Dorian pressed his thumb down hard, and her protest shattered into a gasp. “Oh…God,” she groaned, squirming helplessly beneath his touch.
“No,” he murmured with a dark chuckle, fingers circling wickedly. “Just me. But thank you for the high praise.”
“You are such a-an arrogant—” he flicked her bud, and she gasped again, “—bounder.”
“Again, high praise.”
He drove his finger home, swallowing her cry as he did so. He thrust quickly but shallowly, enough to keep her body writhing as her wetness flushed his palm.
He gave her another finger, and she took him eagerly, her plush heat whirling his senses. He pressed up against her plush wall and used two fingers to make a ‘come hither” motion inside her channel. Her response was instant, her sheath pulsing around his plunging digits, her hips angling to take him deeper.
“Don’t stop, please—!” Her sex milked his fingers, so demanding and hungry.
Her body spasmed, tightened, the luscious pull almost dragged him over the edge with her. With her beautiful cries in his ears, he kept his eyes open to witness her fierce pleasure.
Her hair was falling from its pins, and her bosom heaved—her skin had an inviting flush with the pure bliss on her face, but Dorian felt his heart twist.
How much danger did I put myself in…
CHAPTER 15
Ellie swam to consciousness in the growing dusk; her head was on a pillow, and soft, fluffy blankets were tucked over her knees. The gentle gloom of a lamp glimmered over the grandfather clock in the corner—she readhalf-past seven.
She startled. The last she remembered, the sun had been in the sky. How was it nighttime already?
Her eyes landed on the table across the room, and heat prickled over her insides. The things they had done on that table. She brushed her fingertips against the tender evidence of Dorian’s kiss.
She had no doubt that if she were to gaze into a mirror, the red mark would still be blazing at the side of her throat. She also did not doubt that he had put it there on purpose.
The soft screech of a door had her bolting up. Dorian walked in, a tray in hand. His gaze fell on her as he set the tray on the table. “You fell asleep.”
Blushing, Ellie gazed at the teapot and the mince pies. “From simply…” She didn’t have a word to describe what they had done.
“Your sexual climax,” he said, smirking. “Do not fret about it, Evelina. Such a response in women is natural.”
She blushed. The only way he knew that was because he had experience with women, a history she would prefer not to know. Busying herself with making a cup, she asked, “Is it the same for men?”
“Much of the same,” he shrugged a lone shoulder. “Only, for men, it is stronger after full copulation.”
Evelina was sure her face mirrored a fire pit. “I… see.”
“But the manner in which you collapsed in my arms tells me something more,” Dorian sat back in his chair and cocked his jaw on a fist. “You are more exhausted than you think you are.”
She hesitated while lifting the cup to her lips. Brows dipping, she asked, “What do you mean? I just had a rather long nap.”
“Not physically,” he corrected her. “Mentally. You’ve been carrying a lot of worries with you.”
Ellie set the untouched cup down. “Well, yes. How could I not? I’ve left my cousin behind with parents who only want upward mobility. What is to say they won’t sell her off too? What if Carrington demands her hand in marriage since he can no longer attain me?”
“He won’t do that,” Dorian assured. “Miss Harriet doesn’t have anything valuable for him.”
“Ididn’t have anything valuable for him,” Ellie replied.
Just as she expected a response from him, Dorian went stone-faced. Why? It even seemed as if he were biting his inner cheek or swallowing back some words. What was he not telling her?
“Not true, Ellie,” he eventually whispered. “Youdidhave value to him, not by what you could bring into the marriage, but by what you could give to him in the marriage. And I do not mean children, I mean status.
“Even with his title, Carrington has never had the respect from the ton that he so dearly craves,” Dorian continued. “You could give him that.”
