“Christ,” he muttered before swallowing her cries with his mouth.
She panted against his lips, tangling her tongue with his while she squirmed against him. One of her hands found its way to his hair, and fisted. The movement of her hips became helplessly frantic, following the delicious touch of his hand, reaching,needingto find release. She needed more,more…
Her back arched, tense against his chest as she gripped him, and like a torrent of fireworks shot into the sky, she burst. Light fanned out behind her eyelids, and her skin burned with pleasure, pulse after pleasurable pulse rushing through her.
With a murmured curse, Leo settled himself between her legs, and Juliana sighed, a bright, euphoric sensation making her feel languid while her pulse throbbed throughout her body.
Leo poised himself on his elbows above her, his chest and stomach teasing her with the gentle rasp of his hair.
His gaze sought hers, searching. Sensing his unspoken question, Juliana wrapped her legs about his smooth, muscular hips and cupped his head in her hands. “I want you, Leo.”
He groaned, and his eyes slid briefly closed. “I’m afraid that I will not last long, love.”
Not knowing how to respond, she tilted her hips upward and brushed her lips across his. Leo’s eyes glazed, and in that moment, she felt a probe at her entrance. He began the slow slide inside, stretching her. The intrusion was tight, to be sure, but not at all unpleasing.
A vein on Leo’s forehead bulged, and his skin grew red with strain. His hair, fallen over his shoulders, was lit from behind by the fire in the hearth, lending him a crown of orange light.
“My God, you’re—” He broke off with a grunt as he thrust himself deeper.
He moved heart-wrenchingly slow, but was soon fully sheathed.
The woman that her brother had engaged to teach Juliana the duties of a wife in the marital bed had mentioned that upon her first coupling, the tear to her maidenhead would possibly hurt, or, at the very least, sting. But what Juliana felt wasfulland stretched—certainly not pain.
“Are you…well?” Leo asked breathlessly, a sweat breaking out across his forehead.
“Yes.” Juliana nodded, clasping his shoulders, the muscles bunched with his exertions. “It is merely tight.”
He groaned again. “So tight. I’m sorry, I can’t—”
Pumping his hips, he moved inside her, creating a delicious friction that caused the heat to return to her core. She gasped and lifted her hips, eager for more.
Leo moved faster, thrusting erratically until that coil of tension within her built to an unbearable level. But the explosion was frustratingly just out of her reach. So between his thrusts, she slid one hand between them to swirl her fingers around the pleasure nub. Then, that delicious firework burst inside her again, hard and wonderful, wrenching a cry from deep within her chest.
Withdrawing his member to the tip, Leo swiftly penetrated her once more, and jerked. His teeth bared and the vein on his forehead pulsed in time with his member as he spilled his seed inside her.
At length, he withdrew completely and slumped to the bed beside her, his breath coming heavily. Juliana’s eyes drooped, and her energy waned. She turned to her side and put a hand to his chest, feeling the pounding of his heart.I did that. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at that exhilarating pride. Her gaze slid to his flagging member. He really was an impressive man.
“If you keep looking at me like that, Juliana, I’ll have no choice but to take you again,” Leo murmured, a grin on his lips.
His arm came about her shoulders and pulled her to his chest, and she settled comfortably against his warmth.
They lay thusly for several long moments, and Juliana closed her eyes. She’d done it, then. She’d given away her virtue in order to escape her brother and an arranged marriage.Well, she amended, she hadn’t made love to Leo for that reason, but the result was the same. And so was the question of her future.
What did she do, now? And how would Jasper handle the news of her loss of virtue?
He would be furious, she was certain, and would very likely find a dreadful punishment for her. Juliana would take banishment, service in a convent, or whatever her brother might decide, over a forced marriage to a man doddering on the edge of the grave. She wouldnotgive her body to a man that had paid for her. No matter how it was described, it felt far too much like whoring for Juliana’s comfort. With luck, however, she would not have to. She would meet with Grace Huntsbury and accept her position in London before her brother was the wiser for it.
Jasper would hold no power over Juliana any longer.
Leo’s embrace tightened, and an abrupt wave of panic crashed through her. He made her feel warm and cared for, and an alarming bubble of joy—elation—threatened to fight its way free of the box that she’d carefully constructed around her heart.It was precisely what she’dnotwanted to have happen. She could hardly make love to Leo and not feel some sort of connection, but she was not meant to develop deep feelings for the man.
Her lips thinned, and she clenched her jaw as her emotions warred within her. People were inherently untrustworthy and would break her heart at the first opportunity. Leo was no different. She’d best remember that.
CHAPTER15
Asense of warmth and calm settled around Leo as he held Juliana in his arms. The soft ringlets of Juliana’s hair, the arch of her eyebrows—and the glorious feel of her pale, naked breasts pressed to his ribs—gave him an undeserved yet overwhelming feeling of pride. He was not a vain man, but just the memory of the way her eyes had widened with appreciation when she’d first gazed upon him had his pulse speeding again.
He’d come quickly, just as he’d thought he would, but he’d given Juliana pleasure, as well, and that was a damned fine thing. The utter euphoria of those minutes would be branded on his memory for years to come.It must, his conscience reminded him, for he could not allow it to happen again.
