Within seconds, she stood bare. The heavy air brushed her like heated satin. She’d never presented herself so shamelessly to a man. Although Lord Ashcroft had seen her before, it felt different when she displayed herself like a courtesan.
His eyes fixed unwaveringly upon her. She bore his intense regard for a few seconds before shielding her mound with unsteady hands.
“No,” he said softly, his gaze focusing there. Heat spread over her skin as if he touched her.
After a tremulous hesitation, she obeyed.
“Beautiful.” Ashcroft’s expression was sharp with yearning. He held his hand out.
A night bird called in the garden outside, and the spell shattered. God help her, she ran to Ashcroft as if more existed between them than betrayal. She leaned down toward him as if he held her heart in his keeping.
He surged up and grabbed her. The room became a dizzying whirl as he dragged her under him. She felt the crisp sheets against her naked back, then the hot pressure of his weight.
The sweet familiarity of his body on hers blasted her like honey lightning. New lovers shouldn’t fit perfectly with the merest touch. Her body molded to his in a harmony purer than any music. She arched, rubbing her belly against his pulsing hardness.
He hadn’t boasted about being ready. Such a wonderfully virile man was the Earl of Ashcroft.
He kissed her on the mouth, where his essence lingered. While tongues still dueled and teased, he lifted one of her legs. He hooked it over his arm, opening her wide.
Delicious tension filled her as she waited for his possession. Instead, he kissed an erratic, spine-tingling path downward. She was so lost in the mists of pleasure, he’d reached her navel before she guessed his intentions.
She tensed. “Ashcroft…”
“You promised to let me torture you.”
She had. She just hadn’t considered how he’d interpret that teasing offer. “But…”
He looked up, and his green eyes were so deep, she thought she saw into his soul. “Please, Diana.”
Ashcroft knew Diana didn’t want his mouth between her legs. From the beginning, the idea had frightened her.
Why was he so eager to push her into this intimacy?
Perhaps because if she let him do this, she ceded herself in a way she never had before. Perhaps because if this barrier against him dropped, others would.
Perhaps because he wanted her in every way a man could want a woman.
Although pleading didn’t come easily, he spoke again. “Please, Diana.”
He ached to taste her. When she’d taken him in her mouth, she’d shown him the bright light of heaven. He burned to return the favor. He burned to express his gratitude in the purest way he could.
“I can’t imagine why you want this,” she said in a choked voice.
Her expression was troubled, but her lips were dark red with his kisses and her cheeks flushed with desire. A woman who looked like that shouldn’t shy from relishing the full ration of delight.
“Because you’re beautiful everywhere,” he said softly, placing a kiss on the top of each thigh and feeling her quiver in response. She was so sensitive, he’d take her to paradise if only she’d let him. “Let me prove that.”
“It’s…wicked.”
His laugh emerged as a purr. “That sounds incongruous coming from a woman who just drained me to the lees.”
He watched the sequence of emotions cross her face. Shame, which he loathed to witness. Then more to his liking, recollected pleasure. Then, finally, a stoic acceptance.
“Yes,” she said on a thread of breath.
He placed a kiss on her belly, feeling her trembling. “You sound like a Christian facing the lions.”
A spark of spirit revived. “Can you blame me? You’re going to eat me.”