Chapter 18 #3
“I was forced to,” she said primly. “When I had my first suspicions about you, I was worried that you’d killed the duke and taken his place.”
“But you believe me now?”
She could only nod and stare at him.
“You’re right about the police,” he said.
All the while he spoke, she had the sensation that he was watching her mouth.
In a husky voice, he continued, “Charles has done nothing suspicious, and after all, I’m the only one guilty of a crime in the eyes of the law.”
For several moments, they just looked at each other in silence, feeling an intimacy that even Meriel couldn’t deny. She tried to tell herself that she felt this way only because of the secrets they shared, because they were now working together.
But that would be a lie. She could no longer regard him dispassionately.
She saw a man who’d raised himself above a shameful birth and made a success of his life all on his own, though his family had tried to hinder him.
He had a brother who used him and called that love.
Yet Richard risked everything he’d built to help a nephew he’d never met before. And now he was risking his life.
How could she fight the appeal of that?
She reminded herself that every time she thought she knew the truth, another lie was revealed. The lies of her parents had scarred her, had made her doubt everything about herself.
He tugged on her hand and she moved closer to him, closer to the bed he perched on.
But she wanted to trust him, to put her faith in something again. She didn’t remember how to do that anymore.
He pulled her closer by her upper arms until the bed pressed hard against her stomach. She was between his legs, and she didn’t know what to do with her hands as he leaned over her. She ended up with them flat on his thighs as he lifted her up against him, so that her toes only brushed the floor.
Each kiss was as wondrous as the first, even more so now that she knew his true identity.
His lips moved over hers with ever-increasing urgency, and she found herself caught up in it, all her cares disappearing under the intensity of these raw, rare feelings.
She was the one who opened her mouth to explore his.
His groan made her feel powerful, aware of what they had between them.
With her tongue she tasted his lips, his mouth, so intent on her exploration, her body pressed willingly to his, that only distantly did she feel his hand slide from her waist to her ribs, then up to cover her breast.
Now it was her turn to moan, to writhe against him as the new, incredible sensation swept through her.
There were only two thin garments between their skin, and it might as well have been nothing at all, so much did she feel the imprint of his hand.
He kneaded and caressed her, then plucked at her nipple gently until it pressed in a hard point against his hand.
The shot of pleasure moved down through her body into an ache between her thighs.
There was something more waiting for her, and she wanted to reach for it, to explore everything he could make her feel.
He lifted her up and set her on his lap.
She found herself straddling his thighs, her nightdress riding up her legs.
Their arms were about each other, and she couldn’t get enough of his kisses.
She kissed his forehead and into his hair as he moved his lips in a hot line down her neck.
She arched backward, letting him tug at her neckline with his teeth.
She felt the clasp of her dressing gown come lose under his deft ministrations, and the garment spread wide until only thin silk separated her from his kiss.
Open-mouthed, he skimmed downward, then met her gaze for a heart-stopping moment as his lips hovered over her breast. Her anticipation built and built until she moaned his name with eagerness and longing.
Then his mouth covered her breast, wetting the silk, bringing her nipple between his lips to suckle.
She almost cried out, so intense was her building need, but some distant part of her retained enough will to choke the sound back.
She hung in his arms, letting him taste her through her nightdress, and he tugged her hips hard against him.
He filled the open vulnerability between her thighs with the hard length of his penis, still trapped within his trousers.
She pressed against him, rubbing, trying to find a way to ease her frantic need.
With every movement her breath came in gasps, her hips rocked harder and harder.
He suckled and licked one breast, and his fingers found the other to circle and tease.
That was when she lost it, let her mind and body carry her away to place of pleasure she’d never imagined existed.
She shuddered in his arms for what seemed like an eternity, spasms rocking her, until she collapsed against his chest.
And in that moment, when her mind was coming back to herself, when she realized she didn’t care that the man she’d willingly shared intimacy with was not her husband, they heard a child crying down the corridor.