Page 80 of Noble Scoundrel

No, she didn’t just want it, she craved it beyond reason.

“You need it, too,” he murmured thickly. “I see it in your eyes. In the pulse at the side of your throat. The way you stare at my mouth. Are you imagining where I’ll kiss you first? No doubt the truth will shock you.” His lips tilted. “But I promise you’ll love it.”

She believed him.

Emotions could be managed. Just because she felt certain things didn’t mean she had to express them. Or indulge them. She could have this. A few hours in the dark privacy of her bedroom. Just for pleasure. Just for her.

“This is a terrible idea,” she muttered.

“It’s a bloody brilliant idea,” he argued. “Let me in.”

Chapter Twenty-five

Katherine pushed the door open wide enough to admit his large form as she backed into the shadows of her bedroom. Keeping her eyes on him, she didn’t stop until he closed the door quietly behind him.

And there he was, intensely present in her candlelit bedroom. As though he belonged. As though it were his. As though she were his. His stare devoured her. For a moment, she felt like a lamb facing the jaws of a starving wolf. But instead of frightening her, the raw violence of his desire excited her.

Yes. She needed this. Him. The closeness and strength of him. The surrender and the claiming.

She lifted her fingers to release the tiny buttons at the neck of her nightgown and was surprised to realize her hands were shaking.

His low sound of satisfaction thrilled her and she smiled.

In rough, rushed movements, he shed his coat and waistcoat, tossing them toward the vanity bench without looking to see if they made it. Then he reached behind his head to grasp a fistful of his shirt, pulling it off over his head in one swift action, baring his body from the waist up.

Katherine stilled, once again dumbstruck by the sight of his muscled form.

How could a man be so hard? She allowed her gaze to travel leisurely over his fascinating body. Across his chest, down his rippled abdomen. Every inch of him was an enticement, begging her to run her hands over him. Those lines angling over his hips drew her gaze downward. To the long, thick swell of his erection.

Her heart stopped at the sight. Her belly swirled. As she stared in astonishment, it swelled even more, until the broad tip of it extended past the waistband of his breeches.

A heavy groan brought her gaze flying back up to meet his. “See what you do to me with just the touch of your eyes? To have your hands on me...” He stopped, breathing hard through his nose. “You could destroy me so easily.”

Destroy him?

She didn’t believe it possible. But the words still sent a rush of power through her. She tugged at the neck of her nightgown, which had been loosened enough to draw down past her shoulders, then lower.

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