The men laughed again, and Livy shuddered with disgust. She would call these men swine, but that would be an insult to pigs. Hadleigh’s arm tightened around her.
“It will be over soon,” he murmured into her ear.
Livy realized that the momentwouldend soon…and she didn’t want it to. She wanted to prolong this closeness with Hadleigh. In their velvet cocoon, the tension of their recent interactions had vanished. He was holding her, whispering to her, just like she had dreamed he would.
What if she didn’t have another chance to be like this with him? She had to make the most of the opportunity. She would live up to her costume and decide her own destiny.
She relaxed further into Hadleigh’s embrace. Since her costume was cut in a classical Grecian style, she had dispensed with her usual voluminous layers. Beneath her white tunic, she wore only a chemise, single petticoat, and short stays, and she could feel every part of Hadleigh pressed up against her. Goodness, he was like a wall of muscle…with a distinctly protruding edge.
Her eyes widened.Zounds. Is that his male member?
The night she’d kissed him at her birthday ball, she’d glimpsed the bulge in his trousers. It had appeared sizable from afar. Poking into her spine, it felt like a huge fire iron. Intrigued, she wriggled against him.
“Stop that.”
His whisper smoldered with warning…and something else. That husky edge had been present in his voice when he’d issued carnal commands to Cherise Foxton in the stable. It had made Lady Foxton mewl in desperate delight and beg for more—and Livy squirm with jealousy and longing.
Because she had wanted Hadleigh to speak toherthat way.
In that deliciously dictatorial tone that said,You will listen to me because you belong to me and me alone.
An impulse took hold of Livy. She could not afford to move much; to do so would disturb the curtains and give them away. Instead, she gently rocked back against Hadleigh, and his response was instantaneous: his harsh breath scalded her ear, his arm cinching tighter around her waist. His member became a thick, insistent pole lodged against her spine. The sensation of being surrounded by all the male virility that was Hadleigh made her feel light-headed.
The more she rocked against him, the more sensitive she felt. The air trapped by the curtains was a humid caress over her throat and décolletage. Her breasts ached, the tips taut and tingling against her stays. When she squeezed her thighs together, dampness trickled from her core.
The world faded away. There was only the desire raging through her like a fever.
And the cure was Hadleigh.
Ben gritted his teeth. Given her determined nature, Livy excelled at anything she put her mind to. At the moment, she seemed intent upon driving him out of his godforsaken mind. And he could not stop her without giving away their presence to the bastards on the other side of the curtain.
His former Horsemen cronies Edgecombe, Thorne, and Bollinger were scoundrels who’d think nothing of ruining a lady’s reputation or using it as leverage to get what they wanted. Stamford, who appeared to be the group’s newest recruit, had a reputation for being equally ruthless.
Thus, Ben had no choice but to hold still as Livy rubbed against him like a needy kitten. The rounded curves of her derriere rocked against his groin, testing the limits of his self-control. To his eternal damnation, he was hard. Her blend of innocence and sensual intuition made her a better tease than the most experienced of courtesans. She somehow managed to wedge his erection into the crevice of her arse, caressing his turgid length between her pert curves.
Bloody fuck.He bit back a groan as her movements wrung a drop of seed from his tip.
He reminded himself of all the reasons this was wrong. This was Livy: she was too young and innocent. She meant too much to him and was the daughter of his closest friend.
His arguments were countered by the naughty persuasion of Livy’s bottom. He tried to hold her still, tightening his arm around her waist and putting his other hand on her hip. That only made matters worse, for then she was tucked up even closer, and he felt the lushness of the curve beneath his palm as well. Christ, she had perfect hips, the kind a man could hold onto as he plowed her from behind…
No.He clenched his jaw, fighting to master himself.Do not go there.
But Livy would not hold still. She started a new circular motion that dotted his brow with sweat. He began to recite the Kings of England in his head. When that didn’t work, he tried the breathing techniques he’d learned from Chen. When that failed to override the sublime cradle of Livy’s arse, he resorted to praying.
Please, God, don’t let me do this. Don’t let me ruin the one good thing in my life…
“Well, gentlemen, back to business, eh?” Edgecombe drawled. “We’ve rounds to make.”
The men left the study—about bloody time.
Hearing the door close, Ben shoved his way out of the curtains. He dragged in breaths, fighting his raging arousal. The tap on his shoulder nearly made him jump. He swiveled to see Livy standing there, her eyes glowing jade jewels in her mask, her cheeks flushed beneath the rim of gold.
“I want you, Hadleigh,” she whispered. “Please won’t you make love to me?”
Her entreaty nearly undid him. Christ, how could he have not known that his little friend would mature into the stuff of his deepest, darkest fantasies? She was the very blend of spirit and submissiveness that never failed to arouse him. Combined with her wanton innocence, she was a Siren’s song to his lustful nature.
God,God,how he wanted her…
