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Claire got to her feet. “If you don’t need anything, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I need something,” he said quickly as she walked by his chair. He snaked an arm around her waist and tugged her into his lap. She squirmed, but only for a moment. “Settle down,” he growled playfully.
She wiggled her bottom against his erection and he winced. “Let me go, Finn.”
“Fine,” he clipped out. He loosened his arms but didn’t completely let her go. He wouldn’t force her to want him. Maybe he was the only one with such fierce desires right this moment. She wasn’t foxed, after all, not like the last time he’d had her. He loosened his hold on her. She could have gotten out of his arms, had she tried, but she didn’t. In fact, she softened against him a bit with a heavy sigh.
“Finn,” she breathed.
“Claire,” he mocked.
“Why did you send for me?”
Because he couldn’t go to her with Katherine in the room beside her. “I just wanted to look at you.”
“You’re foxed. Go to bed.”
In fact, he’d only had a sip or two of brandy. He wasn’t nearly foxed. He had all his faculties completely under control. What wasn’t in control was her. “If you’ll go with me, I will.”
He laid his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. She should slap him. And she still might. She wasn’t some whore he could talk to like that.
The palm of her hand stroked across his beard stubble, instead. “What’s bothering you?” she asked. She still hadn’t gotten up from his lap, and it was all he could do not to touch her.
“I don’t want Katherine to be here,” he admitted.
“You still have feelings for her?”
“Not at all.” And that was the truth. He’d been dismayed and disillusioned when she threw him over, but that was more about his pride than any heartfelt emotion he had for her.
“But you had feelings for her once.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, which was fine, because it wasn’t an easily answered question.
“Feelings didn’t come into play with Katherine.” He gave Claire a tiny push to slide her down his knee a bit. He could feel every breath she took in his manhood, and if he got any harder, she would be able to drive him into the wall and spin him like the hands of a clock.
“What was in play with Katherine?” Her voice was quiet, and her green eyes looked directly into his.
“Pleasure. Katherine was about pleasure. I have needs. She met them. For a time.” That sounded callow even to him.
“And how do you have them met now?”
He didn’t. Finn took her hand and placed it on his raging manhood. She indelicately squeezed the tip of it through his trousers. “God, Claire.” He took her hands in his and laid them upon his chest. “You’ll unman me doing that.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Of course, she didn’t. “Do you remember what we did tonight on the overlook at the ball?”
A rosy flush crept up her cheeks again. God, she was pretty. “I remember.”
“That.”
“Oh. I don’t know how to do that.”
Finn did. It felt like he spent in his hand more often lately than he ever had. And it was all Claire’s fault.
Finn sat up straighter and cupped her face in his hands. He touched his lips to hers. Claire’s hands fisted in his waistcoat as she clutched him tightly. But she kissed him back. She was slightly hesitant at first, but when he touched his tongue to hers, she moaned low in her throat. “What can I do to help you?” she whispered as she sat back and looked down at the ridge of his manhood. She licked her pretty pink lips.
He was an idiot. This woman had been an innocent before he’d spoiled her. And he couldn’t use her as he would a whore. But he’d never felt this consuming desire for a woman before. Never. Not once in his life. He wanted to please her. He wanted to make her happy. To hell with his needs. He needed to have her. That was all.
But if he took her tonight, she’d be no more to him than Katherine. “If your father were here, I’d go to him and ask for his permission to take you driving or for a walk in Hyde Park.” He drew her down to lay her head on his chest, and she curled into him like she was meant to be there.
