Chapter 12

James felt a bemused sense of wonder, an odd pleasure lingering in his chest because of Elizabeth's enjoyment and happiness with her night out. Each time she laughed, his mouth hitched into a smile. He also desperately wanted to kiss her, just to see if she tasted as warm and sweet as he recalled. Never after he had experienced a woman did James feel the same intense need for her a second time. The desire had always lessened since he knew what he would receive. Befuddlingly, the opposite was true for Elizabeth Armstrong. He let out a slow, deep breath. James knew the taste and feel of her mouth and pussy, but instead of his satisfaction declining, his hunger had increased … exponentially.

Her lovely eyes, which were set under delicately arched brows, gleamed with rich delight. "The night has been amazing." Elizabeth twirled, lifting her hands to the sky as if she wanted to touch the air balloon that floated away in the distance. "I want to come every night for the next week."

"I am certain your mother will be suspicious if you plead a headache every night."

She wagged a slim finger. "You forget that I am an incredible actress."

He lifted a brow, dubious about her assertion. "Show me this supposed act. I will be the judge if it can stand up for more than one night."

She looked away briefly, white teeth sinking into a plump bottom lip. Elizabeth squared her shoulders and stared at him. "Very well. An actress cannot feel any sort of stage fright."

James watched, astonished, as Elizabeth cleared her throat, placed the back of her hand across her forehead and groaned.

"If you made such a sound tonight, I am surprised your aunt and mother even left you alone. That was a death rattle."

Laughter poured from her, sweet and unfettered. "Well, perhaps it was not so dramatic. More like this."

She groaned again, this time softer, but the sound was just as awful, and then she wilted. Elizabeth tumbled and cried out. James leaped forward and grabbed her about the waist, supporting her weight that she rested on one leg.

"What is it?"

A slight frown drew her brows together. "I have a cramp. In my left calf."

He stooped and felt along her leg until he found the knotted muscle.

She groaned. "So painful."

"We overdid it," he murmured. "We have been walking and exploring the gardens for over four hours. I am going to carry you to the carriage."

James stood and swung her into his arms. She gasped and slipped her hands around his neck, laughter lurking in her tone. "Oh, dear, how scandalous."

"Why do I get the sense you are simply tired of walking, Elizabeth?"

She giggled, the sound so damn sweet his chest ached.

"There are so many people looking at us," she said, smirking.

"It is not everyday they see a gentleman walking and holding another man so in his arms."

Good humor danced in her eyes. "They might presume us to be lovers."

"That they will do."

"You do not mind?"

"What is one more scandal attached to my name?"

She laughed again, the sound far too damn sweet. It did not take long for them to reach his carriage, and his coachman looked away after a single twitch of his eyebrow. James assisted her into his carriage and entered behind her.

"Where else do we go? It is early yet."

"I am taking you home," he said drily.

"Oh."

The soft, disappointed sound pierced him. Then her eyes lit up. James grunted when she tossed herself into his arms, her lush arse nestling perfectly against his cock. She slipped a hand around his nape and said, "I have been wanting to kiss you all night."

He knocked the hat from her head, removed the wig, and unpinned her hair, letting it tumble in loose waves down her back.

"I love your hair," James murmured.

Elizabeth did not reply, pressing her mouth against his, kissing him with artless passion. James groaned, his heart quickened, and so easily desire burned in his veins. All James could sense was the soft warmth of her mouth, the taste of her tongue and the feel of her body against his. Blood was rushing in his ears, his head felt light, and his cock was heavy and throbbing.

She lifted her mouth from his and touched the corner of his mouth. "Have you ever tupped in a carriage?"

"Oddly, no."

"Ah," she said, delight glowing in her blue eyes. "I will be a first in this for you."

Bloody hell. "The coachman might hear." James waited for her reaction with a lifted brow.

She placed her finger below his chin, nudging his face upward. There was a wicked gleam in her eyes as she purred, "I will try and be gentle with you so that you make as little noise as possible, Your Grace."

