She licked her lips, and he knew the battle was won. “No one must see us,” she said.
Her arm tucked in his, they made their way to the woodland. It was ancient, and the trees rose above them, muffling the sounds of the city. Here, although there were several couples and groups ahead of them promenading, there were fewer people to see them, and after a quick glance behind them, he led her off the path and between the trees. She gave a muffled giggle, and once they were far enough from the path, he pressed her back against a tree.
“Never have I been so happy you’re wearing gray,” he said.
“It’s a practical color.”
“Especially for hiding in woodland.”
“I disagree. Green or brown would have been far more suitable.”
He swiped his fingers along her arm and the gloves that she wore. They would have to go, but not today. Today, he would satisfy himself with the skin she revealed elsewhere, such as at her neckline, or the gap between her gloves at her puffed sleeves. He turned his attention there now, dancing his fingertips across the smoothness of her skin.
She was perfection in his arms, the combination of slimness and curves, of softness—almost painfully so, as though if he were too rough with her, he could puncture straight through her—and hard lines. He could trace her lines for the rest of his life and just as he learned them, she would change and he would have to learn her all over again.
He wanted to, he realized in a rush that took him off guard. He wanted to learn all of the things that made up Sybil, all the reasons behind her emotions and her sadness and the blaze of passion that seemed to strike through her and light her like a falling star.
He pressed his lips to her neck as she tipped her head back. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he murmured.
“What I’m thinking?”
“Right now.”
“Oh.” Her hands came to link around his neck and her nails dug into his skin. The sudden burst of pain sent a sensation tingling through him, and something about the gesture made him harden almost instantly. “I’m thinking how scandalous this is.”
“Mm?”
“I’m thinking that I hope Mama doesn’t spot us.”
“Unlikely, unless she brings her gentleman to this exact spot.” He worked his way up her jaw until he almost reached her lips. “Is that all you’re thinking?”
“Uh.” Her breath caught, and he smiled against her cheek. “I’m thinking that… I don’t understand how you can do this to me.”
“Do what?”
“I’m burning up from the inside,” she whispered. “I don’t understand.”
Oh, he did. Because she did that to him with a mere look, a word. Without even trying, she made him want her more than he had ever wanted another woman in his life, and now she was here, pressed against a tree, ready for him to have his way with her.
Her nails dug into his neck once again. “Kiss me.”
George was only too happy to oblige.
ChapterFifteen
Sybil was mad. That was the only possible conclusion she could come to, considering she was in the middle of Hyde Park, hiding from thetonwith the Duke of Danver lifting her leg to wrap around his waist.
Yes, insanity would explain why she was here. Insanity, or such a deep-seated desire she didn’t know where it ended and she began—or if they were one and the same. Could she separate herself from the raging emotions the Duke brought with him?
George, she reminded herself. He’d asked her to call him George And she’d obeyed. Another insanity. There was a list now, and she was crossing them off one by one.
He kissed her, opening her mouth with his and sweeping his tongue inside. His hands roamed down her sides, across her hips until they found her other leg. He gripped her thighs and hoisted her up so she was pressed between him and the tree. Her skirts got in the way, but she dragged them away so she could wrap her legs fully around his waist.
Yes, this was a familiar position, although the last time they had been like this, they had been horizontal and he had looked at her with the kind of hunger she now felt in his kiss.
It was endless; he was a starving man faced with his saving meal. A man drowning, gasping for air. She was his oxygen, the thing that saved him. And he was… everything.
She didn’t know when it had happened, or whether it had happened during their first meeting and he had never left, even through all the weeks and months that had followed. She had thought of him, dreamed of him, and now they were together, she could think of nothing but him.
