Page 45 of For a Lady's Irresistible Gaze

He shook his head, while his hand snaked up her leg, taking her dress higher, “No, I want tokissyou; a kiss that burns in my dreams. I want to be the Nathaniel to your Madeline.”

The inference sank into her soul like fire to oil, setting off a heat under her skin that she could barely control. Esther did not resist as he laid her on the couch, her back on the gentle slope of the arm. His rough hands slid her dress up and up, past her knees, over her thighs, while kissing her tender skin.

Esther’s eyes clenched tight, and her breath was trapped in her chest, feeling his lips pressed on her inner thighs, before his fingers slid over her wetness, “You’re dripping for me, sweet,” he murmured.

She struggled to get a breath in her lungs, but it was quickly lost when his tongue swept over her. The tip of his tongue circled and sucked on her pearl while Esther bucked against his mouth. She clenched her teeth hard to stop the desperate cries bubbling in her throat.

Esther’s fingers clawed at the couch beneath her while pleasure possessed her body. Arthur worked a finger into her tight sheath while suckling at her at the same time. Her slick muscles clutched at his finger and clamped down when he worked a second finger into her.

Lost in the raw pleasure, Esther slid her fingers into his hair while cupping her throbbing breast. He licked her, and she arched under his touch, then he shifted direction.

He was over her, tugging her bodice down, and latched his hot mouth on her stiff nipple, while his finger kept thrusting into her. He laved her breast, taking the heavy globe into his mouth as far as he could get.

When he pulled away to kiss her neck, his words drove her harder to completion than his kisses, “I want to be inside you, I want to feel you around me, clenching, enveloping me, taking me to a land of bliss…”

Esther gasped and clenched hard on his fingers as she edged closer to shattering. Thinking of him inside her, thinking of his body warm and hard resting on hers, thinking of the smooth rub of his skin on hers, made her dizzy.

The boom of a fire rocket had her eyes flung open; red burst across the sky just as lust was fiery under her skin. Another crack and yellow mingled with red, as her body began to lock up, and the sweet cataclysm nearly took her over.

“Come for me, love,” Arthur ordered, “Shatter over me.”

Her lips parted, as his mouth latched up her pulse, and his finger brushed over a place that made her mind go white. Her mouth was opened in a wordless scream as her body clenched down on Arthur. She heard him hiss out a curse, and utter, undefinable bliss washed through her body.

Clinging tightly to him, Esther shuddered through the sweet after-effects of her orgasmic rapture and, when she dared open her eyes, white fire lingered in the sky. She turned her gaze to Arthur and saw raw possessiveness in his gaze.

“Arthur…?”

***

My name is not Arthur.

Felton felt ripped in two; he wanted to tell her the truth, tell her his real name, tell her why he had asked the Duke for a dance with her that night. He was ready to beg for forgiveness if she needed him to, he was prepared to bare his soul to her and tell her all, but when he opened his mouth—nothing came out.

Esther was a vision under him, her hair dishevelled, her eyes wide, wet, and brimming with love. He pulled his hand away from her and rested it beside her.

Again, he made to explain himself, to tell her the truth, but instead of saying,my name is not Arthur Morgan, it is Felton Gale,he said, “Marry me, Esther? Will you marry me?”

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