“No, you—” Rose stopped, her eyes narrowing in curiosity. “What other purpose?”
Thomas blinked, a bit confused. He was about to explain about Bentley and the business deals. “I’m sorry. What?”
She took two steps toward him, close enough that she had to tilt her head up to look at him, and her voice softened. “You said you had come to the park with a different purpose in mind. What purpose?”
Thomas thought back over their exchange in the park. “I—I planned to kiss you. And I did... although I thought the outcome would have been a bit different.”
“You wanted me to kiss you back.”
“Yes. That was my goal, yes.” Thomas felt slightly off kilter.Where was she going with this?
“A goal I politely derailed.”
Thomas felt a touch of humiliation settling in his gut. “I’m not convinced I would call it ‘politely.’”
Rose took another step closer to him. “I just want to make sure I understand. Youplannedthat kiss. It was not spontaneous. You came into the park with the intention of kissing me. And your plan included me kissing you back—in broad daylight, in a public park, in front of my maid.”
That sense of humiliation spread. “It sounded better when I was planning it.”
“I’m sure. You, sir, have spent far too many years as a rake to think a woman from Polite Society would simply surrender to you like thatin public.”
“If you wanted to make me feel anymore ashamed of my behavior, you would be hard pressed to do so.”
“And what did you have planned for now?”
“Now?” Thomas could not find a center for this conversation. “I had planned to apologize and—”
“Kiss me?”
Ah. There it was.She thought he meant to accost her again—and he was beginning to understand that no one accosted Rose Timmons without risking humiliation if not physical injury. “Uh, no. Just the apology, and to tell you a few things that my father and I have been up to—”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed.
Thomas felt confused again. He pointed at the door. “Perhaps I should go.”
“Not yet.”
“Rose?”
She shook her head, then walked around him to the door of her office. He turned, expecting her to open it and demand he leave. Instead, she locked it, turning the key with a firm twist. Facing him, she leaned back against the wood. “Scoundrels, by their very nature, are not careful. They face no consequences, so they lose not only their sense of propriety but their ability to seek moments of privacy, to know what can and cannot be achieved with a little forethought.” She looked down at the doorknob beneath her palm. “For instance, remembering to lock a door before kissing someone.”
Then she waited, her face lifted in anticipation.
Thomas froze, staring at her, waiting for another shoe to drop. He cleared his throat. “You want me to kiss you. Now.”
“If you still wish me to kiss you back, that would be the first stage, yes.” Rose’s cheeks held a slight blush, a lovely pink color that began to spread down her neck and across the rise of her breasts. Her eyes widened, darkening with desire, and he realized with a start that she stared at his mouth, his lips.
A stark craving for her plunged through Thomas, and he was on her, his hands cupping her face and sliding into her hair as he crushed his mouth against hers. He pressed her body against the door with his, the softness of her breasts against his chest, the eager writhing of her hips against his, exploding his passion into a place of uncontrollable, all-consuming desire. She clenched her fists in his hair, holding his face tight to hers, and a low, sweet moan sounded from her throat as his lips tugged at hers, urging her mouth open so that his tongue could delve deep.
His hands left her face to roam down over her breasts, waist, and hips. He curled the fingers of one hand into the round cheek of her bottom, pulling her tighter against the hardness of his arousal. The other hand roamed up, tugging at the neckline of her gown, freeing one breast from her corset, his forefinger and thumb closing on the taut bud at the tip.
She arched against him as their kiss broke, and she whispered his name as he kissed a line down her throat to her breast. She whimpered as his teeth replaced his fingers, his mouth pulling hard on the nipple. He returned his other hand to her hips and shifted, lifting her. He released her breast as he turned, carrying her to her desk, sliding her rear onto the top, scattering papers and ledgers to the floor.
Thomas stepped back, long enough to slip off his topcoat, letting it drop to the floor. Then he reached for her left foot, doffing her slipper, and lifting her leg, kissing her ankle. Rose gave a slight giggle, then gasped as the kiss became a nip. He rested her foot on his shoulder, then eased his hands beneath the skirts, pushing them higher, spreading her legs, even as his eyes focused on her face.
“Lean back, dear one.”
She did, her eyes half-closed, the flush on her skin brightening even more as his fingers traced up her silk-covered thighs to the warm slit at her core. “You are so beautiful.”
