To Wager with Love (Girls Who Dare Book 5)
Page 24
Bonnie reached down and took his hand, guiding it to her breast.
“Bonnie,” he said, shaking his head even as his body throbbed with desire. His heart was a drumbeat in his ears, his swelling cock pulsing in time with it, with need. Oh, good Lord he was in deep trouble. “Bonnie, no,” he said, though it was a pitiful effort to act the gentlemen as his hand curved about her breast and squeezed as he spoke.
“Your hands are so warm,” she said, the words spoken on a sigh. “So big and warm.” She leaned back against his chest and he took it for the invitation it was, filling both his hands with her soft flesh, gently kneading and stroking and then pinching her nipples, rolling them back and forth between finger and thumb.
She gasped and tilted her head back, exposing the pale line of her throat.
Jerome stared down at it, willing himself to find the strength to move away from her, to stop, when the desire to kiss a path down that slender neck was so fierce he could taste it. She turned her head and looked up at him.
“It’s all right, Jerome,” she said, and her eyes were clear, focused entirely on him. “I know we’re not going to marry, I’m not trying to trap you. I want this. I want you.”
“It’s wrong…” he said, forcing the words out. “I ought not…”
“Nonsense,” she said, smiling at him. “I want you. I want this night for myself before my life is no longer my own. That’s not so much to ask is it? Unless… unless you don’t want to.”
He watched uncertainty flicker in her eyes, saw the glimpse of vulnerability before she turned away from him, and hated it.
“Seriously?” he asked, pulling her closer so that her bottom cradled his arousal. She let out a breath as he pressed against her. “Don’t be so bird witted.”
“Jerome,” she whispered, and turned in his arm, tugging at his neck, pulling him down and down into a kiss that drowned out good sense and any notions of gentlemanly behaviour. After all, she wanted him, wanted this, her last chance to make her own decision about anything before she was married to a man she didn’t even like. How could he refuse her?
Somehow he guided her back, into an empty stall, thickly bedded with clean straw, praise be to God. Not that he liked straw, it always ended up sticking you in the arse, blasted prickly stuff, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
The tumbled into it, the sweet scent of summer past rising around them as Jerome found the buttons on the fall of her trousers and flicked them undone, sliding his hand beneath. His hand moved over the gentle swell of her stomach, over skin like satin until he found the feather curls he sought and trailed his fingers through them.
Bonnie’s breath caught and her hips arched, seeking more of the tentative touch his fingers teased her with. Jerome smiled at her impatience.
“Wicked girl,” he crooned, nipping at her earlobe. “Always in such a hurry.”
“I’m afraid you’ll change your mind and leave me alone,” she admitted, before tugging his shirt free and sliding her hands beneath. Jerome closed his eyes as her hands moved over him, the caress making him want to purr like a cat to announce his approval.
“I’m not that noble,” he said, bending to swipe his tongue over her nipple and grazing the tender bud with his teeth, enjoying her soft cries and exclamations as his fingers slid through the curls between her thighs and caressed her intimate flesh. He groaned as his fingers moved deeper and found her hot and wet, wanting and needing him.
“Please,” she begged him, clinging to his neck. “Please.”
How could he refuse such a plea? It was the work of moments to shed his clothes and tug her legs free of the trousers she wore, easier still to take his place between her thighs, sliding his aching flesh against her until she cried out and he thought he’d go mad if he didn’t have her. Yet she was a virgin and though Jerome had never deflowered one before he knew he must prepare the way to make it easier for her.
So he continued the glide of his flesh over hers, until she was writhing beneath him, her pale skin flushed and rosy as she clutched at him, grasping at his shoulders and holding tight. He moved back then, returning his hand to that tender spot and sliding a finger inside as his thumb circled and caressed.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, as his finger moved slowly back and forth.
“Yes,” she gasped, and then. “No, I… I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do,” he said, smiling down at her. “Tell me.”
“It’s… It’s… lovely,” she managed, staring up at him from heavy lidded eyes. “But…”
“But?”
“But it’s not enough.”
Jerome chuckled and moved over her, kissing her neck and then her mouth. “Greedy girl,” he murmured against her lips. “Are you sure?” And then he crooked his fingers inside her, finding the tender spot that made her cry out again and again until she shattered beneath him and he swallowed her cries with his mouth. He didn’t wait until the pleasure had ebbed, thrusting inside her as it still pulsed within her and she cried out again, pleasure and pain and she let him inside her.
