"So are you," he murmured back with a soft smile, letting her corset fall away and running his hands up the now bare skin of her back. He slowed to a halt just over her shoulder blades, tipping his head a little and shifting away just enough that he could look down at her. "You're beautiful, Mary. Let me look at you. Please."

There was no reason for embarrassment but he could understand where it came from. He just wanted her to feel more at ease around him about this. Because trust already was something that existed between them, he knew that was something only habit could fix.