Page 105 of Noble Scoundrel

For a moment, she feared he was rejecting her.

But then she glanced at her image on top of the stack of drawings—the soft smile of welcome he’d drawn on her lips—and she knew his resistance was about something else.

Settling her weight atop his thighs, she squeezed her knees against his hips. As her gaze roamed over the handsome angles of his face, she released the tie of her robe and allowed it to fall down her arms to pool around her hips and over his legs. Then she slowly slid her hands up the surface of his chest, then his thick neck to cradle his jaw. She could feel the muscles bunch and release beneath her fingers as she leaned forward, pressing her belly then her breasts to his hard body. When her lips were a breath away from his, she whispered, “Look at me, Mason.”

A narrowed gaze met hers. It was filled with glittering fire and intricate need.

With deliberate care and gentleness, she placed her mouth to his. A soft press. Then a caressing brush back and forth. It was tender and light and sweet. As she pulled back, she lightly swept her thumbs over his stubble-roughened cheeks. “If you want me to leave, I will.”

A ragged, growling groan slid from his throat as he finally gripped her waist hard in his hands. “Don’t you dare.”

The power in his hold—the physical command and pure possession in his tone—made her melt in a flood of liquid heat. A moan escaped her lips and her thighs tensed as she resisted the urge to roll her hips. It took a moment to catch her breath, but as soon as she did, she looked fiercely into his eyes. “Do you know why I came to you?”

For a long moment, he just looked into her eyes. Then his hands tightened on her body. He lifted her from his legs to draw her more firmly over his groin as he answered gruffly, “Because you’re brave and beautiful and far more than a man like me deserves.”

Fighting the urge to sigh at the feel of his body hardening beneath her, she slid her fingers into the silky hair at his nape and shook her head. “It’s because I’m stubborn and proud and I couldn’t allow you to believe for even a minute more what you said in the carriage last night might be true.”

His remained shadowed while the corner of his mouth curled with wicked amusement and he rocked her along the ridge of his cock. “So you don’t want me to fuck you?”

Katherine grasped his shoulders at the explosion of sensation through her body. She understood his response for what it was—a deflection from the emotions he didn’t want to acknowledge.

Nearly breathless already, she forced her gaze to his. “I want you to admit it’s more than that,” she murmured thickly. “That what is happening between us goes deeper.”

“Deeper?” he growled as he tilted his head to moisten her neck with his tongue before clamping his mouth hard over the bend of muscle that led to her shoulder. When she elicited a whimper, he released her flesh to soothe it with the hot sweep of his tongue. Releasing her waist, he reached beneath her nightgown. Grasping her bare arse in one hand, he somehow freed his cock from his breeches with the other. Within a few short breaths, his broad tip was poised at her slick, aching entrance. “I’m going to be so deep inside you, luv, you’ll be seeing stars.”

Then he grasped her hips and brought her down along his length in one hot thrust.

Katherine moaned at the stretching, filling, consuming pressure of his thick length fully buried. Though nearly mindless from the pure beauty of having him inside her, she was aware that he held her firmly to his lap, preventing further movement. He was intentionally withholding that greater pleasure.

In protest, she squeezed her inner muscles around him and was pleased to hear him groan against her throat.

“Tell me you don’t need this,” he growled.

Katherine wrapped her arms around his head, holding him to her as she gently rocked her hips, created a subtle deep friction. “I do,” she gasped. “But I want more.”

“There is no more.”

She grasped a fistful of his hair and forced his head back until he met her gaze. The look in his eyes was dangerous. More dangerous than she’d ever seen before. But she wasn’t the least bit daunted.

She was empowered.

“You’re a shameless scoundrel and a brute. But you’re not a liar.” She touched his lips with her fingertips. “What are you afraid of?”

A dark shadow passed over his gaze. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she challenged, sliding her hand around to cup his nape.

His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her thighs. Every muscle in his body tensed. His pulse thrummed and his brow grew heavy.

“Don’t love me, duchess.” His voice was raw. Stripped bare.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said before drawing his mouth to hers.

She thrust her tongue past his teeth, rubbing it along his with sultry promise. With an arch of her low spine, she pressed her breasts to his chest. And she held him. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her thighs cradling his hips, and his cock throbbing deep inside her, she held him.

A moan rolled thick and heavy from his body. His arms doubled around her waist, and in bringing her closer into his embrace, their bodies shifted, allowing a delicious slide of his flesh within hers. Slick, hot, and wonderful.

“You’ll regret this,” he grunted. Grabbing fistfuls of her nightgown, he pulled it roughly up over head before covering her breasts with his heavy palms. “You’ll come to hate me. Everyone does.”

---