Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Well, fook.
Panting, Kenneth pressed his forehead into the brick of the backside of the townhouse, his fingers trembling from the strain of holding his body thirty feet off the ground.
Why the shite couldn’t the Fokettes have planted some sturdy English ivy, or perhaps an ornately trellised climbing rose back here?
Because the mews are dark, ye twit. Nae light to grow convenient hand-holdy sort of plants.
Right.
Blowing out a breath, he lifted himself up another foot, his stockinged toe searching for a hold. It had been a long time since he’d done anything this foolish, and that at least had been for a midnight infiltration.
If ye have yer way, this will be a different sort of midnight infiltration, eh?
Oh, Christ.
The last thing he needed, pressed against the brick like this, was a cockstand. If he grew erect, he’d end up tipping backwards.
To fight the urge, and ignore what was waiting for him at the top of this climb, Kenneth focused on the irregularities in the brick inches from his nose, telling himself he was being logical by looking for handholds.
It more or less worked. With a final grunt, he reached Barbara’s windowsill without having more than a few passing thoughts about what she’d look like in her nightgown, all rosy and delicious, spread across her bed, curls cascading—
Fooking focus, ye dobber!
Right.
Dangling one-handed from a windowsill was still not the proper place for a cockstand.
With another grunt of effort, Kenneth got his elbow and forearm on the sill, his shoulders already aching. Damnation, he was out of practice! His toes anchored him while the other palm splayed across the glass, hoping Barbara had done as he’d asked earlier.
If no’, yer life just got a lot more difficult. And if ye slip and fall backwards, a lot shorter. Ye’ll have the rest of yer life to curse yer stupidity…but luckily it willnae be verra long.
Just what he needed: a pep talk.
To his surprise, as Kenneth began to lift the window from the outside, the glass suddenly swung open without any effort. It wasn’t until smaller hands latched onto his arm that he realized what had happened.
“I cannot believe you climbed up an empty wall,” Barbara scolded in a whisper as she tugged him. “Of all the idiotic, impressive, dangerous things…”
Together the two of them managed to lift Kenneth over the sill, and when he tumbled face-first through the window, she backed up to allow him space to roll forward across the floor. He ended up splayed on his back, breathing heavily, relieved to feel solid ground beneath him.
When he tipped his head back, it was to see her looming—upside down, from his point of view—in a silk dressing gown that clung to her curves in all the right ways. She carried a lit candlestick and aye, her golden curls spilled across her shoulders.
This. This view right here? Made the last fifteen minutes worth it.
Kenneth struggled to control his breathing. “Dangerous but magnificent, aye? Virile and manly and flattering?”
Her lips curled softly. “Yes, all of those things. Dare I ask why you are here?”
For exactly the reason ye think, love. He’d been wagering she was as ready as he was to fully taste her, and she’d left her window unlocked as he’d urged.
She wanted him here.
Keeping that thought in the forefront of his mind, Kenneth rolled upright, and then to his feet.
“You are not wearing shoes!”
He glanced down at his feet, then back to her. “And ye are no’ wearing a gown. I had to take my shoes off to climb. What’s yer excuse?”
A blush was darkening her cheeks as she turned away to place the candlestick on her dressing table. “I was rather hoping a mysterious lothario would scale my bedroom tower and break in through my window and make me scream with pleasure as he indoctrinated me thoroughly into the cult of Aphrodite.”
Kenneth’s mind went blank.
Likely because all the blood in his body had just rushed to his cock.
He stood there like a dobber in the middle of her room, mouth open, trying to process the wicked scenario she’d just described so matter-of-factly.
When she turned back to him, Barbara blinked innocently. “Oh, I know an Egyptian god metaphor would have been more apt, considering the identity of the ravishee, but I thought someone like you would be more familiar with Aphrodite.”
Kenneth just about managed a croaked, “Someone like me?”
With what could only be described as a wicked grin, Barbara sauntered toward him. A few steps away, she halted and began to untie the belt of her dressing gown. “A wicked reprobate. A rake. Someone well-versed in the art of pleasing a woman.”
The robe fell open, revealing a garment that could not be her usual nightgown. For one thing, it was too sheer. For another, it didn’t cover nearly enough of her.
It was, of course, pink.
