"Really?" Malloryn mock frowned. "Oh, I see I'm going to have to work harder than this then."
He curled over her, his shirt straining over the hard planes of his chest.
Malloryn's lips trailed across the sensitive skin of her throat, tracing little butterfly kisses there even as his thumb rasped against the turgid press of her nipple in slow, teasing circles that made her want to press her knees tightly together.
An odd sort of yearning swept through her. She was half-tempted to turn her head, to brush her mouth to his. He'd never truly kissed her. He'd promised he never would.
But all she could taste was Lord Devoncourt stealing that kiss from her, and she wanted, suddenly, to replace the memory with one of her husband.
Wishful thinking. His hands and mouth might be wreaking havoc across her willing flesh, but this had nothing to do with tenderness or stolen kisses.
"What's wrong?" he whispered, glancing up at her as his breath whispered over her skin.
Adele released the breath she'd been holding.
"I was wondering what I was going to buy with my newly increased pin money," she managed to say with a husky voice.
The smile on his mouth held all sorts of wickedness. "Maybe you can buy new undergarments, once I'm done with these?"
She looked down sharply.
Malloryn met her eyes as he tugged the edge of her bodice down, his perfect white teeth sinking into the scrap of lace that hemmed her chemise. The sharp ripping sound it made cut through the roughened exhale of breath.
And then he was tugging both her bodice and corset lower, revealing the flushed pink of her nipple.
His hot mouth closed over it, and Adele stifled a moan at the shock of sensation. Oh, God. She shifted uneasily, careless of her gown and hair, her fingers curling into claws as she fought the urge to touch him.
She wanted to rake her nails over his shoulders and arch her spine.
She wanted to thrust her breast into his mouth.
To beg.
To move.
But this was a game of wills now, to see how long she could defy him.
As Malloryn's tongue laved her nipple, she couldn't stop a small gasp from escaping her. The second he heard it, he flashed her a devilish smile, his lips wet and slick.
"Diamonds," she gasped.
"Great big ones, I'm sure," he replied, his breath against her wet skin punctuating each word.
Fingers stroked up her thigh, tugging her skirts toward her waist.
"Your Grace," she gasped, grabbing his wrist.
"What's wrong?"
"What are you doing?"
"I thought you were the expert, what with all the lectures you attended. Besides"—his weight pressed firmly between her thighs as he cupped her hip and rocked against her—"this isn't the first time I've had my hand up your skirts. Only this time, I'm lucid."
The Ivory Tower. The bloodletting. The soft, exquisite pull of his mouth on her throat as she tried to save his life....
"Not in the carriage!"
"No?" His fingers traced mesmerizing circles across her garter. "Why not?" he whispered in her ear. "No one will see us."
Adele squirmed. Restlessness itched through her, demanding to be assuaged. Her corset clamped tight around her ribs, and the hot ache between her thighs became a loud demand.
"Aren't you curious?"
Yes.
Rolling onto one hip—and trapping one of her legs beneath him—he brushed the back of his knuckles against her drawers, pressing them directly against where she ached the most.
Adele captured his hand, her cheeks hot and no doubt red.
Their eyes met.
But she didn't push him away.
"How are those diamonds now?"
She said the first thing that came to mind. "Shiny."
"Mmmm." His knuckles brushed against her, and Adele's spine arched as she pressed into his touch, silently demanding more. "I'll bet they are."
The tips of his fingers breached her drawers, and then there was nothing but skin on skin.
"You're so wet," he whispered, stroking through the lush folds between her thighs. "I think you're lying about your diamonds, Adele."
"You don't know how much I adore diamonds," she managed to gasp.
"I think I know something you might enjoy even more than their glittering allure." His thumb traced teasing circles around her sensitive flesh.
"Oh?"
She sank her teeth into her lower lip as an exquisite sort of tension twisted through her lower abdomen. It was becoming harder and harder to pay attention to the words. All she wanted was for that touch... to move... slightly....
"I think if I replaced my fingers with my mouth right now, you'd love it," he whispered.
Adele's eyes widened in shock.
And then his fingers brushed over her, circling that sensitive nubbin like the lash of a tongue.
And his mouth lowered back to her breast, lips capturing her nipple, tongue teasing the rigid point.
It felt like there was a line tied directly between her clitoris and her breast.
His finger slid inside her, curling, just so. Stroking her lushly. "There's a part of me that wants to make you beg, Adele. Would you? Beg me for more?"
Those dangerous fingers held her right on the edge.
Adele's fingernails curled into the velvet of the carriage seat, and she bit her lip furiously, determined not to surrender.
But then his thumb joined the party, finally, finally pressing small, teasing circles against her.
Mouth and fingers and oh, God, what was she doing?
What was she thinking?
Have to... stay focused.
"Beg, Adele."
She shook her head, bit her lip harder.
But it was only prolonging the inescapable.
Malloryn's touch lightened, as if to hold her there, right on the edge.
Forever.
"Please!"
"As you wish."
A soft cry escaped her as the pressure increased, and she bit into her knuckles as pleasure rampaged through her. Adele lost all hint of herself as she writhed beneath him. Sweet gods. He was merciless, stroking her through each and every shudder. Watching her expression, the intensity of his eyes darkening as his eyelids hooded.
She clung to his shirt. Thrashed beneath his weight.
"Stop!" she finally gasped. "Please, stop!"