Page 82 of Wicked Rivals
“Perhaps we should start right now?” His voice was deliciously rough as he pulled her away from the dining room door.
She gasped as he shoved her behind a curtain away from a window seat alcove off the main hall. “What? Now?”
“Yes. Here. Right now.” Ashton jerked the heavy baize curtain closed, sealing them in the small alcove. “Forget dinner. No one will miss us.”
Her heart pounded as she struggled to think. What if someone came upon them? That thought only made her body spark to life even more.
“But—”
Ashton pressed a finger to her lips as he backed her up against the wall beside the window seat.
“Lift your skirts,” he ordered, his eyes burning hot.
Grinning, she trailed her fingers up his chest. “Make me.” She brushed her lips on his jaw, and he growled like a hungry wolf.
“Oh, I’ll make you.” He captured her wrists and held them above her head with one hand, using his other to bunch her skirts up. It was like that night at the opera so long ago, but this time, she wanted him to take her and be in control. He needed to win this battle, and she would let him, though after a bit of a struggle. One she’d enjoy. It was what made everything between them so exciting, because it felt so wicked.
Ashton’s kisses seduced her into a state of bliss. She curled one leg around his hip, pressing closer as he unfastened his trousers.
“Don’t make a sound,” he murmured against her.
She clenched her trapped fists and held her breath as he kissed her neck and thrust into her. Her body welcomed him, squeezing around his shaft. She clutched the baize curtains as he released her hands, hanging on as Ashton possessed her in the hidden alcove. She couldn’t think beyond what was happening between them.
The rhythmic sounds against the wooden wall, so close to where everyone else would be sitting down to dinner soon, made it that much more exciting. In that moment, Ashton owned her completely and she wanted him to. The climax hit her hard, and he silenced her cry with a kiss. He came seconds later, crushing her into the wall. Panting, they recovered slowly, bodies pressed together, enjoying the aftershocks of pleasure rolling through them. She nuzzled his cheek, her eyes closed, smiling faintly.
“Hellion,” he said, smiling.
“Bastard,” she kissed his lips.
“I’myourbastard.” He touched his forehead to hers until their noses brushed. He seemed more than content, perhaps even happy. Seeing him like that filled her with a strange joy. As much as she loved to challenge him, there was an intensity to the moments when they seemed perfectly in tune with each other.
He nudged his hips against hers. “Hungry?”
Rosalind raked her nails lightly against his back. “Dinner will suffice, for now.”
Ashton cupped her face, gazing at her as though they had each exposed parts of their souls. It was a secret sort of spell cast between them, two reluctant hearts starved for love and yet afraid to grasp at it. She saw that truth in his eyes and felt it in his hands as he held her.
Voices down the hall shattered the peaceful scene. With blushing smiles, they separated. She fixed her dress while he tended to his trousers. They held their breaths as Charles and Jonathan passed by their hidden spot.
“I don’t know what Ash is thinking, marrying her,” Charles grumbled. “Sure she’s a lovely creature, but far from trustworthy.”
Jonathan tried to cut in. “Charles, I don’t think—”
“Really, Jon, think about it. He doesn’t even like her. Sure, bedding a woman for lust is one thing, butmarryingher? He’s lost his bloody mind.”
Rosalind stiffened, trying to block out the pain those words caused. Ashton gripped her by the shoulders as he waited for his friends to walk into the dining room and out of earshot.
“He’s wrong. On my life, he iswrong,” Ashton growled, softly enough for only her ears. “Do you understand me?”
Tears stung her eyes as she struggled to get free of him. “Let me go!”
Ashton shoved her back against the wall. “Not until you hear me out. However things may have started out between us, I wantyou, Rosalind. As a partner, as a wife, as a lover. Charles is a fool. He doesn’t want the rest of the League to marry because he’s afraid of being left alone.”
She stopped struggling, but her heart still stung. He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. He rubbed his hands up and down her back, soothing her, but she despised the fact that it calmed her.
“Why should I believe you?” she asked, breathing in the scent of him, loving it and hating it at the same time.
Ashton slid a hand up to her neck, gently massaging the tense muscles there. It felt too good, Rosalind had to admit. But as Ashton had once admitted, such gestures were matters of technical finesse, not what was going on in one’s soul.
