He drew her into a small chamber that was missing a quarter of its roof. Whatever the furnishings were in here, she didn’t notice. Her sole interest was the bed.
It was only a mattress on the floor—a very large mattress that took up most of the room. Clean blankets were heaped atop it, and pillows, making it resemble more of an animal’s nest than an actual bed.
Ezra closed the door behind them. He pulled off his three-cornered hat and tossed it onto a stool. He tugged away the strip of leather holding back his hair and it fell around his shoulders in a dark curtain, shadowing half his face.
They were alone. Jessica and the highwayman.
He hauled her to him, one of his hands pressed low on her back, the other cupping the curve of her head. He was so much larger than her, strength and power emanating from him so that the tiny room was filled with his presence, his desire.
His breath heaved in and out of him, covering her with its warmth, and her own rough breathing joined his. Gray eyes sharp with hunger, his gaze moved over her face, along her neck, to the swell of her breasts pressed tightly above the neckline of her bodice, barely hidden by her fichu. She hadn’t been this wet before, not without even a single touch. And yet she was afire with it, bright and edgy and craving sensation.
“Your body desires me,” he said on a growl. “But I need your heart in accordance. Tell me this is what you want, that I am what you want.”
“I do want this. You are what I want.”
His mouth crashed down onto hers. It wasn’t the careful exploration from back at the carriage. This was need and demand, a beast claiming its prey. She surged into him, kissing him in return with the same ferocity. His lips were insistent, ravenous. He swept his tongue into her mouth to lick and savor her.
“Can’t get enough of your taste.” Ezra’s voice was a feral rasp. “Like nothing I’ve ever known. I want to devour you whole.”
“Feast, then.” Never had she wanted to be consumed as much as she did at this moment.
His hands were in her hair, unpinning it heedlessly so that the long dark honey tresses spilled down her back. He wrapped the length around his fist and tugged, pulling her head back. Her neck was bared to him.
“Is this how a lamb feels before the wolf attacks?”
His eyes were bright and keen. “What do you know of wolves?”
“Old tales say the last wolf was killed in Humphrey Head two hundred years ago.”
He smirked. “Old tales lie just as much as they tell the truth.” Looking down at her through his lowered lashes, he said huskily, “You don’t seem much of a meek lamb. More of a vixen.”
“Are wolves and foxes friends?”
“This wolf would very much like to be more than friends with this fox.”
He bent his head, and scraped his teeth over the sensitive flesh of her throat. A shiver of pleasure chased through her body. She gripped the wide width of his shoulders to hang on as tightly as she could.
He reared back to shuck his greatcoat, throwing the heavy garment to the ground. With equally impatient movements, he pulled off his full-skirted green coat and leather waistcoat. He put his pistols atop a rickety table, then removed his baldric slung across his chest. He wore only a rough piece of red cloth around his neck instead of a gentleman’s stock, which he tugged away to reveal his corded neck. Then he was in his billowing shirtsleeves. Jessica helped him to pull the serviceable linen off.
“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, my.”
She’d known men of many shapes and sizes, including those who made their living through the strength of their bodies. Dockworkers, boxers, farmers. None of them came close to the beauty of Ezra’s form. He was densely muscled, from the sculpture of his pectorals to the ridges of his abdomen, and the taut brawn of his shoulders and arms rippled with power. A generous covering of dark hair adorned his torso, descending in a line to his waistband to disappear below.
The thick shape of his hard cock pressed against the fall of his breeches.
Jessica’s hand immediately went to it. She pressed her fingers around his heavy length, as best she could through the buckskin. He snarled in response.
“You have put aside your pistols, sirrah,” she murmured, “but you are still armed and dangerous.”
“And likely to go off in a moment. I need inside you.”
“I doubt I can take such a monster.” For he was indeed massive, and it was with a mixture of fear and excitement that she contemplated having such size within her.
“I’ll make you ready.”
When his fingers went to the lacings at the back of her round gown, she brushed them away. “The dress stays on.”
He looked at her with a question in his eyes, but thankfully didn’t press her further.
