Page 19 of Too Wicked for Heaven

He drew her gown down to her waist. Her corset pressed her breasts up high and proud beneath the thin muslin of her shift. He sucked in a breath. “Could you relinquish this?” he murmured as he fondled them both, thumbing the nipples and watching as her face flushed and she arched back to give him better access. “And this?” He bent his head to cover one nipple with his mouth, sucking the hard pebble through the cloth until she gasped.

Her fingers against his chest curled into his lawn shirt, clutching it as if for support. “‘Tis no wonder they spin tales about you, my lord,” she choked out as he flicked his tongue over her nipple. “You could seduce a nun.”

The words stung. She thought him a seducer, nothing more. She thought this was one more conquest to him. He enfolded her in his arms, his heart beating fiercely with the desire to let her know it wasn’t. “Perhaps I could, but I only want you.” He gave her a long kiss, burying his tongue in the velvety warmth of her mouth over and over before murmuring hoarsely against her lips, “You want me, too. Don’t deny it.”

“I-I can’t deny it. I want to. But I can’t.”

The reluctance in her voice sent guilt spiraling through him. Angry at himself for it, he lowered his head to her neck where he kissed the fragile pale skin, the sloping hollow of her throat. “Then let me make love to you, Althea. Please. Just this once forget all you’ve been told about what a lady should and shouldn’t do.” He kissed his way to her ear and ran his tongue around the outside curve, eliciting another moan from her. “Do what your heart tells you, and it will all come right.”

He pressed forward, forcing her to lie back on the sofa. She made a defeated little sound in the back of her throat, part gasp and part sigh, but when he lowered his mouth to hers once more, she slid her arms about his neck and gave herself up to his kiss, her body relaxing beneath his.

He knew then that he’d won, just as he’d won before, with other less reluctant women. He knew he could take her, and she wouldn’t protest. And yet . . .

What happened next made no sense to him. As if in a trance, he lifted himself off her and stood beside the sofa, fighting the overwhelming desire that surged through him at the sight of her lying there half-clad, her face flushed with pleasure.

“I can’t do this,” he bit out.

Then he turned away.

Chapter Five

Still half-dazed by her own desire, Althea stared at Nev’s rigid back, at the hands he held clenched at his sides. What had happened? What had she done? One minute he was stealing her will from her and the next . . .

Dragging her gown up to cover her breasts, she sat up. “What do you mean, you can’t do this?”

When he answered, his voice was tight. “I want you. God knows how much. But I want you to want me, too. To care for me as I do for you. You think this is merely another seduction for me . . . one more woman to add to my string of ‘victims.’ So tomorrow you’ll hate yourself for giving in.”

There was no mistaking the pain in his voice. Or that he meant what he said. It touched her deeply, for this wasn’t the protest of a rake, but the heartfelt need of a man who wanted more than lovemaking. She could never understand the rake . . . but she understood the man very well. No matter what she’d heard about him or the facade he wore, she knew Nev needed something more in his life.

Was she that something more? She didn’t know. But she couldn’t finish the evening without finding out, and for her that meant giving herself to him.

Without stopping to think, she rose from the sofa to stand before him. He stared past her at the wall, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

Reaching out, she took his hand and put it on her waist. “I do want you, Nev. I’ve always wanted you, ever since I was eleven and you were the handsomest, most charming boy I knew. I’ve wanted you each time Isabella told me of her fine, hard-working brother, who spent as much time tending his estates as in wild living.”

She reached up to stroke his square jaw. “I wanted you even when Uncle Winston said you were a blight on society.”

His gaze shot to hers, uncertain, perhaps even angry. “He said that?”

“Aye. But we both know he lies, don’t we? And I shan’t let his lies keep me from doing what you suggested for my stolen night. You were right. Seduction is the perfect choice.”

Every muscle in his body tightened as his eyes blazed. “Seduction? You weren’t so sure of that earlier. Or is this merely a way to strike back at your uncle for lying to you? Are you trying to act like him to punish him?”

His angry words made her flinch. She shouldn’t have mentioned her uncle at all, but it didn’t change anything. “Nay. You know I’m not foolish enough to relinquish my virtue in a petty act of rebellion. You said yourself that I want you, so you know it’s true.”

Her voice shook a little. “And . . . And what you said about my future husband. That’s true, too. I can’t bear never having a man of my own choice make love to me. I can’t bear never having you make love to me.”

She could tell her words had affected him, for he gave a great shudder and tensed all over. But he did nothing, said nothing, obviously fighting her for reasons of his own.

She added in a soft, taunting voice, “Perhaps you lied when you said you wanted me. Perhaps you were merely toying with me, trying to see how far I’d go.”

With an oath, he grabbed her hand and forced it to his breeches, pressing it against the hard ridge there. “This, my beauty, is how much I want you. I ache with wanting you. But once I have you naked beneath me, I don’t want you drawing back as you did by the bannister. Once we’ve begun, I don’t think I can stop for your virginal protests. Not this time.”

She knew he was deliberately being crude to scare her, to make her reconsider what she was doing. But she’d come this far, and she couldn’t go back. She didn’t even want to. Her eyes locked with his as she curved her hand around his aroused member. “I thought we’d already begun,” she whispered as she leaned up to press a kiss to his mouth. “Was I wrong?”

That was all it took. He hauled her into his arms, a groan erupting from his throat as he brought his mouth down on hers, possessing it, stabbing his tongue over and over inside it.

After that, all consideration of past and future was gone. There was only the present . . . and the man who was devouring her mouth like a starving animal, his hands roaming freely over her body to unclasp her gown and petticoats. It briefly occurred to her that he knew quite well how to undress a woman, but he drove that thought right from her mind with his soul-deep kisses.