Page 44 of The Scoundrel and the Debutante
He smiled in that charmingly lopsided way he had. “You make this impossible, Pru. I’m a weak man.” His eyes moved deliberately over her. It was a dangerous look that he wore, one that was clear in its desire, and it made Prudence’s heart beat quicker. But she didn’t move from where she stood. She brazenly let him look at her, standing still as his gaze lingered on her breasts, clearly visible through the wet cotton of her chemise. She couldn’t believe all that had happened to her in the past twenty-four hours, how astoundingly differentshe felt. Yesterday at this time she’d been dreading the journey to Himple. And now? Now she was looking at a stranger with as much desire as he looked at her. She could feel it beating steadily in her heart, in her limbs, between her legs. She was alive. She was so alive.
Look at him.Roan was magnificent. There was no other word for a man built as powerfully as him. She recalled his mouth on her sex, how he’d held her so carefully and tenderly after he’d catapulted her to such carnal delights, his hand idly caressing her arm. She could see the heat in his eyes, even from a distance. Prudence had seen that look in men’s eyes before, but she’d never really known what it was. And she’d never seen it so deeply rooted as it was in Roan.
She dived under the water, swimming below the surface, letting the water carry her a bit before coming up for air, and glanced back at Roan.
The last time she’d swum like this, she’d been so young and ignorant of the world and the way things went, of all the things that mattered, and would be expected, and would be frowned upon. But nothing like that mattered in this little pond with the lily pads. This adventure had whisked her away from all the trappings of her life.
Roan had moved to the very edge of the water, his gaze so intent it seemed to burn her everywhere it touched her. He wanted her, and she wanted him. Prudence wouldn’t deny it—she wasn’t going backward. She would never be a maiden debutante again.
He lifted one leg and pulled off his boot. Then the other, first removing his gun from it. Prudence watched him as he unbuttoned his trousers and removed every stitch of clothing from his magnificent body. Roan was starkly naked now, his member erect. He was all hard planes and rippling muscles, and he walked unabashedly into the pond, his legs churning the water as he trod toward her. He seemed heedless of the bruises on his body, heedless of the possibility of anyone discovering them. He seemed heedless of anything but her.
Prudence was enthralled. She was breathless and giddy, and desperately wanting all that he would do to her, would show her.
As he reached her, Prudence put her arms around his neck. Roan wrapped her legs around his waist and his arms around her back. They bobbed in the water like that. He supported her weight and kept his gaze on hers, as if he were trying to determine what to do with her. But Prudence could feel his cock against her, a sensation that electrified her.
“Well, Prudence?” he asked as his gaze slid to her mouth, his expression reminding her of a man who had not eaten all day and was seeing a morsel before him. “What have you to say for yourself? Now your adventure has become mine.”
She smiled.
“I wouldn’t smile like that were I you, a virginal debutante with no notion of how it stokes fire in a man,” he said gruffly. “I don’t dip my toes in risky waters. I dive in, even when I can’t see the bottom.”
A delightful little shiver ran up her spine. “Is there any other way to take a risk?”
Roan made a noise that sounded almost like a growl. “Risks have consequences, you little hellion. Are you prepared for the consequences?” he asked, trying to sound stern.
Prudence wished he would touch her like he had last night, his hands on her breasts and between her legs. “Kiss me,” she commanded him.
Roan frowned at her and pushed a strand of wet hair from her neck. “I’m very serious, Prudence. Are you prepared for the consequences of this? Of your adventure? Of thisswim? If you’re not, then by God, I beg you to tell me now, before I lose any control I might muster. Tell me now so I can take myself back to shore and away from the temptation of you. Say it now, this instant. Say, ‘Go away, Roan.’”
What he asked was fair, but Prudence had known her answer before he’d ever removed his boots. “I am prepared for the consequences,” she said. “Quite.” She kissed his mouth.
With a groan, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. “You were supposed to say no. You were supposed to slap me, push me away. I am astonishingly powerless when it comes to you.” He slid his hand roughly over her head. “You intrigue me, Prudence. You’re beautiful, you’re clever. You are everything a man could want. But...” He winced. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“You will see me to Himple,” she said. “And then think of me fondly in the years to come.” It hurt her to say it, but what choice was there?
Roan grimaced as if that were too painful for him, too.
“Neither of us is free,” she said. “But atthismoment, I am in a pond in the middle of nowhere, feeling things I’ve never felt before and may never feel again. I haven’t asked you for any consideration, Roan, and I don’t expect any. You asked me if I was prepared for the consequences, and I said yes.I am not a fool—I understand what that means.”
“Ah, Prudence.” He looked in her eyes, almost as if he was searching for something—a doubt, perhaps? A moment he might convince her otherwise? He would not find it—she was two and twenty. She might die a spinster, but she would not die an innocent one.
He must have understood it, because in the next breath, he was kissing her. He was cupping her jaw, his fingers splayed in her wet hair, and he was kissing her.
And Prudence was kissing him back, her hands on his bare chest, her fingers riding over the hard planes of it, then down to his waist and hips. She felt the same heat in her as she’d felt last night, a desire that flared quickly and burned brightly, licking at her, spreading as if it was fanned by a gale wind. Prudence wanted to touch every inch of him, from the soft lobes of his ears, to the muscles in his back, to the ripples in his abdomen, to his hips.
He pushed her chemise from her shoulders, down to her waist, then moved his mouth to her breasts. The sensation of his teeth and tongue on her was exquisite. She felt scorched and unquenchable as he moved his hands and mouth on her body. How would she ever return to being Prudence? How would she ever live knowing that this sort of desire existed in the world?
She took his earlobe in her mouth, teased it with her tongue. She nuzzled his neck as her fingers drifted across his nipples, arousing them to stiffness. He groaned with satisfaction, a sound that was astoundingly erotic to her ears.
With his hand, he found her sex, stroking her, dipping inside her. His touch and his desire for her pushed her beyond yearning. He was propelling her into an unbearable place of being, where she could expire with pleasure.
Roan suddenly straightened and lifted her up, sliding his hands under her hips and guiding her, so that his cock was pressed against her entrance. She was slick; she could feel her body responding and naturally opening to him. He kissed her as he slipped his fingers into that heat, his thumb stroking the core of her pleasure, making her gasp with delirious pleasure.
“I can’t bear it another moment,” he said through the grit of his teeth, and pressed against her. He kissed her tenderly as he began to work his way inside of her, pushing a little, withdrawing a little, and again. Prudence began to relax. She was slipping into a dreamlike state, amazed at how their bodies fit together, of how pleasurable it was in spite of the tightness, and the prick of pain as he pushed past her maidenhead. She let her head drift back as he pushed deeper, moving carefully at first, taking her deeper into the pool of desire and submerging her in the feel of his body, of this carnal act, of the swirl of emotions riding up in her. His strokes lengthened, and with one arm, he anchored her to him, watching her as he moved, as if it were vital that he see her.
With every stroke he reached deeper and faster. Prudence moaned, helpless as Roan began to stroke her in rhythm to his body moving inside her. Her body began to tighten around him, sweeping her away along its wave. With a whimper of pleasurable defeat, she dropped her head to his shoulder and shuddered with her release.
Her climax was met with his more powerful one—with a strangled sob of ecstasy, he removed himself entirely from her, releasing into the lake as he gathered her up in his arms. He was gasping for air, his hold on her was tight, his kisses to her cheek and her neck soft.
