“You’re damp for me,” he said softly.
Rather than feeling embarrassed, his knowledge of her body heightened her excitement. However, when one of his fingers flicked across her most sensitive spot, fearing her legs would collapse, Julia grabbed ahold of his lapels.
“Easy,” he whispered. “I only want to please you.”
And she let him. While keeping herself upright by hanging onto him, she let him stroke her shamelessly, and when she felt his finger enter her, she bit her lip and moaned.
“That’s it,” he said, claiming her mouth again. “Let me satisfy you.”
And Julia realized she was moving up and down upon his hand, unable to stop as the pressure of exquisite sensation built.
Suddenly, his other hand slipped into the bodice of her gown — an easy passage between the fabric and her heated skin. His palm stroked her breast and then he took her hardened nipple between his thumb and forefinger. At the same time, he flicked the throbbing bud between her legs with his thumb while one of his fingers was still inside her.
He was a sorcerer!
Reaching the pinnacle of sensation, pleasure released through her like hot water poured across her skin, unleashing a dam of desire that made her want to sink to the garden floor. Yet still impaled on one of his hands and her breast palmed in his other, she could do naught but rest against him.
Finally, her breathing began to calm, and the tingling between her legs disappeared along with his hand, before her gown fell into place. He’d already withdrawn his other hand from her bodice, but he took a moment before releasing her entirely.
When she opened her eyes, she was looking directly into his unfathomable gaze. His words echoed in her head.
“What most of us come for.”
And just like that, quick as a whip, her exultation vanished. He had probably done the same with many women, countless times. And he’d probably done quite a bit more. For while she’d been taken to the heights of ecstasy, he’d remained with his feet firmly planted on the grass.
Her cheeks flamed.Was she supposed to have done something for him, either at the same time or in return?
Feeling awkward, Julia took a step back
The smug grin on his handsome face only made it worse.
“I had best go back inside and find—”
Too late!
Julia spied Sarah on the veranda, looking hither and yon, and a wave of guilt washed over her. She had probably caused her sister no end of worry. What’s more, despite having escaped with her so-called virtue intact, she didn’t feel particularly virtuous at that moment. She could hardly understand what she did feel.
If Marshfield had tried to spend himself inside her, seeking his own pleasure, she had would just as easily have gone along with that plan, too.
Her fascination for this rake was all-consuming.
“Don’t follow me,” she begged and ran out of the cover of darkness and into the light from a nearby torch. “Sarah, I’m so glad you’re here. Come see what I’ve found.”
She hoped there was something interesting on the other side of the yard or she was going to look an utter dunce. And a prevaricating one, at that.
