Page 30 of One Night with a Rake

Well, he would, wouldn’t he, him being an accomplished rake and all?

It was like the Eden story, only reversed. This time Adam opened Eve’s eyes.

“Nate.” She couldn’t manage more for another three breaths. She struggled with the ache and finally subdued it. “I…forgive…you.”

That made him straighten to his full height, his expression as stricken as if she’d slapped him. Clarity flooded back into her mind and with it fresh resolve. She needed to end this.

Quickly.

“Now I understand why those poor girls in Covent Garden fall into that life.” Georgette gently pushed his hand away and ruffled her skirts till the hem fell to the floor. She still felt exposed as she exhaled shakily. “Please don’t do that to me again.”

Georgette eased around him. Somehow, she walked across the wide open dance floor toward the door. Her insides clamored for her to look behind her at Nate, but she didn’t dare. If she did, she might run back to him and tell him she was a goose. She didn’t mean a word of it and if he’d be pleased to continue to diddle her silly, she’d count it as a personal favor.

She paused when her hand closed over the crystal doorknob. Without turning around, she said, “I know you are a guest in my parents’ house, but you are not my guest. Stay far away from me.”

Just because she forgave him for giving her a forbidden taste of carnal knowledge, it didn’t mean she had to hang around the tree waiting for him to tempt her with another bite of the apple.

***

Gasping, Reuben Darling rolled onto his back. Hundreds of times, he’d imagined what it would be like to take Mercy Atwood to bed. To strip off her clothes and make her his, finally and completely.

His wildest dreams hadn’t come within spitting distance of the real thing.

“Oooh, that was nice,” she cooed.

“Nice? It was bloody incredible!”

She propped herself up on one elbow and grinned down at him. “Ye have a ways to go before ye hit ‘bloody incredible,’ but ‘nice’ isn’t a bad place to start, Mr. Darling. I suspect ye’re going to learn quicker than I thought.”

Some of the golden glow of his heart-pounding release faded a bit and not only because she’d classed their coupling as merely “nice.” He was more upset because she was back to calling him “Mr. Darling.”

He’d liked it when she called him “Reuben.” In fact, she’d practically sang “Reuben” while her tight little insides fisted around him and her limbs bucked in release. He’d worked around the hard shell of disdain Mercy used to keep folk at arm’s length. He thought he was finally getting close to her. Hearing “Mr. Darling” drop from her lips now was like taking ten steps backward. “What was wrong with it?”

“Sure ye want to know?” She ran her tongue across her upper teeth and smiled like a cat who’d just licked away the incriminating evidence of stolen cream. The sheet drooped just enough to bare one of her lovely breasts, its rosy nipple still a tight bud.

He was grateful she insisted on leaving the candle burning. The other women he’d been with—and he could count them on the fingers of one hand—had been shy about being seen in the buff, so he’d had to use his imagination a lot. Mercy Atwood in the altogether was so much better to look upon than he could have ever imagined.

“I want to know,” Reuben said. If there was a chance he could bed this little minx again, he’d suffer through her criticisms willingly enough. After all, she criticized nearly everything he did outside the bed. Why should he expect this to be any different? He laced his fingers behind his head. “Tell me.”

“Let’s start with the good things first, shall we? Ye’re a tall, handsome man, but I was afeard ye mightn’t be what ye might call—oh, what was that word milady tried to teach me? Oh, yes, now I mind it. Proportional. That’s the word.” She slid a hand under the sheet and fondled his now flaccid member. “But fortunately for the both of us, ye’re blessed with a fine, big thing. You’re a very proportional fellow.”

“Saints and demons, woman.” He grasped her wrist. It hadn’t even been two minutes yet since he pumped himself dry into her. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“No, just trying to see if ye’re still alive,” she said with a giggle.

To his very great relief, he began to stiffen again under her touch.

“There he is.” She lifted the sheet and blew a kiss to his swelling cock. Her smile was tinged with sweet wickedness. “As I hoped, quick on the ready as well.”

She wiggled down under the covers.

“What are you do—holy God!”

She licked the full length of him and took the head into her hot little mouth.

Reuben had heard of such things, but he never imagined he’d ever have a woman do it for him. Not without paying for her to, in any case. He’d have sworn there wasn’t another drop in him, but now he gritted his teeth to keep from spilling into her sweet mouth.

Then he remembered men used to pay Mercy for this. He didn’t want her thinking he expected it. He reached under the covers and pulled her up for air before the pressure in his shaft reached the point of no return.