His Secret Temptation

by Cat Schield

  She put a wealth of meaning behind words that had no substantiation. They’d gone out for dinner once and he’d had to fight her off at her door. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t even dredge up her name.

  He opened his mouth to turn her down, but Caroline beat him to the punch.

  “Go ahead, Simon. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about.”

  Was that jealousy he saw in her clenched jaw and cold stare? His heart stuttered in his chest. Well, wasn’t that an interesting development.

  “I won’t be long.”

  He was wrong about that. Torn from Caroline’s side, he got snagged by friends wanting to catch up and his mother’s cronies wanting to hear all about his fiancée. All the while he kept his eyes peeled for Caroline, but didn’t see her on the dance floor. He hoped Hannah and Sarah were keeping her company.

  It took Simon half an hour to get back to the table. His parents and aunt were the only occupants. “Where’s Caroline?”

  “She and Sarah went looking for Hannah. I’m sure they’ll be back any second.”

  Simon spied yet another female bearing down on him and shook his head. “I think I’ll go see if I can find them.”

  He dodged through the crowd toward the restrooms, thinking that his sister would have headed there after leaving the table. Pregnancy seemed to have affected her bladder and she was always excusing herself to visit the ladies’ room. He circled the room twice before he spied his fiancée standing beside the punch bowl, flanked by two men Simon didn’t recognize. Remembering the way she’d been manhandled by that asshole in Atlanta, Simon’s hackles rose. She wasn’t adept at handling aggressive men. That was his job.

  Simon’s concern eased only slightly when Caroline laughed and turned away, a drink in her hand. Suspecting what she held, he stopped her before she’d taken more than two steps and plucked the glass from her fingers.

  “Oh no, my darling. No more of that.” He sniffed at the glass and confirmed his guess.

  “Why not? It’s delightful.”

  His eyes narrowed. “How much have you had?”

  “This is my second glass. It’s quite good.” She licked her lips and smiled up at him. “What’s in it?”

  “This, my tipsy love, is called Chatham Artillery Punch, named after the oldest military organization in Georgia. It includes wine, rum, gin, brandy, whiskey, tea, brown sugar, orange juice, lemon juice and champagne.”

  Her mouth rounded charmingly as he listed the ingredients. “It’s delicious.”

  “And very potent. Come on. Let’s take you back to the table.”

  She stepped forward and into his space. Her scent found his nose; her hand stole beneath the lapel of his jacket to rest on his heart. “I’d rather dance with you.”

  The band started a slow song, music designed for lovers. Simon set the glass down on a nearby table and led her into the circle of dancers. How much trouble could he get into on the dance floor?

  Her taffeta skirts rustled softly as they encountered his tuxedo-clad legs. Against the dark material of her bodice, her pale skin gleamed like the pearls around her throat. He recalled when they’d first met how he’d fantasize about dancing with her. Without prompting, Caroline lifted her arms and aligned her every curve to his hard body. He circled her waist, placing his palms on the small of her back to draw her closer.

  As they began to sway to the music, her fingers drifted into the hair behind his ear. Simon closed his eyes to better savor the soft press of her breasts against his chest, the tantalizing brush of her thigh against his, and the soothing stroke of her fingers. She felt glorious in his arms as she relaxed, almost boneless against him.

  The music ended way before Simon was ready to release her. But her next words made his disappointment disappear.

  “Would it be okay if we went home?”

  Chapter Nine

  Any hope that she’d made the request because she wanted to be alone with him died the second he brushed a strand of hair off her cheek and noticed how pale she looked. “Are you okay?”

  “Just a little tired.” She offered him a wan smile. “I think all the excitement of the past few days has caught up to me.”

  Simon caught sight of Sarah as he escorted Caroline toward the front door. “I’m going to take Caroline home. Are you ready to leave?”

  Hannah appeared at Sarah’s side. “Are you kidding?” She pumped her arms and waggled her hips. “It’s barely nine-thirty. I don’t turn into a pumpkin until at least midnight.”

