“Do you feel that?” He moved his hips in a restrained thrust as he settled her more snugly against his erection. “That’s whatyou do to me.”
He nuzzled the swells of her breasts, nipping at her skin until her head fell back in invitation, and he sank his hands into her long, silky curls to hold her still while his fingers slipped under the edge of her bodice, dragging the heavy silk down, down…
He opened his mouth to nip at her shoulder, his breathing ragged, and eased his hands higher, giving her a chance to stop him. When she didn’t, he cupped her breasts in his hands and brushed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples. “Look how they peak for me, Emma, how they begfor my touch.”
Emma’s tongue darted out to wet her lips, but a strangled whimper was her only answer.
“God, so pretty,” he choked out when he’d bared her to his hungry gaze. “So perfect,” he whispered, cupping the generous swell in his palms. “Such creamy skin, tipped with the palest, daintiest pink.” He traced a reverent finger around one nipple, his gaze shooting to her face when she shifted in his arms. “You like it when I stroke you here.”
“Yes.” Emma gripped his shoulders in frantic fingers, afraid one more word, one more touch, another of his heated breaths drifting over her skin would shatter her into a thousand pieces.
She could feel his eyes on her face as he did it again, then again, teasing her, brushing his thumb over her tight nipple until a sharp cry fell from her lips. “I…I…”
But Emma didn’t know what to say, what to do, so lost was she in a haze of desire. It wasn’t until he touched the peak with his tongue that she understood she needed his mouth.
“My lord.” Her eyes dropped closed at the exquisite sensation “Sam—”
“Shhh.” He didn’t tease her this time before drawing her aching nipple into the dark cavern of his mouth. He suckled at her for long, breathless minutes, the soft, wet sound of his lips against her flesh seeming loud to Emma, obscene, yet nothing would have made her stop hissweet torment.
He didn’t release her until he’d reduced her to a moaning, quivering bundle in his lap, her nipples a deep red from his mouth. He rested his cheek against the soft skin between her breasts, a pained groan tearing loose from his chest. “I must be mad, touchingyou like this.”
Emma let out a soft cry of distress. She caught a handful of his thick hair and tried to urge his mouth back to her breasts, but he captured her wristsin his hands.
“No. I want you too much, Emma. You steal my logic, my reason.This,” he jerked his hips against her, “is why we can’t be alone together in a dark garden. Everything about you—the way you move, your scent, your voice, your wicked, delicious mouth…” He pressed a hard, desperate kiss to her lips. “You make me forget I’m a gentleman.”
Emma’s breath came in short gasps as she traced his lips with her fingertip, then slid her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, so her breasts were flattened against him. “I don’t want you to be a gentleman.”
* * * *
Samuel was losing his mind. Emma was stealing it from him, one soft moan at a time.
She was enthroned on his lap, her round bottom pressed tightly against him, her tongue in his mouth, and he was mere seconds away from lifting her skirts and sliding into her warm,welcoming heat.
Samuel shuddered against her, easing her closer until he enveloped her, her vanilla scent teasing his senses. He held her there, his body crushed against hers so he could feel the shape of her thighs and her breasts, and dear God, she felt so good, her soft curves such a perfect fit against him, her belly cradlinghis stiff cock.
Even now, as his mind screamed at him to stop his hand was slipping under the hem of her skirts, his palm sliding up her calf, then higher, higher, over long legs in fine silk stockings until his fingers touched her garters, and then…
The smooth, bare skin of her upper thigh.
He was close, so close to the warm, damp haven between her legs. Once he touched her there, it would be over. He’d take her, right here on this hard stone bench in Vauxhall Gardens, with her grandmother a short walk away in their supper box, drinking champagne with his mother.
Samuel let out a tortured groan, but before he could give in to temptation again, he grasped her hips, moved her off his lap onto the bench beside him, and shot to his feet. He was panting, his cock straining against his falls. He’d never been so hard in his life, had never wanted a woman the way he wanted her, and it took every shred of his control to resist taking her into his arms again, and sinking intoher tight heat.
He paced from one end of the tiny alcove to the other, trying to reason with his cock. It was long agonizing minutes before it relented enough for him to be able to turn back to Emma without snatching her up again, and losing himself in her arms.
She was sitting on the bench, her skirts tucked demurely around her ankles. The luscious breasts he’d worshipped had disappeared back into her bodice and the heavy silk was smoothed into place over her shoulders. Her cheeks were flushed, but she sat with her spine straight, and her hands folded neatly in her lap.
To look at her now, he would never guess she’d been writhing on his lap mere moments ago. Samuel stared at her, wondering if he’d imagined the whole thing. Would he wake in his bed alone, sweat pouring off him, his cock jerking against the coverlet, and find he was once again caught in an erotic dream about her?
“I, ah…perhaps you’d better take me to my carriage, my lord. If you could return to the supper box to fetch my grandmother for me afterward, I’d be grateful.”
Samuel looked into her dark blue eyes, and shame washed over him. He’d justpaweda young lady in a public garden, had nearly taken her, on a stone bench atVauxhall.
“Emma. I shouldn’t have…I beg your pardon for—”
“I think it’s best if I don’t return to fetch her myself.” She raised a hand to her tousled hair. “I’m afraid I must look…quite wild.”
She laughed a little, then reached up to tuck one of the loose locks behind her ear with a self-conscious gesture that hit Samuel like a blow to the gut. “Emma.” He took a step toward her, but froze again when she held her handup to stop him.
