“Oliver,” she breathed against his lips.
Another wave of shivers rushed over his body. Hell and damnation, what was he doing? He lifted onto one arm. “We should stop.”
“No.”
He stilled, eyes meeting hers. “I beg your pardon?” he said in confusion. No?
“We should continue back in our chamber.”
Our chamber.
“We don’t have a chamber,” Oliver said slowly, and too damn raspy for his own liking.
Her eyes sparked like blue jewels. Naughty jewels. “Right, that was the other cottage,” she murmured. There was a note of mischief in her voice. “But the one here is good, too. I was hoping you could wrap your limbs around me again tonight?”
Was she trying to kill him? “Last time was a mistake.”
Her hands slid from his hair, dragging down to his chest, fingers digging into him like a silent, provocative demand. “I refuse to accept the wordmistake. There is no such thing. There is only the moment, the opportunity.”
“Louisa, do you even know what you are saying?”
She grinned. “Saying? I know what I amdoing. I am seducing you.”
Ah, yes, this angel was killing him. “Why would you do that?” he dared to ask.
“Because I might never have the chance again. And I am a lady who dares, Duke.”
Oliver had been mistaken.
He was already in serious trouble. It had arrived long ago.
Chapter Seventeen
The moment thecarriage door shut behind them, their lips collided. Oliver had refused to return to a bedchamber to be seduced, but Louisa had been able toseducehim into being seduced in the carriage. Her hands plunged into his hair, fingers tangling in the thick strands. She loved its softness. Silky and wild beneath her touch.
Who knew the duke would let his guard down like this?
Forher.
She understood that he was placing all the power into her hands by allowing her to take the lead. But while he might believe she was the one seducing him, in fact, she had been seduced by him with every touch, every word, and every look since he’d shown up that night in her house.
Her hands slipped from his hair, pushing him back into the seat with the firm pressure of her palms against his chest. With a daring shift of her hips, she straddled him, her pulse quickening at the heat of his body beneath hers. Honestly, she didn’t quite know what she was doing, but this sense of being in charge drove her to act in whatever way felt right.
And this feltsoright.
She had never felt more alive.
“Louisa...” His eyes flashed like amber flames, firm hands holding her waist.
“That is my name, yes,” she murmured, and she brushed a finger over one of his flushed cheeks. “This is the first time I’ve seen such an expression on your face before. I quite like it.”
“I haven’t seen it myself,” his voice turned gruff, “but yours is to my liking as well.” A hard object pressed against her from below.
Her entire body blazed with consuming fascination.
Louisa regained her breath. “Then, do you follow all the ladies who are to your liking into empty carriages?”
His lips upturned into the widest grin she’d glimpsed on his face so far. Lord, it made her heart skip not one, not two, not three but several more beats all at once!
