Page 69 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
When he had promised her only this: running his hands and his mouth over every inch of her body. He loved every aspect of her. The roundness of her breasts, the arch of her back, the dimples in her backside. Tiny, but there just as he’d envisioned them.
He entered her with a sure thrust, up to the hilt, and pumped hard and fast. Threading his fingers through hers, he carried her hands over her head, held them there, held her gaze. “Don’t close your eyes,” he ordered.
He wanted to see the fires of passion burning within the blue. Her hard nipples grazed his chest with each movement, her thighs bracketed his hips, her knees pressed against his sides. Her sighs and moans filled his ears, echoed through the chamber.
He wanted this every night, every morning, every afternoon. Never before had anything felt so right. She was made for him, and him alone. It didn’t matter that she’d had another. It mattered only that she was here now, with him.
He would not think about her leaving Britain; he wouldn’t contemplate that this was not forever. He would give her memories to take with her, and she would leave memories with him behind. For above all else, he wanted her happy.
“Rexton,” she rasped, her eyes holding his even as she rolled her head from side to side, as her fingers tightened on his.
“Fly, sweetheart. I’ll follow.”
Her cry was the sweetest he’d ever heard. Then he kept his word.
Tillie understood at long last why Juliet argued with Romeo that she’d heard the nightingale and not the lark. She didn’t want her time with Rexton to end, for dawn to creep over the land, to awaken all sleeping things, to bring with it the reality of her life. In his carriage, he held her against his side as though he, too, were reluctant to let her go.
“I would apologize for my rudeness in not letting you sleep,” he said, his voice a low lullaby in the rocking carriage, “but I suspect you’d view it as insincere.”
They’d drifted off a couple of times, although not for long. But even during sleep-filled moments, she was acutely aware of the long length of his body pressed against hers, his chest to her back, his leg draped possessively over her hip. There was security in that position. She’d never wanted to be a possession, yet she couldn’t deny that she relished being possessed—by him, at least. She didn’t belong to him, not truly, not for more than a few weeks anyway. Yet she liked the idea that at this particular moment she was his, and he was hers.
“I acquired more sleep than I expected—or wanted,” she assured him. “I’ll sleep the remainder of the morning, probably well into the early afternoon.”
“Mmm,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “Do you know how good you smell right now? You smell of sex, a little sleep, and me.”
She felt the blush rising over her cheeks. He smelled of her mixed with his scent. It was a glorious fragrance.
“I’m half tempted to have the carriage return us to my residence,” he said.
“How would I explain my absence?”
“Would Gina notice it?”
“I suspect so. She’s accustomed to having me about.”
“More’s the pity.”
When the carriage stopped, he disembarked, then handed her down. With his arm around her, pulling her in close against him, he escorted her up the steps. She retrieved her key, only to have him take it from her, and use it to unlock the door. She closed her fingers around it when he extended it toward her. She needed something solid and firm to hold on to, something that reminded her where she needed to be.
He leaned down, she tilted up her face, welcoming the brushing of his lips over hers.
“Let your sister know that I’ll be taking her rowing this afternoon,” he said quietly, before shoving open the door.
It was ridiculous how much she didn’t want to leave him.
“Be certain you’re her chaperone.”
Nodding, she slipped through the doorway, held her breath as the door closed with a hushed click. She locked it, then leaned against it, and waited, listening for the sound of his retreating carriage.
When it came, she headed for the stairs, wondering how she could possibly sleep, knowing that she’d be seeing him in only a few hours.
Chapter 14
Gina Hammersley was beginning to suspect she was the one serving as chaperone on these outings. While she was very much aware Rexton wasn’t courting her, she was beginning to suspect he might well be courting her sister. She’d noticed the attraction simmering between them during their first outing to the park. But it seemed they were no longer striving to ignore it or to pretend it didn’t exist.
Sitting beside her on the boat’s bench, Tillie was wearing a pretty pink frock and holding a matching parasol that kept the sun off her face. While she appeared to be searching the water for tiny fish swimming about, her gaze continually flitted over to Rexton and her cheeks would turn a bright rosy hue as though the man had leaned over and whispered something naughty in her ear. Meanwhile his eyes darkened, the muscles in his bared forearms would flex all the more, and the boat would travel a bit faster. It was fascinating to watch.
She didn’t quite understand how this exercise was going to garner the opportunity for her to meet and talk with men. When she expressed her concerns, Rexton assured her it was all about being seen. But anyone who saw them all together was going to know she wasn’t holding the marquess’s interest.
