Chapter Sixteen

A nna's snoring woke him.

Jacob blinked a few times, trying to remember where the hell he was and how the hell he got there. He stretched along the warm creature in his arms, causing Anna to stir. Her snores became softer.

He glanced at the window. It was always difficult to tell with the glass, but he suspected it was close to dawn. The faint music of birdsong could be heard just outside the cottage.

Fuck.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep. He had planned to lie with Anna just long enough for her to do so, and then pick her up and carry her back to her bedroom in the house. When her maids found her room empty, they would surely become distressed. He didn't need a search party combing the grounds to find them huddled together in his little enclave.

But he'd failed. Anna's body had been too enticing, her proposition too tempting. The moment Jacob had let his head lie next to hers on the pillow, he was done for. Her scent, an intoxicating blend of roses and lavender, had lulled him to sleepy bliss. He'd had no chance.

But there was still time. He had to move quickly if he was going to salvage this disaster.

Perception was such an interesting thing. Waking up with Anna in his arms certainly didn't feel like a disaster; however, she would probably think so. Her father most definitely would. Jacob had no great love for Sir John, but no father deserved to have his daughter taken advantage of. And although Jacob's motives had been pure, nothing about their current predicament could be perceived that way.

Anna's snores picked up again. Jacob smiled. He was in trouble. He must be the only man in history to think a woman's snores were adorable. He craned around to look at her. Anna's mouth was slack and open, a tiny trail of drool running onto her pillow. Her hair was plastered across her forehead and onto her pink cheeks. The cottage didn't retain heat well at night, but Jacob had done his job. Anna was pleasant and snug.

He could have gazed at her all day, memorizing the angles of her face, the way her nose was thicker at the tip than at the bridge. The way she had one small brown freckle at the corner of her eye and three moles on the side of her neck lined up like Orion's Belt. Her lashes fluttered as if she were in the middle of a dream.

Was she dreaming of him? Or Phillip ?

Instantly, Jacob kicked that bastard from his mind. He couldn't imagine sharing an early morning with Anna ever again. He wouldn't ruin it by thinking of that son of a bitch.

"Go back to sleep," Anna said, her voice thick and gravelly.

Jacob grimaced. Did she know he'd been watching her? Should he be embarrassed about that? Should he apologize? He'd never stared at a woman in his bed.

"It's almost dawn," Jacob replied, though a few more minutes couldn't hurt. Besides, it was cold outside, and so very warm inside with her.

"I don't care," she grumbled, burrowing her face into the pillow. Jacob got a shock when she arched her lower half into his pelvis, inciting his morning hunger even more. He gritted his teeth.

"You'll care when everyone finds you here."

"No, I won't."

Obstinate woman.

Obstinate, tantalizing woman.

Anna was a horrible influence because Jacob's body was acting as stubborn as she was. His cock wouldn't calm down and his arms wouldn't stop hugging her!

Let go!

No. Never that.

Jacob needed to be harsher. "I will not compromise you."

Anna's laughter was much too acerbic for a woman her age. It cut him more than her words. "I've already been compromised, Jacob. Don't pretend that you don't know that."

He did. He didn't know the extent of Anna's relationship with Phillip, but he understood that it had gone too far in more ways than one. Was Sir John aware?

That was beside the point. Jacob was not Phillip. And he would not treat Anna like she was a new toy to be played with and then easily discarded.

"And you must stop worrying about your virtue," she went on. "I told you. Marriage isn't in my future. My father knows that. He won't force anything on you."

"I'm not worried."

Anna humphed . "You should be. You don't want to be stuck with a woman like me."

A woman like me. What was she going on about now? Jacob still hadn't a clue what had happened last night before he found her, but this wasn't the Anna that he was beginning to know. His Anna was forthright and sincere, courageous and proud. This morning, as she kept her eyes closed and attempted to disappear in the covers, she sounded so defeated and lonely. Beyond caring or trying.

Jacob took a deep breath, relaxing against her once more. His mind whirled with what he should do—the proper, right, decent thing to do… but the longer he held Anna, the more he came to the conclusion that holding her was the answer. Especially since she responded so readily to him. Inside the cocoon of his body, her shoulders released their tension, her breathing grew slower, her short limbs became lax. It dawned on Jacob that she felt safe with him.

