He raised his head and stared down at her. Tiny gold flecks in his eyes flashed in the lamplight, heating until his gaze looked like a forest on fire. “You’re sure?”
“Not hardly, but I want to do it regardless.” She shuffled closer, pressing her belly against the hard bulge fighting against his falls. She bit back a whimper. “We need to be careful, though. I can’t get with child. Not in my position.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Grabbing her under her bottom, he lifted, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. “I’ll take care of you.”
He strode around the desk and out the door. His thick length rubbed against her sex with each step he took, and Colleen rolled her hips, trying to increase the friction.
He growled, the reverberation thrumming from his chest, making her breasts ache. She expected him to take the back stairs down to one of the club’s rooms, but he turned into her personal chambers. Bending over the bed, he gently lowered her down.
Colleen kept her arms and legs wrapped around him, tight as a python.
He kissed her, hard, pressing her head into the mattress. “I need supplies. The sooner I go, the sooner I’ll be back.”
She ran her hands over his hard shoulders. “Can’t we just …” She jerked her chin at the bed.
“We’ll get there. Trust me.”
Colleen arched and chased his lips. He tasted of brandy and tobacco and something sweet she couldn’t identify. But it all mixed together to something unmistakably him.
He raised his head. “Let me loose.”
With a heavy sigh, she let her hands slip from his shoulders and relaxed her thighs. Only to jerk them tight in surprise as Max pressed his palm to the vee of her legs.
One corner of his mouth edged up as he rubbed circles through her skirts. “I know you’re needy, Colleen. Christ, I can feel how hot you are even through all these blasted clothes. I can’t wait to sink into that heat.” He pressed a kiss to her neck. “But let me do this my way. I need it tonight. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
He straightened and stepped back, his expression placid. If his hands weren’t clenched into balls, and his length hadn’t been jutting against his trousers, Colleen might have thought him indifferent.
“Take off your clothes,” he told her. “I’ll be back in a minute.” He strode from her room.
Colleen let her head flop back on the bed. How did a man walk away at that moment? He had more self-control than a saint. And she was wasting time. She scooted off the bed and attacked the buttons on her waistcoat. She pulled her shirt up, her head popping free from the high collar. Her skirt and petticoat quickly followed leaving her in only a thin shift. After only a moment’s hesitation, that, too, joined the pile of clothes on the floor.
She shifted on her boots, the cool air swirling around her bare skin. She’d never been ashamed of her body. It was functional, capable. But she’d never presented it as such to a man, either. Being fully unclothed felt a bit naughty.
Should she slip into her night rail? But then she wouldn’t be as wanton, and that was a condition she wanted to revel in tonight. Perhaps a compromise.
Scooping her clothes up, she tossed them on her dressing table’s chair. She lifted the coverlet of her bed, ready to jump under the sheets. The soft hiss of air behind her made her spin, the cover clutched to her chest.
Heat clawed up her face. Max stood in the doorway, several candles tucked under one arm. He held a bottle of liquor in his hand. His mouth was slightly parted, and his gaze raked her body.
“Don’t cover up on my account.” He stepped into the room and kicked the door closed with his heel. “I must admit that the view of you bending over the bed wearing nothing but kid boots stole my breath.” He looked down again and smiled. “Nice boots, by the way. I see you’ve finally conceded and are wearing the new ones.”
Crossing her legs at the ankles, Colleen leaned against the bed. Then stood up straight and uncrossed her legs. “Um, just the one pair. I don’t need anything else.”
He laid his bits and pieces on her bureau. “We’ll see.” He tugged at the coverlet in her iron grip, and after a slight battle, maneuvered it from her hands. “You don’t need a cover, Colleen. You’re beautiful.”
She didn’t know about all that, but under his appreciative gaze, she did feel pretty. She threw her shoulders back. “I’m not without flaws.” After seeing all the lovely young lady-birds traipsing around, bare as a babe, she’d come to see just how imperfect her body was in comparison. Not that such nonsense mattered.
Max strode to the banked fire and lit a thick ivory candle. He prowled towards her and held the candle up to her body, the small flame radiating only the faintest whisper of heat on her shoulder. Slowly, he moved the candle across her body, and inch by inch, that bead of heat bussed her skin. He drew his finger across her collarbone, following the path of the flickering light.
Circling around her, Max examined every inch of her bare flesh. “Where you see flaws, I see character.” He dropped to his haunches behind her, and his breath skittered across her bottom. She shuddered.
“This here.” He traced the inch-long pucker of pink skin on the back of her upper thigh. “How did you get this?”
“Fell on a saw.”
He circled around, his face coming level with her most intimate parts. He brought the flame close to her ribs. “And this one?”
She rubbed the small crescent-moon shaped scar. “I was kicked by a horse before I was married.” She remembered the pain of that one. The broken skin had been nothing compared to the broken rib.