“Do you like it?” Barbara glanced down at herself with fierce concern. “Margaret let me borrow it. She says she has a few which drive Tosh absolutely mad with desire.”
“Mad,” Kenneth rasped, his cock throbbing against his smalls and his mouth watering. He curled his hands into fists at his side to keep from reaching for her.
This—this was not—wasn’t he supposed to be seducing her?
“You see…” Barbara’s smile turned almost shy as she slid her palms up her sides. “I have a goal.”
Hungrily, Kenneth watched those smooth hands touching herself, cupping her tits. He thought he might have made a desperate sort of sound as he swayed toward her.
“Are you not going to ask me my goal, Kenneth?”
His gaze snapped back up to meet hers. “What is yer goal, love?” he managed.
“I want you to teach me about pleasure. You have had me teetering on the edge for the last weeks, and an incomplete lesson is very poor form indeed. I want you, Kenneth.” With one shrug, the dressing gown fell from her shoulders, leaving so much fooking skin exposed to the night air and his sight.
“I want you to show me everything I have been missing.”
Oh, fooking hell.
Kenneth forced himself to take a deep breath, to focus on her eyes, instead of the delicious way her tits pressed against the silk. Nipples. He could see nipples through the sheer pink material.
Thank ye, Jesus Christ and all the saints!
But there was a reason he’d intended to find her tonight, and it wasn’t completely debauchery.
“Barb,” he managed to croak. “I—the mission. Update from my superiors. Truth.”
The truth. About how this all started.
Her smile was as wicked as his had ever been as she stepped up to him. When she lifted her arms to place them around his neck, her breasts brushed his chest, and Kenneth swore his cock was already primed to spill.
“Not tonight, Kenneth,” she whispered. “Tonight is not about your case or our mission. Tonight is about us.”
She pulled his head down and Kenneth quit fighting what they both desperately wanted.
With a groan of surrender, he lowered his mouth to hers, determined to show her exactly how incredible she was.
Barbara’s breath caught as Kenneth’s mouth claimed hers, and she realized instantly that this kiss was different from all the ones they’d shared before.
In the library, at Nutt’s, in the carriages—she’d thought those kisses had been magnificent, but now realized they had been restrained, cautious, mindful of discovery or propriety.
This kiss held no such restraint.
His lips moved over hers with hungry purpose, his tongue sweeping into her mouth to tangle with hers.
The sensation sent heat cascading through her body, pooling low in her belly, making her core throb with an almost painful need.
She met him eagerly, her tongue dancing with his, learning the evening taste of him—brandy and something darker, something uniquely Kenneth.
His hands, which had been hovering uncertainly at her waist, suddenly came alive.
They roamed freely over her body, no longer constrained by the fear of being rebuffed or the demands of decorum.
One palm slid up her spine, fingers splaying wide as if to feel as much of her as possible, while the other curved around her hip, gripping her through the thin silk of Margaret’s borrowed negligee.
Barbara gasped into his mouth as his hand cupped her breast, his thumb finding her nipple through the sheer fabric and circling it slowly with maddening precision.
The silk was so thin she could feel the heat of his palm, the slight roughness of his skin, and the sensation made her knees weak.
Her nipple hardened into a tight peak beneath his touch and pleasure sparked from that point straight down to her core.
His other hand moved lower, over the curve of her arse, pulling her flush against him.
She could feel the hard length of his cock pressing against her belly through his breeches, and the knowledge she had aroused him this much made her feel powerful and desirable in a way she’d never experienced before.
“I want to touch you too,” she whispered hoarsely against his mouth, her voice thick with need.
Kenneth pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, his pupils blown wide with desire, his eyes almost black in the candlelight. “Aye?”
Rather than answer with words, Barbara reached for his jacket, pushing it off his shoulders. He helped her, shrugging out of it and tossing it carelessly aside. Her fingers trembled with excitement as she reached for his cravat next, fumbling with the knot in her eagerness.
“Easy, love,” he murmured, his promise rolling over her like honey. “We’ve got all night.”
But Barbara didn’t want to go slow. She’d waited weeks for this, dreamed of it, imagined it in exquisite detail while lying alone in this very bed.
Now the moment was here, she wanted everything.
With her bedchamber and library set away from the rest of the family rooms, she wasn’t particularly worried about being overheard or interrupted, and planned to spend the entire night learning Kenneth.