Page 101 of The Art of Sinning
With a smug smile, he bent to nip her ear. “I could tell how much you hated it by how eagerly you posed for them and how readily you dressed for them.”
Beast. “I had a reason for complying. We had a bargain.”
“Right. Your brother. And that’s another reason you should marry me. How many of your English gentlemen would bring you to a brothel if you requested it, no questions asked?” His free hand slid tantalizingly down her ribs to her waist.
She shivered deliciously. “You did ask questions.”
“And you didn’t answer them. Yet I took you there, anyway. Wasn’t that sporting of me?” He undid her sash with one hand and dropped it onto the bridge.
Oh, Lord. “Y-yes. Very sporting. But not a situation likely to be repeated in... the future.”
“So you say. From what I’ve heard of him, your brother could have fifty by-blows. We might have to visit any number of brothels in the future.”
When he began to unfasten the front buttons of her redingote dress, she made a feeble attempt to stop him, ignoring the wild anticipation pulsing through her. “Are you mad? Edwin could be back any minute.”
With a snort, Jeremy continued what he was doing. “I’ll be much surprised if your brother shows up again before dinner. He was itching to get away from us.”
Grudgingly, she admitted the truth of that. Apparently, Jeremy had begun to know her brother almost as well as she.
“And besides,” he went on as he undid the last of her buttons, “if he did find us together, what could he do? Make us marry? That’s an even better reason to risk it.”
He lifted her onto the parapet, and her gown fell open to reveal her corset and petticoats shamelessly exposed to the air. His gaze drifted down to where her breasts were pushed high within their corset cups, and his voice turned guttural. “I can think of several excellent reasons to risk it.”
The idea that he would make love to her here, in the outdoors, was so tempting...sooutrageous! “Butanyonecould stumble upon us.”
“Yes. Anyone could.” Piercing her with a dark glance, he bent close. “Tell the truth—that excites you, doesn’t it? The idea that we could be caught any minute.”
She gulped. It did excite her. She reallywasa wanton.
Keeping his heated gaze locked with hers, he pushed down the cup of her corset to fill his hand with her breast. “That’s another reason you should marry me,” he said silkily. “Because how many men would make love to you in a forest, no matter the risk?”
Her breath quickened as he thumbed her nipple. Delicately. Seductively. “Mr. Ruston attempted... something similar, if you’ll recall. I—it didn’t work for him.”
“Yes, I remember your saying that you parried his advances quite well.” With his other hand, he began to drag up her petticoats. “But you’ve barely even tried to parry mine. So I suspect I’ll have more success.”
She was gathering breath to protest that arrogant statement when he took her mouth with his once more.
Twenty-Five
Jeremy reveled in Yvette’s eager response to his kiss. She was his again. He might be half-drunk from lack of sleep and reeling from his wildly swinging emotions, but he still had the presence of mind to seduce Yvette.
Thank God. Because right now the need to be inside her was eating him alive.
Merely seeing her expression when he’d suggested doing thisherehad been enough to spur him on. Curiosity had warred with propriety in her face, and, as always with his Juno, curiosity had won. That was one of her most entrancing qualities.
Even as he ravaged her mouth, he undid the buttons of his long frock coat and drew it open so it could better shield them. Then he pushed up the layers of her frothy undergarments to get to the sweet flesh at her core. But before he could plunder that, too, he felt her fumbling to unfasten his trousers.
He couldn’t resist teasing her. “I see I’ve quelled all your fears about making love in the outdoors.”
“Not all of them.” Her eyes sparkled up at him as she flicked open the buttons of his trousers, causing his prick to strain against the fabric. “I’m still not sure I want to be found in my altogether by anyone wandering the woods.”
“You won’t. If I lift your skirts and lower my trousers and drawers, my frock coat and your gown will protect your modesty.”
“Will they?” Her fingers froze on the still-fastened buttons of his drawers as she looked up at him. Her eyes shone the deep green of the forest above and around them. “Are you sure?
“Sure enough.” Covering her hand with his, he urged her to continue her unbuttoning, and when she did, his blood thundered in his ears. “Here, I’ll show you.”
He hoisted her legs so he could press in between them and tuck her knees against his waist on either side, inside his frock coat.
