Page 58 of The Highwayman's Bite

Time seemed to vanish as they kissed and stroked each other, hands and bodies surging to become closer. Desire flared from her belly down, converging between her thighs in a fiery pulse. Rhys pulled her into his lap, and she gasped at the feel of his hardness pressing against her throbbing core.

His lips trailed down her jaw and across her neck. Frissons of pleasure resonated from her flesh. The sensations he wrought were most divine.

No wonder ladies were supposed to remain chaperoned whenever they were alone with a man, Vivian thought dizzily as her fingers plunged into Rhys’s silken hair. She’d been told that men possessed an animalistic nature and could not be trusted not to act upon their base instincts if granted the opportunity, but she’d never imagined that women also succumbed to the same primal needs.

If she didn’t feel Rhys’s bare skin against hers soon, she felt she’d go mad.

Suddenly, he drew back with a ragged gasp. His fangs glistened in the firelight. “It’s been too long since I’ve last fed. I’m afraid that if we continue, I may not be able to refrain from...”

“It’s all right.” She recalled the tantalizing pleasure of his bite. “I want you to drink from me tonight. You’ve provided me nourishment these past several nights. Why not let me do the same?”

That hungry growl rumbled in his throat once more and he licked his fangs. “Why must you tempt me so?”

She threaded her arms around his waist and pulled him close. “Because I wish to please you, as you’ve pleased me.”

His fangs grazed her throat, making her shiver. “Not yet. Not until I’ve pleased you. This is your first time, and I want to make it... beautiful for you. Then...” He sucked in a shuddering breath. “Then I will taste you.”

Vivian’s heart pounded beneath her ribs. He was going to do it after all. He was going to make love to her. Sudden nervousness imbued her. Not about the act and the potential pain she’d heard about, but that she would be disappointing to him.

Her face heated again. “Do you wish me to disrobe?”

Rhys laughed, a low and sensuous sound. “I would very much appreciate the pleasure of undressing you. But all in good time.” He grasped her hands and rose to his feet, pulling her with him. “Come here.”

He led her towards his cot and paused to place another log on the fire. Once she was seated, he knelt on the floor and slid his hands up her skirts, caressing her calves and shins. Vivian gasped at the new sensation, never guessing that her legs, even though the thin fabric of stockings, would be so sensitive.

Rhys favored her with a wicked grin as he shifted her skirts up higher. “Would you like me to continue?”

“Please.” The word came out in a gasp.

That sinful smile broadened as his fingers danced above the tops of her stockings, stroking her thighs in whispering touches that made her tremble. As his fingertips neared the juncture between her thighs, her center began to tingle with anticipation. Yet he did not touch her there, and Vivian had to bite her lip to hold back a whimper of disappointment when he instead ceased his teasing caresses and sank back on his heels.

“Christ, you have the finest pair of legs I’ve ever touched,” Rhys said.

Vivian warred between triumph that for once she’d been declared the best, and envy at the other women who’d been in his bed. All her thoughts swept away like the tide when he sat next to her on the cot and pulled her into his arms once more.

“I want to hold you again,” he whispered against her ear and sank them down on the thin pallet together.

The bed was narrow, so they had to stay pressed close together. Vivian did not mind. It seemed she could not get enough of this achingly close contact with him. His hands moved up from her back to her hair, and he began to loosen her braid. Her scalp tingled with pleasure that she’d never felt when her companion had performed this simple task.

“I want to see your magnificent hair spread across my pillow,” Rhys whispered.

Joyous disbelief filled her at his words. All the times her father and other men had praised the appeal of blondes had always stung. But Rhys called her brown hair magnificent. Yet another reason why she wanted him to be the one to take her maidenhood.

Though as she studied the sculpted planes of his cheekbones, his rakish long hair, copper eyes, and sensuous lips, Vivian couldn’t deny that the fact that he was devastatingly handsome also played a factor in her decision. Recalling her stolen glimpses of his bare chest, Vivian longed to feel his solid flesh beneath her fingers. She reached for the buttons of his shirt and unfastened the top one. When he did not object, she moved to the next.

When she’d undone all the buttons, Rhys shifted and shrugged out of his shirt, at last treating her with the view she anticipated.

“May I touch you?” she asked softly.

His knuckles brushed her cheek. “Only if I may return the favor.”

“Oh, yes,” she breathed, then splayed her hands against his bare chest, noticing how his nipples hardened immediately. When her thumb brushed across the dark nub, he sucked in a breath. “Does that feel agreeable?”

He nodded, and she continued exploring his sculpted form, feeling his heart pounding beneath her palm. Just like hers was beating fast. She delved down to his flat stomach, enjoying the feel of his heated flesh. But when she moved lower, to the fastenings on his trousers, he stopped her.

“Not yet.” He moved her hand aside. “Now I think it is time to help you out of your gown.”

This dress, one of the garments Rhys had stolen, opened in the front. Something she’d been grateful for this afternoon when she’d been able to put it on herself without asking for help. Now, as his fingers worked each button free, revealing her bodice inch by inch, Vivian trembled with anticipation.

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