Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

H e knew this was wrong, that he was taking liberties, but Robert was powerless to fight the need to touch her. As he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, Victoria let out a groan. His entire body went rigid as she speared her fingers into his hair.

A small voice in the back of his mind tried to cry out a warning, but the rush of lust coursing through him drowned it out. No woman had ever affected him this way. Made him think of throwing caution to the wind and claiming her, making her utterly his and be damned with the consequences.

Lips and tongues worked over one another. He sensed Victoria was new to the experience, but she was a quick learner.

If this is the way she kisses, lord knows what the marriage bed will reveal.

Lust ruled his head. He broke the kiss, taking in the heat of her panting breaths. At the base of her throat, her pulse raced. Her eyes were glassy; the glaze of unsated need shone in them.

He was no longer in control, and just to prove it, Robert flicked open the top button of Victoria's gown. She didn't stop him. Thank heavens. They were in this moment of madness together.

A second button. A third.

His cock throbbed as his brain screamed for him to lay her on the table and claim her here and now. To sink into her wet heat and thrust hard until she shattered. The only thing he wanted to hear was her cry his name as he reached his climax.

Drawing open the front of her bodice, he was met with smooth porcelain skin. No stays or undergarments. Robert sent a prayer to heaven. Victoria was naked under her gown. When had the younger women of the ton started dressing like the French with pas de sous-vêtements ? He honestly didn't care, but someone should have warned him.

"I was meant to be at home wearing my nightgown," she explained.

"Thank god you are not," he growled, as he pushed the top of her gown fully open. He cupped one of her breasts and bent his head. Taking it into his mouth, he ran his tongue around the hardened nipple, then gently bit.

Victoria saw stars. The exquisite sensation of a man mouthing her breasts was more than she had ever imagined it could be, even the nip of his teeth sent heat racing to her core. Her head dropped back, and her knees fell open. Her hand settled on the nape of his neck as he feasted.

"Robert, please," she murmured, hoping he understood what she wanted.

She sighed as he lifted her skirts. Her grip on his neck tightened a fraction as his thumb pressed into her wet heat. He turned his head and released her nipple, chuckling as a ‘pop' echoed in the quiet of the kitchen.

"Are you going to take your punishment like a good little thief and moan for me when you climax?"

"Yes," she sobbed.

She clung to him as he stroked her hard and deep. He took her nipple into his mouth once more and drew back. The stories she had heard in the ladies retiring rooms at parties were nothing compared to this, to the heady delight of a man's strong thumb brushing over her sensitive bud. Of him suckling her hardened nipple.

But she needed more. Would take more, if he was prepared to give it to her. Victoria touched Robert's hand, and in a voice that was barely above a whisper, pleaded, "Make me take two fingers, please. I need to be punished."

He moved and came closer, nipping at her earlobe with his teeth. "I don't want to hurt you. Not if this is your first time," he murmured.

Victoria swallowed deep. "I promise I'll tell you if it becomes too much." Raw, unsated need coursed through her veins. She had to have more. Have him take command of her body.

When he did as she asked, thrusting two fingers into her sex, he used his thumb to tease her swollen bud. She whimpered. If this was the sort of punishment the Duke of Spice meted out to lady thieves, she was going to steal from his garden every single night.

He took her lips once more in a searing kiss. Victoria was liquid light in his hands, any moment now she would shatter into a thousand bright stars.

"Oh god," she sobbed, breaking the kiss. Her breath was coming in short sharp bursts. So close. So close.

Robert sat back, and when she lifted her gaze, she met a pair of fierce, demanding eyes. "I'm going to stroke you hard now, Victoria, and I want to hear you scream my name when you come," he commanded.

From the back of her throat a guttural noise rose, and by the time it had reached her lips, it was loud sob. "Oh!"

"Say my name."

She could barely remember her own. "Rob…" Victoria swallowed deep, and as her world exploded into a galaxy of shooting stars, she cried out, "Robert!"

Her breath whooshed out of her lungs and as her whole body went limp, she sagged against him. He continued to stroke her, gently bringing Victoria down from her mind-blowing climax. She'd never known pleasure like this, hadn't imagined that a man could do more than her own hand, but he'd left her utterly destroyed.

When her head finally cleared, she caught him smiling up at her. The expression of pure male satisfaction on his face was utterly sublime. She might well have been the one who had just reached her crisis, but he had been with her every step of the way.