Page 58 of A Problem Princess

Within minutes, he heard her breath grow slow and steady as she fell quickly and deeply into much needed sleep.

Clayton let out a long, silent breath. Thank God. Maybe now he could relax enough to finally fall—

She turned and nestled against his side. The brush of her soft breasts against his chest jolted through him with the force of a lightning strike.

Clayton opened his eyes and stared up at the dark ceiling. It was going to be one hell of a long night.

Seventeen

Cordelia slowly woke as the pale blue light of dawn began to fall through the window.

For a moment, she didn’t move, needing time to remember everything that happened last night and how she had ended up here. Her sleep-fogged mind eventually cleared, but she needed no help to immediately register that Clayton was beside her in bed.

She turned onto her side to study his face in the lightening shadows.

The relaxation of sleep softened his brow and jaw, and his golden-blond hair was mussed from the pillow, with a lock falling boyishly across his forehead. And goodness, how tall and broad he was—there was certainly nothing boyish about his physique. She hadn’t fully realized how large he was, how fit and well-built, until he was lying next to her, filling the suddenly small bed that had seemed so big to her earlier.

A smile played at her lips.My hero.

She’d never met another man like him. Never one so brave, never one so handsome even with a shadow of morning beard darkening his face. She itched to touch him and feel the scratch of stubble beneath her fingertips. And she could—there was nothing to stop her. After all, he was asleep and would never know…

She held her breath as she slowly brushed her fingers over his cheek. His morning beard scraped lightly beneath her fingertips.

All bristly on the surface, smooth and warm underneath…the perfect metaphor for him, she decided as she trailed her fingers lightly along his jaw. And strong. Even this fleeting touch conveyed to her the strength of him, the solidity, the difference between him and the usual courtiers who were soft and paunchy.Nothingabout him was soft and certainly not paunchy. How had it never occurred to her before that a man could be as hard and muscular as this yet be even more appealing because of it?

This light touch wasn’t enough, so she took full advantage of his being asleep to trace her fingers down his bare neck and across his collarbone revealed by the loose gap at his shirt’s neck. Enough of a gap, too, that she could just touch the start of the flat plane of his chest. His skin was warm, and only a sprinkling of golden hair across his chest interrupted its smoothness.

If he felt this good…what would he taste like?

Carefully pulling his shirt collar open, she shifted toward him to bring her lips against his skin.

Without warning, he shoved his hands into her hair and lifted her head away from him.

His eyes opened, and the heated look she saw there stole her breath away, right before he bought her mouth down to his and captured her with a kiss that sent her spinning.

He devoured her lips until she ached. His mouth was insistent and hungry, moving against hers with a need she’d never felt before in a man’s kiss, and his hands held her head still even as the tip of his tongue darted out to outline her lips. Cordelia knew what he wanted, and with a sigh, she opened her mouth.

A groan rose from the back of his throat, and he thrust between her lips in a steady, intense rhythm that spiraled a hot shiver through her.

With a gasp, she tore her mouth away from his to regain her breath, but his lips never left her, sliding along her jaw to her ear. There, his wicked tongue did the same as he’d done to her mouth, swirling around her ear and plunging into it.

When he took her earlobe between his lips and sucked, a whimper escaped her. She wanted his mouth on hers again,neededit there, giving her ravenous yet reassuring kisses. So she rose up over him and claimed his kiss.

“Princess,” he murmured in warning against her mouth.

But she didn’t care if what she was doing was proper and dutiful, didn’t want to be a princess in his eyes. She knew only her growing need to be close to him.

She lifted her head to look down at him but kept her mouth tantalizingly close to his. “Cordelia,” she insisted. Cupping his face between her hands, she lowered her mouth to his and murmured between kisses, “Say my name, Clayton.” She took his bottom lip between hers and gently sucked. “Say it.”

“Cordelia.” Her name emerged as a low rasp, but his desire was clear. So was the trembling in his hand as he moved it down the side of her body. When his hand stroked back up, he brought her skirt along with it to midthigh, then slipped his hand beneath to caress bare skin.

“Please,” she whispered as he brushed her outer thigh.

Fulfilling her soft demand, he stroked his hand higher until he touched her bare bottom beneath her dress, until he held her against his large palm. He stroked her buttock in a slow, hard circle that made her feel deliciously feminine.

But even this bold touch wasn’t enough to satisfy the growing ache inside her. “More,” she murmured against his lips. “I want more.”

He rolled her onto her back and brought his body over hers. He caressed her bare thigh above her stocking. “This?”