Vaguely aware of the danger of discovery, she fought to muffle her cries of pleasure as his thumb continued to tease her hot, moist core and his fingers entered her. Her legs trembled. She clung to him as an explosion of sensation almost brought her to her knees.
His breath became labored, his voice urgent. “I want you.”
She could not deny him. “I want you, too,” she murmured. When he unbuttoned his trousers, she was eager to take him into her body. He took her hand and placed it on him.
He was hot and hard in her hands, and she was shocked at the urge to take him in her mouth. She knew there were many things that lovers did. She’d heard about them, but they’d remained a mystery to her.
He supported her with an arm as they rested against the smooth, cool column, then he slipped a hand beneath her thigh and raised her leg and swiftly entered her. He edged farther until he filled her. Why, when she hardly knew him, did the closeness, the sense of completeness feel so right?
“Do you like it like this?” he asked on a gasp of pleasure.
She moaned. “Yes.” She was lost to the exquisite sensations as he moved inside her.
“Oh, Cathy. You feel wonderful.” His voice strained as he partly withdrew and then pushed inside her again.
With him, she became someone else, a woman her friends wouldn’t recognize. She breathed him in like a drug, exulting in his clean, male beauty. Her fingers dug into his broad shoulders as he pounded into her, filling her, their bodies moving in exquisite harmony. She buried her face in his coat as a moan of ecstasy escaped her lips.
“Cathy,” he whispered into her hair. “Come with me.”
His breath was hot on her neck, as his thrusts grew more urgent.
As if her body obeyed him, she was hurtled into shuddering ecstasy.
He groaned and withdrew.
Holding her tight against him, he pressed his lips to her throat as their breathing slowed. “I should like very much to do that again in the near future.” He gazed deeply into her eyes. “Should you be agreeable?”
“Not if you plan to marry soon, Gerard.” She tugged down her gown and smoothed her skirts, then dealt with her hair the best she could, cool reason proving elusive after he’d drawn her to heights of passion she had never known.
His raised his head from restoring his clothes. “Then we have plenty of time.” A corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile, which made him irresistible.
Catherine felt stripped naked by that look, and fought to steady herself. “This can never become known.”
“It won’t be.” His gaze compelled her. “I want to have you naked in my bed. I want to discover every delicious inch of you at my leisure. Cathy? Say you will meet me again.”
“Perhaps.” Catherine smiled and ran a finger over his sculptured bottom lip. He grabbed her hand and drew her close for another kiss.
As they walked back along the path to the house, he stopped and ran his hands down her arms to take her hands. “I’m falling in love with you.”
Her heart swelled. She was half in love with him already. “That would not be wise, Gerard.”
He grinned and shook his head. “There you go again. Who wants to be cautious all the time?”
“We haven’t been, have we?” She laughed. “We will be missed.”
“Promise you’ll see me again.”
She glanced up at him, at the moonlight falling on his disordered hair. She stroked back a lock that had flopped onto his brow. He caught her wrist and encircled it with his long fingers. “Promise?”
She should let him go. His bright future lay before him, and she could hardly be a part of it. But she found it extraordinarily difficult to do. She liked how he cared for the poor. She liked him. And his thought-provoking conversation. Most of all, she wanted him to be her lover, if only for a short time. She couldn’t deny it.
Best to decide later, with a clear head, for at this moment, his masculine beauty and the determination in his deep voice turned her brain to mush. “I won’t deny I want to, Gerard. But I need to think clearly, somewhere far away from you.”
He chuckled. He was so confident of her that she pursed her lips and shook her head at him. He was right to be. She would take whatever he offered until life drew them apart.
“Shall we return to the ballroom, my lord?”
The End
Author Bio
MAGGI ANDERSEN
Maggi Andersen lives with her lawyer husband in a quaint old town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She began writing fiction after raising three children and studying for a BA and an MA in Creative Writing.
When not creating stories, Maggi reads, enjoys her garden, goes for walks, and feeds the local wildlife. Her kookaburras prefer to be hand-fed.
An Amazon bestselling Regency author, Maggi writes in several genres—contemporary and historical romances and young adult novels. Having grown up reading Enid Blyton and Georgette Heyer, Maggi writes romances filled with adventure, mystery or intrigue, but always with a happy ending.
LATEST RELEASES:
The Duke’s Mysterious Lady
The Spies of Mayfair Series
A Baron in Her Bed
Taming a Gentleman Spy
What a Rake Wants
New Regency series coming January 20th 2015
Lady Honor’s Debt – The Baxendale Sisters
Excerpts available on website:
www.maggiandersenauthor.com
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