shoulders and it fell to the floor.

When she felt his lips on her neck again, she tilted her head to the side, giving him better access. "And your corset?" He asked in a whisper.

"Yes," she breathed.

He made quick work of untying her corset and hesitated before he took it off of her body. When he didn't ask to remove her shift, Katherine turned towards him with a frown. "Why did you stop?"

He reached out and cupped her face in his hand, running his thumb along the outline of her lips. "I find myself a little...overwhelmed."

She was surprised by his statement. He definitely was a man of experience, not to mention, he was also extremely talented. Katherine had no idea where her brave impulse came from, but she grabbed the bottom of her shift and lifted it over her head. When she dropped her shift and her drawers to the growing pile of clothes on the floor, Elijah seemed completely taken aback.

Katherine grew even more nervous as he ran his gaze over her body not once, not twice, but three times before he met her stare. Did he like what he saw? Or didn't he?

"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Elijah said with a catch in his voice.

He reached forward and pressed his lips against hers. Katherine wrapped her arms around him as he deepened in the kiss. When he instructed her to lay back down on the blanket, he rested on his elbow and gazed down at her with a sultry smile.

Elijah couldn't believe Katherine was laying here, naked before him. The light from the fire reflected off of her skin, making her even more beautiful if that were possible. He had never felt skin as soft as hers before. He seemed unable to stop touching her.

He sensed her nervousness and was being as patient and slow as he could with her.

"What about your clothes?" She asked.

As soon as she agreed to this, he made the rational decision to keep all of his clothes on. Tonight, he just wanted to show her what real passion felt like.

"Mine stay on tonight."

Elijah was sure she took the hint, but she asked anyway, "Why?"

"Because, beautiful, you are extremely tempting. If I take any of my clothes off, I cannot promise you that I will not spend the rest of the night taking pleasure from inside your body."

He saw the excitement in her eyes and he couldn't help but smile. Exactly why he wanted to keep his clothes on...she just wanted to hear him say that, the little minx.

Wanting to feel more of her, he met her gaze as he ran a finger down her chest and over her breast. "Tell me, Kitten, has anyone kissed you here?"

Unable to speak, she shook her head.

Elijah bent his head down and took her hard nipple into his mouth. He heard her surprised gasp before she let out a moan of pleasure.

He pulled back and slid his finger down further over her belly button. "How about here?"

After another shake of her head, he slowly kissed the soft skin of her stomach. He could hear her heartbeat as it accelerated. And it was music to his ears.

He slid his hand to the juncture between her thighs and her eyes opened wide. "And here?"

"No," she answered breathlessly.

Even though Elijah already knew that she had never been with another, he likes hearing her say it. He liked being the first one to share this experience with her. He hovered over her as he started kissing his way down her body. Her breathing became labored as he settled his body between her now open thighs.

When he bent his head down to taste her for the first time, he couldn't help the moan that escaped him. He felt her back arch from the pleasure.

"Oh, Heavens. Elijah..." She moaned.

When he looked up at her, she asked, "Is that it?"

With a deep chuckle Elijah answered, "Oh, Kitten. We're just getting started."

William was baffled by the woman sitting in front of him. She was extraordinary. Compared to a lot of the noblewomen he knew, she was so different. She likes a vast assortment of hobbies. She liked to paint, to sing, dance, and even go horseback riding.

She explained how hard her life had been growing up without her mother. She explained how much her father has done for her, including this arranged marriage. William felt troubled as he kept up this facade with her. For some reason, he wanted to be honest with her.

Kept telling himself that this was for the sake of his best friend, his closest friend. But there was something about this woman, that each lie he told, or each time he answered to the name Elijah, it was like knives in his heart. He just hoped he could find Elijah once the snowstorm stopped so this whole charade would be over.

They were sitting on the terrace now. They had been out here for a while, asking each other personal questions. He answered them as honestly as he could without raising suspicion. He liked the questions that she asked and he liked sharing parts of himself with her.

William couldn't help but smile as he waited for her next question.

"Tell me your most embarrassing moment, Your Grace."

"Please, call me Elijah," he said before thinking of a good answer for her. "Alright, when I was ten-years-old, there was a girl I fancied in school. I tried to impress her and I wrote Emily a letter."

Lady Elizabeth smiled. "That sounds sweet."

"I thought so, too. Come to find out, I wrote the wrong name on it! I put 'Dear Greer'. The boys teased me for days."

When she laughed at his confession, he reached out to clasp her hand. "Is this alright?"

"Yes," she said as she got red in the cheeks and looked away.

William new he was pretending to be somebody else. But the story he told was true. He didn't know what it was about Lady Elizabeth, but he needed to see her again.

"Lady Elizabeth, may I come calling on you tomorrow?"

"I would like that very much."

Her smile was going to be the death of him.