He kissed her instead, a brush of his lips that he repeated... twice... three times until the pressure turned firm, and she closed her eyes, submitting to the desire that flowed over her, filling her chest with an ache of need. The warmth that bloomed between her legs spread over her, and she dug her fingertips into his shoulders as she arched up against him.
Robert moaned deep in his throat and his kiss turned demanding, his tongue pushing against her lips. She opened to him, her tongue dipping into his mouth. As they explored each other, tongues twirling and entwining, Robert eased off her, his hip resting on the bed as he slid down her body, his hand cupping her breast, his finger massaging deep into the flesh. Eloise whimpered, and his mouth moved down her cheek to the tender spot in the hollow of where her neck met her shoulder. His tongue flicked eager over it, his teeth nipping the soft skin.
As she writhed, pleasure slowly consuming her, quiet words wisped over her chest as he kissed his way toward her nipple. “You are so beautiful. Every inch remarkable. I want to know it all, remember it all.” He paused as his teeth closed over the tight bud of her breast, sucking greedily. His hand urged her legs apart, and she spread them, a new moan building as his fingers plied into her warm core, finding the entrance. He pushed two, then three fingers inside, turning his hand upward and lifting.
A fresh spear of euphoria shot through Eloise and her back arched off the bed, a stark cry bursting from her.
*
Robert lifted hishead to watch Eloise’s face as he deepened his ministrations with his fingers with tender, urgent thrusts. He adored watching her, watching the color rise over her chest and spread around her neck, the pure ecstasy that captured her face. When he had first realized she had spent ten seasons on Spinster’s Row, ignored and withdrawn, he had never expected her to come to him with such abandon, such joy. Seeing the way she surrendered to him, embracing with a touch of play their delight in each other’s presence, the pure fun she had in touching him, arousing him, made him want to spend his life giving her back every moment of exhilaration that she had brought to him.
And what pleasure that was! Even now, his erection stretched hard and tight, almost painful, as his entire body surged with a dark craving to take this woman, plunge into her, and claim her as his, now and always. It was a need that demanded attention, and he fought to hold back until she was much closer to her own peak.
Eloise opened her eyes, the amber a darker brown in the dim light. She reached for his face, murmuring his name.
“What do you wish, my love?”
Her words were barely audible. “You. In me.”
His fingers pressed wide within her, his thumb massaging the swollen bud at the top of her sex. She gasped, then moaned as he whispered. “More than this?”
She nodded vigorously, but the only word that emerged on a shallow gasp was, “Bastard!”
He laughed, lowering his head to her other breast. “Not quite yet.” He pulled the nipple between his teeth, holding it as his tongue teased the very tip.
“Son of a bitch!”
Eloise squirmed, her hips gyrating, but he felt her muscles begin to tighten across her stomach and buttocks. He moved quickly then, removing his hand and mounting her. He guided himself inside, slowly at first, her wet, hot warmth pulsing around him, pushing his ecstasy higher, his muscles tensing as he reached his full depth. Eloise raised her hips against his, calling his name as he slid one hand under her buttocks, holding her tight against his loins as he began with slow, rhythmic thrusts.
Robert focused on her face, watching each minute reaction—her eyes widening, bright and gleaming, the gradually slackening of her jaw, the pout of her lips that became a soft gasp. She closed her eyes, her head pushing back against the pillow, as sweet mewls emerged from her throat, a sound that made his own bliss spread deeper into his gut. He increased the speed and fierceness of his thrusts, relishing the way she squirmed and writhed beneath him in response. As if he could not get close enough, deep enough, his hand beneath her tightening, his fingertips digging into her flesh.
With a sudden jerk, Eloise cried out, her entire body shaking hard. Her hands clutched his shoulders and her legs wrapped around his hips. Her peak shattered through her, every muscle tense beneath his touch, her core squeezing him hard in pulsing waves. His loins responded with a tension of their own and his felt his own climax closing in.
Glee seemed to consume Eloise as her shuddering began to wane, and she laughed, a gentle sound. Her eyes opened, her expression glowing and adoring.
Robert tried to pull away. He was too close. “Darling, let me go.”
She shook her head, her eyes dimming with sadness. “Please do not leave me.”
He tried to stop. “I must pull out.”
She let her legs drop from around him, but she still begged, “Do not leave me. I want you. Please.”
Confusion clouded his sense. “Eloise—”
Her fingers tightened on his arms. “Please. Finish inside me.”
Robert shook his head. “No. We can’t.”
“Please.”
He hesitated, captured by the pleading look of relentless desire on her face. And then it was too late. The craving need of his desire was too much, and he relented, taking her, spending himself inside her, relishing each finishing thrust, a raw cry escaping from him as the last shiver of his body eased.
Eloise wrapped her legs around him again, whispering, “Yes!” over and over as he collapsed against her, his weight pushing her into the mattress. Pliant but firm under him, she felt welcoming and safe. Her fingers traced light patterns over his back as she snuggled her face into his neck. He lay there, still inside her, for several minutes, regaining his breath and trying to fully grasp what had just happened.
In all his dealings with women through the years, he had always pulled away before the end, spending himself into a handkerchief, the sheets, sometimes his own trousers. Never had he taken the risk he just had, of leaving a woman with child. But feeling the sensations he had just experienced, the glorious elation of filling a woman he loved with his seed, made him understand why some men could not do otherwise. It satisfied a deep need Robert had not been aware he even had.
But the risks... “Eloise—”
