Chapter Eleven
Desire swamped Penny’s brain, and those kisses Cornelius treated her to had only served to set fire to her blood.
“Come with me,” she said with soft smile as she grabbed one of his hands and led him behind the bookshelves to the farthest one where a wooden ladder was attached to the wooden frame there.
“Why, Lady Penelope, are you about to proposition me?” The teasing that threaded through his voice sent tingles of need down her spine.
“I absolutely am, but then, I suspect you have the same thing on your mind, so how much of a proposition is it, truly?” When he pulled a face, she giggled and put herself back into his waiting arms.
And they did seem quite eager to embrace her.
“This little nook is perfect for our needs, I’ll wager.” Then he kissed her, and she shivered with the delight of it.
“Do you mean to take me here in the bookshop?” she asked between kisses as she plucked at the knot of his cravat.
“Why not? This is as good a spot as any, don’t you think?” Once more, he claimed her lips, and while he moved over her mouth, he removed the pins from her hair. They pinged faintly on the wooden floor as they fell.
“I suppose we can’t very well usurp the Chandlers’ bed…” Then she completely lost her train of thought, for the major drew his lips along the side of her throat while simultaneously caressing his fingers up and down her back. Shivery sensations chased after his touch. “Mmm, this is lovely.”
“And we’ve only just begun, Penelope.” Slowly, he walked her backward until the ladder prevented further perambulation.
When he pressed her against the wooden rungs, she offered no argument, merely continued to return his kisses.
“Are you certain your brother won’t come ’round this evening to drive you home?
” The greatcoat slid off his shoulders to puddle on the floor with a dull flumping sound.
Her eyes fluttered open. When she met his gaze, the need and desire reflected in those darkened brown depths mirrored what was currently flooding her own system. “Yes. He is due on the floor of the Lords early in about an hour. I told him I’d have the Chandlers drive me home on their way out.”
It was surprising and somewhat concerning how easily she’d taken to lying ever since the major had come back into her life, but if it gained her the freedom to fill her time as she pleased, it was thrice worth the possible consequences for dissembling.
“Ah, interesting. I wonder what stance he’s trying to argue tonight. I’ll ask him about it later.”
She nodded. “If he finishes early enough, I’m to have dinner with him and Mama.”
“Ah, well then, we’d best get to it, so our time isn’t frittered away.” Watching her the whole time, Cornelius encouraged her to raise her arms. “Hang on to the ladder, but don’t take your hands off it.”
“Why? What happens if I do?”
“Then I’ll immediately stop pleasuring you,” he replied with a wink, then leaned into her and kissed her again. “I don’t want you distracting yourself by trying to caress me; this session is strictly for you.”
Anticipation circled hungrily through her lower belly. “That sounds exciting.”
“Indeed. Did Weymouth ever do anything like this?”
“No.” She snorted as she wrapped her fingers around the wooden tread above her head. “The marquess’s idea of exciting in the bedroom was getting fully naked instead of wearing his night shirt.”
“Then all the more reason to do this now.” So saying, his hands that rested on the curve of her hips slid upward to cup her breasts, and when she uttered a tiny moan, he grinned, hooked his fingers into her bodice, and with a determined tug, he brought it ever downward until her breasts were exposed and unhidden from the layers of fabric beneath. “Beautiful.”
As the cool, ambient air touched her skin, Penny’s nipples tightened and pebbled. “Do you plan to admire me for the remainder of our time together?” She didn’t wish to seem too desperate, but the heated need that thrummed through her veins was difficult to ignore.
“Yes, but I can do two things at once.” Bending, he took one of her straining tips into the warm cavern of his mouth, and her back arched, putting her more firmly into his care. With his hand, he bedeviled the other breast and nipple.
All too soon, she was inundated by waves of pleasure.
When she forgot his earlier dictate and put a hand to his shoulder, Cornelius pulled slightly away, and then she understood that he’d been serious.
“Rogue,” she whispered as he put her hand back on the ladder, and was immediately rewarded by him rubbing the pad of his thumb over a nipple and flicking his tongue over the other.
