Page 49 of A Rogue to Ruin
“Yes, I know that. But hoping and knowing are not the same thing. I’ve told you repeatedly that I am not someone you should want. I am not a gentleman.”
“You are an earl, as it happens.”
“I wasn’t raised one, and the sooner you realize that and accept I willneverbe the man you want, the better.”
She stood on her toes and put her hands on his shoulders. “But youarethe man I want. Right now. Why do we have to think of anything but this afternoon? We agreed we would spend this afternoon together, to regain the one we’d lost.”
His brows arched. “You thought we were going to have sex that afternoon?”
“No, and I was not sure we would today. As I said, Ihoped.” She exhaled. “Will you at least kiss me once more before we go?”
He stared at her, then glanced toward the bed. When he looked back at her, the orange in his right eye seemed brighter than ever. “Why do you wantme?”
“Because you’re kind, considerate, dashing, generous, and completely unlike anyone I’ve ever known. You treat me like an ordinary woman, not someone who suits your needs or your plans or a prize to be bartered or won.” She shook her head. “No, not an ordinary woman, but someone who is special to you. Someone you like and enjoy being with. Am I wrong?”
He breathed an epithet. “No.” He dipped his head and claimed her mouth, his lips molding possessively over hers. His arms came around her, pulling her flush against him. The thrill of his kiss and his body pressed to hers crashed through her, quickening her pulse and heating her blood.
She clasped his nape, her fingers digging into his thick hair. His tongue swept into her mouth, and she welcomed him, her body screaming for this and more.
His hands slipped down to her backside, and he lifted her, one hand moving to her right thigh and curling her leg around his waist. She did the same with the other, and he moved, carrying her—toward the bed, if she remembered the room correctly.
What was he doing? He said he didn’t want her. No, he hadn’t saidthat.
He set her on the bed but didn’t move away. His pelvis was still pressed into hers. She could feel the ridge of his sex against hers. Breaking the kiss, he lifted his head as he pushed her coat from her shoulders and set it on the end of the bed.
“I can’t give you anything beyond today, and you won’t ask me to.” He removed his coat and laid it at the head of the bed. “Understood?”
She nodded, her mind and body careening with disbelief and want.
He plucked at the buttons of her waistcoat, opening the garment, and he pulled the cravat from her neck, tossing it aside. Slipping his hand inside her shirt, he slowly traced his fingertips along her collarbone. The movement opened the shirt wider down the front. The V was quite deep, so much so that she’d pinned it closed over her breast. She reached between them and, removing the pin from the fabric, managed to stick it into the coat sitting to her right.
His hand moved down, further separating the lawn of her shirt, opening the V. “You bound your breasts?” His fingers settled lightly against the fabric she’d used to flatten her chest.
“You indicated they might be a problem.”
A quick smile flashed across his mouth—so quickly, she might have thought she imagined it, except her body reacted, her insides turning to liquid and her sex fluttering. He lowered his head but didn’t kiss her mouth. Instead, his lips moved along her jaw as he pushed the waistcoat off her and tugged the shirt from her pantaloons.
He kissed down her throat, his lips and tongue creating a delicious havoc that made her breathless. But it was the insistent press of him between her legs that made her gasp with want. A desperate need unfurled inside her. Something was just beyond her reach, and she wanted it more than anything.
Then he was gone—not gone, but no longer kissing her. He swept the shirt up over her head. Anne felt a rush of cool air, but she didn’t care. She was plenty warm and heating further by the moment.
“How does this come off?” His question was low and full of gravel as his hands skimmed over the fabric crushing her breasts.
She’d tucked the tie underneath the bottom of the fabric and now pulled it free. “Here.” She unplucked the knot, and the binding loosened. Working as quickly as her quivering fingers would allow, she unwound the fabric from her torso.
His breath caught when the binding fell from her grasp, exposing her to him completely. For a long moment, he was silent and still. She wondered if he would retreat now, but he cupped her face and kissed her, devouring her mouth in complete and delicious domination. His hand glided down her throat to her chest, his fingers skimming over the slope of her breast. He cupped her, drawing a low moan from her throat. When his fingers closed over her nipple, he triggered an answering pulse in her sex. She pushed against him, seeking that wonderful friction, and he responded, thrusting against her. She cried out into his mouth, still wanting something more.
He pushed her back on the bed, which created distance between them. She whimpered, for she could no longer feel him, hard and wicked, between her legs. Distraction came in the form of his lips trailing down from her mouth to the hollow at the base of her throat to the crest of her breast as he held her.
She thrust her fingers into his hair and clutched his shoulder—an anchor to the sensations that threatened to sweep her away. He kissed her gently, lips and tongue creating a mass of blinding pleasure until he latched onto her nipple and darkness descended completely. She clasped his head hard, holding him to her, vaguely aware that he was also working the buttons of her pantaloons.
A moment later, as he moved his mouth to her other breast, his hand slipped against her sex. He pressed his fingers at the top, and her entire body jolted. She arched off the bed, her hips rising.
His lips were suddenly against her ear as his fingers teased her flesh. “Do you know what’s going to happen?” he whispered.
“Not entirely.” Her voice sounded completely separate from herself. She didn’t recognize it or the wanton she’d become, her hips moving wildly, her hands clutching at him, her body quivering with lust.
“When I touch you here—your clitoris—it feels good, yes?” At her nod, he continued, his voice dark and seductive as he moved his finger over her with deft, increasingly faster strokes. “Good. I’m going to put my finger inside you. It’s not my cock, but it’s the best I can do for you. And I promise, it will be enough.” He licked the outer shell of her ear. “I’m going to fuck you with it, and you’re going to come. You’re going to let yourself go and feel. Do you understand?”
