His mouth was warm and spicy, and Isabella could taste the brandy on his tongue. His kiss was filled with restless urgency and hunger. Isabella shuddered heavily and wrapped her arms around Damien’s broad shoulders. An almost unbearable sense of excitement washed through Damien as she slid her long fingers around his neck and kissed him back with sensual welcome.
He touched her hair, inhaling the scent of her as their tongues swirled together. His entire body was straining with need as he kissed her with all the passion building inside him. Isabella moved up from the floor, pressing herself closer to his hard, muscular body, instinctively seeking Damien’s heat and strength.
Finally, the earl forced himself to break the kiss. He lifted his head and gazed into her violet eyes with a searing sense of longing. And a chilling sense of uncertainty. For he knew, deep in his soul, that his desire for Isabella was far more complex than mere physical need.
“If you are going to leave, you’d best go now, Isabella.”
Damien’s voice was harsh and raspy in his throat, and Isabella quivered at the sound. The intense passion in his. smoky gray eyes nearly consumed her, but she saw beyond the desire to the vulnerability of spirit he could no longer hide.
Every moral fiber within her screamed for her to leave the room, but Isabella willfully shut out the sensible, practical side of her nature. She also consciously reined in her romantic imagination. She might love this man with a depth of feeling that was almost frightening, but she knew that did not mean he returned her love. Yet he dearly desired her. And needed her. For Isabella, a woman who had struggled through neglect and indifference as a child to intense loneliness as an adult, it was enough.
“I shall not leave, Damien.”
To emphasize her response, she kissed him. Her tongue slipped past his startled lips, tasting him yearningly, curious to discover the power a woman held over a man’s passions.
Damien laced his hands through her hair. He brushed a soft kiss along her temple, cheek, and jaw, then sought her trembling mouth again.
She was acutely aware of his masculine size and power as he knelt before her on the rug. The heat from his body was nearly as strong as the blaze from the roaring fire. Looking into Damien’s smoldering eyes, Isabella felt her heart turn over.
“I want you, Isabella. Very much.”
Swallowing with effort, she barely managed a response. “I am glad, Damien. I want you too.”
Her boldness and honesty delighted him. The decision made and now verbally expressed lifted the burden of restraint from the earl. He paused a moment to remove his boots and then turned back to Isabella. His strong arm encircled her waist, and he pulled her roughly to him. He kissed her fiercely, crushing her supple form tightly against his straining body.
Isabella shuddered heavily as she felt the rigid proof of his desire leaping and throbbing against her thigh. His fingers slid through her hair, down the nape of her neck, then stopped, cupping one soft breast possessively. Even through the layers of clothing, Isabella could feel the heat of his fingers as he caressed her. She shivered and gave a soft, whimpering moan.
The small sigh broke him. Frenzied, Damien tore at her clothing, pulling at the fastenings of her gown, impatient to touch her silky flesh. In the flickering glow of the firelight, his eyes gleamed with possessive brilliance. Somehow he managed to remove the top half of her gown and pull her arms from the sleeves. Groaning in triumph, Damien swiftly lowered the lace-trimmed chemise to Isabella’s waist.
He went very still as he looked at her breasts. She saw his eyes narrow and darken when his fingers reached out and traced the outline of her naked flesh.
“My God, you are beautiful,” he muttered huskily. He kissed her again, hard on the lips, then drew back.
Isabella held her breath as she watched his dark head lean forward and capture one dusky rose nipple in his mouth. The tender tug of his caress sent a bolt of pleasure crashing through her body, and she moaned loudly, feeling a bewildering, urgent need deep within.
Encouraged by her response, Damien’s teasing fingers glided down her neck, across her throat, and over to the other breast. She could feel the nipple quickly harden under his stroking hands. She felt the awakening stirring inside her, and she clung to the warmth that flowed so naturally between them.
She stared down in fascination at the dark head on her breast, and her heart swelled with emotion. She felt a rush of tears stinging her eyes. How completely she loved this man! Blindly following her emotions, she wound her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, feeling a primal desire deep within her to never, ever, let him go.
“You are so sweet,” he murmured softly, as he placed hot, wet kisses across her creamy breasts, traveling lustily from one to the other.
Isabella’s breath spilled out in a rush when Damien’s lips closed over her straining nipple. She arched her back instinctively, seeking more of the shivering sensations.
Damien gave a throaty laugh as he tenderly laved the exquisite bud. It had been a very long time since he held such a giving, passionate woman in his arms. It felt good. Damn good. He pursed his lips and suckled harder.
“Oh, my!”
Isabella unconsciously clenched her hand on the back of Damien’s neck, under his dark hair, her grip tightening as her body quivered with excitement. Her now restless fingers moved down across his hard shoulders, feeling the sleek muscle and sinew. She tensed against him as the excitement within her grew to an almost unbearable level.
“Relax, sweetheart,” Damien whispered throatily. “Allow your passionate nature its freedom. We will both profit from it.”
Damien’s words barely registered in her mind. He shifted abruptly and pulled her completely down onto the carpet, then rolled her onto her back. He settled his body intimately atop hers, staring into her eyes with an intensity that made Isabella tremble. The air felt suddenly closed and heated.
“I’m going to remove the rest of your clothing, Isabella.” The deep, sensual timber of his voice made her shiver.
“Wait!”
A thunderous expression crossed the earl’s face, but it quickly turned to sexy delight as Isabella’s questing fingers splayed across- his hard chest.
