In the darkness all he could do was feel, and he kissed his way blindly down her throat and along her collarbone as his hand cupped her breast over her bodice. She surged restlessly against him, arching her back to press herself more firmly into his hand, and Will went a little mad.
He caught her lips again and slid his hand inside her dress, catching her gasp of shock on his tongue as his palm cupped her bare breast.
“Oh! Oh goodness!”
He gave her a gentle squeeze, felt her nipple harden against the center of his palm. “Nice?” he panted. “More?”
She tightened her fingers in his hair. “Yes!”
A wave of desire swamped him, a need to show her the incredible things her body was capable of. He pushed down the fabric and fastened his mouth over her nipple, flicking it with his tongue, then sucking it hard.
She gave a little shriek. “Oh, God, . . . that’s . . . don’t stop!”
He had no intention of stopping. Her perfume filled his head, drowning his senses. The entire world narrowed to the feel of her beneath him. So small, and yet so strong. So delicate that a wave of protectiveness swamped him. He wanted to keep on doing this, keep on pleasuring her forever. He wanted her in his arms until he died.
“There’s more,” he groaned. He pressed a kiss to the uppermost curve of her breast, then gave a teasing nip to her shoulder with his teeth. “Want me to show you?”
He thought she’d say no. Thought she’d tell him to relight the lamp.
But Lucy Montgomery had never done what he expected.
She caught his face between her hands, stroking her fingers over the scar that slashed across his skin. Her thumb found the notch where it bisected his eyebrow, her fingers traced the furrow that curved over his cheekbone like a sickle moon back up toward his temple.
And in the darkness, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his skin, kissing his wounds as if they were the most beautiful thing about him.
Will forgot to breathe as she leaned close to his ear and whispered,“Yes. Show me now.”
CHAPTER9
Lucy didn’t give Will time to think. This was no time for logic, for reason. If he started thinking he’d probably stopdoing, and that was the lastthing she wanted him to do.
So she tugged his shirt from the waistband of his breeches and slid her hands up, under his shirt, greedily absorbing the feel of his muscles bunching beneath her palms, just as she’d dreamed of doing a thousand times in her imagination.
He let out a groan against her temple and she sent a silent, incredulous,thank youto the universe for finally gifting her the opportunity to touch him as she’d always dreamed of doing.
The darkness made her bold. She kissed his throat, his jaw, breathing in the delicious scent of his skin, and her heart leapt in delight as his hand slid down her leg and burrowed beneath her skirts. His fingers curled around her ankle, and then his palm was sliding up, over her stockinged calf and garter.
“I . . . God, it’s been too long since I’ve had a woman.” His voice was almost a growl, and her stomach fluttered at his anguished confession. He sounded delirious. As if he’d lost his senses.
Good.She wanted to befuddle him as much as he befuddled her.
He was half-lying on top of her, but she welcomed his crushing weight. She writhed against him as his hand found the bare skin above her knee, then moved higher, squeezing the top of her thigh before sliding around to caress her bare buttock.
A heavy, insistent throb pulsed between her legs.
“Lucia,” he groaned. “You’re killing me.”
Lucy bit back a laugh in the darkness. If she’d needed further confirmation, that was it.
Loo-chee-ah. Three syllables, the Italian way. As only he said it.
She fisted his hair and put her mouth next to his ear. “I need to tell you a secret.”
A distracted grunt was his only reply.
“The man I’ve been in love with for years? It’s Will Arden.”
His entire body stiffened, and she held her breath, afraid she’d miscalculated. Would he reveal himself? Laugh at her? Pull away?
