Preview Outrageous in October #3
“I dislike your father, but I know the way the world works. I’m a third son. Few prospects.”
Her tongue ran along the seam of his lips, satisfied when his mouth opened with a soft groan. “Entirely untrue. You are brilliant with numbers. And with animals. And farming.”
“So you’d wed a pig farmer? No, I think not. Possibly I could find employment as a solicitor.”
“You could breed horses.”
“Expensive.”
“My dowry is obscene.”
His features grew tight. “I would live off your largesse.”
“Most gentlemen do live off their wife’s dowry. There isn’t any shame to it.” She cupped his cheeks. “And in truth, you have already well and truly compromised me. The removal of my maidenhead would be a mere formality. Your mouth alone has ruined me for any other.”
“I’ll muss your hair,” he protested.
“Hair can be fixed.” Eliza lifted her skirts, teasing him as she slid the silk up her legs. “There is a reason I put the room for the ladies so close to the servants’ door.”
Julian hummed softly, a wholly masculine sound of appreciation at the sight of her stocking-clad legs.
“You’ll be the death of me, Eliza.” He pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the inside of her knee. His hand trailed up her thigh, drawing small circles before cupping her mound possessively, his fingers dipping beneath the dark curls.
“You’ll die happy, I promise,” she panted, already aroused with barely a touch.
Leaning forward she slid off his coat, hands grasping at his shoulders, feeling the stretch of sinew beneath his skin.
A wave of hair fell over his brow, and she brushed it aside, feeling the silky strands slide through her fingers.
Once free of his coat, Julian settled between her thighs, inhaling her scent. “You make my mouth water. He’ll have August slice me to bits for this.”
Eliza didn’t think so.
“I disagree. I’ll appear to be shame-faced, of course. You’ll be contrite but entirely honorable. I will say I cannot wed another, nor do I wish to. Because I have loved you since that day at Eton, when you freed Mrs. Wellington from roasting.” Her head fell back to the quilt.
“Hmm.” He caressed her gently, moving back and forth over the small bud hidden in her folds in exactly the right spot, which he’d found after a bit of exploration one long afternoon while Father and Edward had both been at their club.
If the gardener, Limpner, had heard Eliza’s cries of ecstasy, he’d never breathed a word.
“It will hurt, Eliza,” Julian warned, sinking two fingers inside her channel, stroking her until she was moaning and grabbing at his shirt.
“Oh, Julian,” she whimpered. “Yes, just there.” Eliza knew he would be careful. Julian would never wish to cause her pain. “Don’t make me wait. Not tonight.” He liked to toy with Eliza, see how long he could tease her before she begged for release.
He kissed her, hard. Possessively. Drawing that small bud between his thumb and forefinger, caressing and stroking until she broke apart. The pleasure had her arching her back, eyes staring in wonder at the stars she could see through the top of the greenhouse.
“I love you,” she whispered to him. “I love you. No one else.”
Eliza had known as much the first time she’d seen him. That would never change. She would live in a hut with him. Or a pig farm. On the moors. None of it would matter as long as they were together.
His mouth fell on hers, hungry and hot, tongue twisting with her own, as the sensations he’d brought forth peaked and finally ebbed from her body. “Eliza—”
“No, don’t say it.” Her hands, still trembling from her release, slid down his chest to the fall of his breeches, plucking at the material.
“I want this. I want you.” She’d touched his length before, knew every inch.
Brought him to completion with her hands.
Her mouth. She was already Julian’s in every way that mattered, except for the inconvenience of her maidenhead.
A situation she meant to remedy tonight.
A growl came from his chest as she pushed down his breeches, freeing him. She stroked the velvety length, marveling at the way he twitched in her hands. Gently, she rubbed her thumb over the tip until a deep, growl of pleasure came from him.
“Are you sure, Eliza?”
She had never been surer of anything in her life. Julian Hyde might never be anything more than a third son, but he was hers. The dowry attached to her was enough to keep them for the rest of their lives. He could roll in dirt and become a pig farmer. Eliza’s heart would never waver from his.
“There will never be anyone else for me,” he whispered. Slowly. Carefully he eased inside her. “I belong only to you.”
Eliza’s body tightened at the invasion, the pinch of pain, but Julian had prepared her to take him, and the sting didn’t last. Soon, they were moving together, somewhat clumsy, the air filled with the scent of oranges and the soft sounds of their souls becoming one.
It was the most wonderful moment of Eliza’s life.
She wept with the beauty of it.
You can order Book Ten in The Rake Review Season Two, Outrageous in October by Kathleen Ayers here!