He exhaled; a soft huff, like a dragon. The heat of it warmed the damp silk between her legs, flattening it against her throbbing flesh and making her squirm with mingled nerves and anticipation.
She felt as if she had a fever. Was he really going to put his mouththere, like the satyr in the drawing?
He leaned closer, his lips pressing the silk against her most private parts, and Tess’s eyes almost rolled back in her head. The material was so sheer it was hardly a barrier at all, and her cheeks flamed as she realized she was wet.
Dear God, what a sensation!
Desperate to ease the jumbled knot of confusion in her belly, she tightened her fingers in his hair. The carriage bounced on the cobbles, nudging him against her inthrilling, erratic little jolts, and she gasped as he found the slit in the silk.
He licked her. A slow, delicious swipe with the flat of his tongue, and she nearly bucked off the seat in pleasure. And then he flicked the sensitive bead at the top of her curls, and a jolt cut through her like sharp lightning.
Her astonished gasp mingled with his own low hum of pleasure.
“Christ, you taste so good.”
She was almost beyond thought. Her body was liquid, boneless, and yet racked with an exquisite tension that only increased as he teased her with lips and tongue. Dazed, she leaned farther back on the seat, scarcely able to believe that she’d let things get this far.
Flashes of illumination from the streetlamps outside cast him in alternate stripes of light and darkness, and she was seized by just how primitive this was, how utterly uncivilized. He was claiming her, tasting her, taking her scent inside him.
And it was glorious.
The most wonderful vibrations were shooting through her body. Tess heard a moan, and realized it had come from her.
Thornton slid his arm under her thigh, tilting her bottom off the seat to give him even better access. The velvet tugged at her skirts as they were pulled against the knap.
She bit her lip, determined not to cry out and alert the coachman to what they were doing, but it was impossible to stay quiet. Thornton reacted to her every sigh, every groan. He seemed to note every time she squirmed closer or away, learning her responses, sucking and licking with a soft insistence that was devastating.
The tension inside her was almost at a fever pitch. Shegrabbed his head with both hands, trying to push him away to stop the torment, but he mumbled something incomprehensible against her thigh. And then his fingers joined his mouth, his thumb sliding in her wetness, around and around, slipping over that little bundle of nerves just as his wicked tongue stabbedintoher.
Tess rolled her hips, but his arm held her firm against him. She was burning up, but escape was impossible.
“Come for me, Scarlet. Now.”
She didn’t know what he was talking about. Every muscle was taut, straining for release, and she gripped his hair in her fist, punishing him as he was punishing her.
He didn’t seem to mind. She closed her eyes, pushing against his tongue, beyond shame, beyond everything but the need to end this pleasure-pain torment.
And then the world exploded behind her eyelids. Her thighs tightened around his head as her stomach clenched and wave after wave of pleasure rolled over her, as unstoppable as the tide.
She was still dazed and panting when he pulled back, drawing her skirts down demurely over her legs. In an easy movement he sat back onto the seat opposite her and straightened his long legs.
Tess slowly pushed herself upright. Her limbs seemed to be made of melted wax. Her heart was hammering in her throat, her body glowing and damp, and her brain seemed to be slow to restart.
Good God.Sothatwas a climax. No wonder Daisy said women could get addicted to them. Who wouldn’t want this tingly, wonderful sense of well-being again and again?
Unfortunately, embarrassment was swiftly following in pleasure’s wake. Too mortified to look at Thornton, she stared blindly at the world outside. Dark shapes ofbuildings flashed past, and then the familiar iron railings of Hyde Park.
What on earth had she been thinking? They were almost at Portman Square! She’d been blissfully debauched while half of London carried on oblivious outside.
She braved a glance at Thornton, and found him watching her in that intense, burning way he had that turned her limbs to jelly.
What was he thinking? Could he tell she’d never had anyone do that to her before?
The corner of his mouth turned up. “You look delightfully disheveled, my love.”
Tess put her hand up to her hair and found it partially unpinned. Loose tendrils cascaded over her shoulders, but it was impossible to say how bad it was without a mirror. She cleared her throat and sent him an arch look. “As do you.”
It was true. His hair was a mess, ruffled as if he’d been in a fight, and she blushed as she realized it had been her hands that were responsible. She clenched them into fists in her skirts.
