His lips were soft and just as full as they looked from a distance. He held them firm against hers, allowing a moment to pass between them where he let her become accustomed to his touch. She couldn’t help the gasp, the sigh, that escaped her lips. They parted on it and he deepened the kiss.
His tongue breached her and she gripped for his arms to remain steady. He stroked her, tasting her, savoring her, drawing her in, coaxing her pleasure. In that moment, she understood, in a way she never had before, just why he had the reputation for pleasure.
Thiswas pleasure. She’d never experienced anything like it, and it promised, darkly and sweetly, a deeper sensation if she surrendered. Just surrender. Her body screamed it, her mind pulsed at it, and he wrote it on her tongue with his as he cupped the back of her head with one hand and angled her for better access.
She was flush against him, lifting her hips even though she hadn’t told herself to do so. She was gripping his sleeves in her fists, trying to mold herself tighter.
And on and on he kissed her, pressing her fully back against the window as he learned her mouth thoroughly.
What would have happened next, she had no idea. Perhaps she would have given herself to him. Perhaps they would have kissed until the world stopped turning. Perhaps she would have found the strength to turn away, to remember herself and their past and why she didn’t trust him.
She didn’t get a chance to discover what would happen. Behind them, there were voices in the hall. Muffled, but getting louder.
Katherine’s eyes went wide and she pulled away from Roseford in an instant. “Someone is coming,” she gasped out, hardly able to stand up straight when she was shaking so hard.
He shrugged. “Let them come.”
She glared at him. “I have enough troubles,” she growled. “Wouldn’tyoulike to deepen them by having me found with the biggest cad in London?”
With that, she caught the edge of the curtains and yanked them shut, closing them in together in the little alcove, blocking their view of the main parlor except for a sliver of space between the curtains.
The door to the parlor opened and Katherine watched as Graham and Adelaide staggered in together. They were kissing, more deeply and passionately than they had been out in the ballroom. Her hands dug into his hair, and long blond locks fell from the queue and around his handsome face as he shoved the door shut and pressed her hard against it.
Roseford leaned down and his hot breath swirled around the shell of her ears as he whispered, “In a moment, it will be too late to reveal yourself.”
She glared at him and lifted her finger to her lips to silently hush him. He smiled, wicked, and then pointed to the part in the curtain fabric.
Graham was pressed against Adelaide, dragging her hair down around them. He only pulled away to smile at her. “Thank God,” he murmured.
That elicited a giggle from his wife. She caught his lapels and dragged him to the settee.
“Good show leaving a room open for us,” Graham panted as he flopped her onto the cushions and went down on his knees before her. They were half-hidden now, for the settee was faced partially away from the window. Katherine could see Graham inching her skirts up, see Adelaide’s pretty stockings on long legs as he revealed her.
“As if I could wait once I saw you,” she whispered. When Adelaide sat up and dragged him in for another kiss, Katherine caught a glimpse of her face. Pure love, deepest passion. Everything that stung Katherine with regret.
And yet she couldn’t turn away. Nor could she ignore that Roseford was standing halfway behind her now, his body touching hers as they watched his friends through that dastardly narrow parting of the curtain.
Graham pushed Adelaide back and leaned in, disappearing from view behind the arm of the settee. But there was no doubt what he was doing as he draped one of his wife’s long legs over a shoulder.
Adelaide let out a little cry in the silent room.
Katherine shut her eyes. This was wrong to look at. Wrong to spy. But it didn’t matter if her eyes were opened or closed. She could picture Graham’s mouth pleasuring Adelaide. Picture how a man’s tongue would feel there where everything tingled right now.
Only it wasn’t Graham she pictured. Great God, no. It was Roseford. She found herself leaning back, shamefully letting her body press into his. He was still for a moment, then his arms came around her from behind. One pressed into her belly, his fingers splayed. The other cupped her breast through the gown, and she ground back against him with a gasp.
He chuckled softly, then slid his hand up from her breast and covered her mouth with it. Not hard. Just a weight there that reminded her to be quiet. Reminded her that he was in control.
She opened her eyes, watching as Graham’s broad shoulders moved, his hair popping in and out from behind the couch. Adelaide’s breath was shorter and shorter now, her cries growing in earnest as her hands clawed at his shoulders.
Robert’s fingers stroked at her stomach, slow and hypnotic, gliding up and down. And each time he stroked down, he went lower. The back of his hand caressed her hip, around to her thigh, and then he cupped her sex.
She froze and so did he. He was touching her. Through her gown, yes, but touching her nonetheless. She felt the weight of every finger. The warmth of his skin. The anticipation of what he would do with that talented hand.
Adelaide jolted, her toes pointing as she shook and her cries filled the room. Graham was wrestling with the placard of his trousers now, and Katherine turned her face so she wouldn’t see his body. Roseford leaned in from behind and his hand moved away, replaced by his mouth. He kissed her, deep and probing as he lifted his hand against her mound. She ground back against him, pleasure arcing immediately. He lifted, fingers curling against her as he let his other hand slip beneath the bodice of her gown. He touched her bare breast and she shuddered against him, her sigh lost in his mouth.
Adelaide’s sighs were not so lost. Katherine peeked out to find that Graham was now taking her, hard and fast. He let out a garbled groan and then he collapsed over her. Her hands smoothed over his back and their panting breaths were the only sound in the quiet room.
Roseford’s hand stilled, he pulled away, his lips sliding to Katherine’s neck as she froze. They’d be heard if they did anything now.
