But the longer he kissed her, the more he wanted to kiss her. Her mouth was so giving, so . . . so tempting. He could stand here all day like this, one hand on her waist, one knee rubbing hers through her gown.
God, when had he dropped his cane to put his hand on her? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t about to stop unless she made him. She tasted like ambrosia, whatever that tasted like. Food of the gods. Fruit of the forbidden. And she was forbidden as hell. He just didn’t care.
“Does this . . . clarify my attraction to you?” he murmured, his lips close enough to her mouth that he could feel her breath quickening. That he could use his tongue to trace her perfect bow of an upper lip.
“I’m not sure,” she said, her voice low and husky. “Show me again.”
That was all the encouragement he needed to seize her mouth once more, this time driving his tongue harder and deeper. When she moaned low in her throat, his need for her spiked unbearably high.
And hard. He was hard for a woman who, with one word, could ruin his reputation as an officer and a gentleman.
“You’ve got to stop doing this to me,” he rasped against her mouth. Her oh-so-delectable mouth.
She bit his lower lip. Lightly. Maddeningly. “So now it’smyfault you can’t control yourself?”
“You can’t control yourself either,” he pointed out.
“True. But that’s to be expected.” She cast him a look that was pure seduction. “I’m a woman—weak and helpless in the arms of a man, at the mercy of my lascivious urges.”
Even if he hadn’t heard the faint sarcasm in her tone, he would have known better than to believe that rot. “Yes, I noticed how weak you were when you were drawing back that bow to its farthest extent. As for being at the mercy of your urges . . .” He covered her mouth with his again, this time so he could slide his hand up over her breast, just to see how she’d react.
Right. Likethatwas why he did it. Not because he wanted to, needed to, damned well couldn’t help himself.
Her breast was plump and soft. God, how he wanted to taste it. But for now he would settle for caressing it, kneading it . . . imagining having it in his mouth. Clearly, he had lost his mind.
If she was trying to manipulate him using feminine wiles, it was too late to stop her. Because he’d already succumbed. He would march right along with whatever she wanted . . . as long as he got this brief chance to fondle her senseless.
She tore her mouth free. “Do you think that’s wise?” Her eyes were wide, their green shining darker and deeper here in the woods.
He could read what she wanted in those beautiful eyes of hers. Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking. “No, it’s utterly unwise. But I don’t care. Do you?”
“Not one bit,” she whispered, placing her hand over his.
That sent the last bit of his sanity flying into the ether.
Chapter Nine
Gwyn had never expected to have this with a man again. She certainly shouldn’t be allowing it. But Joshua . . . oh, his hands on her breasts felt heavenly. Not intrusive or ruthless, just . . . exploring. And when his thumbs rubbed her nipples, sending the wildest sensations rocketing through her, she tore her lips from his with a gasp.
“Yes,” she whispered. “That feels so . . .good.”
“It certainly does.” His caresses were thorough, not frenzied, as if he were testing how best to please her. Unlike Lionel.
Never mind about Lionel. And who would have guessed that the major was as good at touching a woman intimately as he was bad at suffering fools?
Kissing a path to her ear, he whispered, “This is what happens when you . . . tempt a man beyond his endurance. He does things he shouldn’t.”
“For the last time, I wasn’t trying to tempt you,” she felt compelled to remind him. “And you seemed to resist . . . my ‘temptations’ well enough at the coaching inn.”
“They took me by surprise,” he admitted before tugging on her earlobe with his teeth. “Youtook me by surprise.”
“Because you enjoyed our kiss?”
“Becauseyouenjoyed our kiss,” he murmured. “I didn’t expect that.”
His beard stubble, rough against her cheek, reminded her that he was a man, one whose body she would very much enjoy exploring.
She slipped her hands inside his coat and up under his waistcoat so she could feel his muscles flexing through his shirt. “I can’t imagine why not, Joshua. You are very adept at kissing.”
