And that was no exaggeration.
“Nando.”
He raised his head, tearing his lips from her silken skin requiring all his might, and fell into her eyes. That was what it felt like. Falling and yet being saved, all at once.
“Say it again,” he told her hoarsely. “Please.”
She hesitated, and for a moment, he feared she would deny him and retreat, like a butterfly flitting away to another flower. But then her perfect, kiss-bruised lips moved, and she obliged him.
“Nando.”
And he was lost and found in that moment.
CHAPTER 11
The prince’s lips were on hers, hot, demanding, knowing. He kissed like an angel and a devil all at once. This was the true meaning of sin, and now she understood why a woman would surrender her pride, her reputation, her virtue, even her future, just for one stolen moment with a rake. Just to be wrapped in his arms. Just to know his silken seduction. Because it was heady and powerful. It was dangerous and wonderful. It was forbidden and wrong and yet, somehow, it felt wickedly, deliciously right.
But she didn’t dare fool herself into believing that she would be so moved by any other skilled seducer. That any other rake would make her feel this way, surpassing all her carefully constructed walls. No indeed, there was something about this man that called to her on the deepest, purest level of her being.
Nando.
She shouldn’t think of him in such intimate terms. She shouldn’t have called him by his given name. She shouldn’t have kissed him. She shouldn’t have come to his chamber.
Wrong, Eleanora told herself as she returned his kisses, this was so wrong. She was following in her mother’s ill-fatedfootsteps. If anyone were to discover her here, she would be finished. And yet, she couldn’t stop.
He kissed down her throat. “Eleanora.”
Her back arched, her body beyond her control. It was as if her desire for him ruled all. She was his. Helplessly, hopelessly his.
Just for this stolen moment, she told herself as his sinful lips blazed a path over her collarbone. He kissed her as if he had all the time in the world, savoring every inch.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing his way to the curve of her shoulder.
His teeth gently nipped the skin there, through the layers of her gown and chemise, and she felt a corresponding ache deep inside her. She knew she wasn’t a beauty. But she felt like one beneath his sensual spell, his worshipful touch and skillful mouth.
He made her feel as beautiful as she’d ever felt.
“I want you desperately.” He kissed back to the dip at the base of her neck, bringing one of his hands up to gently cup the swell of her breast.
She inhaled sharply at the contact. He rolled his thumb over her nipple through her stays, and she thought she might perish from the wonder of it.
“Nando.” His name left her in a broken pant.
He was going so slowly. She needed more. Faster.Now.
“Yes, love?” He rubbed his face against her throat, the prickle of his golden stubble making her intimate flesh pulse.
“Please.”
She wasn’t even certain what she was begging him for. Release, perhaps. She was aching and ready for him. So, this was it. This was the reckless, dangerous rush of a woman casting her future to the wind.
“Tell me.” He found her ear, nibbling on the lobe, licking the hollow behind it until she shivered. “I want your complete surrender.”
He was going to make her say what she wanted. And she was going to oblige him. Because she’d come too far. There was no turning back now. What was happening between them was inevitable.
“Take me,” she whispered. “Take what you want.”
“What I want is to please you.” Again, the rasp of his whiskers on her throat sent heat pooling between her thighs. “I want to please you so well that you forget everyone and everything.”
