“You imagined my lips?” Good God, he wanted to sink to his knees for her.
“No! I mean, I…” She pulled back a little, her cheeks burning.
But now that he knew how it felt to have her in his arms, he could no longer ignore the truth. It crashed into him, the impact so sudden, there was no denying it.
He wanted her there, in his arms. They’d been so empty without her.
He couldn’t let her go without one kiss. Just one, a brush of his lips against hers.
Surely, he could control himself long enough for one innocent kiss?
He stroked his thumb down her cheek and teased it across her lower lip, testing the plumpness of that tender pink skin.
Once, and then again, and then as naturally as taking a breath, his lips were on hers.
He coaxed her gently until she opened her mouth with a soft moan. He kissed her deeply then, sinking his hands into her hair, the long strands catching on his fingers as he urged her mouth against his.
When he raised his head to look into her face she was gazing back at him, her eyes a dark, endless blue, and her mouth the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted, like tea, and a hint of sugar, andher.
She traced a shy finger around his lips, following the upward curve of his mouth as he smiled down at her.
She smiled back. “Softer, and warmer, too.”
“Phee.” Nothing could have stopped him from taking her mouth again then, a little more insistently this time, the tip of his tongue sweeping over the seam of her lips.
She opened for him without any hesitation, her fingers curling into his waistcoat.
He slipped his tongue inside, a low groan vibrating in his chest as their tongues tangled together, each slick caress driving him wild until he tore his mouth away at last before he could no longer resist taking more than a kiss.
Yet he couldn’t let her go, either.
He let his mouth graze her ear, just the lightest caress of his lips as he whispered, “Do you ever think about me, Euphemia? Did you think of me that day we walked together in the garden? Or when we played chess together? Did you retire to your bedchamber that night, and think about me?”
He nuzzled her neck, unable to help himself.
She dropped her head back to give him better access, trembling against him. “I… yes, but… not only then.”
He groaned at her words. Dear God, but this was dangerous. Anyone could walk into the ballroom at any time, and with each of her sighs, each fevered breath between them, his control was slipping.
Just one more kiss…
He opened his mouth against her neck and let his tongue dart out to taste her.
She made a sound then, something between a sigh and a gasp.
He trailed his lips over her neck, suckling at her, then soothing her with gentle strokes of his tongue. “Have you ever thought of me when you’re alone in your room, in your bed?”
She grasped a handful of his shirt in her fist to steady herself as she rose to her toes to get her neck closer to his seeking lips. “Yes.”
He let out a desperate moan. Had she thought about him and touched herself? His cock went hard as steel for her at the thought, but as much as he wanted to hear her tell him shehad— shedid—he couldn’t ask her. She was an innocent, and he?—
He was meant to be a gentleman, but he’d never felt less like one than he did now.
A gentleman didn’t devour an innocent lady in his aunt’s ballroom.
She slid her hands up his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck so her breasts were pressed against him, and brought her lips to his throat, catching a tiny fold of his skin between her teeth and nipping at him.
He shuddered against her. God help him, but she didn’t kiss like an innocent.
