“Showing incredible restraint.” If they didn’t get up now, he’d keep her in his bed all day, and there’d be no explaining that to the servants.
She gave him a teasing frown. “Nowyou decide to show restraint?”
He wanted to kiss that pout right off her lips. “Rather late, isn’t it?” He carried her across the room and through the connecting door. “But you did say you wanted a hot bath.”
He set her down on her feet, but she clung to his neck, pressed her body close against his, and nipped his earlobe before whispering in his ear, “I want more than just a bath.”
A pained groan left Ethan’s lips. He’d loved her hard last night, and he’d meant to leave her alone to recover this morning, but she was flushed, and all creamy skin and pink lips and nipples, and his resistance crumbled.
He stepped into the tub, stretched out, and then held out a hand for her. “Come down on top of me.”
His voice was rougher than he’d intended, but Thea didn’t hesitate. She stepped into the tub so she was standing over him, her feet between his knees.
Dear God, he was going to explode before she even touched him. He ran slick hands up the backs of her legs and lifted each dainty foot into place above his hips. “Sink down,” he whispered, and wrapped his hands around her waist to steady her.
She lowered herself so she was straddling him, and Ethan sucked in a sharp breath when her hot center brushed against his cock.
Despite her innocence, Thea seemed to know instinctively how to give them both pleasure. Her green eyes burned as she settled her hands on his shoulders and began to move her hips back and forth in a slow, sensuous rhythm.
Ethan hissed. “Jesus. You feel so good.” He buried one rough hand in her hair, gripped her lower back with the other, then leaned forward and caught a nipple between his teeth, biting down gently.
Thea caught her breath and jerked in his arms. “Ah, Ethan.”
Christ, it made him wild to hear his name so breathless on her lips. He bit her nipple to hear her gasp again, then reached down, grasped his cock in his hand and dragged his tip across the tender bud hidden between her folds. “Tell me you want this.”
Thea’s head fell back with a soft cry. “I—I want it. I wantyou.”
He growled, his hand tightening in her hair. He pushed the head slowly inside her, then stopped, clenching his teeth for control. “Tell me you want all of me.”
Thea gasped and squirmed over him, trying to take him deeper. “I—I want all of you.”
Ethan groaned, then eased in another inch. “You’re mine, Thea.” He moved his hand between her legs and circled his thumb slowly around her, but lightly, only enough to tease her. “Tell me you’re mine.”
Thea let out a sob and her thighs tightened around his hips. “I’m yours. Please, Ethan.”
Her fingernails bit into his neck, and the little sting of pain shattered Ethan’s control. He gripped her hips and pulled her down onto him as he thrust upward, pushing all the way inside her with one fierce stroke.
Thea froze, and then in the next breath, before he could move again, she was coming. The delicious pressure of her body squeezed his aching cock, and he thrust wildly into her, his breath ragged as he was hurled headlong into ecstasy.
* * * *
“I don’t want to go withyou!” Martha stuck out her bottom lip and gave Ethan such a fierce glower he was glad she didn’t have a pitcher of milk in her hand.
A pitcher of milk, or a pistol.
He’d taken the children out for a long walk on the grounds, but he’d decided against any shooting for today. Half of him was still up in bed with Thea—the mental half of him, alas—and three young children and a distracted earl playing about with a loaded pistol seemed a rather bad idea.
Henry and George had decided days ago they’d been all wrong about his lordship, who was a right decent swell, after all, and now they swung along beside him, engaged in a cheerful squabble over whether French or English pistols were more “gentleman-like.”
Martha, however, was a different matter. Her wary gaze was fixed on him, watching his every move as if he were no more trustworthy than a rabid dog.
“I don’t want to go with you!” she repeated, louder this time.
Ah, well. The ladies were always the hardest to win over.
Ethan chose not to point out to Martha that her brothers had gone out with him for the past three days and hadn’t come to any harm. He didn’t know much about six-year-old children, but he suspected they weren’t impressed by logical argument.
“I want Miss Sheridan!” Martha glared at him, and stamped her foot.
