Page 45 of Tempting the Earl

Hardening. Lengthening.

He breathed deep through his nose while lavishing her mouth with his tongue. He had to retain control. He couldn’t let this go too far.

What the hell was too far? Hadn’t they already surpassed that point?

No. It was still just a kiss.

But her seeking hands wouldn’t stay still. She was bold and unabashed in her enjoyment of his body. She slid her fingers up and down his spine, curled them over his shoulders, then smoothed them back down to his waist. And then lower, to his buttocks, where she gently squeezed.

He stiffened. Lust roared heavily in his ears and his legs threatened to buckle.

A soft, husky laugh slid past her lips, as though she sensed his distress and found it delightful. Her shameless, joyful indulgence in the pleasures between them crumbled even more of his tenuous self-control.

With a full-throated growl, he wrapped one arm around her hips and braced the other around her shoulders. Fitting his hips firmly into the cradle of her thighs, he bent her back over his arms and ravaged her mouth. With deep thrusts of his tongue and a demanding claiming of lips and breath. With the hard press of his body to hers and the undeniable evidence of his need, hot and heavy between them.

In the back of his mind, a voice cautioned him against such a reckless demonstration—urging him not to unleash the full depth of passion roaring through him.

But then she moaned. Her tongue sparred almost desperately with his and her grip on his buttocks became more insistent, pulling him closer as she linked her legs around his hips.

Too far. Too far.

The new litany repeated in his head. He shoved it back and focused on the sound of her gasps and moans.

Seeking a deeper connection, craving the heat at her core, he wrapped a hand around the back of her thigh and lifted one leg higher over his hip. Her head fell back and he coasted his lips down the side of her neck. He tasted her skin with his tongue and breathed deeply of her scent.

And he ached. He throbbed. He shook with the need raging wildly inside him.

He’d never felt so close to an utter lack of control as he did in that moment.

It terrified him. And all the thoughts he’d been holding at bay suddenly rushed to the fore. In his mind, he saw a sneer of derision twisting her lips. He saw her disdain and her disappointment. She was a guest in his home and, as such, was under his protection. As a gentleman, he should be ashamed and regretful. As his father’s son, he was disturbed to think he might be more like the old man than he’d believed.

He had to stop this. Before it was too late.

Chapter Fifteen

With a groan of dismay that rose from the very depths of her being, Ainsworth acknowledged something had changed. Something drastic.

One moment, the earl was lavishing her with passionate kisses as he wrapped her so securely in his strong arms she felt as though they’d begun to meld into each other.

Then all of a sudden, it stopped.

His lips stopped sliding warmly over her skin. His heavy breath stopped and held. Even his heart seemed to stop thundering against her breast.

With painstaking care, he drew her up to where she could sit without support then immediately stepped back. She could feel his gaze roving intently over her face, as though he were trying to ascertain her well-being.

She was tempted to keep her eyes lowered so he wouldn’t see the distress his withdrawal had caused her, but she decided to be difficult instead. With a toss of her head, she met his gaze. And she knew by his subtle but undeniable flinch that all the passion and desire she felt were reflected in her eyes.

Good. She wanted him to see exactly what he was rejecting.

He was the one to lower his gaze then. But not before she saw the pain of sexual denial flickering in the blue depths.

“Why did you stop?”

He visibly stiffened at her bold question. Or perhaps it was the displeasure in her voice that made him tense.

He took another step back and combed his hands through his gorgeously tousled hair, from his temples to his nape. Ainsworth allowed herself the luxury of admiring the enticing movement of muscles in his torso and his arms as he squeezed at the back of his neck with both hands before finally lowering his arms to his sides.

“As you said earlier, this complicates things.”

---