as a gentleman—at times. I had a feeling you wouldn’t scream if I pulled you into my arms and kissed you, but I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“You don’t scare me, sir.”
“I know. So, may I kiss you again?”
“Please do.”
His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer to his chest. He lowered his head again and instinctively her lips parted, her mouth opened, allowing his tongue to slip inside and plunder her warmth. The kiss was long, generous, drugging. Short choppy breaths merged with long whispery sighs. Millicent had no idea which sound emerged from Lord Dunraven and which came from her own mouth.
When he broke the kiss, he remained holding her tightly. He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “I’ve wanted to kiss you like this since the first night I saw you in the corridor. Remember that night?”
“You blew me a kiss.”
“More proof I can be a gentleman at times.”
Without letting her go, he turned them around and carefully backed her up until she pressed against the fabric table.
“What are you going to do?”
“Kiss you madly.”
Millicent caught her bottom lip between her teeth and formed a protest that never came out.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he whispered softly. “I can see your maid through the stacks of cloth. I will keep watch. I won’t let her or anyone else catch us. If she heads this way, I’ll duck under the table.”
Millicent nodded as he bent his head toward hers again. She knew what she was allowing him to do was beyond the pale, but where he was concerned she discarded caution and reason. There was something decidedly rebellious, thrilling, and a little bit wicked about kissing him in the shop. She had no inclination to stop as she had no inhibitions when she was in his arms.
Her lips parted as his met hers once more. Millicent knew from the first touch that this would be no gentle, tender kiss, and her breathing quickened erratically with desire.
Lord Dunraven’s lips bruised hungrily over hers and she matched his furor. His arms wrapped tightly around her back, crushed her to him.
Instinctively she opened her mouth again and accepted his tongue and gave him hers. It pleased her when she heard him swallow soft gasps of pleasure with each probe of her tongue into his mouth.
“You taste so sweet,” he whispered against her lips.
“And you are a masterful kisser, sir,” she answered breathlessly.
His lips left hers and he kissed her cheek, her chin and her neck. “Do you like the way I make you feel?”
“Yes. I’ve never felt such intense pleasure with other kisses.”
“So you have been kissed before?”
“Of course. I’m almost one and twenty.”
“But you haven’t been thoroughly kissed, the way I kissed you just now?”
“That’s correct. All the kisses I’ve had up to now have been properly given on the cheek by gentlemen.”
“Proper gentlemen? And I am not?”
“You, sir, are not a good matrimonial candidate, and I should not have allowed you so much freedom.”
“But you did.”
“Your charm is very persuasive.”
“You have led me on a merry chase.”
“Not by design.”
“I think I like the fact that you have been brave enough to allow a kiss or two and discreet enough not to let any man take advantage of you.”
There was sudden laughter from the front of the shop and Millicent stiffened in his arms.
“It’s all right,” he whispered, looking past her through the small opening between the stacks of cloth. “Your maid is quite busy at the moment.”
Breathing hard, and needing to see for herself, Millicent leaned her head back and saw the two women opening jars and smelling the contents.
Millicent took a deep, relaxing breath.
“Keep your head back a moment,” he whispered. “That’s the perfect position for kissing your beautiful neck.”
“Necks are not beautiful, sir. They are skinny and bony.”
“Yours is lovely and it’s sensitive, too. That’s why I love to kiss it.” He showered her with more kisses.
“Yes,” she whispered giving herself over to the pleasure.
Throwing caution to the wind, and her reputation out the window, Millicent did as he asked and allowed the earl the freedom he desired to explore her neck.
Softly he kissed the area behind her ear, and her skin pebbled with delicious goose bumps even though she had never felt hotter in her life. He kissed the lobe of her ear and gently, quickly sucked it into his mouth and out again a couple of times before leaving it to explore his way down the column of her neck to where the hollow of her