One to hear the secrets of her heart.
One who would protect those.
And she had that man.
Him.
On instinct, he reached out and caressed the side of her face, his fingers sliding around to the nape of her neck. He tugged her toward him, and she swayed with the movement. Only a brief instant of hesitation—nay,recognition—and her lips were touching his and a now-familiar spark lit through him. The sort of spark that turned into a full conflagration when he deepened the kiss. It was all the physical sensation of the kiss—the feel of her soft mouth…the sweet taste of her…her specific heat—but it was more than the physical as she moved forward and needed him to steady her so she didn’t tumble over him.
But that was just it. Her naked wanting. She didn’t try to suppress or mask her desire. This honesty was impossible to resist. He wouldgive her what she wanted every time she asked for it.
A feeling of possession streaked through him.
The gift of her was for him only.
Her mouth on his, her fingers found his cravat and made short work of the knot. Then her hands were beneath his shirt, roving across his chest. He gave in to the pleasure of being caressed by her as she gave in to the pleasure of caressing him. She liked all his muscles.
Clearly bent on ravishing him here and now, her hands trailed lower, and anticipation coiled inside him. If he wasn’t very mistaken, she was about to… Her fingers grazed across the front of his trousers, across his hard cock that was full to bursting, pulling a long, animal groan from him.
She smiled against his mouth and increased the pressure, rubbing up and down his length. “Juliet,” he rumbled.
“I like it when you say my name like that,” she spoke into the intimate space between their mouths.
“Like a man on the brink of perishing from desire?”
“Yes.”
Thatyessaid so much more thanyes. “Shall I pull my name from you in the way I like?”
Her pupils flared. “Please,” she implored.
She liked it when he was wicked with her. From the look in her eyes, he already knew her sweet cunny was wet and throbbing and aching for his touch.
In a smooth, efficient motion he secured her by the waist and flipped them around so she was lying flat on his jacket, back supported by springy green turf. He removed one of her gloves, then the other, before taking one of her wrists, then the other, in one hand. “Do you trust me?”
Alongside the desire in her clear emerald gaze twined that other emotion.
Trust.
“Yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
His.
The word anchored in Rory’s mind as he stretched Juliet’s arms over her head, her body vulnerable beneath him, and angled his head to kiss the curve of her neck…
Trailing his tongue along the line of her clavicle, down the décolletage of her breasts, her nipples taut and straining against the silk of her gown before his mouth ever reached them. With his other hand, he tugged at her bodice, exposing her chemise. He tugged again, baring her nipples to the night air and sucked, taking one into his mouth like the sweetest cherry. Her back arched, pushing her into him, her lips parted and a soft sigh released to the crisp night air.
Lower went his free hand, which began tugging at her skirts, pulling them up, up, up until silk and muslin hems bunched at her waist. He shifted to take in the view of her—the beauty of earth below and sky above nothing to the beauty of her—long, stockinged legs…twin patches of bare thighs leading to the dark curls of her sex…her eyes half-lidded with desire…her kiss-crushed lips parted and releasing sighs and moans of want and need.
She needed him to touch her…there.
Light fingertips brushed across her creamy thighs. One moment she was squeezing them together, the next she was splaying them apart. She’d gone mindless with desire.
He tightened the hand around her wrists as the other found her mons pubis, his rough fingertips grazing along her slit, wet and swollen from desire, as he’d known it would be. Her hips angled, pushing her against him, begging for more. He smiled and kept his touch feather light, eliciting a moan of frustration from her. When he decided she’d anticipated long enough, his finger trailed to the entrance of her sex. Her breath caught as he slowly pushed inside.Tight. Wet.
“Oh, yes,” poured from the back of her throat, her eyes squeezed shut, her body a vessel of need.
