Then she started to move. At first with hesitation, and then with growing need, her hips first rocking, and then pumping and grinding against him. A small part of him wanted to take over, to thrust into her until they both found completion, but watching her take her pleasure on him was far headier than anything he could do.
Fingers twitching and tangling with the springy hairs on his chest and digging deeply into his muscles, Maria chased her own desire. She canted her hips and sank down on him over and over again, and Jasper’s heart soared.
The room was filled with the sound of their slapping flesh, panting breaths, and cries of delight as she rode him. His release was close to the fore, waiting to be set free. But he wouldn’t come until she’d had her pleasure a second time that evening.
He worked his thumb in earnest, circling her delicious little nub as she sought her release. Her chest and neck were flushed, her eyes half-lidded as she kept her gaze locked on his.Holy sodding hell.
“Jasper,” she said breathlessly. “I’m going to—” Her words broke off on a cry, her head thrown back as her cunny squeezed around him.
“Fuck,” Jasper said gutturally.
He thrust up into her once, twice, and then stilled as sparks ignited in his blood, his cock throbbing and pulsing within her as he came apart. Panting, he urged her down into the circle of one arm at his side, and she rested her head upon his sweat-slicked shoulder.
“My God,” he breathed. “That was…”More than I’ve ever felt before.
Maria huffed a breath, then lifted her head to rest her chin against his chest. “You’re speechless, then?”
“Utterly.”
CHAPTER15
Francis fixed his gaze on the wooden slats of his ceiling and half-listened to Sarah’s incessant carping. She twirled her fingertips in his chest hair while her head rested on his shoulder; it ought to have been a restful moment after a tupping, but the woman wouldn’t bloody well stop talking, and anger at the trouncing he’d gotten from his cousin’s whore still vibrated through him.
“You really just ought to kill them next time. Get this over with. Forget your blade and bring your pistol. March right into his home and shoot the man dead. Then do the same to everyone he loves.”
She didn’t understand. He could explain his methods to her—again—but she sodding refused to listen. The woman was growing increasingly tiresome, and decreasingly useful. The sex was adequate, but any additional time spent in her presence was not to be borne. In fact, he’d spent far too much time being distracted by her wiles already. It was rather past the time for him to focus.
Irritation and fury bubbled up through his abdomen and settled heavily in his chest.
What he required was another level of torment for his cousin. Jasper’s whore had bested him that night, but he would best her in the end. Francis needed them to be off balance, unsure of themselves and their abilities. He wanted them squirming with fear and discomfort, begging him for relief.Thatwas how he would prevail.
His connection, Ludlow, had assured him that he’d been successful in diverting the attention of the Home Office, which ought to have afforded Francis more freedom. But thatbitchand her interfering friends had brought in additional guards and limited his movements.
A scowl marred his brow.
Ludlow hadalsoassured him that no one would realize he’d not attended his hanging alongside Miles, as he’d ensured the man hung in his place had been given his name. But people fucking noticed. Hell, but the man had better make good his other promises… Regardless, he was going to die once Francis was duke.
“Are you listening to me, Francis?” Sarah’s voice grew shrill, and he winced. “You must kill them and be done with this swiftly. Once you’ve inherited the title and become duke, we shall dispense with my dreadful husband, you will marry me, and we shall put to rights?—”
He stopped listening to her rant, the urge to shove her off his bed nearly overwhelming. However…the woman might very well prove useful in his plans, after all.
* * *
The carriage rolled to a stop,and Maria glanced up into Jasper’s watchful gaze. He sat with his side pressed to hers, warming her even through the thick layer of her cloak.
“Will your parents believe our tale?” he asked softly.
She shrugged one shoulder. “They will have no reason to dispute what appears in the paper.”
“And you’ll speak to Grace directly after the newspaper on the morrow?” His eyebrows knit in concern.
“I will. She must be kept abreast of my encounter with Francis.”
He nodded, his gaze intense. “Have you any regrets?”
The colours of his eyes were difficult to see in the dim light of the carriage, but she felt as though she’d begun to know them like her own.Do not become enamoured with him, Maria, her inner voice warned. Indeed, she was very well aware of what societal men believed of marriage. But would Jaspertrulybehave the same?
“No.” Her lips quirked upward in one corner. “I do not regret our time together.”
