Roman tore his mouth from hers. “Your gown. Front or back?”
“Front. I don’t have a maid.” He brought his hands up and pulled at the slender cord holding her neckline taut above her breasts. Damn, but he was woefully out of practice. Though he didn’t think he’d ever stripped the garments from a woman in this manner. Indeed, he would tear them from Ellis’s body if it wouldn’t be too beastly.
He latched his mouth onto her neck, suckling her flesh as she panted. “I want to rip every garment from you.”
“You can’t ruin my clothing,” she rasped. “I don’t have much.”
“I’ll buy you a new wardrobe. Anything you want.” He would give her the sun and the moon and every goddamn star in the sky.
She put one hand on his cheek and drew him to look at her. The blue of her eyes shone incandescent in the firelight. “I don’t want a wardrobe. I only want you.”
Roman groaned before seizing her mouth in another nearly brutal kiss. She clutched at his head as she pumped his cock. If she didn’t stop, he was going to come, and that would be a shame. He didn’t want to spend in her hand before he could feel the velvet crush of her sex pulsing around him.
Managing to loosen her bodice enough for the front of the gown to fall, he swept the garment up over her head and cast it aside. “Women have too many bloody garments,” he muttered as he kissed the tops of her breasts.
She awkwardly pulled his waistcoat away, using her free hand to tug the garment from his back. In the end, she had to take her hand from him long enough to remove it entirely. Roman took advantage and turned her about, pressing her back against her bed.
“Not fair,” she whispered as he worked to unlace her corset.
He struggled to pull the ties loose. “For the love of God, help me,” he begged as his fingers continued to fail.
Pushing his hands aside, she finished his work, quickly loosening the garment until she could thrust it down her body. Roman watched greedily as her breasts were freed from their cage. While she worked to remove the corset completely, he cupped her through her chemise.
Ellis arched her back, offering more of herself. Then she untied the lace at the top of the chemise that cinched the neck and tugged the thin garment down, baring her to his hunger. She put one hand over his and used the other to guide his head to her breast, urging him to taste her. He grunted as he closed his mouth over her nipple. She cried out softly, scoring his scalp with her nails.
He licked and suckled her, ravishing first one breast, then the other. She pushed the straps of petticoat from her shoulders and somehow kicked the garment away. Her hands came up under his shirt, skimming his abdomen. He straightened briefly to whisk the shirt off. As he did so, she lifted herself onto the bed, her legs dangling between them. She wore only the chemise, with her breasts bared, and her stockings, held up by simple ribbon garters.
But Roman was out of patience, and it seemed, so was she. Ellis grabbed at his waist as she spread her legs and wrapped them around him. He put his hand between them and stroked her clitoris. Thrusting his fingers lower, he found her wet sheath. She arched her back, then moved her pelvis, grinding her sex against him.
“Come into me, Roman. Now.” She reached for his cock, and their hands met as they guided him into her body.
He drove hard and fast, and her muscles immediately clenched around him. She fell back on the bed as he thrust into her, working hard against his own impending orgasm. He would not come, not until she had fully climaxed.
Over and over, he filled her. By now, he recognized the signs of her body as she neared release. Her sex spasmed around him, squeezing him relentlessly. She stiffened, and he rubbed her clitoris with a firm, intense speed until she cried out his name and shattered into pieces. He didn’t stop moving as he saw her through the climax, somehow managing to keep his own completion at bay.
Her body slackened, and her whimpers quieted. That was when Roman let go. He drove into her several more times and her sex contracted around him once more. He nearly forgot to pull away, but he did, pivoting his body so he would not spill himself on her.
She typically joined her hand with his, but not tonight. He didn’t think about it. Not now, as his body shuddered with an overwhelming orgasm. He gripped the bedpost with his free hand as he finished.
When he finally fell from the height of ecstasy, he opened his eyes. Ellis was no longer on the bed. He blinked, and she was suddenly at his side, pressing a cloth into his hand. Then, she was gone.
He tidied himself, then re-buttoned his fall. When he straightened, he saw that Ellis was back on the bed, sitting up against the headboard. She wore a night rail, that was, disappointingly, opaque.
“Are you going to bed now?” she asked.
He usually stayed. Or she stayed with him, depending on where they were on any given night. But it was early, and she’d been right—the household was still awake. In fact, he worried they might have been heard, especially since Graham had likely come up to see if he required assistance. Damn.
“I would like to talk, if you’re amenable.” He perched on the edge of the bed. “It’s important to me that you know I wouldn’t ever think badly of you. I asked you to trust me, and you said you did. I hope you always will.” He could see she was torn. Her features were creased, and her eyes were dark and troubled.
Roman didn’t want to tell her about the duchess’s letter. It was too horrible. It seemed obvious that Ellis had left the Henlow household because of the duchess. But was it just because she’d been treated poorly? That would certainly be enough, especially now that Lady Minerva was married and she no longer needed Ellis as a companion. Why would Ellis remain?
“It is it to do with the Duchess of Henlow?” he asked softly.
Her eyes widened as she sat up straight from the headboard. “What do you know?” she asked in alarm.
“Only that her family has banished her for some reason. I wondered if it might have something to do with you, since you left the household. Did she drive you away?”
Ellis put her hand to her mouth and looked away from him. “Yes, it’s to do with her. She has always hated me—since the day I went to live with them after my parents died. It never made sense to me. It still doesn’t.”
