Page 66 of The Knight's Pledge
Something cold and firm rubbed up the length of his calf, causing Lucan’s eyes to snap open—it was a foot. There was someone in his room—someone in his bed.
Damned Dana.
His right arm shot around in a blink, instinct taking over even while he was still snared in the dregs of sleep, and his hand clasped around aslender throat.
Slender, and smooth, and definitely no Adam’s apple.
His face was inches away fromthe intruder’s.
“Sorry, sorry,” Effie Annesley slurred. “I think I’m inthe wrong bed.”
* * * *
Effie knew she was drunk. So drunk that she had stumbled into Lucan Montague’s room and crawled into bed with him, thinking it was Winnie who took up the other sideof the ticking.
But it was definitely Lucan—she could smell him in the darkness, feel the warmth of his breath just above her flushed cheeks. It wasn’t Winnie’s hand now loosening around her throat.
“Effie?” Lucan whispered.
“Sorry,” she said again. “I didn’t remember which was ours. I guessed.” He was leaning over her, his hand still lightly on the skin of her neck, the side if his hand resting on her collarbone. She brought her hands up to either side of his ribs. “I want to say that I’m sorry,” she muttered. “Anyway. This afternoon. I didn’t mean to—”
“Shh,” he whispered, and his thumb stroked the side of her throat, just beneath her ear. “I’m sorry, too. We seem to bring out the worst in each other, do we not?”
She nodded, but wondered in her drunkenness if he would understand. “I don’t want that,”she confessed.
She didn’t think she was imagining that his face was nearing hers. She could feel the draw of his well-shaped lips just above hers in the dark. Her hands slid further around his back, and she raised her head, just a scant inch, and there he was.
Lucan’s mouth slanted over hers at once, their kiss deep and deliberate. A jolt slammed through Effie’s body, and she was glad that she’d drank so much, alcohol blunting the power of the physical meeting with Lucan Montague. Immediately, the depths of her body yearned for him. The kiss grew even more firm, hungry; Lucan’s hand wrapped around the back of her neck as Effie forced her right knee up between Lucan and the mattress beneath her, drawing his body into the cradle of her legs and then arched her back to press her pelvis into his hard manhood.
He groaned against her mouth and pulled his face away only an inch.
“Are you naked?”
“Shh.” Her hands slid down to grasp his hips as she arched up again, pulling him tight against her. “I want you, Lucan.”
“But Gorman…”
“I’m not married to Gorman.”
“You’re drunk.”
“So are you.” She ran her right hand down the front of his trousers, cupped him, her expectations of Lucan inside her now driving her to a frenzy. “Let’s just do it. We both want to. Please. Please, please, please.” She punctuated the pleas with kisses.
He groaned again, and his hands went to his waistband, loosening his ties. Effie let her knees open wide now and kissed the crest of his cheekbone, cradling his head. She felt the hot, wide tip of him press, rub up and down her cleft, and then he seated himself at the entrance of her andpushed inside.
Effie cried out, clutching him to her. Lucan shushed her then covered her mouth with his own as he began to ride her. She raised her knees, gripping his ribs with her thighs, digging her nails into his back. The old wooden bed beneath them creaked and squeaked and even the sound of it was sensual, her breath was like a bellows in her nose. Over and over, he rocked her deeper into the mattress. She turned her head away to gasp for life-giving air and another cry escaped her.
Lucan covered her mouth with his hand, driving into her harder now, faster. “Shh,” he warned darkly. “They’ll hear us.They’ll know.”
She peaked then, her entire body seizing, expanding. Lucan kept his hand over her mouth as his thrusts came quicker, and then he too reached his climax, and Effie felt him pulsing. She cried out rhythmically to the throbbing of her womb, the sound still muffled by Lucan’s palm. It seemed that her climax had done little to sate her want of him though, for she was arching against his length again, yelping against his hand.
“What is it?” he whispered against her ear. “Are you afraid it’s over?”
She raised up to kiss him madly and savored the feel of his tongue thrusting deep in her mouth.
He pulled away, Effie sucking his tongue as he went. “I’ve got you in my bed now,” he murmured darkly. “I’m going to keep you here all night.”
And, to Effie’s delight, he did.
