Chapter 28

Just for tonight.

Those words echoed in his brain as he reached for her, this woman in his arms who had been like a fire in his blood ever since she had crashed into his life. Her silken locks brushed his fingers, tumbling over her shoulders in a portrait of artless seduction. Her lips were still swollen from his kiss, her eyes glazed with lust as she looked at him.

Colin had never seen anyone so breathtaking.

He drew her in for another kiss, smothering the soft mewls she had begun to make, swallowing them whole as he savored the taste of her lips moving against his, of her tongue learning to tangle with his own.

Bedding virgins had never appealed to him in the past. He preferred his women to have some experience in matters of the bed. But Alice, with her eagerness and untutored passion, stoked a different fire within him, one that burned hotter, fiercer, brighter than he had ever imagined.

Even then, he found that his desire for all other women had waned drastically after he became a duke. He had all but become a celibate monk until he met her.

Alice.

Her name was a song in his blood. It was the rhythm to which his heart beat.

Alice. Alice. Alice.

He felt her press herself against him and nearly lost his fragile grip on his sanity. Did she have any idea just what she was doing to him? For all her inexperience, she certainly possessed an innate skill in driving him to the brink of insanity.

With a low growl, he swept her off her feet, coaxing a surprised cry out of her sweet lips. Her hands instantly clung to his neck, her emerald eyes wide.

"We are going to need a bed for what I have in mind," he explained hoarsely.

It would not do for them to rouse the other guests from their slumber if they made a ruckus so close to the door.

And he had every intention of making her scream—over and over and over again.

She nodded, the look in her eyes so trusting that it nearly broke him. Nodded as if she understood what was to happen between them tonight when she had no idea—absolutely no idea—just how deep his hunger for her went.

His little lamb was bound to find out soon enough what would happen if she followed a Wolf into his lair.

He laid her on the bed, taking a mere moment to admire the sight of her with her breasts heaving against the thin fabric of her nightclothes, her hair spread across the covers exactly as he had imagined countless times…

No, he thought to himself. This, the reality of her in his bed was much, much better.

He covered her body with his, a deep groan rumbling in his chest as he slanted his mouth over her lips once more, taking her in. Tasting. Devouring.

He was like a man who had been starved, and she was the feast spread out before him.

He grasped her wrists and pinned them above her head, stretching her body underneath him. She shifted underneath him, her shapely thigh rubbing against his erection, making him harder with want. If he was not careful, he was going to lose control before they barely started—and that was not something that Colin wanted to happen.

If he was going to have her just for tonight, then he was going to make it all damned well worth it. A memory that he could keep for the rest of his miserable life, for when he would finally let her go.

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he kissed her with greater fervor, his hands tracing her ample curves, imprinting every valley and hill into his memory. He wanted her branded with his touch, leaving no inch of her that could ever forget him or how he made her feel tonight.

"Colin!" she gasped as his finger swept over the tightened bud of a rosy nipple. Her body arched into his hand, a supple surrender to his ministrations. "Oh my…"

Spurred on by that delightful exclamation, a sly smile graced his lips as he tweaked her tense flesh. Alice did not disappoint him as she let out a soft moan that went straight into his groin. He had already been hard when she slipped into his room. He was not sure he could hold on for much longer.

Not yet,he told himself, gritting his teeth as the goddess beneath him tested every last bit of his sanity. He would have her undone, screaming his name before he finished.

He would make sure of that.

He dragged her nightclothes up to reveal her thighs, his fingers slipping through the thatch of dark curls that guarded her innermost flesh. He groaned when he found her already wet with need for him.

"Oh my God…" she moaned.

Her teeth caught her bottom lip as she turned her head to the side, her dark locks beginning to stick to the faint sheen of sweat that coated her face.

Never before had he seen such an erotic sight. Not even in his darkest, most carnal fantasies could he have imagined something like this. If he took this memory and painted it, he would have to stow it away, for it would drive him mad with lust.

"Do you like it when I touch you like this, little lamb?" he crooned hoarsely in her ear, the desire to take her heavy in his voice. "I can feel it here." He circled the little bud and drew a pleasured gasp from her. "You are so wet for me, aren't you?"

Her hips bucked instinctively under his hand. "Yes, oh God, yes!" she moaned.

He smiled in satisfaction, his finger slipping through her drenched slit. "Does it feel good?"

Her eyes flew open, glazed with lust, her eyebrows drawn together. "Do you enjoy tormenting me so much?" she asked him in a quavering voice.

You have no idea.

"What do you think, little lamb?" he growled.

He caught her wrists with one hand and pinned them above her head, rendering her mostly immobile. He had meant to punish her for her impudence, for her sass, only to find that the sight of her body stretched out like this had him nearly exploding in his breeches.

He had never felt this way before, not even with some of the most experienced courtesans during his Grand Tour. If he had not been trying his damnedest not to come too soon before he could even be inside her, Colin might have frowned at how he was losing control when they had barely even started.

Her heavy breasts rose and fell rapidly with her soft gasps, their rosy peaks all but punching through the flimsy linen. Her legs were splayed open as he continued to inflict the most delicious torture on her sensitive core, one of them drawn up.

Growling, he descended on a pert nipple, drawing it into his mouth and suckling it. He drove her to the edge of her orgasm, his fingers working in tandem with his mouth. Just as her breathing grew shallow, her gasps mingling with her moans, he slowed down to almost a complete stop.

"No!" she protested breathlessly. "Don't!"

He smiled and teased her wet flesh. "Don't what, little lamb?"

"Don't stop!" she moaned. "Oh God, don't!"

He leaned in close to her ear. He closed his eyes as he breathed in her distinctly sweet fragrance, now tinged with the scent of her arousal in the air.

"I think that there is one thing you should learn tonight, my dear, sweet Alice," he growled. "When you are in my bed, you are mine. Your sweet moans belong to me. Your very pleasure is at the tip of my fingers."

To underscore his meaning, he dragged his finger slowly up her slit to lightly flick the hooded flesh that he knew would render her mostly incoherent.

She let out a soft moan, her hips bucking into his hand. "Colin," she moaned, need heavy in her voice.

His lips curled into a smile. So impatient.

He was not scrupulous enough to pretend that he did not like it. In fact, there was nothing more arousing than knowing that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

"Abandon all your other thoughts, little lamb. Tonight, there is only me and you, and your every desire is mine to claim."