They stared at one another. Then, without another word, they both turned to the hole, Miss Kent jumping in first, Richard following and pulling the steps closed behind them.
~~~
Footsteps entered the gallery… whispers of other guests looking for a place to hide. Violet waited in the darkness, her heart thumping in her ears. And not just because she didn’t want to be discovered.
The Priest Hole had clearly been designed for one person. For a withered cleric, there would be just enough room to stand or sit with his legs outstretched. But now there were two bodies in the tight space—and one of them was deucedbig.
She and Carlisle stood facing one another; she was squished between his hard frame and the wall. Heat radiated from his body: it was like being trapped against a steel furnace. In the dimness, she could make out the harsh outline of his features, and his clean male musk pervaded her nostrils, affecting her... strangely. Warmth bloomed beneath her skin, the air in her lungs growing heavy and humid.
“Stop wriggling about.” His quiet words brushed hotly against her ear.
Perspiration trickled beneath her bodice. She felt tingly… squirmy.
“For God’s sake, stop moving.” His voice sounded oddly husky. “Do you want us to be found?”
“I’m not… comfortable,” she whispered back. “What in blazes do you have in your pocket? It’s hard and poking into me.”
He tensed, his caged potency jolting through her at the same time that recognition struck her.
Oh. Gadzooks. It’s…that.
’Twas as if someone had attached an electrifying machine to the hole and was cranking with all their might. Charged awareness crackled over her senses, muting the footsteps and whispering voices just beyond. Everything faded but him. His scent. His heat and closeness. All the hairs lifted on her skin, butterflies swarming in her belly.
Don’t do it. Don’t look at him…
Anticipation brimmed over. Unable to stop herself, she tipped her head back.
His eyes gleamed in the dimness.
In the next instant, his mouth was on hers.
His kiss—her first—was a shock and a revelation at once. In the steamy darkness, his hard, firm lips ignited a dormant need. Hunger for something she’d never known came roaring to life inside her, and the feeling was astonishing. His taste poured through her, as dark and sweetly addicting as a cup of chocolate, and it made herravenous. ’Twas as if she were starving and someone suddenly plunked her in front of a buffet.
Instinct took over, all thoughts abandoning her save one.More.
A desperate moan escaped her. He swallowed the sound, tilting her head back, and then the kiss caught fire. Senses aflame, she felt the hot, invading thrust of his tongue, and she answered naturally with a parry of her own. His low growl shivered through her. Their tongues twined, the slippery slide releasing a molten rush between her thighs.
Before she could fathom her body’s startling response, she was lifted against the wall. Pulse galloping, she felt his thigh boldly insinuating between her legs, lifting her toes off the ground. The heat of that thickly muscled ridge burned through the layers of her petticoats; when she squirmed against him, the friction made bliss ricochet against her insides. She didn’t even realize she’d moaned again until a hand clamped over her mouth.
“Shh, lass.” The raw hunger in his voice mesmerized her. “We must be quiet…”
The warm, wet tug on her earlobe caused her head to loll dazedly against the wall. Butter and jam, who knew that that organ could be so sensitive? Her fingers bit into the unyielding sinew of his shoulders as pleasure came to her like a cart of desserts, each offering more decadent than the one before.
He licked the shell of her ear, invading wetly, suckling the tender lobe until her toes curled inside her slippers. When his lips travelled lower, branding a trail down her neck, she wriggled in helpless delight. His big hands spanned over her ribs, just beneath her surging bosom. Her breasts strained inside her bodice, the tips taut and needy, and when his thumbs brushed against the undersides, she couldn’t help nudging into his caress.
“You’re so soft. Sweet,” he muttered.
His finger trailed over the bare skin of her décolletage, leaving goose pimples in its wake. He traced the low neckline of her dress… then dipped beneath. The breath whooshed out of her lungs when he found the stiff peak of one breast, circling gently. Desire flooded her.
“Do you like that?” his voice growled in her ear.
“Oh, yes—” Her gasp was swallowed by his kiss.
Exhilarating pleasure swept through her. Spun her more powerfully than any dance. Darkness amplified the sensations, and she was whirling in them, lost, guided only by his scorching lips and masterful touch. She rocked wantonly against the granite ledge of his thigh… and felt an iron-hard bulge poking into her own leg. This time, a sense of discovery sizzled through her.
She’d been around farmyard animals most of her life. Carlisle was… potent. Like a stallion she’d once seen brought to stud.
His shocking arousal made her feel both dizzy and powerful. Her spine bowed as he gently tweaked the tip of her breast, his tongue tracing a scorching line on the swells just above. Her breath jammed, her fingers spearing the rough silk of his hair as need soared to a feverish pitch—
