Page 63 of Tempting the Earl

She slid her hands over the surface of his sculpted chest, soaking up the warmth of his skin through the fine material of his shirt. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him. She wanted to take him inside her—breathe him in. A whimper escaped from her lips and was immediately swept away by his tongue.

Shifting his weight, he grabbed a fistful of her skirts and dragged them up to her hips. Grasping firmly to one bared thigh, he settled more intimately between her parted legs. Plundering her mouth with his, he rocked his hips in a devastating motion. With a gasp and a reckless arch of her neck, she broke from his kiss. But his mouth fell to the side of her throat and she realized there would be no reprieve.

Thank God!

On instinct, she reached down to grab his toned buttocks, holding him to her.

The edge of his teeth scraped across the curve of her shoulder. She shuddered at the pleasure of it and pressed her suddenly aching breasts more firmly to his chest.

Lust and fear and a fiery sort of impatience roared through her. She shifted restlessly beneath him, silently demanding more. More intensity. More passion. More of the wild pleasure sparking through her body.

He responded with a gentle sound as he adjusted his grip on her thigh to lift her leg up and over his hip. The new position allowed his fingers to slide suggestively along the undercurve of her buttock. His fingertips reaching ever closer to her heated core.

Against her will, another whimper slipped free.

He instantly rose above her, kneeling between her parted legs.

Looking up at him—terrified he might leave her—Ainsworth was completely bewitched by everything she saw in his handsome features. The tension in his jaw and the intensity in his furrowed brow. The heat and fire in his gaze and the way his perfectly formed lips were parted to allow the passage of his ragged breath.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

In fact, she’d guess he was as desperate as she was to see this to its deeply anticipated conclusion. A thrill sang through her blood. Nothing in the world was going to stop him from getting what he wanted.

Her.

“Your gown,” he muttered thickly.

Though it took a second longer than it should have to realize what he wanted, as soon as she did, she sat up and reached behind her back to start releasing the tiny buttons. But the task wasn’t going quickly enough. For either of them.

With a harsh grunt, he leaned over her and grasped the edges of her gown to roughly tear it open down her back in a magnificent show of impatience. As she began to shimmy out of the gown, he grasped the material and swept it up over her head. Her light petticoat was quickly removed next, followed by her short stays.

His heated gaze swept over her sprawled form, pausing intently at her silk-stocking-clad legs and barely there chemise. Then, with his eyes looking deep into hers, he bent over her and looped his arm beneath her waist, forcing a deep arch to her spine as he claimed her mouth in a kiss of undeniable possession.

With a sharp tingling burst of certainty, she realized everything he kept so carefully guarded was hers for the taking. Every bit of stiffness and reserve had disappeared and a wonderfully masterful, extremely sensual man had emerged. For her.

She felt compelled to do the same. She wanted to be fully open and bared to him. In all ways.

It took a bit of squirming, but she managed to pull her chemise up over her head without having to dislodge him. And she was greatly awarded for the effort when he issued a heady sound of sexual hunger before lowering his head to take the peak of her exposed breast deep into his mouth.

For just a second, she acknowledged the absolute wantonness of her position, naked but for her stockings and shoes, stretched out on the sofa with her arms tossed over her head as the earl devoured her. Perhaps not surprisingly, rather than shame, she felt a burst of reckless amusement. The giggle slipped free before she could stop it.

His wonderful mouth stilled at her breast and he lifted his head just enough to gaze up at her with a questioning brow.

Unfortunately, the beauty of the unfiltered lust in his eyes prevented her from forming any words of explanation. All she could do was smile like a besotted fool and hope he wouldn’t misinterpret her humor.

His gaze slid over her features and his hand at her waist gave a brief squeeze. Then something dangerous ignited in the depths of his heavy stare. Lowering his head slowly toward her other breast, he extended his tongue to very gently tease her peaked nipple.

She gasped and stared at him from beneath heavy eyelids as he bared his teeth and clamped them firmly over the aching bud. The sensation was unbelievably intense. Delicate but sharp. Breathless and beautiful.

Afraid to move, she could only watch as he tugged with those even teeth, pushing her limit of endurance before releasing her to lavish the sensitive flesh with the warm glide of his tongue.

She sighed, releasing the breath that had been building inside her. But then her very next breath was a swift inhale of surprise as he trailed his tongue down to her navel. Then lower.

Lifting her head, she tensed to see him bent over between her spread legs with one booted foot planted firmly to the floor. He brushed his lips gently across her low belly, making her insides quiver with delicious anticipation. His strong fingers gently massaged her hips, then her upper thighs as he scooted even lower.

Ainsworth had a sudden flashing suspicion of what he intended. She quickly brought one hand to his shoulder. She wasn’t sure if it was to stop him or encourage him. But when he flicked his gaze back up along her flushed body to meet hers, she lost her breath, her thoughts, her very soul to the hunger she saw there. So quiet and so strong. And very serious.

She couldn’t move.

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