Page 54 of Counting on a Countess
“Are there desires I might pursue, as well?” she asked, her voice going husky.
His brows went up in surprise for half a moment before that look of need burned brighter in his eyes. He moved closer to her.
She held up a hand, holding him at bay. “Tonight, I want only kissing,” she asserted. “It cannot lead to anything else.”
He swallowed. “As you wish.” His voice was low and gravelly.
“Good.” She tried to will her heart to stop pounding frantically, but it wouldn’t listen. Instead, blood roared in her ears as she stepped nearer, turning the distance between them to mere inches.
She slid her hands up the front of his waistcoat, feeling his strapping body beneath the brocade, and his own energetically beating heart. He seemed to hold his breath as her hands went up farther to rest on his shoulders. The flesh beneath her palms was tight and solid, and it shifted under her touch. He watched all this with heavy-lidded eyes.
“I’m going to touch you now,” he rumbled.
She couldn’t find her voice to agree, but nodded.
Unhurriedly, his hands moved around her waist, fitting to her curves. His heat soaked into her flesh. He gently pulled her even closer, until their bodies met. She bit back an exclamation of shock and pleasure at the feel of him, so very potent, so different from her. She wanted to run and she wanted to lean into him and absorb this moment, this intimacy. The cold from years of isolation thawed slowly, leaving her exposed and open.
He lowered his head as she tipped hers upward, and their mouths met. Desire flamed brightly at his touch. They moved quickly past tentative caresses to fuller, deeper kisses, stroking against each other. His tongue moved in a hypnotic rhythm in her mouth. She yielded and she took, growing bolder, feeling her own power. When she sucked lightly on his tongue, he growled and pressed her tightly against him. Her fingers wove into his hair.
Everything in her body went warm and liquid. She felt intoxicated yet also powerfully aware. A new ache started to throb, demanding more.
He will devastate you, her mind whispered.
I don’t care, her body answered.
Abruptly, she pulled back.
His eyes slowly opened as his hold on her waist loosened slightly. He looked as though someone had taken away the very air he needed to breathe. And yet he didn’t try to grab her or force his kisses on her.
“I think... that’s enough for tonight.” She couldn’t quite catch her breath.
He said nothing, his jaw tight. But he nodded.
“It’s been a long day,” she continued, her voice sounding overloud, “and I really do need to go to sleep. Have a good night.”
“Good night,” he answered hoarsely.
She spun on her heel and hurried out of the parlor, putting much-needed distance between them.
Kit watched her go, his heart pounding and his cock hard. Goddamn it—his need for her grew like wildfire whenever he touched her, nearly burning him to ash.
He stalked to the sideboard and poured himself another drink, which he quickly threw back, bracing himself and fighting to return to sanity.
Everything he had learned of her tonight revealed her courage, her strength—and her solitude. She was a rare elemental creature, one that demanded respect, even as her innate sensuality inflamed him. He could lose himself in her.
He’d made plans for tomorrow evening, hoping that what he had arranged would please her.
I want to please her.
The thought struck him like a sniper’s bullet. But when he conjured images of her smiling and laughing, warmth seeped through him and he felt both calm and purposeful.
He strode to the window and parted the curtains to look out at the darkness that mirrored his own shadowed thoughts. Too much silence unnerved him, reminding him of the calm before an ambush.
Remember your objective. Woo her, get the money, build the pleasure garden.It was the light to his darkness, illuminating his way back to life in peacetime.
There was no reason why he couldn’t enjoy courting his wife. But Tamsyn wasn’t the cure for his somber illness. She wouldn’t lead him out of the perpetual war being waged in his mind, his heart. He knew of only one thing that could finally give him tranquility.
Tonight he’d go to his solitary bed, planning the next step in his campaign of seduction.
