“If it is cold. If it is not, you would carry them. It gives you something to do with an idle hand as you are walking. And gives an air of dignity,” Violet answered. “Now, let me see your gait.”
Alexander laughed. “I’m not a horse, lassie…sorry, Violet.”
He strode across the room away from her and then back. She asked him to walk again and this time followed, holding back his shoulders, and lifting his chin. The feel of her cool skin under his chin was almost maddening. He had rarely been in such proximity to a woman who was not already a lover. But she was so perfect, he could not imagine her in that position, though he desired it deeply.
As the light from the window faded and the shadows within the room deepened, Alexander listened attentively to theinstructions Violet gave him. He walked and stood, practiced sitting and standing up. She taught him how to greet a Lady entering the room and how to bid her farewell, instructing him not so much on his language and diction as the words spoken by his body, stance, and posture. It was a revelation to him and he obeyed every instruction with the eagerness of a schoolboy.
“I feel I am already halfway there!” he exclaimed after successfully running through the lessons they had covered so far. “I am beginning to feel like a…a genteel member of the Ton.”
“And you look like one. You move like one,” Violet said, equally as enthusiastic, clapping her hands. “I am pleased with your progress. You are a fast learner.”
Alexander took her hands in his, kissing them. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity,” he said, fighting hard to maintain the expected English diction. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
She smiled up at him as he held her fingers to his lips. They were mere inches apart and Alexander had never wanted to kiss a woman more in his life. He lowered his head and kissed her on the lips. Violet pulled away, her hand going to her mouth.
You bloody fool! How can you expect her to trust you now…
Then she rushed back to him, stood on tiptoes, and pressed her lips against his.
Chapter 12
What am I doing? What on earth am I thinking? I should not even be here, alone with a man like this. It is a scandal waiting to happen!
Alexander put his arms around her and the thoughts melted away. Sense melted away. Time melted away. There was only his lips and his powerful, firm body pressing against hers. She pushed up onto her tiptoes, wanting to press her lips against his but lacking the height. The embrace in which he held her was unbreakable. Violet felt as though if he did not wish to release her, she would not be released. It should have outraged her, that her body would become no more than a possession of this brute. But instead, it sent an unbearable thrill of excitement through her.
Alexander’s hold shifted. His hands roamed up her back, fingertips finding her spine and making her shiver with pleasure as he deftly traced a path up the back of her neck. She writhed against him as a strong hand caressed her neck, finding its wayunder her hair. She pressed her hands against his chest, digging in slightly with her fingers, savoring the feel of muscles like steel.
Is this the physique that comes from a childhood spent in hard labor? What must he have gone through to sculpt a body into such an Olympian form.
He caressed her face, breaking away from the kiss only to quickly return. He drew her lips out to him with soft, rapid kisses, fingers gently cupping her cheeks and making her nerves come alive from his touch. Violet moved her hands out to his arms, trying and failing to encircle his biceps. Muscles twitched and pulsed at her touch, their hardness and strength remarkable. It was then that the pressure of their hips pressed close together made her aware of another hardness. The dream, inspired by Alexander and the lurid romance novel that she had been reading, came back to her.
Immediately, heat flushed her face even as it flushed her loins. She knew that her cheeks were scarlet, not just blushing but a fiery, bright cherry red. On a reckless, wanton, and daring whim, Violet pressed herself against Alexander, her entire body against his. The gasp that escaped his lips, just pulled back an inch from hers, was enough to make her whimper in delirious pleasure. She had brought that gasp from him. Her fragile, delicate body had reduced the man mountain, with all his steely strength. He looked at her with wide, dark eyes. Never had he looked so wild. So passionate and untamed. For a moment she stared back, feeling the pressure of his growing desire against her.
I want to stay like this. I want to feel him atop me on a bed. Oh my! What thoughts are these?
Her breathing was coming quick and sharp, her heart galloping. Stretching to the very tip of her toes, she reached up and clawed her fingers through Alexander’s magnificent, leonine hair. She pulled it back from his face, savoring the feel of its soft, rich depths. Then, almost fainting with her daring abandon, she held back his locks with one hand and ran the other down his angular, beautiful face. Alexander became like a wild beast at bay. His dark eyes, black eyes, never left her. His lips were parted, panting slightly as she touched his face, ending at his neck.
