His lips were warm and hungry over hers.
He pulled her against him desperately, positioning his leg between her thighs. The pressure wasdelicious, and she instinctively drove her wet core against his leg, mouth opening to admit a moan as he held her against him harder.
She could feel something—new and hard andyearning—pressing against her stomach. He had transformed under her touch, his body responding to hers, his searching, hot mouth lavishing her neck as he ground himself into her, pressing her against the wall behind them.
“This is what you are asking for,” he purred into her ear, reaching down between their entangled bodies to grab her hand and press it against his arousal over the fabric of his trousers. “But you will not make me break…”
His voice trailed off as she stroked him, his head tilting back in pleasure, and a soft groan escaped him. A new sensation coursed through her—the recognition of her own power over him.
With clumsy fingers, he sought her working hand and drew it away from him, shaking his head softly with fragile resolve. He drew her fingers into his mouth, licked the tips, driving her senseless, then clutched them tight in his fist, sighing viciously as he took a step back.
“I can’t—” he whispered, raking a hand over his mouth, refusing to meet her eye. “Amelia, I can’t. You deserve more than this.”
On fire, desperate for more, she tried reaching for his hands again.
But Nicholas had made up his mind.
“Forgive me,” he said as he turned from her.
His body, which had moments ago been so close to hers, disappeared like a shadow through the door. Amelia looked down at her trembling body beneath her nightgown.
Not ashamed, not defeated.
But confident that she would get what she wanted from this marriage—even if it were a fleeting flicker in the pyre that was her life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Surely you have not forgotten the last time we were here!” Philippa exclaimed, dragging Amelia by the arm up to their box. “We came to see that comedy by Goldsmith. And that rotten cousin of yours, Mary-Ann, got up halfway through because she was bored. I can still remember the horrified look on your uncle’s face as he was forced to accompany her home with all the audience watching.”
Nicholas walked a few paces behind the women with George, inexplicably absorbed in their conversation. He and Amelia had only been married for two days.
She had implored him to attend a play at the Sheldonian Theatre with Miss Ashwood and George—who, according to Amelia, had decided to court officially at their wedding and needed their full support.
“Hopefully there will be no fleeing women tonight. I shall die of embarrassment if such a thing occurs,” George muttered as they found their box, shown inside by an usher.
“What?” Nicholas asked, eyes trained on Amelia.
“I said—” George cut himself off, turning to watch the usher leave, the heavy maroon curtains falling shut behind him. “Never mind what I said. I have never known you so distracted, old boy. Is something wrong?”
“Of course not,” Nicholas lied, mind racing with thoughts of Amelia, her warm and wet body, the time ticking down on their marriage. “It has been a long day, made longer by this absurd outing. Really,The Strangeris hardly worth watching. I have seen it twice in London and was left disappointed both times.”
He clapped George lamely on the shoulder as he made his way to his wife, taking the chair beside her. She continued to talk to Philippa, though Nicholas could no longer hear what was being said over the hum of the crowd in the pit. He wrung the program in his hands, angry with himself for feeling so unsettled.
When I proposed marriage, I made it clear that ours would be a marriage in name alone, that I would not harm nor touch her. What happened in the reading room was a betrayal of every vow I made to her.
And worse yet, he realized, the way Amelia seemed unfazed by their encounter troubled him most of all. He examined her secretly, watching for a sign of discomfort—be it yearning or even hatred for him—hoping to find one. But she was as perfect as ever, radiant in her red gown that evening…
The color a temptress wore when she had no idea how tempting she truly was.
Eventually, the theatre settled into silence. Footlights cast the first actors to appear on stage in dramatic shadow, and Nicholas felt exposed by the bright chandeliers overhead.
Restless, he leaned over to Amelia, wanting to make a vain comment on the play that evening.
She turned to him expectantly, and his heart skipped a beat.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind him, and Samuel entered.
His brother grimaced as he took the empty seat beside Amelia, George and Philippa sitting separately on the other side of the box.
