“So good, sweetheart,” he murmured, then hissed when her fingers dug into his hair, the dark locks like silk. “So beautiful. Use me to make yourself come.”
Will took his arm from her midsection and held her hip, caressed the rounded lower edge of her belly where it met her thighs. Then his fingers squeezed the soft flesh of her bottom, kneading it, shaping it, as though the generosity of her figure fascinated him.
So beautiful, so good.
His words echoed in her mind, in her heart as she shifted her hips, directed his head to where she needed him, until his tongue buffeted against the swollen bundle of nerves with a pressure that threatened to destroy her, his fingers thrusting inside her steadily, patiently. As though he could spend the rest of his life between her legs, pleasuring her.
Her climax built in waves, until it was so powerful, so devastating, she almost feared it. Will must have sensed how close she was, how her body trembled, because he replaced his tongue with his thumb, his other hand increasing the pace of his thrusts. “That’s it, sweet. You’re so close. I want you to come for me, Adelaide. Come for me.”
His face was the last thing she saw before she came apart, his pupils devouring the green irises to leave only deep pools of lust, his beard damp from her arousal. She couldn’t contain her cries as she bowed off the bed, pulses of light and heat rushing through her veins, bursting from her fingertips, going on and on as Will’s words of praise carried her further on the wave of her release.
In time she became aware of him moving her, laying soft kisses over her cheeks and lips. The sound of water, the citrus smell of soap. Then she sucked in her breath as a cool cloth touched the interior of her thighs.
“Hush, darling,” Will whispered. “Let me take care of you.”
If there was ever a way Adelaide would allow a man to hush her, Will had found it in two mind-altering climaxes. She had no strength to resist him, to insist she could manage for herself. After he cleaned the perspiration and evidence of her release from her skin, she took the water he offered in deep sips until he was satisfied. Her effort exhausted itself as she kept her eyes open for long enough to see the tenderness of his expression as he tucked her beneath the bed linens.
Although, judging by the appearance of his trousers, Will would not rest as easily as she.
“What about you?” she whispered. “Do you need—”
“I need nothing, but you need to rest.”
Lord, but she wanted to please him in return. But as delicious—and fatiguing—as their encounter had been, she’d left him unsatisfied and was desperate for more time in his presence. Shewould have to make it up to him in the morning. “Will you stay with me?” she whispered, her eyes already closed. “Please?”
The bed shifted under his weight, and soon his solid form pressed against her back, surrounding her with warmth. “I won’t leave you. I promise.”
Something in the deep recesses of her mind scratched its fingernail along her consciousness.Of course he’s leaving you. This night only happened because he’s leaving you tomorrow.
But her exhaustion was too powerful, too profound to acknowledge the thought as sleep overcame her, the man behind her keeping her safe.
Chapter 9
“No one is coming.”
Will gripped the doorframe so hard he was certain it would tear off in his hand. “Say that again?” he ground out. He had tossed and turned on the bedroll for several hours as Adelaide slept in the bed, knowing that if he allowed himself to share the mattress, he’d be unable to resist her warm, voluptuous body. Perhaps the lack of sleep was muddling his hearing, or he was having a nightmare, or—
“No chaperone is coming for the lady.” The barkeep paled slightly at Will’s growl. “It was in the telegram, sir. From Bumbletwit. Said he couldn’t find no one to take ’er to Somerset, asked you to do it.”
With a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Adelaide was still asleep, Will stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him as softly as he could manage with trembling hands.“I can’t take her,” Will hissed. “I have work here in Saltford.”And after last night—
Lord, but just thinking about what had happened in the early hours had heat rushing to his groin. She’d been magnificent, demanding her bliss, then coming apart under his fingers and tongue. A goddess made for pleasure, for the worship of a mortal like him. But one night was all he could take and still let go of her. Any more, and he might not survive her siren call.
He shook his head to keep his focus on the crisis at hand. “There has to be someone reliable somewhere in this town.”
The man’s pockmarked nose wrinkled for a moment as he thought. “The blacksmith’s the respectable sort. I could ask ’im!”
This must be some sort of elaborate joke, and Will was the butt of it. “Not him. I—”
“Will?”
He spun as the door behind him opened a crack to reveal Adelaide, wrapped in a bedsheet with flushed cheeks and hair tousled, looking stunning and utterly ravished. The innkeeper chuckled under his breath, and Will shot him a glare before turning to her.
He arranged his face into what he hoped was—but likely failed to be—a placid expression. “Go inside, Adelaide, and gather your things. We’ll be leaving as soon as the carriage is ready.”
Her eyes widened. “We? Does that mean you—”
He snapped the door shut before she could finish, wincing at his callous behavior but unable to stop himself. “I suppose I’m going to Barrington,” he muttered to no one in particular, but the barkeep nodded as though pleased by Will’s declaration.
