“You are so perfect,” he growled against her lips. “I cannot seem to resist you, Miss Clifford. You are like a siren whose call I cannot escape.”
“A siren, my lord?” she breathed as he began kissing along her jawline. “Hardly a flattering comparison, do you not think?”
“Why do you say that?” he asked before nipping at her earlobe and making her whimper.
“Sirens lure sailors to their deaths against the rocks. If I am a siren, does that not mean I am luring you to ruin?”
“Perhaps,” he murmured, bringing his lips back to hover over hers. “But it would be a sweet ruin.”
“I do not understand you,” Victoria admitted softly.
He pressed his forehead to hers and replied, “I do not understand myself half the time, either. The only thing that seems to be clear is that I want you, Miss Clifford.”
Her breath left her in a rush. “That is rather bold of you, my lord.”
“Indeed,” he agreed. “I have never been one to mince words, though.”
With that, he pressed his lips to hers once more, and it was far more demanding than before. Victoria gripped him tight as he slanted his mouth over hers again and again. That fire within her exploded into an inferno and grew all-consuming. Soon enough, the rest of the world seemed to melt away around them, and all she was aware of was Lord Harford and how he was making her feel.
The tingling between her legs turned into a throbbing, and pressure began building up within her that she wanted eased, though she did not know how. As Lord Harford ran his hands along her torso, grazing her breasts and gripping her hips to pull her tighter to him. To her shock, she could feel something hard between his legs pressing against her thigh. It stunned her and yet only seemed to intensify the pressure growing within her.
She wanted…something. Something she could not name. Relief of some kind, but she did not know how to ask for it. How to put into words what her body was experiencing.
Before she could figure it out, however, Lord Harford abruptly pulled his mouth from hers, leaving her gasping for breath.
Shaking his head, he pushed himself from her arms. “I…I am sorry, Miss Clifford. I cannot do this.”
“Do what?” she asked, shaking her head. “Lord Harford, I do not….”
“I cannot give you what you want,” he told her, confusing her further. “I am truly sorry, but for both our sakes, I think it best that we stay away from each other as much as possible.”
Victoria was completely flabbergasted by his sudden change in temperament and thought. Her mind scrambled to make sense of all that he was saying, but before she could think straight, he turned and hurried out of the room, leaving her perched on the table, her legs still spread and her mind a jumble.
***
What had he been thinking? How could he be such a fool?
He had nearly put Miss Clifford in an irreversible position. She might not be a lady, but he could tell that she was innocent. Her responses to his kisses and his touch were too raw and unpracticed for her to have ever experienced their like before.
He could not compromise her. He was not a scoundrel, despite what his reputation might label him as. Miss Clifford deserved better than a single romp in the library. She deserved a man who was dedicated to her. Who could love her and want to marry her?
That simply was not Edward.
As much as he may want her and as genuinely fond of her as he had grown to be, Edward would not marry her or any other woman. So he had no right to ruin her.
He had to forget her. Had to forget what her lips felt like against his and what her body felt like in his hands.
Making his way to his room, he hurried inside and shut the door behind him.
Releasing a long breath, Edward turned and pounded his fist against the solid wood of the door. What was wrong with him? He was losing all sense of himself. This was madness. Miss Clifford was proving far too great a distraction for him.
He needed to resolve to stay away from her.
I have said such a thing before, but I must be serious about it this time.
The library was too close of a call. He was not going to be responsible for ruining the girl because he could not control himself.
No matter how much he desired her, he would not marry her, and so he could not have her.
