Page 83 of Noble Scoundrel

Two of his fingers were now sliding in and out of her. Stretching and softening, tantalizing her inner flesh, stimulating the sensitive nerves. And then he pressed the heel of his hand to her clitoris, grinding it in circles as he thrust his fingers.

Wanton and wild, she rocked her hips into his hand, feeding the rhythm he’d started. On one deep roll of her pelvis, she felt the hardened ridge of his erection pressing hot against her thigh. On instinct she reached for him, covering his length with her palm in a clumsy stroke.

His body jerked and his breath left his lungs in a heavy puff against her bare shoulder.

She stroked him again. This time, her thumb inadvertently brushed across the exposed tip above his waistband. She was stunned by the scorching heat and satiny smoothness of his skin. Intrigued, she ran the flat of her thumb over his tip once again, discovering the small slit and the bead of silken moisture that rested there.

His head dropped heavily beside hers; his breath was ragged and sharp. Though his fingers continued to delve and stroke her inner flesh, the rest of him had become powerfully still, as though he were afraid to move and dissuade her from her current exploration.

There was no chance of that, however. Katherine was fascinated.

But his breeches wouldn’t allow her to discover much more of him, and she suddenly wanted very badly to feel everything. Finding the fastenings, she fumbled in her attempt to release them. With a sound of frustration, she muttered, “Remove your breeches.”

He laughed softly, roughly. Pushing up to his elbow, he shook his loosened hair back from his face and grinned down at her. “Is that an order, duchess?”

Not the least bit bothered by the nickname, she smiled up at him. “An urgent one.”

“Then I dare not delay.”

He leapt gracefully from the bed to stand beside it. Katherine rolled to her side, cushioning her head on her bent arm as she watched his hands fly over the fastening of his breeches. A moment later he was shoving them down past his taut and narrow hips. Bending forward, he quickly removed his boots and stockings then tugged the breeches free.

When he straightened again, she held her breath, savoring the moment.

Magnificent.

It was the only word that came to mind at the full sight of him. Every inch of him was the embodiment of masculine strength and beauty. Even the arrogant tilt of his mouth and the blaze of sexual fire in his eyes. And especially the long, hard curve of his erection standing proud against his belly.

Katherine realized with sudden shock that that thick and throbbing part of him was supposed to somehow fit inside her. Though the mechanics of it seemed utterly incomprehensible, it didn’t stop her body from reacting to the thought of experiencing that sexual intimacy with him.

“Intimidated now?”

Her attention flew back to his face. Though his lips were twisted into a smirk of arrogance, she thought she saw vulnerability flickering in the heat of his eyes.

But that couldn’t be right.

This was Mason Hale. Undefeated in the ring. A fearsome scoundrel of London’s East End. There was likely nothing in the world strong enough to bring him down.

You could destroy me so easily.

When she didn’t reply, he chuckled throatily and stepped forward. She rolled onto her back as he stretched his great, heavy body atop her. The heat and hair-roughened texture of his skin were stimulating, as were the kiss he pressed to her mouth and the way he slipped one arm beneath her shoulders and the other beneath her hips to hold her against him in a solid, encompassing embrace.

“It’ll work. Trust me.”

She did trust him. Somewhere between their first meeting and this moment, she’d come to trust him implicitly. She looped her arms around his neck and lifted her head to flick her tongue over his lips. “Show me.”

“Demanding wench, aren’t you?”

She slid one of her legs out from underneath him and hooked it over his hip. Tilting her hips, she tried to align herself to his hard heat. “Do you intend to refuse?”

“Hell no,” he denied vehemently. “I’ve wanted to fuck you from the second I saw you pointing that bloody pistol at me.”

His crude words stirred the fierce need clawing inside her. The rawness of him. The blatant hunger in his eyes. The pure, unfiltered evidence of his desire.

There was no need for tender words or unkeepable promises. Right now, in this moment, their insatiable need for each other was enough.

It was everything.

The heat between them. The hollowness inside her. The lustful craving for more of the pleasure he wanted to give her. The desire to pleasure him in return.

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