Chapter 15

15

T he allure of Emily’s lips was far more potent than brandy. The feel of her soft curves beneath his fingertips could keep Nate inebriated for days. He stroked his tongue over hers, his hands sliding down her back, over her hips, to the perfect globes of her backside. Each caress rendering him hungry for more.

Which made it remarkable, really, that he found the presence of mind—and the strength—to overcome the intensifying passion and break the kiss.

“ Emily .” He cupped her chin, her name coming out ragged and strained. It was a wonder he could speak at all, given the way he fought to catch his breath and that every inch of his body yearned to claim more of her. “ I cannot use the snow as an excuse tonight for failing to return you home.”

She , too, had grown breathless, her chest rising and falling rapidly beneath her bodice. But she, too, managed speech, her whispered words creating a tiny burst of warmth that tickled his throat. “ You do not need an excuse. Not yet.” An extra spurt of color flashed across her cheeks. “ I told my stepmother I might not be home until late. She said she would ensure that no alarm bells were triggered by my absence until after midnight.”

Oh , the clever, brilliant, marvelous woman. Thinking ahead. Anticipating this.

His cock pressed insistently against his trousers, the blood rushing through his veins as if it were fire. The last he’d looked at his watch, the hour had been little past ten. Which meant there was nothing stopping him from dragging her back to the table, lifting her skirts, and running his tongue all over her sex in a way he hadn’t stopped thinking about since the first time?—

But no. As much as he craved the intimate taste of her and the sound of her desirous cries filling his ears now , without delay, this moment called for something more. They may not have all night together, but there was enough time to lay her across his bed and savor her. To show her the depth of everything he felt.

He leaned in close to her, allowing the tip of his tongue to brush along her earlobe. “ Will you come upstairs with me?”

She nodded against his fingertips, her exhale causing her chest to tremble. Her pupils wide with desire.

He could put the kissing bough to exceptionally good use and claim her lips again then and there, except they would never make it upstairs if that happened. And so, he opted simply to twine his fingers with hers, taking a final cursory glance at the well-used great hall before leading her out of the room and up the stairs, all the way to his bedchamber.

Only then, after he’d shut the door behind them and they were safely enshrouded in the large room with its turned-down counterpane and hearty fire, did he allow himself the pleasure of another deep, impassioned kiss.

He held her tight in his arms and kissed her all the way to the edge of his bed, loving the way she teased him with little flicks of her tongue, the way her fingernails sank into his back as if to claim him.

He kissed her jawline. The pulse point in her throat. Her collarbone. All while his fingers made their way down the row of buttons at her back, freeing each one from its loop, and she set to work as well, deftly unfastening his cravat and moving on to his coat and waistcoat.

Her gown sagged at the same moment she hauled the coat from his shoulders, and they stood before one another, each a little more exposed. Still not nearly enough, though.

He gave her a moment to pull off his waistcoat and help drag the shirt over his head. To press her palms against his bare chest, the soft heat of them sending a jolt of longing straight to his groin.

And then, he could wait no more. He wrenched the laces of her stays, undoing knots until the garment was loose and he could throw it to the floor. Leaving her in only stockings and a shift that was semi-translucent in the firelight, hinting at the perfection he would find underneath it.

“ So beautiful,” he murmured, taking hold of the ribbon that kept that last bit of fabric in place. Giving it a tug.

The thin cotton pooled to the floor, and suddenly, every part of her was his to revere. The smooth, pale skin. The deep pink nipples. The dark triangle of curls between her legs. “ So beautiful,” he couldn’t help repeating, because everything he desired was in front of him, better than he could have possibly imagined. “ So exquisite. So perfect.”

The best part was, she displayed no hesitation about being bared to him but allowed him to study, to relish. All while giving him an alluring little half-smile that may very well be the death of him.

He lowered her to the bed, kicking off his boots so he could crawl up after her, making a place for himself to kneel between her legs. Then , he brought his head to her breast, taking one of the pert nipples into his mouth and stroking it with his tongue. Pinching the other between his fingertips.

She rewarded him with a breathy cry, her body jerking against the mattress. “ Oh , God , Nate , please .” Her hands began flailing, gripping his hair, his shoulders, moving down his abdomen and toward his fall.

Which was his signal to stretch out his body so he lay against the lower part of the mattress, his lips in the ideal position to drop kisses around her navel. One brush of her fingers against his cock and he’d lose sight of reason entirely, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. Not until he felt certain she was prepared for him. That every part of this would be good for her.

Her gasp of surprise turned into another cry as his mouth connected with her sex, his tongue tracing over the folds he’d gotten to know so intimately while kneeling beside the great hall dining table. Somehow , she tasted even sweeter than last time, the essence of her going to his head like he’d drunk the whole bowl of wassail. And somehow, the moan she gave when he began circling her secret bundle of nerves made his body ignite with even more potency than before.

He licked and caressed without relenting, dragging his hand up her thigh. Easing a finger into her entrance, where she was so hot, so wet.

His cock throbbed with appreciation—with want —and likewise, her body began to quiver. Her cries to escalate. He kept stroking her with his finger, dragging it in and out in time with the sweeps of his tongue against her clitoris.

