Then all at once she was writhing alone. Every fiber of her being mourning the solid weight of him above her. His touch. His kiss. His passion.
As her eyes refocused from their haze of lust, he was stood beside the bed. Both hands fisted. Every muscle tense. His breath sawing in and out as if he was fighting for control. He raked a shaking hand through his rumpled hair and tore his gaze from the exposed bottom half of her body as if he could not trust himself to look. “This is dangerous…youare dangerous.” He turned his back to her. “For the love of God, cover yourself up, woman, and go to your own room before we both do something you’ll regret.”
You’ll regret.
Nothewould regret. That significant distinction delighted her.
He unraveled a fist and stared at the key, then marched toward the door to save them both. His hand was unsteady as he wrestled with the lock. Only when he had cracked the door ajar did he risk turning around. “You need to go. Grab some sleep before you leave at dawn.”
When she didn’t move he closed his eyes. “Please, Diana. I am begging you. If you love me, go.”
She took her own sweet time standing then undulated toward him, feeling more powerful and more beautiful than she ever had in her life. Who knew she had it in her to be a seductress? To want to be seduced? It was a heady and thrilling revelation she fully intended to bask in.
As he risked looking at her again, convinced she was finally going to comply with one of his idiotic demands, she stopped dead barely a foot from him. “I do love you. With all my heart. That is why I will never go.” Then smiled as she slipped the nightgown from her shoulders and wiggled until it fell in a puddle at her feet.
His Adam’s apple bobbed and he swallowed.
Licked his lips.
“I don’t want to ruin you.”
“That’s a shame, because I fully intend to ruin you, Giles.”
His gaze raked her body as she walked naked to the door and clicked it closed. Stared helplessly at her outstretched hand for several moments until he took it and she led him back to the bed. Then hauled her into his arms and tumbled them both to the mattress.
This time when he kissed her he did not hold back; nor did she want him to. They were long past that point. She wanted him so much she feared she might die from the wanting if he didn’t put her out of her misery soon.
But of course, the wretch did like to eke every bit of entertainment out of her desperation and insisted on kissing her everywhere. And gracious, did he worship every inch. He laved her breasts and teased her nipples until she growled her impatience, then still took his own sweet time working his way down her stomach. Kissing her navel. Her hip. The sensitive flesh at the crest of her thighs and then…
“Ohhhh…” She shuddered as his tongue did something languid and sinful between her legs. “Oh, Giles…” It was too delicious to rebel against. Too addictive to be missish about, so Diana sank back into the downy mattress and simply enjoyed it until it all got too overwhelming, and her wits began to desert her.
“At least I finally know whereright thereis.” Every nerve ending she possessed clearly stemmed from that one tiny spot and instinctively she tensed against it. Fought it as she hovered on some invisible, unfamiliar precipice. “I’ve wondered about that since we overheard Lady Sewell and her fake Russian count in the pergola.”
His deep chuckle against her body made her sigh with pleasure and grip the sheet. “Will you stop distracting me while I am trying to concentrate.”
“I’m sorry… carry on… I was convinced I was made without all those accoutrements, that is all… I’ve always been so indifferent to that side of things… At least I thought I was but…” As if he sensed her panic he paused long enough to stare all along her nakedness and into her soul.
“Are you aware that when you are unsettled by something you either are as silent as the grave or babble like a brook?”
She was stark naked with a man between her legs! Of course she was unsettled. Albeit in a deliciously thrilling way. “And your point is?”
“No point. Merely an observation although I adore the juxtaposition.” His gaze raked her body. “I also adore this view.” His eyes flicked to her most private place. “Now, kindly stop distracting me and try to trust me. Just this once let me be in charge.” His heated, knowing smile was reassuring. “I am so convinced you’ll enjoy it, I am prepared to wager you might even swoon.”
“I disapprove of swoon… ohhhh…ohhhh…” Any further conversation became impossible as he did things to her she had never known existed. Such sublime and seductive things that her hips strained beneath his lips and her body craved release.
She no longer felt any embarrassment to be so intimately bared. No longer cared that she was boneless. Shameless. Desperate for him.
Every kiss brought her closer. Every caress took her higher. As she moaned her pleasure she watched Giles. His dark eyes locked with hers while he loved her, swirling with so much desire it was visceral. She felt his adoration everywhere, because it shimmered off him in waves. She had never felt so feminine. So sensual. So powerful despite relinquishing all control. Never trusted another as much as she did him in that moment.
Then something wonderful happened to her body as she accepted that. Rejoiced in that inconceivable new truth. It tumbled over the edge and it pulsed and fizzed and melted into a deep,warm puddle of exquisite sensations that seemed to go on and on as she fell.
When they finally began to subside he was smiling down at her, his face inches from hers as his fingers played with her hair. His erection pressed against her womanhood, insistent but not the least bit threatening. The new intimacy between them as thrilling as it was destiny. “You should probably know that there’s anotherright there.”
“I had a feeling that there might be.” She slid her hands around his waist, filled them with his bottom. Reveling in the weight of him. The glory of him. “Show me.”
“I would love to. I burn to but I need to tell you that I can’t marry you yet, Diana. Not while everything is such a…”
“I do not recall asking you to.” But he would when the time was right and that was enough for her. “In fact, I was the one who insisted on a long courtship, remember? However, I have decided I am not so keen on a chaste courtship, so I do insist you introduce me to the otherright thereand that you do so right away.”