“Bonnie,” he whispered as the pleasure took over, sweeping him up with it. “Bonnie you feel like heaven.”
Available December 20, 2019
Pre-Order your copy here: To Dance with a Devil
Want more Emma?
If you enjoyed this book, please support this indie author and take a moment to leave a few words in a review. Thank you!
To be kept informed of special offers and free deals (which I do regularly) follow me on https://www.bookbub.com/authors/emma-v-leech
To find out more and to get news and sneak peeks of the first chapter of upcoming works, go to my website and sign up for the newsletter.
http://www.emmavleech.com/
Come and join the fans in my Facebook group for news, info and exciting discussion...
Emmas Book Club
Or Follow me here......
http://viewauthor.at/EmmaVLeechAmazon
Emma’s Twitter page
About Me!
I started this incredible journey way back in 2010 with The Key to Erebus but didn’t summon the courage to hit publish until October 2012. For anyone who’s done it, you’ll know publishing your first title is a terribly scary thing! I still get butterflies on the morning a new title releases but the terror has subsided at least. Now I just live in dread of the day my daughters are old enough to read them.
The horror! (On both sides I suspect.)
2017 marked the year that I made my first foray into Historical Romance and the world of the Regency Romance, and my word what a year! I was delighted by the response to this series and can’t wait to add more titles. Paranormal Romance readers need not despair however as there is much more to come there too. Writing has become an addiction and as soon as one book is over I’m hugely excited to start the next so you can expect plenty more in the future.
As many of my works reflect I am greatly influenced by the beautiful French countryside in which I live. I’ve been here in the South West for the past twenty years though I was born and raised in England. My three gorgeous girls are all bilingual and the youngest who is only six, is showing signs of following in my footsteps after producing The Lonely Princess all by herself.
I’m told book two is coming soon ...
She’s keeping me on my toes, so I’d better get cracking!
KEEP READING TO DISCOVER MY OTHER BOOKS!
Other Works by Emma V. Leech
(For those of you who have read The French Fae Legend series, please remember that chronologically The Heart of Arima precedes The Dark Prince)
Girls Who Dare
To Dare a Duke
To Steal A Kiss
To Break the Rules
To Follow her Heart
To Wager with Love (November 15, 2019)
To Dance with a Devil (December 20, 2019)
Rogues & Gentlemen
The Rogue
The Earl’s Temptation
Scandal’s Daughter
The Devil May Care
Nearly Ruining Mr. Russell
One Wicked Winter
To Tame a Savage Heart
Persuading Patience
The Last Man in London
Flaming June
Charity and the Devil
A Slight Indiscretion
The Corinthian Duke
The Blackest of Hearts
Duke and Duplicity
The Scent of Scandal
The Rogue and The Earl’s Temptation Box set
Melting Miss Wynter
The Regency Romance Mysteries
Dying for a Duke
A Dog in a Doublet
The Rum and the Fox
The French Vampire Legend
The Key to Erebus
The Heart of Arima
The Fires of Tartarus
The Boxset (The Key to Erebus, The Heart of Arima)
The Son of Darkness (October 31, 2020)
The French Fae Legend
The Dark Prince
The Dark Heart
The Dark Deceit
The Darkest Night
Short Stories: A Dark Collection.
Stand Alone
The Book Lover (a paranormal novella)
Audio Books!
Don’t have time to read but still need your romance fix? The wait is over…
By popular demand, get your favourite Emma V Leech Regency Romance books on audio at Audible as performed by the incomparable Philip Battley and Gerard Marzilli. Several titles available and more added each month!
Click the links to choose your favourite and start listening now.
Rogues & Gentlemen
The Rogue
The Earl’s Tempation
Scandal's Daughter
The Devil May Care
Nearly Ruining Mr Russell
One Wicked Winter
To Tame a Savage Heart
Persuading Patience
The Last Man in London
Flaming June
The Winter Bride, a novella (coming soon)
Girls Who Dare
To Dare a Duke
To Steal A Kiss
To Break the Rules (coming soon)
The Regency Romance Mysteries
Dying for a Duke
A Dog in a Doublet (coming soon)
Also check out Emma’s regency romance series, Rogues & Gentlemen. Available now!
The Rogue
Rogues & Gentlemen Book 1
1815
Along the wild and untamed coast of Cornwall, smuggling is not only a way of life, but a means of survival.
