Page 63 of The Last Chance
Foolish girl!her father would have said.
But Joanna followed him along the hall, lured by the prospect of sharing an intimate moment, longing to feel the warmth of his lips.
Mr Chance brought her to a halt outside his bedchamber. “Delphine’s matchmaking efforts are wasted. I’ve known you’re the only woman I need for some time.” His gaze dipped to her mouth. “Perhaps you might permit me to demonstrate.”
Fascinated by him, she nodded.
He captured her chin and kissed her slowly, his tongue stroking hers in the same hypnotic way his fingers had explored her sex. “Don’t leave.” The words sounded pained this time. “I want you here, not with Miss Stowe. Say you’ll stay.”
It was pointless arguing. Her body sang to his tune. The tightening coil in her belly had command of her senses. “I’ll stay for a day or two, but we play a dangerous game.”
He drew her into his chamber and kicked the door shut.
It was dark, but he didn’t light the lamp.
“Tell me I’m not the only one losing my mind,” he hissed, pressing her against the wall, crushing her to his hard body. “Tell me all you think about is the feel of your mouth on mine.”
“I’ve thought of little else.”
“How can we ease the cravings?”
She shrugged. “We could stop talking and kiss.”
He claimed her mouth in fierce possession, the kiss almost savage in its desperation. Each thrust of his tongue had themuscles in her core clenching while greedy moans rumbled in his throat.
She felt drunk on the taste of him, intoxicated by his earthy masculine scent. There wasn’t a place he didn’t touch her, a palm skimming her breast then the curve of her hip, fingers squeezing one fleshy buttock, his skilled hands igniting a fire in her blood.
Don’t ever stop touching me, Aaron.
“Say you need more. I need to hear those pretty moans when you come again, Joanna,” he said, answering her silent plea. “I can’t get enough of you. Every part of me aches to feel close to you. Say you’ll stay until we solve the case.”
“We’ll never solve the case if I sleep next door.” Yet she was already anticipating the night they would make love, their naked bodies entwined until dawn. “We’ll be lovers, consumed by our passions.”
“Maybe we should accept the inevitable. We could move between rooms without anyone knowing. I could lounge on your bed and watch you bathe.”
What had brought about this sudden change in him? Did he believe things would be different now his family were home? Was it her threat to stay with Miss Stowe? Or the fear their time together might soon end?
“We don’t have long,” he panted, shrugging out of his coat and throwing it to the floor as if the garment offended him. “I need to join my family in the drawing room, but I’ll feel your hands on my body first.”
Lust was akin to madness.
Her heart thumped a frantic rhythm.
She practically tore the clothes off his back, dragging his shirt over his head like the material burned him.
“Touch me, Joanna.”
His skin burned beneath her palms, though every muscle was hard like granite. She caressed him, her fingers roaming over thescars cutting through the dark hair, her heart breaking while he closed his eyes and groaned with pleasure.
Who did this to you?
Who hurt you when you needed love?
Though silent, the words still choked her.
But she could love him now.
She touched every inch of him, pushing her hands into his hair and tugging hard while raining kisses over his jaw and throat. Her fingers followed the tantalising trail of dark hair disappearing below the waistband of his trousers.
