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“I am.”
“About?”
“That I might not have enough time with you before…”
“Before you are affianced to Mr. Hayford.”
Ellie hated how cold Lucien sounded at this moment. “Yes.”
“We could always continue our affair.”
Ellie turned her head to look at his stark side profile. Her heart trembled at the raw emotions etched in that profile. He did not want to lose what they had either. “You would never admire a lady who would be unfaithful to herself, her vows, and her honor.”
A groan slipped from him, and he snaked a hand beneath her hips and tugged her to him, so she rolled and flushed to his side. Curving his hands to her hips, he dragged her up, so she splayed atop his body. “I am falling in love with you,” she whispered.
He stiffened. “Is love enough, Elle? Tell me, because I am damn well falling in love with you too.”
She had no answer for him, and she hated to see that look in his eyes. It was her recklessness that had put it there. Eleanor knew her family’s plans for her and that he had no part in it, yet she had selfishly fallen deeper and deeper into the feelings brewing between them. Before they progressed to a point of no return, she had to end it. A point where they lingered in each other’s heart too fiercely and might do something as stupid and despicable as an affair because they could not let each other go.
“Lucien…I…”
The rhythm of his breathing fractured. “Fuck,” he snarled. “I know it, Elle. I know what we are doing must end, but not now…hell, not now.”
A peculiar weight filled her heart, and a lump grew in her throat. As if they silently agreed, their mouths mashed together in a passionate kiss, drowning away all the doubts. Desire flowed through her in heady waves, and Ellie did not stop him as his hands roved over her body, rousing her to a feverish pitch. She welcomed his touch and the way he took her mouth. As if he was desperate to taste her or that he never wanted to let her go. He rolled with her until she lay beneath him, her legs splayed wide to accommodate his weight. Her gown crinkled as Lucien bunched it and pushed it to her thighs, and not once did he release her from his intoxicating kisses.
Their motions were frantic yet laced with sensual heat and want. Lucien reached between them with one of his hands, a hand that evidently shook, to undo the flap of his trousers. That same hand skimmed between her legs to the wet center of her sex. He fitted his manhood against her, and she arched into him, eager to feel connected to him in this manner.
He broke away from her mouth to bite the side of her neck. At the same time, he flexed his hips and pushed deep inside her body. Ellie was soft, wet, and pliant; still, she whimpered at the burning pain that almost overwhelmed her.
When a soft sob escaped her, he captured that sound, kissing her deeply. They remained like that, only kissing, but she could feel him getting harder inside of her though he was not moving, granting her time to grow accustomed to his invasion. His fingers played with her nub of pleasure, rubbing and pressing, even pinching until she was so wet, the rest of his hard length slid deep inside with little pain. He groaned against her lips, and she clung to his shoulders tightly, astonished by the pleasure darting through her.
Lucien started to move, pulling from the tight clasp of her body to return in a forceful glide. Ellie couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t think, only feel. And it was wonderful. Pulling her lips from his, she breathed raggedly into the hollow of his neck. There she could feel the ragged rhythm of his pulse, and though his cravat was in the way, she bit into the cloth.
Another groan tore from him, and his hips recoiled and thrust deeply again. Ellie whimpered at the pleasurable sting, wanting more. She rubbed her legs against his boots and up to his trousers to hook them at his hips.
Somehow, it felt right that they were still clothed, passionately wrapped in each other’s arms under the stars.
“Hold me, Elle,” he urged huskily.
She tightened her grip, a purely sensual delight escaping her as he started to ride her in a deep, powerful rhythm that had her gripping him and panting for breath and crying his name. A tight coil of agonizing need knotted low in her belly. With each plunge into her aching sex, that knot grew tighter and tighter. Ellie sobbed, desperate for something to happen, reaching and chasing the tormenting pleasure. Suddenly, that coil shattered, and she bit into his shoulder as ecstasy swept through Eleanor in long waves of pleasure. She held onto him as his movements grew more frantic, and the ache between her legs throbbed as he ravaged her with harder and deeper thrusts. Unexpectedly another burst of pleasure blossomed through her, and she arched into him almost violently. With a deep groan, he thrust one more time and then pulled from her body to empty his seed on her inner thigh.
Ellie was stunned. “So this is pleasure,” she said a bit breathlessly.
A rough chuckle came from him. “This was more than pleasure, Elle. This was…hell, this was only us.”
A shuffling sound echoed, and then he was cleaning his release from her body with a handkerchief. He tugged down her ballgown and assisted her to stand. Ellie peered up at him, swallowing at the intent way he peered at her. Lucien clasped her cheek and gently kissed her. The tenderness and emotions conveyed brought a lump to her throat and an ache of tears behind her eyes.
I must end this, she thought, yet she could not bring herself to speak the words. She felt ridiculously vulnerable.
“Come to me tomorrow night,” he entreated. “Can you do this?”
“My sisters are rather skilled at stealing away,” she said, touching her trembling fingers to his mouth. “Where do I come?”
A smile slanted his wide, sensual mouth, and his eyes gleamed with tender emotions. “To my gambling den. You will need to wear a masquerade mask. My private rooms are there.”
A surge of longing went through her heart, and heat fluttered low in her belly. “Are we to do this again?” she asked, brushing her mouth over his in a teasing kiss.
“Yes, this time properly.”