Henrietta Morton knows well to look the other way when the free trading ‘gentlemen’ are at work. Yet when a notorious pirate, known as The Rogue, bursts in on her in the village shop, she takes things one step further.
Bewitched by a pair of wicked blue eyes, in a moment of insanity she hides the handsome fugitive from the local Militia. Her reward is a kiss that she just cannot forget. But in his haste to escape with his life, her pirate drops a letter, inadvertently giving Henri incriminating information about the man she just helped free.
When her father gives her hand in marriage to a wealthy and villainous nobleman in return for the payment of his debts, Henri becomes desperate.
Blackmailing a pirate may be her only hope for freedom.
Read for free on Kindle Unlimited
The Rogue
Interested in a Regency Romance with a twist?
Dying for a Duke
The Regency Romance Mysteries Book 1
Straight-laced, imperious and morally rigid, Benedict Rutland - the darkly handsome Earl of Rothay - gained his title too young. Responsible for a large family of younger siblings that his frivolous parents have brought to bankruptcy, his youth was spent clawing back the family fortunes.
Now a man in his prime and financially secure he is betrothed to a strict, sensible and cool-headed woman who will never upset the balance of his life or disturb his emotions ...
But then Miss Skeffington-Fox arrives.
Brought up solely by her rake of a step-father, Benedict is scandalised by everything about the dashing Miss.
But as family members in line for the dukedom begin to die at an alarming rate, all fingers point at Benedict, and Miss Skeffington-Fox may be the only one who can save him.
FREE to read on Amazon Kindle Unlimited.. Dying for a Duke
Lose yourself in Emma’s paranormal world with The French Vampire Legend series…..
The Key to Erebus
The French Vampire Legend Book 1
The truth can kill you.
Taken away as a small child, from a life where vampires, the Fae, and other mythical creatures are real and treacherous, the beautiful young witch, Jéhenne Corbeaux is totally unprepared when she returns to rural France to live with her eccentric Grandmother.
Thrown headlong into a world she knows nothing about she seeks to learn the truth about herself, uncovering secrets more shocking than anything she could ever have imagined and finding that she is by no means powerless to protect the ones she loves.
Despite her Gran’s dire warnings, she is inexorably drawn to the dark and terrifying figure of Corvus, an ancient vampire and master of the vast Albinus family.
Jéhenne is about to find her answers and discover that, not only is Corvus far more dangerous than she could ever imagine, but that he holds much more than the key to her heart …
FREE to read on Kindle Unlimited The Key to Erebus
Check out Emma’s exciting fantasy series with hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “An enchanting fantasy with a likable heroine, romantic intrigue, and clever narrative flourishes.”
The Dark Prince
The French Fae Legend Book 1
Two Fae Princes
One Human Woman
And a world ready to tear them all apart
Laen Braed is Prince of the Dark fae, with a temper and reputation to match his black eyes, and a heart that despises the human race. When he is sent back through the forbidden gates between realms to retrieve an ancient fae artifact, he returns home with far more than he bargained for.
Corin Albrecht, the most powerful Elven Prince ever born. His golden eyes are rumoured to be a gift from the gods, and destiny is calling him. With a love for the human world that runs deep, his friendship with Laen is being torn apart by his prejudices.
Océane DeBeauvoir is an artist and bookbinder who has always relied on her lively imagination to get her through an unhappy and uneventful life. A jewelled dagger put on display at a nearby museum hits the headlines with speculation of another race, the Fae. But the discovery also inspires Océane to create an extraordinary piece of art that cannot be confined to the pages of a book.
With two powerful men vying for her attention and their friendship stretched to the breaking point, the only question that remains...who is truly The Dark Prince.
The man of your dreams is coming...or is it your nightmares he visits? Find out in Book One of The French Fae Legend.
Available now to read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
The Dark Prince
Acknowledgements
Thanks, of course, to my wonderful editor Kezia Cole.
To Victoria Cooper for all your hard work, amazing artwork and above all your unending patience!!! Thank you so much. You are amazing!
To my BFF, PA, personal cheerleader and bringer of chocolate, Varsi Appel, for moral support, confidence boosting and for reading my work more times than I have. I love you loads!
A huge thank you to all of Emma’s Book Club members! You guys are the best!
I’m always so happy to hear from you so do email or message me :)
emmavleech@orange.fr
To my husband Pat and my family ... For always being proud of me.
/>