Finally he moved, and he didn’t stop until he held her face in his hands. “And what if I want you up there, right beside me?” he whispered.
Mara swallowed nervously. Being this close to him was affecting her more than she felt comfortable with. It was certainly hard to think straight when he was this near. “Roarke…” she began, unsure of exactly what it was she intended to say.
His breathing turned harsh as he rested his forehead against hers. “Please, don’t say anything. Not now.”
She knew she should be pushing him away, but when he pleaded with her, how could she deny him? Looking into that perfect face, she found herself breaking all the rules.
She promised herself just one last time.
She rose up on her tiptoes and gently placed her lips over his. They were warm and wonderful and oh, so enticing!
Roarke deepened the embrace once he realized that she didn’t intend to resist. He growled deep in his throat, and as if it were an animalistic call that she had to answer, she moaned in return. Instantly, he drew her closer and ran his wandering hands over her back, then further down to grasp her derriere. Squeezing that tempting posterior, he pulled her forward to his straining erection that was nearly jutting out of his trousers…
Roarke seriously thought he might spill himself if he didn’t get inside of her soon. In his passion and with nowhere to go, he grasped Mara’s thighs and placed her shapely legs around his waist before he backed her up against the wall. Without breaking contact, he lifted her skirts and found that fabulous slit in her drawers. He touched her delicate flesh, and she squirmed in his arms, her breathing as unsteady as his.
He had to clench his jaw to regain some semblance of control. Once he did, he started a rhythm on her that soon had her exploding in his arms in a glorious release. He freed himself before the tide could completely bring her crashing back to earth. He thrust inside of her and had to stop before he could go any further, the sensation of her sweet, wet heat so intense that it took his breath.
Glancing at her flushed face—with her eyes closed and her lips partially open—he vowed to pleasure her until she was crying his name, until there was not a single other thought in that pretty little head of hers, except of him.
With a wicked grin, he tugged down a corner of her dress to bare one of those lovely, pert breasts to his hungry gaze. If it was possible, he grew even thicker and harder inside of her. She gasped as his mouth closed over a rosy nipple and began to suck in time to each firm advance and retreat of his cock.
Each time he felt she was getting close to her second release he would stop and gently bite her quivering flesh, before he started the entire process all over again, until he finally heard those sweet words, “Roarke, please…”
It was like music to his ears.
To show his appreciation, he quickened his pace until she was tossing her head back and forth, right before a breathy exclamation tore from her throat and her inner core pulsed around him, causing his own orgasm to spill forth in a heated rush.
Roarke held Mara, making sure they could both stand properly after their breathing had returned to some semblance of normalcy before he pulled back and set himself to rights. He waited for Mara to do the same, but she didn’t move, just leaned against the wall, her eyes glazed over, completely replete.
With a tender smile, he reached out and straightened her bodice. After all, he was the one who’d messed it up in the first place. Surely it was a tragedy that such lovely adornments should be covered by anything but his mouth and hands, but he also didn’t care to share such a view with his staff.
He wanted to speak, but he was afraid that whatever spell was at work here would be broken if he did. From that lustful, frenzied coupling at Eversleigh House, to the passionate nighttime affair at Lyra’s, and the powerful climax that had just occurred, each time he was with Mara, the intimacy built to new heights. Surely, after all was said and done, she wouldn’t expect him to just walk away.
It would be impossible.
“That was…”
Roarke glanced up, expecting Mara to say more, but when she just grinned with a dazed expression, he couldn’t help but smirk with manly pride.
“I heartily agree, madam.” He raised a brow and dared to take a shot in the dark. “But the fun doesn’t have to stop here, you know.”
When she didn’t immediately discount the notion but bit her lip indecisively, he began to feel his cock twitch in response.
In the end, she shook her head. “We can’t. It’s too risky.” Then, more firmly, “I don’t need to end up like my mother.”
And just like that, she effectively stomped on his heart. “You should know by now that I wouldn’t leave you in such dire straits. I would do the honorable thing.”
“Of course,” she said coolly. “But I would never ask it of you.”
Roarke blew out a breath. He found that he was growing weary of this same argument. “What are you still not telling me, Mara?”
She didn’t even blink. Or breathe. “Nothing.”
“I see.” He clenched his jaw irritably. “In that case, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of a few things before supper.”
He was fuming as he went downstairs. He had fully intended to make things right between them, but he couldn’t do it alone, or without her consent.
While he might have tried to browbeat her into marrying him when he’d been stone drunk, he wouldn’t make the same mistake again. She would have to come to him of her own free will or not at all. From now on, he would shut down his baser impulses.
He wouldn’t force her to be his wife, or even his lover—even if the prospect of throwing her over his shoulder and dragging her all the way to Gretna Green held a certain measure of merit.
