Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
A lthough Ezra could not place what shifted in the short amount of time that he was holding Evangeline, suddenly he wanted to keep holding her. To forget about the ball that celebrated just a few walls from where they stood. To stay here, holding his betrothed, drinking in her beauty and warmth.
A surge of protectiveness came over him, and he swore that nothing would come to harm her, or the family she loved so very dearly. No nameless and faceless—at present—nemesis would ever lay one finger on her person.
"Have I told you this evening how very beautiful you are? You should not wear a masque to hide such features. They ought to be adored, even if from afar."
A light blush stole over her cheeks and she stared up at him with such longing that heat knotted in his stomach. He pulled her closer still and could not deny himself a taste of her before they returned to the ball.
He dipped his head and kissed her again. Yesterday’s embrace in the carriage was far too short, and not nearly long enough. In fact, married or not, Ezra had to admit that he’d thought long into the night over their interlude and knew that it was only a matter of time before he kissed her again.
No matter the lies he told himself—and her—his willpower was not so strong that he could keep from her forever. Although he wasn’t sure if this desire was love, it was something dangerously close. Mayhap it was a good thing that they would be married so he could get his fill of her whenever he wished, forgoing any scandal.
She kissed him back, her fingers slipping about the lapels of his coat and holding him near. She made a little whimpering sound—a plea if he ever heard one—and he could not deny her.
You only have five minutes...
He ignored the warning and swept her up into his arms, walking her over to a nearby sideboard and setting her atop it. She did not question his motives, but merely continued to kiss him.
Her lips were soft but insistent, her tongue teased his with restraint. Hunger warred with the knowledge that they did not have time, that he could not stay here more than he’d promised.
Still, he wanted her.
"Ezra," she moaned when his hand slipped about the underside of her breast, cupping what would soon be his to enjoy nightly. "We should return to the ball."
"I know," he breathed against her lips, pinching her nipple softly through her gown.
She gasped, pressing herself into his touch. He was hard, his cock pressed against his silk breeches, and he ached for release. He pulled her to the side of the cupboard and settled between her legs. Even with all the material that separated them, pressing against her sex gave him something of a moment of relief.
But it was only short-lived. She slipped her legs about his waist, her foot pressing against his buttocks and urging him forward.
He swallowed a moan. The axis on which his restraint balanced toppled and fell.
Evangeline threw back her head, his name a plea on her lips as he rolled his cock against her mons. Although he could not feel the particulars of her sweet spot, he knew she ached for him, that if he were to reach beneath her gown and feel her, she would be deliciously wet.
He stilled, breath ragged against her cheek. Someone had threatened her. A nameless enemy had whispered death into her ear. And here he was, seducing her like a fool instead of protecting her like a man should.
Without thought, his hand reached for the hem of her gown. He touched along her leg, wanting to feel the softness of her flesh, the slippery glide of his hand over her silk stocking. She opened for him like a flower and he clasped the underside of her thigh, squeezing it before reaching around to touch her mons.
"Sweet, Evangeline, I harbored a guess you wanted me, but I did not believe it would be this much."
“Mmmm.” Her response, deep and seductive, went straight to his balls. "Well, it is." She reached between them and settled her hand over his, helping him, guiding him to pet her sex. "Make me feel like you did yesterday."
Dear God, he had made her come… He’d believed he had, but he could not be certain, and at that time he definitely could not ask. "We do not have time." Still, he slipped his fingers over her engorged nubbin, between her wet folds, to tease her aching flesh.
"I want you. I ache for you so much." Her free hand slipped about his neck and clasped the back of his hair. "I want you inside me."
He kissed her deep and long, giving her partly what she wanted by dipping a finger into her heat. He fucked her, wishing silently that it was his cock that pumped into her cunny and not his hand. "I want to be inside you too."
She moved her hand away and pressed against the falls of his breeches. Ezra sucked in a startled gasp, pressing into her hold like a man starved of touch.
And in a way, he was. It had been almost two years since he’d been with a woman. Far too long if he were to keep any semblance of restraint.
Something that was clearly lacking right at this moment.
Danger lurks. You should not be here. This is reckless.
"I dreamed of you last night," she admitted, her fingers wrapping about his cock—as much as they could with him still wearing his breeches—and stroking him. He moaned, kissing her with a rawness, a madness that would not abate.
She pulled back, that seductive, deep laugh unlike anything he’d ever heard from her before, and yet, he could not get enough of hearing it.
"Do you not want to know what I dreamed of?"
"Hmmm. Is it safe to tell me since we’re already late to return to the ballroom?"
She grinned, a naughty smile that told him more than words that he was in trouble with the woman in his arms. Far more trouble than he’d ever been with anyone else.
"Possibly not, but now that we’re to be married, I do not see any harm." She gasped when he dipped a second finger into her heat. "Does it involve me fucking you with my hand, my lady?"
She bit her lip, her eyes heavy with need. She was close to coming. He could sense it by her sex and the trembling of her body.
"Yes, but more than that." She met his eyes and he could see she was warring with how to say what she wanted. "That is to say," she moaned when he curved his fingers and teased her from within. "That is to say, I dreamed of you in my bed. Touching me like this, and taking me." She paused, gathering herself. "While I do not know what such undertakings involve, I have a little more sense of it now."
"And are you still unsure you wish to marry me?" he questioned. Why, however, he could not make out. They had to marry, there was no question about that. But why did he care if she was unsure or not? Up until tonight, marriage to Evangeline was a non-starter, but now that he must, he didn’t want to hear of her having doubts. Or not wanting to be his wife.
He wanted her in his bed—that was clear in how hard and full of need she made him. The choice had been taken out of his hands, and he could not be displeased with what their marriage would entail.
Days and nights of similar encounters… Years of pleasure, so long as he rid them of whomever threatened to steal such a future from him again.
"Of course I’m unsure still, but then we do not have a choice, do we?"
It was not the answer he wanted, but he relented and did not push her for more. "We do not," he said.
The pressure of her hold increased and he undulated into her hand. "You’ll make me spend if you continue to rub my cock, Evangeline." He gasped when she did not relent. "You’re a quick study."
"I’m not a young woman, Ezra. I’m not ashamed to say I have read some material on the situations involved with the marriage bed, but this has exceeded my expectations, and I find that I do not wish to stop. I want to do more with you. Here and now. I want you to want me as much as I want you."
"Oh, I do want you, but we must go back."
Just then, the sound of footsteps coming up the passage alerted Ezra, and just as the door swung wide, he managed to wrench Evangeline from the sideboard and back on her slippered feet. Her gown, thankfully, fell about her ankles as if nothing untoward had occurred.
The displeased and suspicious glower from the Duke of Ravensmere, however, said without words that his quick actions had not fooled the duke—and he was more than aware of what had been happening.
"We were just coming." Ezra took Evangeline’s hand and pulled her from the room, ignoring the fact his cock was erect and pressing against his falls. He pulled his domino farther about his front to hide his manhood, but he knew the duke had seen.
He just hoped no one else would suspect before their announcement was made publicly.