He laughed, and she swallowed the sound with another kiss. Their tongues glided against each other for several minutes. He broke their kiss to shift her onto the seat, then tugged off his gloves. When she reached for him, James stopped her, undoing her flaps and dragging off her trousers and boots. How alluring and wildly desirable his lover appeared, her hair spilling over her shoulders in ripples of waves. He removed the cravat and untied a few buttons of her shirt. Luckily, she had not bound her breasts. They were small but high and firm, with large, berried nipples that had his mouth watering.

"Widen your legs; let me see your pretty cunt."

A becoming red flushed over her cheeks, and she obeyed. James ran his finger reverently down her soft, pink slit. He lowered his head and dragged his tongue over her flesh, pressing it hard over her clitoris. A soft, keening sound slipped from her, and her entire body quivered.

James took up her cravat, balled it and placed it in her mouth. He slid his hand to her neck, holding her gently at the throat. "You'll not make a sound. Each time you are tempted … bite down harder … and harder."

Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes glittered with aroused excitement.

With his other hand, he unbuttoned the flaps of his trousers, and his throbbing cock sprang free. He squeezed his cock, then released it to brush his knuckles over her folds, then drove two fingers into her wet tightness, shuddering in delight at the fluttering sensation of her slick muscles clamping on his digits.

"Ugh," a muffled moan came from her.

Her hips jerked as he thrust his fingers slowly inside her cunt once again. James removed his fingers, gripped his cock and brought the sensitive tip to the opening of her pussy, tormenting and teasing them both by rubbing the head of his cock from her slit to her clitoris and then down again. Over and over until she got wet, and her thighs trembled.

He released her throat, reached down, and used both hands to grip the lush curves of her backside, lifted her until she was poised right at the top of his length, and with excruciating slowness, dragged her onto his cock.

Her scream was muffled by the cravat, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Too … fuck … fucking tight," he groaned, shoving in slow increments, watching her pussy split open to take him. "Take it just like that—all the way in." The sight was almost obscene, his cock red and ruddy, pushing, spearing her sex open until he reached the hilt.

Elizabeth whimpered, and James groaned at the sublime tightness sucking him in. She quivered around him, her sheath squeezing him. Sweat beaded James's brow, and a ragged groan tore from his lips. She was a study in carnal pleasure, her pretty face suffused with desire, her head tilted back in glorious ecstasy, her dark hair curling around her bare breasts.

"Look at me."

Her lust-filled, dazed eyes met his, and he saw the pain and the pleasure.

"I know your pussy is aching at the stretch. Am I going to stop?"

She shook her head, her chest lifting with her raged breathing, tempting him to lean forward and flick his tongue over her nipple. Another muffled moan sounded around the cravat in her mouth when he sucked it. Releasing her breasts, James gripped her hips, and she arched when he started to move, her walls rippling over his cock, almost dragging his release from him before he was ready. Though lust pounded through James, urging him to take her hard and fast, James kept his stroke deep and slowly measured.

The feeling was pure torture.

Dragging his cock from her, then stroking back deep and hard, but so damn slowly, he had to fight with all his willpower not to release his seed. Over and over, he rocked her onto his cock, until sweat glistened on her breasts, trailing from her hairline. He leaned forward to lick that bead of sweat from between her breasts, and she groaned around the cravat for that movement shoved his cock even deeper into her pussy.

Her release flooded over his cock with wet heat, and with a ragged groan, James pumped his hips hard for a few more thrusts, then pulled from her body and released against her thighs. He felt empty yet complete and more sated than he had ever been in his life. Shocked at how damn quick yet intense everything had been, he laughed. James removed the cravat from her mouth, gently caressing her lip with his thumb.

Her eyes were soft and luminous as she peered at him. "Amorous congress is indeed glorious even when it is only a few minutes."

"It is you who is glorious."

"I know that, too," she said with sweet arrogance.

An indefinable feeling wrenched inside James's heart, too deep and unreachable for him to understand. James cleaned her with his handkerchief, helped her dress and then hugged her close, kissing her mouth with a tenderness that surprised him. His heart started to pound, and he kissed the top of her head, refusing to complicate matters by wondering why everything with Elizabeth Armstrong felt so … damn right.