  Sarah laughed. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but you’ve already turned into a pumpkin.”

  Seeing Caroline hiding a yawn behind her hand, Simon cut into their good-natured ribbing. “I’ll drop Caroline off and come back to pick you guys up.”

  “I’m sorry that we had to leave so early,” she said softly as he drove away from the country club. She rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes.

  “It’s fine.” Concern for her sent a discordant buzz along his nerves. He cursed his inattentiveness. Why hadn’t he kept a closer eye on her and prevented her from sampling the punch?

  She was equally quiet when they arrived home, but seemed to have regained some of her energy. He held her hand as they walked up the staircase to the second floor. With her soft body pressed against his side, he surrendered to the growing sense of peace that she roused. At the bedroom door, she tightened her grip on his hand and drew him into the room with her.

  With his body a tightly strung bow of desire, Simon clenched his teeth and resisted his instincts. She wasn’t in any condition to be seduced. But what if she had been? Simon rejected the question and reined in his libido.

  Moonlight streamed through the two windows on either side of the bed, leaving the rest of the room in shadow. Caroline walked to the foot of the bed and let her wrap slip to the padded bench.

  “Would you mind lighting the fire?” She rubbed her bare arms. “I’m a little chilly.”

  “Of course.”

  Glad for the distraction, he struck a conveniently placed match, and touched flame to kindling. The wood had been arranged to catch easily and within minutes he had a blaze going. When he turned back to Caroline, she stood in a patch of moonlight, her skin aglow in the pale radiance. She turned her back to him.

  “Could you help me with the zipper? I think it’s stuck.”

  Relentless urges tugged at his willpower as he stepped behind her. Her unique scent filled his nostrils and clouded his mind. She bowed her head as he began to slide the zipper downward. Simon concentrated on the vulnerable nape of her neck to keep his eyes off the amount of skin being bared by the downward motion of his hand. Beneath the dress she wore a strapless black bra. When the zipper was at the middle of her back, Simon told himself to stop and let her finish the task, but he couldn’t bring himself to quit until the bodice gaped all the way to the top of her lacy black panties.

  Mesmerized by the delicate bumps of her spine, his gaze traveled the skin his hands longed to explore. The contrast of ebony cloth and moonlit skin sucker punched him in the gut. As he reeled beneath the onslaught of longing, his hands spanned her narrow hips. With his emotions off balance, he fought the craving to pull her against his growing erection. When was the last time he’d hesitated to take advantage of such a perfect setup? A half-naked woman. An empty house. If he slid his lips into the place where her shoulder and neck came together, would she tremble in his arms?

  “The zipper’s down,” he said unnecessarily, releasing her hips, the ache of loss in his fingers a powerful thing. He raked those fingers into his hair and pleaded for the strength to do what was right.

  She turned to face him, clutching the bodice to her chest, her eyes dark and unfathomable as she surveyed his expression.

  “Thank you.” As abrupt as a gunshot she let the dress fall.

  It pooled around her ankles like a dark cloud. She stepped out of it and kicked it aside.

  As elegant in bra, lace panties and thigh-hig
h stockings as she had been in the gown, Caroline lifted her arms and began pulling pins from her hair. Simon grabbed her wrists, intending to stop her and wound up arching her body against his. She melted, as fluid as a river, her heat and hunger flowing into him, weaving a seductive spell around his willpower, weakening it.

  “What are you doing?” he murmured in helpless fascination, his breath caressing her temple. He dared not release her wrists, but there was no stopping the quest of his lips for her skin. His mouth slipped down her cheek to her jaw where he lightly tasted the tender area just below her ear.

  “Getting undressed.”

  “Can’t you wait until I leave?”

  “Not this time.”

  Groaning, Simon claimed her mouth. At the same time he freed her wrists so he could lock his arms around her fragile ribs and gather her tight against his body. Her lips yielded beneath his. As fiercely as he wrapped her in an embrace, he guided her mouth in a slow, sensual dance.

