Page 40 of Would I Lie to the Duke
He started to move away, but she gripped his shoulders. “Don’t. Don’t stop. I want this. Forme.”
She lifted up onto her toes as he lowered his head and their lips touched, softly. They took small, exploratory sips of each other, discovering what it meant to finally yield to the desire that had built and built until it could no longer be denied.
The kiss deepened. She opened to him and his answering hunger surged. The stroke of her tongue against his coursed through his entire body, lighting torches in his muscles, his cock.
He was afire as she clung to him. Her breasts pressed snug to his chest, and his free hand cupped her waist to urge her closer.
She gasped in response as he dragged his lips from hers to scratch his teeth along her neck. He woulddevour her. She dug her nails into his back, stoking his hunger even higher and hotter.
“Yes,” she breathed. “More.”
“Goddamn it, Jess.” He bit her hard just where her neck curved to her shoulder, then soothed the sting with his tongue.
He slid his hand higher up, skimming over her waist and along her back, until it rested just beneath the curve of her breast. Yet he did not go farther, a silent question as to whether or not she wanted more. She angled her body, fitting her breast into his palm, and he snarled in approval. His hand covered her, stroking her. He brought his fingertips to her nipple and rubbed it into a tight point.
She gave another pleasured gasp.
“Wanted this,” he said in a voice so low it was subterranean. “You. In my arms. Wanted to feel you writhe against me, hear you moan.” He lightly pinched her nipple and she rewarded him with the moan he’d desired.
She felt delicious, a gorgeous collection of curves swathed in silk. He’d been struck by the color of her gown tonight, as golden as the sun, and with her just as dazzling within it. Now he wished the fabric would melt away beneath his hands, leaving her bare.
A man and woman’s laughter sounded close by.
She tore herself from his embrace. He needed her back in his arms, her mouth against his, but he had to respect the distance she’d put between them.
“We can’t . . .” She seemed to fight to get her breathing under control. “We can’t do this here.” Shetouched her fingers to her overheated cheeks. “I want to, though. God, how I want to.”
“You destroy me—piece by piece. And I welcome it.”
Her eyes were wide, her face flushed. He’d kissed her lips into overripe temptation. He felt a muscle work in his jaw as he struggled to calm himself.
Still, he glanced toward the deeper shadows, calculating the distance it would take to hide them both in the darkness and give in to their aching need.
Her gaze skimmed down his body, and her eyes widened to see the length of his cock pressed snug in his breeches.
A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “No elegant or witty words from me now. I want you.”
Need was written in her face—the finest text he’d ever read—yet a battle was fought behind her gaze. He held himself still. This was her choice to make.
“We ought to get back,” she said regretfully. “The others might be looking for us.”
Much as he wanted to protest, he nodded. Working quickly, he smoothed out his waistcoat and adjusted his neckcloth. She had almost completely untied it.
She tugged on her bodice and shook out her skirts, then patted her hair. “My coiffure must look like a windblown hayfield.”
“Let me.” He stepped close, and their fingers tangled as they both worked to put her hair in order. She sighed when he stroked his hands along her scalp and down the nape of her neck.
“How do you know so much about ladies’ hairarrangements? Do you help your lovers reassemble themselves when they rise from your bed?”
He did not want to speak of any other lover. He would never be so crass as to judge one woman against another, but more than that, he wanted to honor what he felt with Jess. There would be no comparisons. “I have two sisters and was frequently impressed into service dressing their hair.”
“They had no maid of their own?”
“At that age, they had a nurse who spent too much time flirting with an under-groom. So the task of making them into tiny ladies fell to me.” Fondness warmed his words. His sisters had been the bane of his existence when he’d been a boy, and he’d missed them terribly when he’d been sent to Eton. Now he saw them and their families every Christmas, and he enjoyed his role as indulgent uncle. “Have a look in the pond and see if I did your coiffure justice.”
She did so, peering at her reflection in the water. “Excellent. If you ever decide to relinquish your claim to the dukedom, you’ve a bright future in women’s hairdressing.”
“Tempting.”
