Up and down, rather hurried now, his fingertips danced along her thighs to her mons. Things were moving along a good deal more quickly now, and Amelia knew what was coming. His fingers slid between her folds with a wet sound. Closing her eyes, she bit hard into her lower lip, tasting copper.
He repeated the movement again and again, tracing a line against her. Like before, the tip of one finger circled at her entrance. This time, however, it pushed in oh so carefully, his heart beating in time with hers.
The sensation was strange, alittledifferent from what she had experienced before. The desire building up in her core took on a different note.
Amelia opened her eyes, almost afraid of what she might see.
The first thing she saw was her own reflection, hollowed out and flattened in the glass. Mouth parted, eyes wide, neckline slung dangerously low, she stared at the woman in the glass. Not quite a stranger.
Stephen’s arm tightened around her waist. Dropping his head, he pressed a kiss to the crook of her neck. There was a teasinggraze of teeth, just enough to make her flinch but not enough to mark her.
The movement of his hand sped up, losing its rhythm in the frantic pace, and Amelia was faintly aware that she had better be quiet. But she feared she could not remain quiet. A cry was building up in the back of her throat and wouldnotbe stifled, and?—
Stephen’s free hand slid up to her mouth, his palm pressing over her lips, keeping the cry inside.
“Give it to me, Amelia,” he breathed.
She gasped, her cry muffled against his palm, and climax rolled through her, powerful enough to make her breath stutter in her throat.
A good deal of her strength seemed to leave her, and she sagged forward, supported only by Stephen’s arm around her waist. Once her breathing had returned to normal, he gingerly removed his hand from beneath her skirt, removed his arm from around her waist, and stepped back.
Without his warm firmness at her back, Amelia felt almost unmoored. She’d lost sight of her reflection in the glass and turned away so hastily that she nearly stumbled.
“What about you?” she rasped. Her throat was raw for some reason.
Stephen looked at her strangely. As always, his eyes were shuttered, keeping his real feelings hidden. A muscle jumped in his jaw.
“I am a gentleman,” he answered.
Amelia opened her mouth to ask him why he had not answered her question, but at that moment, her loosened neckline slipped off her shoulder. With a yelp, she snatched at the loose fabric, trying to hold it against herself.
Stephen clicked his tongue. “Turn around, I shall lace you up.”
She obeyed without thinking twice.
At once, his deft hands went to work. She heard the dry rasp of laces being drawn through eyelets, and her bodice gradually tightened again, drawing her breasts up neatly inside. She thought of Stephen’s fingertips dancing over the naked flesh of her breasts, and heat rushed to her face.
“There,” Stephen murmured, his warm breath brushing the back of her neck. “All safe and modest again.”
He was going to kiss her on the back of her neck. She could almost feel the heat of his lips. Amelia let her eyes flutter shut.
We must talk about this, you and I. We must decide what it means.
That was what she meant to say next. Or what shehopedto say next.
There was no chance at all, because in that instant, the lock clicked and the door flew open. A theatrical gasp followed, and Stephen leaped back from her as if he had been burned.
“Well,” Letitia gasped, standing in the doorway. “What ashockingsight.”
Behind her stood Marjory, her eyes wide with horror, and thebutler, of all people.
No, it was worse than that. Amelia caught sight of movement out in the hall, and her heart sank further.
It was Madeline and Tristan. They had half-turned away, as if trying to make themselves invisible, but it was too late. They had seen.
“What is the meaning of this, Grandmother?” Stephen snarled, stepping toward her. “You lock us in here, and?—”
“Lock you in here? I would never do such a thing,” Letitia responded brusquely. “No, I merely wanted to show off my fabrics, but here I find my own grandson compromising my poor companion! I must say, Stephen, this is shockingly improper for a duke. Unseemly,” she added.