"You've ruined it," Anna muttered.

"What?"

"My sleep," she said. "I can't go back to bed now with you thinking so much."

"I'm not thinking!"

"Liar."

He squeezed her tighter. "I'm not trying to think."

"Well, you're not not trying to think, either."

Jacob rolled his eyes. He couldn't argue with such insane logic.

She let out a long, distressed sigh. "You'll just have to put me back to sleep, then."

"And how in the world am I supposed to—"

Oh.

Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Christ, his cock already knew the answer to the question. Jacob cleared his throat. "I already told you that I won't dishonor you while you're in this state."

Anna twirled around in his arms, facing him with a delightfully mischievous grin. Her eyes were full of devilment; the green was lighter than usual, more peridot than emerald. This was the kind of important information a man could only glean in the morning.

She placed her hands on his chest, throwing one thigh over his legs. "Yes, but you never said anything about my dishonoring you." Her voice was rich and husky and confident. This was the Anna he knew.

Jacob couldn't help but smile as her hands crept down his torso. He was still wearing his waistcoat over his linen shirt, and she took her time, releasing the buttons, each one like a tiny lock being picked.

"We have to return you to the house," he argued, but even as he said the words, his arms were circling her waist, his fingers pressing into the fabric of her gown, mining for a hint of skin.

"I told you," she said. Her smile evoked images of honey and silky-smooth whipped cream. "I'm not going back to the house."

Anna's attention was fixed low on her work. She had finished with the waistcoat and moved to his shirt. She pulled it out of his trousers so she could finally dip her hands underneath the linen and find his belly. Her touch scorched him.

He jerked back from the searing action, causing her to laugh. "You weren't this jumpy in the carriage," she said, her voice a siren song of temptation.

Jacob fought for composure. "I was in control that night."

"You could be in control now, but you refused."

Her fingers made small circles around his belly button, a hypnotic blend of innocence and desire. Jacob lowered his head, trying to catch her lips, but Anna ducked at the last moment. He growled and wedged his face into her neck, nipping her skin with his teeth.

Anna gasped. The sound made him crazy.

Her hands meandered to the buttons of his trousers, and the moment she began to work on them, Jacob concluded that he must still be asleep. He was in the middle of an erotic dream—that was the only thing that could explain this incredible occurrence.

But the taste of Anna's skin was too sweet. The smell of her sweat was too heady and spicy. Jacob flicked up her skirts and palmed the fleshy part of her thigh as he reached for her full behind. That… that was no dream. It was heaven, and unmistakably real.

Anna leaned into his chest, nudging his head to the side so she could kiss his neck. They were light kisses, soft and angelic, a stark contrast to her hands, which could only have the devil in their corner. Her hips undulated in a slow rhythm as she worked. Jacob braced himself. He couldn't breathe as he waited for her to take him in hand. But nothing could have prepared him for the moment Anna clasped him in her grasp, the way she held him as if she owned him, the heroic way she made him feel as she explored his manhood.

"Oh, Christ, Anna, that's… that's…" Jacob couldn't find the words. He was lost, and Anna was the only one who could find him.

"I'm not doing anything," she whispered. The worry in her tone managed to pull him from the enchantment. "I've never done this before. I'm not sure…"

Jacob's laughter was haggard, stretched tight. He bucked in her hand, and Anna dropped him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she said, hiding her head in his shirt.

Jacob smiled through his pain, placing a hand on the back of her head, cuddling her close so she wouldn't think of fleeing. They weren't done yet.

"You didn't hurt me," he said, chuckling. "Why did you… do that… if you didn't know what to do?"

Anna's blush scorched through his shirt. "I assumed that…"

"Assumed?"

She sighed. "Assumed that you would know what to do and would take it from there. Stop laughing at me."

"Oh, sweetheart," Jacob said, rolling her back and forth on the bed in a giant hug. He couldn't remember the time he'd had this much fun. Certainly not in bed with a woman. Jacob had never thought of sex as fun before. It was a release—vigorous, enjoyable, necessary entertainment—but not exactly fun. But, as always, with Anna, everything was different. Different and better.

"I could show you," he drawled, growing even more excited by what he was proposing, "or you could explore. What would you prefer?"

