A thrill raced through her.
“Me seducing you,” she clarified as he tugged his cravat from his neck and tossed it aside. “Not… whatever you’re planning to do to me.”
“Everything.” His slow, sensual smile was nothing but wicked promise.
Diana wished she had a neckcloth of her own to dramatically fling aside. A co-seduction was the most magnificent idea she had ever heard.
“Let the games begin,” she murmured and pulled him to her.
These kisses were different than before. Less possessive, more arrogant and teasing. As if he knew as well as she did that one night of seduction would never be enough.
Colehaven threaded his fingers with hers, trapping her hands on either side of her head.
He needn’t have worried. With every pulse of her heart, with every catch in her breath, her body was declaring itself his to plunder however he pleased. Already the familiar pressure was building within her.
When he broke the kiss at last, she parted her lips to protest. Before she could do so, his mouth began a series of slow, sensual kisses underneath her jaw, along the curve of her neck, down the hem of her bodice.
All thoughts of complaint vanished from her mind. When his mouth at last found her breast, a strangled gasp escaped her throat as she arched into him.
She would not think about tomorrow. Once he realized he needed to find a proper wife—or once her double life was revealed, rendering her fully unmarriageable—they would never have a moment like this again.
But for as long as she could, for as long as they both dared, she would give in to vulnerability and share as many moments of pleasure as they could. She wrapped her legs about him and pulled him close.
For tonight, at least, he was hers.
She opened her gown to him, her body, her heart. This was not the moment to hide her true feelings. This was the moment to take everything within her grasp. To offer the same to him. A chance to indulge their desire, even if they did not admit openly that it meant so much more.
He explored her with his hands, his mouth, leaving no curve unkissed, no naked skin uncaressed. She was his and he knew it. The seduction worked both ways. Her body responded as if it had been set aflame. As if joining with him was the only hope to quench this insatiable desire.
When his head disappeared between her legs, she lost all grasp of reason altogether. There was no choice but to give herself wholly to the moment, to the man whose soft hair she clutched in her fingers as he worked magic she hadn’t known existed.
Her breath still hadn’t calmed, perhaps would never calm again, when he fitted himself above her in a way that promised even greater pleasures than the one he had just shown her.
“You’re certain you want this?” he murmured against the shell of her ear.
“I’ve been certain for ages,” she confessed boldly as she angled her hips to give him better access. “The only thing I was unsure of was whether we’d have an opportunity.”
“We can have as many opportunities as you like,” he promised.
She doubted that was true, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except for the glorious fullness, hot and hard and slick, joining their bodies together. A flash of pain, and then only pleasure as he gave her his body and his caresses and his kisses all at once.
He was not making love to her as if there would be a thousand other opportunities. He was holding nothing back at all, not his desire, not his heart. They were joined together in every way that mattered, body and soul, eye-to-eye, kiss to kiss, as if this moment was all they would ever have. As if there was no choice but to give everything while it was still theirs to give.
For her, there had never been a choice. Her body belonged to him.
Even if she never could.
Chapter 15
When Cole awoke, he did not reach out in search of Diana. She was not in his bed. Not yet.
She had returned home shortly after lovemaking the night before, not wishing to stay away so late as to arouse her guardian’s suspicion.
Unnecessary, since Cole fully intended to secure Thad’s permission to ask for his ward’s hand. Besides, returning an hour or two after supper still made for a far earlier night than attending any given society event.
Granted, Diana had not formallyacceptedCole’s proposal. Not with words. But she had trusted him with her body. Allowed him to claim her virginity. In the eyes of society, she was ruined. There was no choice but to marry Cole.
Admittedly a less romantic outcome than the immediate and enthusiastic “Yes!” he’d been hoping for, but at this point any “yes” would do.
