He couldn’t breathe. She was so beautiful.
Her hands wedged between them, her fingers furiously unbuttoning the flap of his trousers. Her warm hands pulled his hard length out. He groaned in anguished bliss as she moistened her hand with her own tongue and stroked him.
Her sultry eyes never once left his.
She seductively and erotically and masterfully stroked him. His chest tightened in disbelief as he pushed his hips toward her hand, demanding more. He rippled beneath his skin, pushing toward climax.
He grabbed her hands, overwhelmed. In between ragged breaths he managed, “We need to stop. This is going far beyond—”
“I’m not exactly a virgin, Thornton.”
He swallowed again, his entire body pulsing. As much as he wanted this and her, he couldn’t help feeling as if he were going about this wrong. “We were supposed to court… You deserve a wedding night. Not…this.”
She turned toward the desk behind them and swept off papers. “I did it traditionally the first time and there is no need for me to do it again. I’m going about this the way I want to, Thornton. I’m done living with regret. And so are you.” She leaned over the desk, pushing out her backside toward him and planted both hands on the wood surface. Glancing back at him from over her slim shoulder, she met his gaze.
He let out a whistle, realizing that this woman was about to make up for all the years he’d gone without it. “You mean you actually want to—”
She pushed away from the desk, turning toward him. She let out an awkward laugh and fidgeted with her hands as if realizing she was nervous.
Grabbing her hard by the waist, he spun her around back toward the desk and jerked up her skirts. “I intend to take this seriously. Very seriously.” His hands plunged beneath the cascading fabric and slid up the bare sides of her smooth thighs. He draped away the fabric, exposing her entire backside to him and ground his hard length against her bum.
He leaned in from behind and in between tongue strokes against the smooth curve of her extended throat, said, “You may want to hold on to something, love.”
She drew in a notable breath and bent forward, setting her hands back upon the desk.
He nudged her legs apart and trailed the tips of his fingers from her outer thighs to her bum and then in between her thighs, eliciting a gasp from her. He rubbed and rubbed her, making her ride his hand. Soft pants escaped her as he rubbed and flicked at her faster. She rode his hand, pushing her backside against him with choked moans. He leaned into her and kept intently fingering her until she quaked within his arms.
He couldn’t believe he was actually touching her like this. He couldn’t believe he was about to consummate every last emotion he’d ever felt for her.
He shifted his tight jaw, slipping his arm around her waist and used his other hand to position himself. She pushed back against him, her wet softness digging into the tip of his erection. His breath quickened. He savagely grabbed hold of her waist and plunged deep into her wetness.
A gasp escaped them both.
He slowly slid in and out of her, letting her adjust to his length. He pressed, then retreated. Pressed, then retreated. Hissing out breaths, he stroked faster and faster in and out of that slick passage until he was so damn hard, he thought he’d burst from the next stroke.
She threw back her head, rocking forward and backward against him. He held her firmly in place, and ground deeper, making her gasp when he hit the resistance of her womb. Gritting his teeth against the pleasure rippling through him, his mind blanked. He just pounded.
He heard her cry out his name.
He felt her shuddering.
It made him want her all the more.
Thrusting one last time, he gave in to a climax, his seed spurting into her with the buck of his hips. He groaned in anguished disbelief, trying to hold himself up. Eventually, he collapsed against her as the last of his pleasure subsided.
Magdalene.
With his chest still heaving, he nuzzled against her, brushing away her long hair and murmured, “You amaze me.”
She was quiet for a moment, her cheek still resting against the desk in what appeared to be dazed exhaustion. “And you amaze me,” she murmured back in a dreamy tone.
They remained there half draped on the desk for some time. He didn’t want to pull out. He wanted this to last indefinitely.
She eventually shifted against him, forcing him to give up his claim. “Thornton?”
“Hmm?”
“I want a wedding.”
He lifted his head from her shoulder and bit back a laugh. “Did you doubt there would be one? I’m not letting you out of this. I have three girls and a reputation to uphold.”
She reached up and poked him with a finger. “No. I just…I want this to be special. For all of us. And for Charles, too. We can dress up the girls in lace and satin and make it bigger than people usually do. We deserve it.”
“Bigger. I see. And I imagine you will want flowers?”
“Lots of flowers. Naturally.”
“And music?”
“Music to melt the soul.”
“And monkeys?”
She paused. “Monkeys?”
He nipped her shoulder and drawled, “I will be sure not to invite them.”
She laughed. Rolling onto her back and out of his arms, she propped herself up on an elbow on the desk, her hair cascading around her shoulders. “’Tis good to know that absolutely nothing has changed.” She shook her head and smiled.
It was a glorious, glorious smile that whispered to him of never-ending friendship and a delectable, crazy and seductive love that was his. At long bloody last, it was his.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459227002
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Books S.A.
The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:
THE REASONS FOR MARRIAGE
Copyright © 1995 by Stephanie Laurens
THE WEDDING PARTY
Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn Seidick
UNLACED
Copyright © 2012 by Delilah Marvelle
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Rules of Engagement: The Reasons for MarriageThe Wedding PartyUnlaced (Lester Family) Page 39