Seduced by a Scoundrel - By Barbara Dawson Smith Page 0,65
of sound.
With a stately calm that belied her inner agitation, she stepped out of her skirts. She intended to reach down and pick up the gown, but he slid his arms around her waist and drew her back against him. He kissed her bare shoulder, tasting her with his tongue, nipping her with his teeth. When he lay his palm over her corseted bosom, chills flashed down her spine.
“Alicia,” he said. “How composed you appear. But the swiftness of your heartbeat betrays you.”
Her skin tingled with heightened sensitivity. Awareness of him penetrated to her innermost depths, intensifying the secret pulsebeat between her legs. She said coolly, “I will not behave like one of your hussies.”
He rubbed his cheek against her hair, and she sensed his smile. “What do you know of how a hussy behaves?”
“I know how she doesn’t behave. With propriety and restraint.”
A full-fledged chuckle stirred the fine wisps along her neck. “My dear wife, manners don’t belong in the bedchamber.”
She didn’t believe him, of course. He had known only doxies, not a lady of good breeding. She held herself perfectly still as he removed her necklace, then untied her corset strings and the bindings of her petticoats. Her undergarments fell away until she wore only her white lawn shift. Before she could feel more than a twinge of embarrassment, he turned her to him and kissed her.
His lips moved with gentle pressure at first, his hands cradling her head, his thumbs stroking her temples. Their tongues met in a leisurely kiss, a kiss that was almost sweet, as if he controlled the wildness inside himself. He tasted of champagne and darkness, secrets she could not fathom. Placing her hands on the sweeping breadth of his shoulders, she succumbed to temptation and leaned into him, liking the pressure of her breasts against his hard chest.
Muttering something unintelligible, he caught her closer, his arms flexing around her. His hand sought her breast with a warmth that penetrated the flimsy shift. This time, she couldn’t stop a quiver of longing. Their mouths melded with increasing urgency, the thrust of his tongue growing more demanding and hungry. He slid his hand inside her loose bodice and cupped the heavy globe of her beast. When his thumb brushed the tip, she whimpered, unprepared for the rush of intense pleasure that radiated throughout her body. She raised herself on tiptoe, straining against him, wanting to be closer and frustrated by the limitations of the flesh.
He groaned deep in his chest, and his mouth crushed hers with a need so fierce she could scarcely draw a breath. Her senses swam with giddiness, and she moved her hands over his form, unable to get enough of his brawny contours, his steely muscles. He was stunningly hewn, utterly male. With a wild willingness that faintly appalled her, she welcomed his caresses, leaning back a little to let him lower one shoulder strap and take her naked breast in his palm.
Appreciation burned in his gaze as he looked down at her. “You are exquisite,” he muttered harshly. Then, to her shock and delight, he bent his head and suckled her.
His mouth was hot and hungry. An insidious softness weakened her limbs and strengthened her desire. Unable to silence her gasps of pleasure, she could only hold fast to Drake. He was right, she thought hazily; she could not pretend indifference. She longed for him, body and soul.
He raised the shift to her waist and moved his big, masculine hand over her bare thighs and bottom. Too enraptured to protest, she hid her face in the musky hollow of his shoulder, while he brought his hand between them and touched the tight curls between her legs. In some distant part of her, Alicia knew she should be mortified by his unthinkable liberty. But as he stroked her with expert fingers, a maddening pleasure leapt in her, a passion that made her twist and arch against him. Need built and coiled in her until she thought she might die from it.
“Drake, stop … please … I can’t bear it…”
Then she felt the sharpness of loss when he did stop, walking her backward until her legs met the edge of the bed. As he sat her down, she clung to him, her insides still knotted from his wondrous caresses. He removed her hands from around his neck, and as he stepped back, dismay flashed through her.