Noble Intentions

7. Of Bonding and Unbonding

Thoughts and images of Gillian's golden triangle flashed through my mind while I struggled to remain calm. As we walked toward my cabin – her cabin, now – she said, "You limp. Have you injured your foot? Your leg?"

My face warmed further as I shook my head. "No, my – how might I say it? My – my aroused state makes walking difficult."

She looked down at my front. "Oh, my! It has not only stirred; it has emerged as do the shafts of the stallions." Then, after examining the strained cloth down my thigh, she chuckled and added, "But they have no breeches to hide theirs."

Oh, dear Lord! "Please pardon my lack of control, Gillian. You should not see me in this condition."

"And why not? Mother had said that once betrothed, familiarity with each other strengthens the bond and helps love grow."

"But familiarity in this manner?"

"She did not elaborate." Gillian shrugged. "Though on one occasion, she gave me explicit and strict warning to avoid the act that would render me gravid."

Oh, my! "Did she inform you of that act?"

"She did." Gillian led me into the cabin and closed the door. "Mother offered some details – more euphemism than fact – after I had questioned her about the stallion with the mare."

"What age had you then?"

"Fifteen. More than three years past, now." She cupped her hands to her bosom and jounced them. "A year after these had begun growing."

Oh, Lord! Help me. "We must focus. We have much to do." I knelt, pulled open a drawer and sorted through my breeches to find the smallest. By the time I stood and turned toward her, she had removed her skirts and laid them on the bed, and she stood with legs astride to counter the ship's roll in the swells.

Forcing myself not to look at her nethers, I fumbled the breeches around and knelt in front of her with them open and extended. "Place your hands on my shoulders for balance against the ship's roll, then step into the holes."

The touch of her hands set me throbbing, and I closed my eyes in an attempt to focus. Do not look. It is right there. Do not look. Inches from my face. Do not look. So close ...

"You seem in a trance, Jarvis. What is next?"

My eyes popped open at the sound of her sweet voice. "Oh my, how enticingly beautiful!" I stared at it for a while before closing my eyes and shaking my head. "Please forgive me. I should not have looked."

"And why not?"

"Your fear that I would think only of it. Also, what it –"

"We are now far beyond that, Jarvis."

"But not beyond how it affects me." I gazed up into her eyes and winced. Then, drawing the breeches up beyond her knees, I again looked. Now, with her hips swaying to maintain balance, her various parts moved each against the others, showing increasing complexity, and I dwelt on them for a while. "Perhaps, if I satisfy my curiosity, the effect will lessen."

She nodded down and giggled. "Not according to the unabated throbbing along your thigh."

I grimaced and quickly raised the breeches to cover, finding them rather loose up her hips. Then, as she watched me fasten up the front, she said, "I can see far down inside; might this arouse you and the helmsmen?"

"It would, but we will gather the excess and close the waist with a cincture, that you are proper."

I stood when that was done, and she nodded at my front, giggling. "Though you are proper for me, you are improper to be seen by others."