Through her fingertips, she could feel his racing pulse. It excited her immensely to know that she had reduced him to this, rendered him a wild creature of desire and emotion. It excited her, even more, to think that he had wrought the same sorcery on her. There was no warning when Alexander’s desire became too much for him to bear. His kiss returned with enough ferocity to steal the breath from her lungs. He seized her about the waist and lifted her from her feet. She wrapped her arms about his head, returning his kisses with passion that equaled his own and challenged him for more.
Violet’s body was afire, her heart bursting with need. A moan escaped her that was louder than any as her womanhood came into direct and prolonged contact with Alexander’s thrusting manhood. She felt the cushions of a chaise beneath her and then the muscles of a powerful and irresistible body were atop her, just as she had wanted moments before. Alexander was now kissing her neck, pulling at the neck of her dress to expose the pale, delicate skin beneath. Violet writhed, grabbing handfuls ofhis hair, and even parting her legs beneath her skirts, feeling his hips aligning with hers.
His hardness pressed against her and every muscle in her body went rigid at the need for his body to press even tighter against her own. Her dress was pulled up before she even realized it and Alexander grabbed her legs, wrapping them around his torso. She was even more exposed to him and she wanted—needed every second of this. Of his touch, his warm breath against her, his delicate lips touching her, and the moans and gasps that only he could enkindle. And most importantly, she wanted Alexander without any hesitance or self-control, at his primal nature as untamed as he truly was.
Her neck and upper chest were exposed now as he loosened the ribbons of her dress and slipped it lower, yet he neglected the sight to instead caress her thighs and push up her skirts at a teasingly slow pace. His left hand grasped her frail stocking and with her help, he removed it, and then tossed it to the side without a care. He did the same with her other stocking until her legs were fully bare, and she could feel his each and every agonizing touch. Only he existed at this moment. Him, his warm body, and every single sensation he unleashed inside her with his delicate strokes.
He didn’t say a word. His eyes met hers, almost as if he was seeking permission for what he was about to do. Violet simply gulped, her eyes darkening and guiding his hand to the front of her dress. It was her way of granting him permission, proving to him that she had completely lost her senses and sanity with him around her. It was dangerous, she knew this much, but she couldn’t stop now.
His large hand wrapped around the fabric of her gown and he stared as he tilted his head to the side, almost as if he was contemplating if it was the right thing to do. But when Violet gasped once his palm accidentally brushed against her breast, he didn’t hesitate. He pulled the gown off and tossed it along the pile of stockings. Then he continued the same with her chemise, until all that remained were her underskirts, with the familiar opening that exposed her womanhood to him. His head lowered downwards until he was kissing her stomach. His gentle assault caused her heart to beat faster and her fingers grasped his dark hair tightly, encouraging him to not stop. To not hesitate this time. It was too late to stop now, she was lost in him and this maddening need.
His lips pressed against her womanhood, causing her to squirm beneath his tight grasp. His tongue explored her and she couldn’t help but moan, filling the room with sounds of his name and the sounds of pleasure that escaped both of them. He didn’t stop when her back arched and neither did she want him to—instead, he held her hips with his strong hands, pinning her down as the burning in her core increased the longer the seconds passed by.
Unable to resist it any longer, she allowed it to consume her and her muscles tensed, then relaxed, as he moved his head back. His hand touched her womanhood and he stopped himself from making a comment, what she assumed would be highly inappropriate for the situation.
Once his body moved upwards, he met his lips with hers. So softly and carefully, but still with that familiar passion from before. That never left him. Violet wrapped her legs aroundhim once more and her exposed wetness pressed against his hardness.
Then his entire body tensed, went rigid. Violet found her own reason at the same time, gasping and pushing at his shoulders. He lifted himself to his elbows, looking into her eyes for a long moment. For a handful of heartbeats, Violet thought she would abandon all propriety and pull him back on top of her. Then she remembered who she was. Who he was.
“What are we doing? This is wrong!” Violet said in close to a shriek.