  It was Caroline who gripped fistfuls of his hair and made demands. It was Caroline who flicked her tongue against his lips, coaxing him to come out and play with her. It was Caroline who sucked on his lower lip. But it was Simon who plunged his tongue into her mouth and made her breath his own.

  When he’d kissed her before, he’d kept a tenuous hold on his passion. Hearing her soft moans, his control weakened still further.

  “Stay with me,” she murmured, her hands going beneath his tuxedo jacket to push it off his shoulders.

  “I have to go back and pick up Hannah and Sarah.” He let the jacket fall to the floor and drew a shaky breath as she began on his shirt buttons.

  “It’s early. Your mother won’t let them leave for at least an hour.” Her fingers left little trails of fire along his chest as she slipped the buttons free, one after another. She gave a soft purr of contentment as she stroked beneath his shirt. Her tongue found the pulse beating in his throat and he jumped as a jolt of desire shot straight to his groin. “Take off the rest of your clothes.”

  “Damn it, woman,” he ground out. “You are not in a position to make demands.”

  “No?” she said, leaning back to fix a hungry gaze on him.

  Her palms flattened against his chest. She started to slide her hands downward, fingertips inching over the muscles of his abdomen. They trembled beneath her touch, flinching away from her tantalizing caress, before rushing back for more. As he stood, frozen by disbelief and transfixed by her bold smile, she bent her knees and lowered herself until she was kneeling before him.

  Her hands continued to travel downward, but her eyes remained to challenge him. “Is this position better?”

  Before he could reach down and haul her back to her feet, her fingers grazed his erection and his hips bucked helplessly. He had to stop her before her hand and his throbbing member made contact again, but he was an instant too slow. He caught her hand, but she held him. Now, instead of pulling her away, he guided her, showing how he liked to be touched, throwing his head back to groan in mindless pleasure. His own knees buckled. He dropped to the floor beside her and caught her face between his hands.

  “What are you doing to me?” he demanded, leaning forward to graze his lips against hers, tenderness momentarily tempering the lust raging through his veins.

  “If you don’t know, perhaps I’m not doing it right.”

  He laughed shakily. “You are doing just fine.”

  “Then will you please stop resisting this?” Her fingers were on the buttons at his waist. She deftly slid down his zipper.

  “We really should talk about his.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” she said. Her hand dipped into the V to find him, hot and waiting for her. “This time I’m going to do the talking.”

  His breath hissed past clenched teeth followed closely by a groan as her soft palm curved around his hot flesh. He lost all ability to concentrate when she touched him like that and he wanted nothing more than to focus his entire attention on her.

  Gently he pulled her hand away and murmured, “Not yet or this will be over far too quickly.”

  “Then let’s get started, shall we?”

  His mouth closed over hers, more passionately than before, taking each sigh she surrendered, but wanting more. He needed her to go wild. To welcome his claim.

  He grazed his fingertips over her shoulder, savoring her smooth skin and the way his touch made her tremble. He paused at the bra’s clasp, letting her anticipation build, focusing her attention exactly where he wanted it. She shuddered as the garment came free, and he tossed it aside. Then he filled his hands with her round backside and lifted her against his bare chest. Her nipples hardened, the points, like hot coals, setting him afire. He drank of her gasp. Supporting her back, he bore her to the carpet.

  Firelight played over her half-naked body. She watched him from beneath her lashes, her breath ragged, and waited for his next move. Smiling, he shed the rest of his clothes and fetched a foil packet from his wallet. If they were going to do this, he insisted she be protected.

  Where a second ago he’d been at the mercy of his hunger, Caroline’s stillness calmed his rush, offering him the chance to make the moment last. He lay down on his side next to her and propped his head on his hand. First his gaze, then his fingers drifted along her throat, between her breasts, down her abdomen and across the black lace panties to the apex of her thighs. She sucked in a breath as he grazed her most sensitive areas, and she caught her lip between her teeth.

