Her breath caught, her whole body tensing. She bore down on his hand, striving for the explosion of pleasure she knew was coming... His finger slid out, making her groan with frustration. The maddening man chuckled.
“You are evil,” she informed him with her fiercest frown.
“You are delightful.” He planted a swift kiss on her lips, then whispered in her ear. “I love a woman who knows what she wants.”
“Then give—” she gasped as he inserted two fingers into her, cutting off her sentence. They stretched her beyond anything she was capable of, but now that she was used to the sensation, she could relax into it.
“That’s it. Good girl. Take it.” He crooned encouragement to the rhythm of her ragged breaths and moans.
She grabbed onto his shoulders, trying to find an anchor as her pleasure ratcheted up to unprecedented levels. His muscles rolled and bunched as he caressed her. If he didn’t give her completion now, she would scream. But he didn’t stop this time. His talented fingers wound her tighter and tighter until she exploded into a million pieces.
His mouth captured her scream as one powerful arm supported her while the world spun and her ears rang with the force of her release. He was whispering tender words as she returned to earth.
“So sweet. So perfect. I love the way you came apart in my arms. You are magnificent in your ecstasy.”
He extracted his hand from her core. In the low light inside the carriage, his fingers glistened, wet with her juices. Her face heated with embarrassment when he, holding her gaze, brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean.
“Hmm, delicious. One day soon, I’m going to taste that sweet release straight from the source.”
If her eyes opened any wider, they would pop out of her face. “You mean...” she couldn’t complete the sentence, but he had no trouble doing so.
“Yes. I’ll kiss you there. I’ll put my mouth in your most intimate place and lick and suck until I make you come. And I’ll drink the nectar of your release.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything to say to that. The words to respond to such a comment were not in her vocabulary. Despite her forbidden books and pamphlets, she now realized how innocent she was.
“Can women do the same for men?” she asked, and then clapped her hand over her mouth, horrified at her question. She seemed to have no inhibitions around him. He threw back his head and laughed.
“Oh, my goddess. You’ll be the death of me. And I’d drown in you and die a fortunate man.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Well? Can they?”
He sat back and stroked the bulge in his crotch, pushing down firmly and groaning. “Yes. But that’s a lesson for another time. Now I’m going to take you home before I completely debauch you in the carriage.”
CHAPTER 7
ANDREW TRIED TO CONTAINhis excitement as he finished tying his necktie. Tonight, he would announce his engagement to the most beautiful, most incredible woman he had ever met. His heart sped a little at the notion, propelled not by fear, but by anticipation.
He wished he didn’t have to wait for the bans to be read and the contracts to be signed. Had someone had told him a month ago that he would fall in love and get engaged, he would have laughed that person out of London. Because he could never have imagined a woman like his Artemis. Yet here he was, besotted and looking forward to his marriage.
There was a knock on his bedchamber door and when he called permission to enter, the butler walked in, a silver tray in his hand.
“A telegram for you, my lord.”
“Thank you, Baxter,” he said as he reached for the paper and opened it.
Unsurprisingly, it was from his brother, William Radcliffe, the Marquess of Ashford, Liam to his family. But the content of the message had Andrew frowning in outrage and indignation.
Learned about the betrothal. Will be home soon. Do nothing foolish. I’ll undo the mess.
Of all the high-handed, condescending, insulting things his brother could have said...
Did Liam think he was still a lad? He had just turned thirty, for goodness’ sake! He didn’t need his big brother “undoing” anything. And he certainly had not created any mess. He had fallen in love, and tonight, during a ball organized by his grandmother, he was going to announce his betrothal to society.
What on earth had possessed Liam to think he had to rush all the way from fucking Tuscany to save him?
Andrew tried to calm his racing thoughts enough to formulate a response. The most important thing was to keep his brother out of his affairs. Had Liam already departed for London? Hard to say. This telegram would have taken several hours to reach him. And any he sent in return would probably reach his brother the following morning at the earliest. But he had to try.
“Baxter, send a footman at once to the Telegraph office with the following message: All is well. Don’t need rescue.”
