Maddie tried to pull away, to escape Lord Blackthorne’s embrace.
Until his lips touched hers.
The man might be reckless, arrogant, and dashed in the head, but his lips were achingly addictive.
One touch, and she couldn’t pull away. One touch, and she didn’t want to pull away.
She had been kissed before. More than once, but not more than she could count on one hand. And before this moment, she could honestly say that she didn’t care if she were ever kissed again. She’d found the activity boring at best and sloppy at worst.
Blackthorne was neither boring nor sloppy. In fact, he was slow, deliberate, and tantalizing. His lips were firm and cool, so gentle as they brushed against hers that she wasn’t even sure at first that he was kissing her.
And then he kissed her again, and this time she felt his mouth move, felt the tingle of pleasure zing through the sensitive skin of her lips. It almost tickled. She wanted to reach up and rub her lips, but she knew that would not remove the ache.
Only Blackthorne could do so. And he did.
He pushed her back against the tree, cupping her head in his hand so he had complete control. Then he pulled back slightly, and their eyes met. Maddie’s lips were still tingling, and she couldn’t help darting her tongue out in an attempt to quell the strange sensation.
His black eyes grew darker yet, and he took her chin between two fingers. “I’ll enjoy kissing you,” he murmured.
She swallowed and shook her head. “I don’t think you should.”
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Kiss you or enjoy it?”
“Either,” she whispered. She was Lady Madeleine. She shouldn’t be allowing this. But already her traitorous gaze had lowered to focus on his mouth. She wanted it on hers again. She wanted more.
“Then tell me to stop,” he murmured while his finger trailed from her chin to her lips, parting them slightly.
“I will,” she said, feeling his finger move as she spoke. But she didn’t. His body was warm against hers. He felt like liquid steel—so hard and yet so flexible.
“I’m waiting,” he whispered.
“So am I,” she answered. Oh, Lord. She shouldn’t have said that. Lady Madeleine wouldn’t have said that. She would go straight to hell for encouraging him. But she was in a hell of anticipation right now. She needed him to kiss her again.
With infinite slowness, he obliged. He lowered his head, his gaze holding hers until the last possible second, then he touched his lips to hers. She felt like a feather had brushed her skin, only no feather had ever made her skin zing before.
She moaned slightly as the tingle infiltrated her body—traveling from her lips to her neck, her shoulders, the tips of her fingers. She felt numb. Drugged. Intoxicated.
Seemingly of its own volition, her hand came up to touch his back. As he wore only a linen shirt, she could easily feel the cords and bands of his muscles. Wrapping both hands around his waist, she pulled him closer. She felt his mouth curve in a smile against hers.
“Do you want more, Maddie?” he whispered against her mouth.
She nodded.
He caught her bottom lip, and she felt his tongue trace her mouth slowly. The shock of that erotic sensation made her body come alive. She shook with the zing of pleasure, feeling it shoot through her—from her fingers back up her arms, straight to her back, where her spine tingled and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
“Tell me.”
Maddie closed her eyes. She shouldn’t allow this to go any further. She should walk away, walk back to Mr. Dover, who was waiting for her, worrying about her.
Or at least worrying about being behind schedule.
“Give me more,” she whispered.
With consummate skill, he slanted his mouth over hers. Maddie felt her nipples grow erect and hard, felt her legs grow wobbly. Blackthorne deepened their kiss, taking it from playful and innocent to somewhere she’d never been. Somewhere dark and dangerous and exciting.
And then he opened her lips, and she gave in to the sweet surrender of his invasion. The way he moved, the way he explored her, and encouraged her to explore him in return, took her breath away.
Or it might have been that she was pressed so tightly against him that she wasn’t sure where he ended and she began. And still she couldn’t get close enough.
