“Christ yes,” he whispered.
She licked him again, her tongue whirling slowly over the head. In the low light of the brace of candles and the crackling fire, she could see a drop leaking from his tip. Curious, she licked it up. She liked the way he tasted. Liked everything about this. Liked the way he watched her, his gaze hooded, his eyes dark. Liked the pleasure she was giving him, the power to make this hardened rake feel as if she were debauching him.
She thought again of whatThe Tale of Lovehad said, and she sucked him into her mouth. His fingers sifted through her hair, and his hips jerked. He liked this.
“Fuck, Grace.”
Yes, he liked this. Tentatively, she took more of him, sucking, and licking, moving in time to the subtle rolls of his hips. Listening for the sounds he made. The low sighs. The throaty rumbles. She sucked again, harder this time, bringing him into the back of her throat, and still there was so much more of his length. She could not fit it all, so she gripped the base of him with her hand as he had shown her.
He said wicked things.
Words she had never heard before.
She wanted to make him say them again.
Her boldness grew. She felt strangely powerful, on her knees before him, making him lose control. She became aware, for the first time, of how beautiful it was to give pleasure. Every bit as great and heady a gift as receiving it.
“No more, Grace, or I will spend in your mouth,” he said, his voice little more than a guttural plea now.
But she was not finished. Instinctively, she exhaled through her nose, trying to bring him deeper into her throat. His reaction was instant and affirming. His fingers tightened in her hair. She moaned around him, her mouth full, her own desire throbbing between her legs.
There was something unbearably erotic about this moment. They were both fully clothed, and yet her lips were on the most sensitive part of him, just as his had been upon her the night before.
She was not going to stop until he reached his pinnacle.
“Grace,” he warned.
Still, she would not budge from her position. Nor would she stop. The only surrender she wanted this night was his, and she was determined to have it. His breathing was growing more ragged, his hips jerking forward, seeking more of her. And she gave him more. She gave him everything.
Until he stiffened, and the rush of his release was on her tongue. She swallowed it down, loving the taste of him. Loving the moment.
Loving…
Him.
Dear God.Surely she did not love Rand. She scarcely knew him. He was a jaded rake. Her feigned betrothed. He was only using her to gain his precious Scottish estate from his grandmother. And after he was done, she would never see him again.
Wiping a hand over her mouth, she sat back on her heels, an unwanted realization washing over her. One she did not wish to even contemplate. No, she was not in love with him. It was not possible.
The passion and thrill of the moment had overwhelmed her.
“My God, woman,” he said, fastening the fall of his breeches and pulling her to her feet. “You will be my undoing.”
She could say the same for him, she thought grimly.
“Come here,” he said, his voice gentle.
The expression on his face was tender. Affectionate, even. He opened his arms to her.
And she went. She went with ease, laying her head against his broad chest, wrapping her arms around his lean waist. She pressed her ear over his pounding heart, inhaled deeply of his scent. He hugged her to him tightly and kissed her crown.
They remained that way for an indeterminate span of time, united in a way they had not been before. She unabashedly reveled in his heat, his strength, absorbing every bit of it and of him. He held her without an exchange of words or kisses and yet somehow imparted a world of feeling.
Tonight had moved him, she could not help but to feel, every bit as much as it had moved her. This thing between them—feigned betrothal, debauching bargain,whateverit was—had altered once more. There was more heart now, joining the heat.
She did not mistake the difference.
“Grace, love,” he said at last into the heavy silence. “I thinkyouhave debauchedmetonight.”