Anna's face emerged from hiding. Jacob had been right. Her cheeks were as red as fire. "You'd let me explore?"

"Hell yes."

She grinned. That impish look returned.

Jacob rearranged himself, lying on his back. He folded his hands behind his head.

Anna's stare was comical. She squinted at him in disbelief. "I don't want to hurt you."

"So don't."

She snorted. "I only want you to feel as good as you make me feel."

"Yes, let's do that."

The sultry curve of Anna's lips made his heart slam into his ribcage. So beautiful. And only for him. So many grand things had been given to Jacob in recent years, but beyond a doubt, that smile was the one that meant the most. He would cherish it forever because he'd earned it.

This time when she gripped his rod, she wasn't completely devoid of confidence, though she was hesitant. She stared at him for a beat, biting into her bottom lip. She fanned her fingers out over him, her touch as light as gossamer, so soft that Jacob felt it all the way up his spine like a fuse that had just been lit.

His groan surprised both of them. But Anna didn't pull away this time. She squeezed harder.

"That's it," Jacob rasped, moving his hips for her. "Hold me like that, sweetheart."

But, true to form, Anna would not be dictated to. She matched his movement with punishing strokes of her own, pumping her fist up and down his shaft.

Jacob was like a puppet, his entire body held on strings under Anna's control. But it was his damned fault. He'd given her free rein to explore—and explore she did. She pumped him fast and slow, hard and soft, even using both hands at times. Jacob could barely keep up. Sweat drenched his forehead, his body was on a precipice, and the ground was shaking.

"Is this what you want?" Anna asked as she worked him, draping herself down next to him so she could plant more kisses on his chest. Her breath tickled his ear. "Or is this?" she said, her hand moving faster. She licked the cords on his neck.

Jacob's pelvis lifted off the mattress; his hands balled into fists at his sides. He was unmoored. Every time he reached for her, Anna inched out of his grasp. She was making this all about him. But the more she pumped him, the higher and farther she took him, he concluded that he didn't want to take this journey alone. Jacob needed Anna to fly with him.

Flooded with desire, he flipped Anna on her back and tossed her skirts up to her chest. "Keep going," he growled, shoving her hand back on his cock. Her eyes were wide, but she didn't falter. She only nodded, taking his rod in her hand again, rubbing the tip of it against her inner thigh.

But Anna couldn't hold back her scream as Jacob thrust two fingers into her hot passage, massaging her pearl with the fat of his thumb.

Yes. That was what he wanted. Anna stretched her neck to the headboard, her tendons straining into a V-shape. He caressed her pussy and dipped his head into that V, flickering the indentation with his tongue.

"We'll go together," Jacob said against her flesh. "Can you do that?"

Anna's mouth opened, but nothing came out. She nodded instead.

"No," he said, reaching deep with his fingers, caressing her swollen and tight insides with his expertise. His movements were fluid and sure, and he watched her now, as closely as she'd watched him, making sure that he was hitting the notes that would make Anna sing. He kissed her jaw, sucking it with desperation and disappointment because it wasn't her lips. "I need to hear you say it. Say you will come when I will."

"I will… I will," she answered. Jacob wasn't even sure Anna knew what she was saying. Eyes closed, forehead creased with lines, she was in the throes of ecstasy, wild with abandon.

Her hand had slackened, her grip loose on his cock, but it was still holding him, and that was all Jacob needed. He was so close. Anna could touch the tip of him with her fingertip and he would still explode. He was waiting. For her passion to build. For her journey to reach its end.

They moved together. All hips and groans, ragged breaths and frantic need.

Anna arched into his hand, asking—nay, pleading—for more. Just a little bit more. She pulled on his shoulder, asking for everything, giving him infinitely more.

They came together, both screaming at the same moment, jolting and pushing into one another in a grinding, pulverizing manner that left them each boneless and exquisitely depleted on the bed. He fell on top of her, his seed coating her legs, her juices coating the length of his fingers.

Jacob laughed into the mattress. He could die a happy man. Or was he already dead? It didn't matter, not when he felt this alive.

With all his power, he swiveled his neck to find Anna. She still had that smile on her lips. "Do you think you can go back to bed now?" he asked.

But the lady didn't answer. The lady was sound asleep.