“Don’t stop.”
She was driving him insane with need. He tasted the honeyed sweetness of her lips, mingling with the wine he drank, and then buried his face in the valley of her breasts. She pushed his hand to the bare flesh between her thighs, and moaned when he found the hot, wet heat of her and slipped two fingers inside.
Kama Sutra had laid a steady roadmap. Part one fitted in part two. Damn. His body ached with the need for release, for the ease he knew he could find inside her. He suckled her breast and moved his fingers in and out, analyzed and memorized her reactions. He touched her center. She bucked. Interesting. To experience the hot heady perfume of her feminine arousal.
“Anthony. Too much.”
Tentatively, she smoothed her hand over his erection bound by his breeches. He yanked her hand away. Afraid he had no control.
Her swollen lips pouted. “I need to experiment.” She resumed her stroking.
His mouth swooped down on hers. He ground into her hand. Blood rushed to his groin. His gut clenched tight. No control. He shuddered.Exploded.
In a span of a second, she tore her mouth from his, demanding desperately that he stop, whispering frantically to him. She shoved him away, just as a rustling sound penetrated his senses. He angled his head to the noise. Blinked.
Aunt Margaret.
He pulled her gown down and stood, closing his coat over the stain in his breeches. He stepped between Rachel and Aunt Margaret, presenting a shield, so Rachel would have time to right herself. They had been in the shadows of the sofa. He was certain his maidenly aunt had not seen or heard anything as she entered. How convenient her timing. She possessed the same targeting as a homing pigeon. A growl erupted from his throat. “It is late, Aunt Margaret.”
She held her candle up to light his face, her ever-present ear horn drooping from her neck. She must sleep with the item.
“What a ferocious scowl, Anthony. Why you look like a bear deprived of its dinner. Why is that?” She didn’t wait for an answer but toddled over to a table, lit a candle from hers. She inspected the shelves, taking her time, selecting a book.
“I’m having trouble sleeping,” she said over her shoulder.
Anthony doubted that notion.
She returned, craning her head around him. “There you are, Miss Thorne. Are you looking for a book, too? Are you having trouble sleeping?”
“The physiology of cats?” Anthony inclined his head to his Aunt’ choice of books.
She raised her ear horn to her ear.
“You hate cats,” he shouted.
Aunt Margaret dropped her ear horn and waved a hand in airy dismissal. “I’ve taken a sudden interest in them. Well off I go to bed. We have a busy day in the lab tomorrow. You two go to bed, too,” she said.
Anthony did a double take at her suggestion. “If you say so.” Just short of murder, his mind burned with ways to get rid of his wandering, unfortunate aunt who seemed to show up at precisely the wrong time. A new bacteria? Virus?
Rachel exhaled behind him. “Do you think”
Anthony’s lips twisted into a cynical smile, the force of his voice unleashed his great annoyance. “No, she did not see anything.”
“Thank you.” Relief mirrored in her face. “I could not bear another scandal.”
She took his hand, the soft pad of her thumb, smoothing across his knuckles. “Could we just sit?”
Just sit?He let loose a breath of frustration. Dampness seeping through his breeches, he grimaced at his lack of control. He needed to change.
The gentle touch of her fingers, and the look in her eyes cemented his resolve. Anthony moved her to the settee, sheltering her in his arms, content with the wild beating of her heart upon his chest.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I apologize for”
“You made me feel wonderful.”
His chest expanded, gratitude for this astonishing woman who saw past his humiliation and rewarded him with her generous spirit. He pulled her closer, thinking about her resilience. Strong and bending like a willow in the wind. That her life had been chaotic, that she had suffered agonies which would have stripped a normal soul of its sanity, and then, faced the torment of isolation. And yet, all the darkness of the world could not extinguish her dazzling light.
Without a doubt, she flouted rules of convention with her brilliance. She peppered comments with sarcasm, adapting an air of fearlessness, in which people were drawn by her charisma and charm, but beneath the bolstered air of confidence hid a woman who was unable to show her vulnerability to othersexcept to him.
