In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

"You're going to feel even better," he promised, letting her legs slide down him. He caught the hem of the gauzy green nightgown and pulled it up as she sat down on the bed. The gown had been made for a wedding night and slipped easily over Bethany's head, leaving her body bare.

He stood holding the gown, mesmerized by his first sight of his prize. Her skin was creamy white, the full breasts ending in upstanding pink peaks, sweeping down to a narrow waist. Her legs were long and white, crowned by a fiery thatch at the apex of her thighs. Alec closed his eyes and swallowed. He imagined those long thighs wrapped around his hips and had to resist the urge to throw himself on her and bury himself in her body.

She was a virgin, he reminded himself. He mustn't frighten her. She was willing now, but if he scared her, she might not be, and he realized that he wanted her to be willing. He wanted that sweet response she had showed him earlier.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Get up in the bed," he said, softly. "I'll join you as soon as I get undressed."

Obediently, she lay back against the pillows and eagerly watched him remove his clothes. The champagne had removed her inhibitions; she was unembarrassed about being naked before him. She was conscious only of the ache between her legs and the way her breasts still tingled where he had touched them. When he was naked, she could see the heavy muscles in his chest and shoulders, his small round buttocks, and powerfully muscled thighs and calves. She couldn't help a gasp of surprise however when he turned around and her eyes fixed on his engorged shaft. A sharp answering thrust of pleasure lanced in her groin.

Misunderstanding her gasp of surprise for fear, Alec quickly gathered her into his arms, hiding his shaft from her sight. He smothered her mouth in an endless, aching kiss, his hand sliding down to cup her buttocks and press her against himself. She clung to him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, delighting in the feel of his smoothly muscled skin under her hands.

His mouth left hers and trailed fire down her throat to her breast. When he took her engorged nipple in his mouth, Bethany moaned and bucked against him, and her legs parting involuntarily.

"Easy, Darling," he whispered, his voice shaking. "We've got all the time in the world."

His hand slid into the red curls, seeking and finding her small bud of pleasure. "O God, you're already wet for me," he moaned.

His fingers thrust inside her and she lifted herself against his hand. "That's right come for me baby," he encouraged her, thrusting in and out against her nether tongue with his fingers.

When he bent and took her nipple in his mouth again, Bethany went over the edge, moaning in pleasure as she climaxed. It was too much. When he sensed her fluttering against his fingers, he hurriedly pulled his hand out of her. Rolling between her legs, he thrust hard into her still quivering channel. Dimly, he was aware of her pleasure turning into a gasp of pain, but he was too far gone, thrusting in and out of her with frantic need. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "I can't wait. O God, I'm going to come now."

the sharp pain from Alec's penetration jerked Bethany out of her dreamy haze. His frantic movements soon lubricated her channel, and there was a thrumming echo of her earlier pleasure. There was not enough time for the feeling to come to fruition before Alec was stiffening and moaning as his seed pumped into her.

Afterwards, he lay like an exhausted log on her, his face buried in her neck, as his breathing finally slowed. When his weight became uncomfortable, she pushed tentatively at his shoulder. Obediently, he rolled off her, but pulled her with him so she was lying half on him, one of her legs across his hips. There was a dull ache between her thighs, and she could feel wetness leaking back out, but a vast feeling of contentment washed over her as she remembered the pleasure that had preceded the pain. I think I'm going to like being married, she thought drowsily.

He turned his head to look at her. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Mmhum," she answered sleepily content.

"I'm sorry it hurt. I wish there was some other way," he said tentatively, giving her the opportunity to rail at him if she wanted to. He vaguely remembered the girls at Madame Tousands saying that new brides were always angry after their first experience with sex. He was answered by a soft snore. After a moment, he reached down and pulled the covers up over them.

Drawing A Line

GISELLE HAD DECREED the wedding reception be held on the Saturday after the wedding and she and Iris had worked hard to make it a success.   Giselle, Margo and the three girls were conducting a last-minute inspection before the reception.

When Saturday came, the ballroom in The Hotel was lit up by the new-finagled gas lighting system. The owner was proudest of the huge chandelier in the center of the ballroom. Giselle St. Vyr eyed the man engaged in the intricate task of lighting one hundred individual gas lamps and expressed the hope he would not blow the entire Hotel off its hinges. It was entirely safe Georges Coudoual, the owner, hastened to assure her, the newest technology.

Giselle sniffed. "Candles are safer. I don't trust this gas lighting system."

"Yes, but only look how beautiful everything looks," exclaimed Bethany.

"It looks wonderful Henri," Giselle admitted. The long mirrors beside the French doors all along one side of the room let in more light. French doors on one wall opened into Madame Coudocal’s prized rose garden. The Hotel owner's wife had developed the garden from plant cuttings her husband had paid to have smuggled in by Portal Runners. Although Coudoual was unaware