“Cornelius…” He ignored her, the rake, and continued to torment and torture her in the most splendid ways until she thought she might break apart merely from his attentions to her breasts.
“God, I have a feeling this coupling will go far too quickly,” he said against her lips, as he encouraged her away from the ladder. “You’ve tempted me beyond my control.”
“But I haven’t done anything to you yet.”
“That matters not. You are merely… you.”
Nothing except honesty reflected in his eyes and echoed in his words. It went straight to her heart, and that organ skipped a beat. “Oh, I—” Her words were interrupted when the major whirled her about and put her front side against the wooden ladder. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you yet another new experience.” When he took handfuls of her skirting and drew it up, the cool air skated over her legs and sent a shiver down her spine. Once he’d bunched the fabric at her waist, he slipped his arm about her. “Widen your legs for me and thrust out your arse.”
Anticipation crashed into apprehension inside her chest. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Follow my prompts and do what comes naturally.” His voice in her ear brought her a modicum of calm, but when he fumbled with his frontfalls and the hard length of him brushed over her arse cheek, she gave into a shiver again.
“Damn, Penelope, would that we had the time so I could have you naked and, in my bed, so I could explore you as I want.”
“There will be other times.” At least, she hoped there would be, for she wasn’t ready to give him up yet.
“God, yes.” He layered his body to hers, and when she assumed he would claim her, he managed to surprise her again by snaking a hand about her hips, caressing the sensitive flesh between her thighs, and when he bedeviled the swelling button at her center out of hiding, a moan escaped her. “That’s it. Give yourself over to it.”
The various degrees of friction he applied to that button nearly had her launching off the bookshop ladder.
When she realized he’d set a rhythm, she moved her hips in time to the movement of his hand and fingers, but since she’d already been on edge and excited from the scandal they’d already gotten up to in the past couple of days, it took no time at all for that vortex of bliss to swirl around her.
“Oh, oh…” As her body strained, Penny put a hand over his, directing him to exactly where she needed him to be.
The magic of his touch, the complete trust in him that she had, all worked together to drown her beneath the sensations that bounced wildly through her.
“I’m going to… Ah!” Seconds later, she shattered and was hurtled into the void while pleasure came at her from all sides.
“I’ll wager Weymouth never told you how damned beautiful you are when you hit release,” he whispered as he once more leaned over her, and this time he fit the tip of his member to her opening. “If he had, perhaps there would have been more connection in that union.”
Before she could respond, he gripped her hips and then swiftly penetrated her passage, and didn’t stop until he was fully seated.
Their moans blended together.
Penny shivered, for this coupling was so impossibly glorious. Was there any more wonderful feeling than the moment when one’s body was completely filled by one’s lover? And Cornelius’s hard, thick length was quite lovely indeed. When he began to move, her world nearly tipped over once more.
“I won’t last long,” the major warned, as he renewed his grip on her hips. He dug his fingers into her skin so tightly that she feared—welcomed—what might be bruising, for then she’d carry his mark. “You feel so good.”
There was no more need for words, for his actions spoke volumes.
Over and over and over he stroked into her body like a man possessed.
Each time he thrust, she pushed backward to meet him, and the new angle of penetration immediately sent her closer to the edge far more quickly than the last time they’d come together.
It was all she could do to grip one of the wooden treads on the ladder to keep herself upright as Cornelius continued to work her over. The scrape of her nipples against the wooden tread of the ladder added additional stimulation, and all too soon, she lost her hold on reality.
“I… I… Oh!” Release caught her up in its tide before she was ready, only this time, the sensation of flying was magnified, somehow, and far more intense than she’d ever known before.
“Dear heavens!” Throbs of pleasure went through her, sweeping from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, and for a few seconds, she was utterly lost to that madness.
Cornelius thrust once more, twice, and then let out a muffled shout as he followed her into that exquisite place where thoughts and sounds didn’t exist. The sensation of his shaft pulsing within her brought her back from the fringes.
Moments later, he collapsed against her back and wrapped his arms around her.
“Damn, Penelope. You wear me out,” he said with a bit of breathlessness. “I have never been as consumed by a woman as I am with you.”