Page 69 of The Danger of Desire
“We really shouldn’t be doing this, you know,” she murmured after a moment. “It’s scandalous.”
“Says the woman who generally thumbs her nose at scandal.” He dragged her skirts up above her garters, then skimmed his hands along the silky skin of her bared thighs with a feverish need to touch and caress andhave.“I want you. You want me. So let’s take what we want. Because I bloody well can’t wait until tomorrow to have you.”
She stared up at him with such longing that it made his heart miss a beat. “Y-you really mean that?”
Grabbing her hand, he pressed it against his erection, which strained against his trousers. “It’s not as if I could lie about it, giventhis.”
Her eyes darkened to the blue of storm clouds as she caressed him through the fabric. “My... well... thatisvery... interesting.”
“This shows how much I ache to be inside you, dearling,” he said hoarsely as he slipped his hand between her legs to rub and arouse her. “To take you and make you mine. In this place. At this moment. And I realize you deserve a proper bedding, in a soft bed with sheets. You deserve better than a quick tumble on a table on a rooftop.”
He thrust his growing cock against her hand. “Yet even knowing that, knowing it’s mad and unwise, I want it. I wantyou.But only if you’re willing.”
“It’s not as if I could lie about it,” she rasped, echoing his words as she undulated against his hand, her damp warmth driving him utterly insane. “Lord help me, but I do want you... as much as you want me. I just don’t know... what to do.”
“I’ll show you.” He’d show her that marital relations could be intoxicating. That even a marriage based on lust could be pleasurable. And that, in her case, he felt something more than—
God, no, it was only lust. Surely it was.
But as he slid his hand inside her wrapped gown to fondle one of her sweet breasts, he knew he was lying to himself. This was obsession. And for a man who’d never been obsessed before, it felt dangerous.
He didn’t care. Caught up in his need, he pulled her bodice apart enough to jerk down her shift and corset cup so he could seize her lovely naked breast in his mouth.
“Oh my, yes...” she breathed as he frantically undid his trousers and drawers. “But you must showmewhat to do, how to... to touch you. I want... to be a real wife to you.”
Arealwife? He wasn’t even sure what that was, or that he could be a real husband to her. But he couldn’t think about that just now. Because he would die if he couldn’t be inside her, with her, part of her.
And none of the rest mattered.
Seventeen
Delia couldn’t believe she was sitting half-naked in the sun and wind while Warren put his hands all over her. She ought to be embarrassed.
Instead she felt wild and daring and giddily happy. Warren had sought her out as soon as he’d arrived from town. He’d done his best to reassure her about their future, despite now knowing more about her family and their troubles.
And he’d promised to be faithful to her. Sort of.
I can safely promise never again to spend my nights in the stews.
She would hold him to that. But first... “Show me how to please you. I want to touch you, too.”
With a growl, he grabbed her hand and curved it around his now bared arousal. His eyes slid shut as a look of pure bliss swept his features. “God, yes, dearling. Ilovehaving you caress my cock. You have no idea...”
She’d heard the men speak of their cocks at Dickson’s, not knowing that they meant this strange rod of flesh.
Fascinated by the length and rigidity of it, she stroked it with great delicacy. “Like this? Am I doing it right?” She didn’t want to hurt him.
“It’s fine,” he breathed, “but it would be better if you held it... more firmly. Show me... you’re not afraid of me.”
“I’m not.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He was much larger than she’d expected. And that... that cock was supposed to go inside her? Lord.
But she did as he asked and gripped him more tightly. With a taut groan, he thrust into her hand. “Like that, yes. Oh, God, you’re perfect.”
Then he blotted out whatever she might have answered with a soul-consuming kiss. His hands grew bolder, one of them darting a finger inside her below while the other pinched her nipple lightly and made her gasp with surprise, then pleasure.
“I’ve thought of nothing but this since the day I met you,” he said against her mouth. “Even then, I wanted you.”
“I wanted you, too,” she admitted. “But I knew it was mad.”