  Delighted by her reaction, he lingered for a second caress before retracing his steps. This time, instead of bypassing her breasts, he circled first one nipple then the other with his fingertip. Her head shifted restlessly on the carpet and one knee came up to tip her hips toward him in entreaty.

  He was already so hard he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep from burying himself in her softness, but she had begun this adventure, and he was going to make sure she saw all the sights before the journey ended.

  Leaning forward, Simon drew his tongue around her nipple. With his palm flat on her abdomen, he felt her muscles convulse as he pulled the sensitive bud into his mouth and sucked vigorously. She dug her fingers into his hair and arched against him, thighs parting. All her wiggling wasn’t helping his resolve to take this slow. He captured her hips in a bruising grip that softened immediately.

  Beneath his fingers, her silk lingerie created the last barrier between them. Settling his lips into the hollow above her hip bone, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and began to draw them slowly down her thighs. His lips followed, slipping over her abdomen, his tongue dipping into her belly button before moving on. Her hips jerked. Then she was lifting them off the carpet, pressing against his mouth, and murmuring soft, wordless encouragement.

  Across her mound, into the sensitive dip where her thigh met her pelvis, he explored her with delicacy and thoroughness. The musky scent of her readiness tantalized him. His determination to make this a slow, steady seduction weakened. He stripped the black silk from her and tossed it aside.

  With her panties gone, his hands retraced their path, rasping over the stockings, searching for the heat of her. Rosy and wet, her inner core called to him. Simon paused and sucked in a deep breath, struggling for control. He had no idea where he found the strength to turn his attention to the spot where stocking met thigh. On or off? As sexy as he found the contrast of black against her pale skin, Simon decided he wanted her completely bare beneath him. Sitting up, he slowly rolled down one stocking, then the other. Her gaze followed his every movement. When she was completely nude, he knelt between her thighs.

  Her hands had been balled at her sides while he had undertaken the torturous removal of her stockings and he could see that expectation ate at her.

  “Almost time, sweetheart,” he said softly, sliding his hands up her legs on either side of his hips. He reached over for the foil packet and quickly rolled the condom onto his erection. He wasn’t quite ready to slip inside her, b
ut he sensed that when the moment came he wouldn’t have the stamina to stop and address the issue of protection.

  He liked seeing her open and waiting for him to claim her. Her hips shifted restlessly and she reached out to snag his wrists, urging him forward. He let her lead, lying beside her and rolling her hips toward him. Their thighs tangled sweetly as he reclaimed her mouth. His hand slid between their bodies, searching for her moist heat. When he found her, she was so wet, so swollen that he shuddered.

  “You are so ready for me.”

  “I’ve been ready for hours,” she said against his ear, her hot breath driving him wild. “Days.”

  Knowing he was close to the breaking point, Simon caressed her, circling the knot of nerves in a way that he hoped would bring her an explosive orgasm. A frantic mewling sound tore from her throat as he slid a finger inside her, keeping up the ministrations with his thumb.

  “Simon.”

  His name on her lips fired his satisfaction. He felt the pressure building in her and turned up the heat slightly by putting pressure on that sensitive spot just inside her vagina. A groan gathered and burst free of her lips as she rotated her hips against the pressure of his hand. She shuddered and shuddered again, ripples that spread out like rings on a still lake. She clutched his shoulders, her fingernails biting. Abruptly she sagged and her eyes slowly opened, catching him watching her. She pulled his head down to her, lips parting for a sizzling kiss that ignited him.

  Simon rolled her onto her back and without breaking off the kiss, positioned himself against her tantalizing wetness. He flexed his hips forward and with agonizing slowness began sliding into her tight heat. She stretched to accommodate him, but she was so snug it was hard to make the moment last. Her muscles clenched around him, and he gritted his teeth as he lost the battle and drove himself home.

  She jerked against him in surprise, her eyes going wide.

  “I’m sorry if I went too fast,” he groaned, withdrawing so he could start a second thrust, slower this time. “You are just so tight and incredibly sweet and it’s been so long.” The rest of his words were lost in a guttural growl.