“I can take care of myself.”
“Stop it, Alice.” His anger surged at her continued recklessness. “That’s not entirely true, and you know it. Nobody can take care all the time. Especially not in this dangerous business. One mistake, one miscalculation, could mean the difference between life or death. My heart nearly stopped tonight when I saw those men advancing on you through the shadows. I felt panic like I never had before, thinking I wouldn’t be in time to help you. And still, if I hadn’t arrived at your house when I did, if I hadn’t followed you, if I hadn’t seen them in time… Do you realize how many ifs? How much luck was involved in tonight’s events? I can’t even think about that.”
“I know. Thank you for saving my life. I’m in your debt.”
His lips pressed together, and his hand curled on the wall. “I don’t want your gratitude, damn you.”
One of her hands came to rest against his chest. Not to push him away. It was a conciliatory gesture, but whenever she touched him, his body reacted. It undid him. Set fire to his blood. He leaned into her touch and was rewarded by the widening of her eyes. Her fingers dug into his chest.
“What I want is your promise that you’ll never put yourself in danger again,” he fairly growled, inches from her lips.
“I can’t promise that. Nobody can. Life is unpredictable. Dangerous.”
But she was stretching towards him. Her mouth seeking. Drawn to him as if by gravity. He held
himself just out of her reach. There was nothing he wanted more than to take her lips: devour her. But this was too important.
“You know what I’m talking about. No more spying. No more unnecessary risks.”
Both of her hands were now on him. One on his chest, right above his heart. The other by his waist. Bunching the fabric of his shirt, prying it loose from his trousers. Her eyes were dark. Her pupils dilated. Her nostrils flared, and her breathing became faster. He knew what she was doing. She was distracting him. Avoiding giving him a straight answer. Postponing the reckoning. And damn him, it was working. She was so aroused. And her need fed his, straining the leash of his barely restrained control.
Her soft hand stole under his shirt, touching him skin to skin, sliding along his flank and around to his back. She pulled him. He resisted for a heartbeat.
“Nathaniel.” His name on her lips was a plea he couldn’t resist. Not when his own need was spurring him. Urging him to act.
“Oh, fuck it.” He closed the scant inches between their bodies, pressing her into the wall with his chest. Rocking his hips into her pelvis, letting her feel the proof of his desire. Fine, he would give in now. Surrender to what they both needed. Craved. But this wasn’t over. She could not distract him forever.
Her moan was the sweetest sound of need. Her hand on his back coasted lower, sliding under the waistband of his trousers. Her nails dug into the flesh of his buttocks.
He pressed harder into her. Grinding his length against the apex of her thighs, and her legs opened to better cradle his pelvis.
“Alice…” His voice was a raw whisper. Her name an incantation and a plea.
He would never have enough of this woman. Her tongue slid into his mouth, seeking, caressing his, and he tangled with her. Savored her. He needed her by his side. If the way she was devouring him, frantic with need, was any indication, she needed him with the same intensity. Whatever separated them in the past, it had not destroyed their love. But Alice was afraid of something. He would just have to get to the bottom of it. And he would. As soon as they slaked this need simmering in their bodies.
The rip of fabric as she tore the buttons of his shirt brought him back to reality. She pushed it off his shoulders, together with his coat and waistcoat. He yanked his arms from the mass of clothing and grabbed at her skirts, lifting and bunching the fabric at her waist.
Nathaniel took her mouth at the same time he cradled her sex, trailed his fingers through the sleek folds, and drank her moan from her lips. She rocked into his hand, seeking the pleasure, the completion she knew he could deliver.
Damn, she was so wet. So hot. And he needed her too much. He hadn’t had her in days…which was nothing compared to thefive years of loneliness and deprivation he had endured before. But now that they had found each other again, he couldn’t go without her. The bedchamber was too far away. He needed her now. Against the wall. On the floor. Any way he could sink his aching flesh into the sweet solace of her pussy.
She pushed against him, and he resisted. No. She couldn’t stop him now. Not when they were both raging with unfulfilled desire. He released her lips and was bracing himself to step away when she whispered.
“The sofa.”
Oh, thank God. She was not stopping him.
Without another word, he lifted her, supporting her buttocks with his hands, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. The drawing room and the sofa in question were mere steps away. He stumbled backwards into it and sat, with Alice straddling him. Her hands worked furiously at his falls, but he brushed them away. Unbuttoning his trousers himself and letting his erection spring free with a few efficient movements.
Her hands closed immediately around his length. Pumping, caressing. Driving him wild. He leaned back on the backrest and studied her through lowered eyelids. Her fierce concentration, the way she sank her teeth into her lower lip and her nostrils flared.
“Do you want me, Alice?” he taunted, knowing damn well that she did. “Take me, then. I’m all yours. Take what you want, darling.”
Holding his gaze, she rose to her knees, positioned him at her entrance, and sank onto him. Their groans of pleasure harmonized within the silence of their home.
CHAPTER 25
AlicetookNathanielintoher body and shuddered at the perfection of their joining. Everything was amplified. The sounds, the smells, the sensations. His thick, hard length tunneled into her, sliding easily through her abundant moisture. Caressing her inner walls with liquid heat. Creating a friction that was at once soothing and stimulating.