Until suddenly, she was pulsing around him, her intimate muscles clenching him tight as she found her release.

He lapped at her flesh, staying with her until the spasms faded, and instead of clutching his hair, she tugged at his shoulders, prompting him to move upward again.

He willingly obliged, kissing the flat surface of her belly, the valley between her breasts, as he went. He’d been no stranger to pleasure-filled nights during his idle years on the Continent , but all those encounters put together couldn’t compare to the longing that currently shot through his veins. However , when she reached for his fall again, his hand shot out to capture her wrist, stopping her fingers just inches short from where he most yearned for them to be.

“ Nate .” Her voice was breathless, and her eyes seemed to grow darker as they took him in. “ I want … I want to know how it feels to have you inside me.”

God in heaven . The mere suggestion caused his already aching cock to throb painfully against his trousers. “ I desire that, too, more than you could know,” he rasped. “ But I need you to understand.”

He paused, fighting to maintain his final tentative grip on reason, because this was too important not to get right. For this wasn’t merely a pleasureful yet meaningless encounter, but so much more. “ I don’t intend for our coupling to be something we enjoy only for one night, brought on by the merriment of the yuletide season,” he said stiffly, his chest pounding with a mixture of sensations he’d never had cause to experience before. “ If we do this, I want it to mean forever.”

Her kiss-swollen lips parted as she absorbed his words. And then …

And then, she smiled, that brilliant expression that lit up his world. “ I want forever with you, Nate .”

Forever .

He leaned down, unable to go another second without sealing the word with a kiss. It would seem his spur-of-the-moment decision to return to England was the best thing he’d done in his life.

His hands ran down the curve of her breasts, taking hold of her waist. Flipping their positions, so all of a sudden, he was the one who rested against the mattress while she lay sprawled out on top of him.

She released a quick huff of breath, pushing herself up to sit astride him, her gaze posing a silent question.

He drew her hand back to his fall, bringing her fingers to hover just above the top buttons. “ When my hand has healed,” he said, the last word becoming a hiss as she immediately set to work undoing the buttons, “there is no limit to the positions I wish to explore with you. For now, though, we would each be best served if you were to lower yourself onto me.”

Her fingers halted for just an instant before understanding flickered in her eyes, and she continued unfastening buttons, the whisper of her touch setting his body aflame. “ I know how it’s done,” she mumbled, releasing the bottom of his fall and freeing his erection. Hauling the trousers from his hips so that he, too, was completely bare. “ The Beaumont library has some illustrated books that I don’t believe I was supposed to see, but I perused them, nevertheless.”

Did she want him to expire on the spot? Did she have any idea how damn alluring she was? He grasped her hips, helping her get into position above his rigid cock. “ I’m going to need you to provide far more details about that.”

“ There was a page where the woman sat upon the man, just like this. I always thought it looked …” She sank down a touch, her brow furrowing as she absorbed the unfamiliar sensation.

Even that tiny hint of her was enough to send another explosion of sparks shooting through his core, and his hips quivered, frantic with the urge to move.

But he didn’t. He used every shred of restraint he possessed to keep himself still as she lowered herself a little more, inch by gratifying inch. She stretched to accommodate him, absorbing him into her tightness, her heat. Until , with a little gasp, she seated herself on him fully, her eyes screwing shut and her forehead puckering from the shock of it.

“ Let yourself relax, love.” He released her hip, sliding his hand up her stomach and to the slope of her breasts. Brushing over her nipples and trailing back down until he reached the sensitive peak between her legs, giving it a few languid caresses. “ You still didn’t tell me how you thought the illustration looked.”

Her eyes flew open, her body shifting against his, her hips rising. Then falling. Something flashed across her features, almost like a fire had been lit behind her eyes, and she did it again, gliding up his length and plummeting back down. He bit his lip, hard, forcing himself to remain motionless except for the quickening circles his fingers traced against her clitoris.

When she gasped this time, it wasn’t a sound of surprised discomfort but of pleasure. “ It looked blissful,” she moaned, finding an up-and-down rhythm that didn’t stop.

He groaned along with her, his own need quickly spiraling out of control. She was like a goddess above him, riding him, driving him higher with each plunge. Driving herself higher, too, for her cries grew more desperate, her movements more rapid.

Finally , he allowed his hips to move, thrusting upward to meet her each time she sank down. And all at once, she shattered, her muscles squeezing not his finger this time but his cock.

It was beyond what he could take. With one last thrust, his body exploded with the force of his release—a violent, consuming pleasure that tore through him until he was left panting and weightless.

With a beguiling grin, she collapsed against him, nestling her head beneath his chin. “ It was blissful,” she said between breaths, her heartbeat creating tiny vibrations upon his chest.

And he smiled as well, because he couldn’t agree more. He held her tight to him, stroking her shoulders and back, murmuring words about how glorious she was, inhaling the scent of her hair. Rich and warm, like vanilla , he thought, now that the aromas of greenery and kitchen spices were no longer around to interfere.

If he had one regret about the night, it was that the clock kept moving forward, making it impossible for them to linger.

Yet as unpleasant a chore as it would be to extricate himself from under her body and head out into the cold, only to return to his bed alone, there was no need to grow morose.

For this was only the beginning.