She opened her legs, but before he could see her sex, she nestled the cello between her thighs. Was it possible to curse an instrument’s good luck for being so close to her intimacy, to scent her arousal?
But then she played, and his murderous jealousy receded. The cello was no longer a barrier, but a part of her.
Her first note trembled in the air like a whisper.
He recognized it—last night’s lullaby.
“Not this one. It will put me to sleep.”
Nodding, she adjusted her position and started again. She closed her eyes, her body moving with the rhythm, lost to the world around her. The aria’s misty melody filled the room, filled him.
Where was the society princess? Prim, proper, restrained?
Her hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, catching in the dim light, and her face... God, her face was serene, as if she belonged to the music and nothing else.
Where did such warmth come from? Did she pull it from some hidden place inside the wood?
Without realizing it, he moved behind her. He had always been a man who needed to touch, to experience things with the rough skin of his hands.
He had to feel her, desperately, urgently—this feminine source of sound, the antidote to the silence that plagued his life. Hispalm hovered above her chest, feeling the music pulse. Then he pressed it against her bare skin, right over her heart. The reverberations of the cello trembled through her body, alive beneath his touch, like a current of raw emotion.
She missed a beat, her fingers faltering on the strings.
“Keep playing,” he whispered, his voice rough, almost a growl.
She obeyed, though her movements were shaky, her breath coming faster.
Boyd leaned down, his lips brushing the curve of her neck. He closed his eyes, inhaling her scent—had it changed? Did music alter the way her skin smelled? His nose traced a line along her arm, testing, needing to know if it had seeped into her very pores.
Her scent was intoxicating—warm, mixed with the heady aroma of the firelight.
She played on, but the notes grew fractured.
He needed to taste her. His mouth moved up, taking her earlobe between his teeth, biting gently before letting his tongue glide over her cheek. He licked the freckles sprinkled over her shoulder and closed his lips over one or a hundred. Her fingers stumbled on the strings again, but she kept going, her body trembling beneath his.
Boyd’s hands slid lower, tracing the curve of her abdomen, feeling the slight contraction as she struggled to maintain control.
She was losing it, just like he was.
He moved his touch downward, the pads of his fingers brushing over her thighs, tracing the strain as she pressed the cello between them.
When he reached the tuft of red hair covering her mound, she froze, the music halting. But his heart kept the rhythm as if she had altered something inside him.
He pulled the cello from her. Coaxing her legs wider, he took its place, kneeling between her thighs.
A flush rose on her skin. “What are you doing, Mr. Sandeman?”
“Call me Boyd.”
With trembling fingers, he opened the lips of her sex, and the folds yielded to him. Pink and honeyed flesh glistened inside. He caressed her with his thumb, first the right side, then the left, afraid to penetrate her with his finger. The need burned inside him, but he teetered too close to breaking his vow.
His cock was so hard he wondered how his trousers didn’t rip under the pressure. To steal her virginity would be as easy as lifting one of her pretty ribbons. But he had sworn she would remain untouched. If he could give her nothing else, he would honor that promise.
Using both hands to keep her open, he kissed her inner thighs, licking the marks left by her garters, biting, then soothing the pain.
Murmuring endearments, he caressed her clitoris in easy circles that had her belly shuddering. He brushed his chin over her mound, then pressed his lips to her, his teeth grazing the delicate flesh before he kissed her fully. He licked her from her entrance to her little clit, his eyes rolling back on his head at her heady taste.
Her essence coated his fingers, warm and slick, as he cupped her buttocks and pulled her closer. His hunger took over, and he devoured her, his lips and tongue moving with purpose. Her soft moans and breathless purrs drove him to the edge of madness.
