Page 72 of What's an Earl Gotta Do?
Anne gave a squeak as Michael scooped her into his lap and tried to kiss her. She held him at shoulder length. “Michael! I was talking.”
“Have some pity. You’ve been rubbing up against me, pretending you were trying to seduce me, for the last half hour. It has had the predictable effect.”
Surely enough, she could feel a familiar bulge pressing against her leg. “That can wait,” she said, causing Michael to groan. Anne cleared her throat. “As I was saying, the evidence points to Gladstone.”
Michael, who had settled for kissing her neck, paused long enough to say, “I thought Gladstone was the secretary. Isn’t embezzlement more the treasurer’s area?”
Anne shuddered. That did feel wonderful, what he was doing. “You would think so,” she managed to say. “But charitable boards are specifically set up to prevent that.”
“How so?” Michael asked, moving up to Anne’s ear.
“They—God, Michael—they require the treasurer to put down a… a deposit. Typically for five hundred pounds, as a guarantee. If there are any irregularities with the books, it comes out of their deposit. It removes temptation because they would only be stealing from themselves.”
Michael kissed his way across her jawline. “Who is the treasurer of the R.M.A., anyways?”
Anne was now panting. “Lord… Lord Scudamore. And that’s the thing—” She groaned, losing her train of thought mid-sentence, as Michael slid his hands up her torso and began to caress her nipples with his thumbs.
She felt a chuckle rumble through Michael’s chest. “What’s the thing?”
“M-motive,” she gasped. “Lord Gladstone is—God, that feels good—in debt up to his eyeballs. Whereas Lord Scudamore—oh, Michael!—managed to turn his estate around years ago. Lord Gladstone is the one with the motive.”
“An important consideration.” Now Anne was the one leaning in to kiss Michael, and he was the one grinning wickedly as he held her back a few inches. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
Anne decided turnabout was fair play and reached down to stroke the bulge that was still poking her in the leg. This had precisely the effect she desired, and Michael’s head listed to the side on a groan. When she leaned in to kiss him this time, he met her lips voraciously.
Anne smiled into the kiss. Although she was still annoyed with him, she found herself starting to soften. After all, he had helped her tonight. She had to admit, their going together had provided a good cover, and although she would have been willing to walk down that alley alone, she’d been glad to have Michael by her side. He hadn’t shown much talent for subterfuge, but he had tried.
This reminder of how pleasurable kissing Michael was also didn’t hurt, and she found herself melting into his chest, her arms curling around his neck.
In the darkness of the hack, Michael’s hands roved freely over her body, lingering over her best and most sensitive areas. By the time they crossed into Mayfair, Anne’s body was humming pleasantly when she felt a rush of cold air against her legs.
“Michael,” she laughed, “what are you doing?”
His hand was inching up her thigh, drawing tantalizingly closer to the place between her legs that was already throbbing for him. He pressed a kiss into her neck. “Reminding you how much you want to invite me in to stay the night.”
His fingers were sifting through her curls in search of that sensitive little nub, and she shifted in his lap, spreading her legs to give him access. “Mmmmmmm,” she groaned at the exquisite pleasure of first contact. “That does sound… very tempting. But I should—oh!—probably say no.”
“No? Why ‘no,’ darling?”
Her head lolled onto his shoulder. “After last night, there’s—oh, Michael! There’s already a chance I could be pregnant. Truth be told I’ve… I’ve worried about it all day,” she admitted. “I can’t do anything that will increase those odds.”
He frowned. “Don’t worry about that Anne. We’re getting married. Whether you’re carrying my child right now or not.”
“That’s easy to say.” She tipped her head back on a gasp as he swirled his thumb in exactly the right spot. “But… but our future plans are still completely at odds.”
“We’re going to figure that out,” he insisted.
“I hope so. But what if we don’t? I can’t take another chance like we did last night.” He opened his mouth to protest, and she placed her hand gently over his lips. “And please, don’t argue. I can’t possibly think clearly while you’re… while you’re…” She couldn’t help but squirm against his hand. What had started as a few lazy caresses was rapidly growing in urgency. God, she wanted to come…
“How about this—we’ll only do things that won’t make you pregnant.”
“Isn’t there still a risk? Even if you use a sheath, or withdraw, or—”
“A small risk, yes. But that’s not what I had in mind.”
That made her curious. “Oh? Then what are you suggesting?”
He began to kiss her ear. “More of what I did to you last night. And what I’m doing to you right now. I’ll use my hands on you, and my mouth.”
