Page 90 of Heiress Gone Wild

Her nipples were hard and round as pebbles, and he toyed with them, rolling them in his fingers. She gasped, her arms tightening around his neck, and when her hips stirred against his own, he groaned low in his throat.

Jonathan pulled back, but he could gain no reprieve. Her arms slid down and her fingers began pulling apart the edges of his smoking jacket.

He groaned again, knowing what she wanted, uncertain he could endure giving it to her. He grasped her wrists. “I’m supposed to be in charge, remember?”

“But I want to see,” she whispered, blushing as she kissed him.

He relented, releasing her wrists and letting her slide the garment from his shoulders. When she touched him, fanning her palms across his bare chest, he inhaled sharply, tilting back his head, enduring the sweet agony as her hands glided over his shoulders and chest, but as they lowered to his abdomen, he couldn’t take any more.

He once again grasped her wrists. “If you keep teasing me this way,” he said as he pulled her hands down, “this is going to be over far too soon.”

She slanted him a wicked look, that necklace sparkling at her throat. “Would that be so bad?”

“Yes, it would. I told you, I’m in charge. And it’s my turn for a peek.” He gathered the folds of her nightgown in his fists. “Lift your arms.”

She complied, and as she stretched her arms toward the ceiling, he pulled the gown upward and over her head, baring her body completely.

He didn’t touch her, but just the sight of her was enough to threaten what little control he had left, for the reality of her was even more exquisite than any of the images conjured by his fevered imagination. If raw sexual heat could kill a man, he’d have burned to ashes on the spot.

She was blushing all over, her skin a soft, delicate pink. Her face was turned away, loosened tendrils of her gorgeous hair falling across her cheek. Gently, he pushed back the loosened strands, tucking them behind her ear, then he ducked his head, pressing kisses to her hot cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her lips.

“Now that I know you love me,” he murmured as he tossed her nightgown aside and cupped her breasts again, “there’s something else I’ve got to know.”

“What’s that?” she asked, a soft gasp as he caressed her.

“Will you marry me?”

She nuzzled his neck, pressing a kiss to the base of his throat. “You said earlier I had plenty of time to decide about that.”

“That was before you came to my room in the dark of night, hurled yourself at me in this shameless fashion, and admitted you’re in love with me. I think I’m entitled to a definite answer on the subject of matrimony, because if you think I’m going to let any other man near you after tonight, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Trying to play the heavy-handed guardian again, I see.”

At those words, he felt a twinge of alarm, suspecting that she was equivocating, but when he pulled back, he saw that she was smiling—that mysterious, knowing smile—and he laughed low in his throat.

“Oh, so you want to tease, do you?” he murmured. “Two can play this game.”

He captured her mouth, kissing her deep and slow as he slid his hands down her breasts, over her stomach, and around her hips. “Marry me,” he said against her mouth as he shaped her buttocks in his hands.

She stirred and brought her hands to the waistband of his trousers as if to unfasten them. But he knew he couldn’t let her. He was rock hard, and if she started making explorations of that sort, he’d never be able to hold out, and he wasn’t about to spoil her first time by going too fast. Besides, his other objective was just as important.

Hands on her hips, he gently pushed her backward, maneuvering her toward the foot of the bed, then he eased one hand between her thighs. “Still can’t decide?”

“Jonathan,” she moaned, her arms coming up around his neck, her hips stirring against his hand, her legs tightening instinctively, but he did not relent.

“I can see I shall have to be more persuasive,” he murmured and turned his hand, cupping her mound. She made a shocked sound, her knees buckling, her arms tightening around his neck. He caressed her, relishing the silken wetness of her core, but then he pulled back again. If she wanted to tease, so could he.

He grasped her wrists, then he pulled her hands down to her sides. “Hold on,” he ordered, and wrapped her fingers around the brass of the footboard behind her.

He kissed her again, sliding his hand back between her thighs. She eased back against the footboard with another soft moan as he continued to caress her, and the sight of her this way, with her head tilted back and her lips parted with desire and her body fully bared to him for lovemaking, she was more beautiful than anything he could have imagined. Her breasts rose and fell with her rapid breathing, round and full, their nipples a rich brownish-pink in the lamplight.

He bent his head to suckle her breast as he caressed the silken folds of her sex, relishing how slick and wet she was. Her breathing was coming in pants, her hips working against his hand.

“You are naked in my arms,” he said. “I think you should do the honorable thing and marry me.”

She didn’t answer, and he decided it was time for more ruthless tactics. He pulled his hand from between her thighs and sank to his knees, kissing his way down her stomach as he wrapped his arm around her hips and pulled her close.

“Jonathan,” she whispered. “Oh, oh.”

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