light layer of sweat dewed her skin, and he couldn’t resist giving her what he knew she needed.
“Let me touch you, lass. I can ease the ache.”
“Yes, please, I need you to touch me,” she insisted breathlessly.
Brodie released her wrist and slid one hand up her leg, beneath her skirts, gently questing through the frothy lace of her underpinnings until he discovered her mound. She nearly shrieked with apparent surprise, but he silenced her with a long, hot kiss.
“Easy, lass, let me continue.” He stroked his fingertips down her mound and to the bud of arousal that he wanted to see but couldn’t, given the tight confines of the coach. He would have to content himself with working the pad of his thumb over it, pressing and brushing until Lydia screamed with pleasure against his mouth.
Brodie drank down her cry of startled pleasure, relishing his victory. She was going to be well and truly his soon enough, and she would never be satisfied with any other man again. Then, once she was hopelessly ruined and desperately in love with him, he would cast her off and send her home to her bastard of a father.
Lydia’s struggles ceased, and she settled more deeply into his hold. He removed his hands from beneath her skirts and pulled her even closer to him.
“I . . .” She paused and tried again. “I’ve never felt . . . Was that . . . ?”
“Passion,” he answered. “You’ve truly never felt it before?” That stunned him. The woman had professed her knowledge of passion. Had it all been bravado and lies? Was she truly an innocent? Completely untouched by a man? He supposed he would have his answer soon enough.
“Do men feel the same?” Her wide, guileless gaze should have been familiar. He dimly, drunkenly recalled she’d given him a wide-eyed, guileless look before, but this one seemed truer somehow than what his memory recalled.
“Of course we do. ’Tis what makes tupping so pleasurable.”
“Tupping?”
He couldn’t resist laughing. “Yes, lass, tupping, coupling, making love, fu—”
“Oh please, no more.” She covered his mouth with one of her hands.
He caught her wrist and placed a kiss to her open palm before he drew her hand away from his mouth.
“You really mustn’t say such things, Mr. Kincade.”
“Brodie,” he corrected. “If you’re going to be my mistress, Brodie will do.”
“Yes . . . Your mistress,” she said, looking away from him, her expression suddenly distracted. She then turned back to him and squared her shoulders. “Well, if that is to be my fate, shall we settle upon some rules?”
“Rules?” He cocked his head. “We have no need of rules.”
“I must insist.” Lydia crossed her arms, no doubt an attempt to look in control, but all it did was render the lass more adorable. He kept having to remind himself that he should despise her for what she had done to him.
“Very well, name your rules. I’ll decide if I agree.”
“You must act respectable toward me in public. Do not mistreat me in the presence of others. I know you will not treat me as a wife, but a little respect is all I ask.”
He blinked in surprise. He’d never intended to mistreat her. “I agree to that. What else?”
“If you must continue to hold me against my will, allow me to have food, suitable clothes, and decent accommodations.”
“Ach, so you thought my plans were to leave you naked, starving, and sleeping in the stables? I may not think highly of you, lass, but I certainly never thought of treating you that low.” He couldn’t help his sharp reply, but she was insulting him by assuming he’d subject her to such wretched treatment. His only intent from the beginning was to ruin her reputation, not her life.
Lydia blushed but continued. “And please do not hurt me, if you understand my meaning.”
He was no longer in the mood to tease her. Brodie held her gaze evenly. “I willna force you, lass.” He kept his tone gentle as he addressed the deepest fear she seemed to have about him. “But be warned, I canna help it if you decide you want me. There are only so many times I will be able to resist you.”
“You think I would try to seduce you?”
He chuckled. “I think in time you will be begging me to bed you, lass. You willna be able to help wanting me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You think far too highly of yourself if you assume I would ever beg you for anything.”
“You