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Slippery as an eel, I slid out of his hold.
‘I said don’t stop!’
I smirked up at him. ‘Ah, but I had to - I’m for the equality of man and woman, after all.’ Sliding one hand down his bare chest in a gentle caress, I placed the other on my own. The thin material of the chemise did little to conceal what lay beneath, and the corset did more aiding and abetting than concealing. ‘Wouldn’t you like to reciprocate?’
Cocking my head, I leaned back against the tree, offering myself to him.
Mr Ambrose wasn’t one to ignore a free offer. His fingers grabbed hold of my corset, racing, searching for a way to open, and making me want to faint in the process.
‘Where are the buttons on this thing?’ he growled.
I giggled. I couldn’t help it.
‘Mr Linton!’
‘Mister, Sir?’
‘Just tell me where the damn buttons are!’
Mr Ambrose, swearing? I was hardly able to hold in my laughter. ‘It doesn’t have buttons! Haven’t you ever opened a lady’s corset before?’
‘That,’ he growled, leaning down towards me until his lips brushed my ear in a tantalising threat, ‘is not exactly the kind of question a lady should ask a gentleman.’
‘Well, from where I’m standing,’ I whispered back, running one finger down his hard, half-bare chest, ‘you don’t particularly look like a gentleman.’
Suddenly serious, I looked up into his eyes. There was true confusion there. Could it be that he hadn’t…That he had never before…with any other…
Good God.
I abruptly lowered my eyes again, suddenly abashed. Why? Why the hell was I suddenly feeling so inexplicably shy?
‘Really?’ I whispered. ‘You really don’t know? You’ve never…’
I didn’t finish the sentence.
Suddenly, I felt a finger at my chin, taking control, lifting my gaze up to his. Anxious, chocolate brown eyes met his impenetrable sea-coloured orbs.
‘Knowledge is power is time is money, Mr Linton, remember? Why would you suppose I would ever waste time on something as frivolous and senseless as that?’
‘You’re doing it now,’ I dared to point out.
Shut up, Lilly, shutupshutupshutup!
But he didn’t pull away. Instead he stared at me for an immeasurably long moment, and then nodded. ‘Yes. I am.’ His arms tightened around me, and he pulled me against his chest in an embrace that was not at all sensual, and yet so much deeper in meaning.
‘Why?’ I whispered.
‘You’re my little Ifrit.’ His voice travelled up to me right through his chest, deep and strong. ‘How could I possibly say no?’
I felt something tug at my heart, so hard it was almost wrenched out of my chest and slipped into his.
‘But don’t you dare think I’ll be counting this as work hours!’ he growled. ‘I will deduct every minute from your pay cheque at the end of the month!’
Moisture pricking at the corner of my eyes, I grinned into his chest. ‘Please do.’
The way I was feeling right now, this would be over in two pennies worth of time. And that would be worth it a thousand times over! Inside me was rising a feeling stronger than heat, stronger than need, stronger than all the other emotions boiling inside me. I was his first! His very first and only! I was his little ifrit. I would have crowed it from the rooftops - if there had been any rooftops available. Instead, I pressed myself even more closely up against him, my lips finding his ear.
‘Want to waste a little time with me, Sir?’
