‘Kiss me, Princess,’ he demanded.
Her mouth opened on a sob of longing and welcomed him in.
Leo threaded his fingers into the silky locks at the Queen’s nape and claimed her mouth. At last.
Her lips softened, her throaty moan a siren call to his already overwrought senses. He captured the sultry taste of wine and desire, as the kick of need throbbed in his groin.
The woman had bewitched him, all evening, and the only way to break the enchantment was to give them both what they needed.
Her fingertips settled on his waist, making the muscles of his abdomen tense and the burgeoning erection throb as the kiss became carnal in a heartbeat.
He grasped her hips to draw her closer. The satin glided under his hands like a whisper, but the feel of the firm, toned body beneath, the lush curves shivering under his touch, sent the twist of need into his gut.
His tongue tangled with hers, exploiting, demanding, so hungry for the taste of her he doubted he would ever be sated. He found her nipple with his thumb, rigid beneath the thin satin of her dress; she gasped but arched towards him in an instinctive cry for more.
He drew the bodice down, ducked his head to warm the taut pebble with his lips, her scent surrounding him now. He drew her breast into his mouth, felt her buck in his arms, as her nipple engorged. The frantic need echoed in his groin. Holding her in place, he found the apex of her thighs through the gown, pressed the heel of his hand where he knew she would need it the most. He heard the tortured sob. The sudden desire to pull up her gown and find the slick nub with his fingers was so sharp and shocking, he tore his mouth away from her breast. Lifted his hand to her hips.
This was more than temptation.
Too much more.
They were on a balcony, in the snow, damn it.
He dragged a staggered breath into his lungs. Her eyes were fixed on his, glazed with arousal, but also shadowed with shock as he drew the bodice of her gown back up to hide the reddened nipple.
What the hell had just happened?
He’d planned to seduce her, to charm her into agreeing to the marriage—or at least to debating it—but this sudden, visceral connection, this stark hunger didn’t seem charming or expedient.
This wasn’t a seduction. It was something more. Something he did not recognise. Something he wasn’t even sure he could control.
She shuddered and stepped back, out of his arms, the dazed look replaced by wariness.
‘That was a mistake...’ she said.
Gripping the coat, his coat, she wrapped it tighter around her body, the body he was suddenly far too eager to explore.
‘Why?’ he demanded, even though a part of him agreed with her.
The taste of her had been too real, too addictive.
The benefits of a political and financial union had been the last thing on his mind as he’d fed on her surrender.
The truth was, he was finding it hard even now not to drag her back into his arms and finish what they had started. Her flushed face, and the reddened skin on her chin from his kiss, the memory of her hard nipple engorging in a rush made the throbbing in his pants painful. But why be coy?
He wanted her and she wanted him. That didn’t have to be a bad thing. In truth it could be a very good thing.
Her gaze darted away as she sank her teeth into her bottom lip.
The pounding in his pants intensified.
Not good.
He grasped her chin. ‘Answer me, Jade,’ he said. ‘Surely discovering there is some chemistry between us—’ And wasn’t that the understatement of the century? ‘—will make a marriage between us even more beneficial.’
And hot and wild and...
Focus, Leo.