Despite giving him permission to do this, Gwyn hadn’t expected him to stare at herthere. She ought to find it embarrassing. Instead, she thought it the most . . . mostcarnalthing she’d ever experienced! Her blood roared in her ears, and she couldn’t help squirming under his eager gaze.
She squirmed even more when he delved through her curls with his thumbs to unearth the flesh beneath. “You’re wet for me, dearling. Wet and warm and fragrant, like a spring flower opening to the sun after a rainstorm.”
There was that endearment again. And more sweet words, too. Who would have guessed that Joshua had a gift for the poetic?
Then . . .thencame something even more surprising. He bent to kiss her.Down there!And given the way he went on to flick and lick and tease her flesh . . . well, it seemed obvious he was enjoying it as much as she.
She couldn’t imagine how, because she was enjoying it beyond anything. Fire raced through her veins, and Joshua stoked it higher with every lash of his tongue. He might not have romantic feelings for her, but he certainly desired her. Surely no man would do this . . . odd thing to a woman without desiring her.
Nor had she ever experienced such an incredibly sensual bombardment. Joshua’s mouth and tongue and fingers aroused her where she least expected it, and the feeling . . .
Oh, it wasincredible. She heard herself making moans and gasps that sounded as if they were coming from someone else. Because surely she couldn’t make such noises.
“Joshua . . . I haven’t ever . . . This is so . . . GoodLord!”
She’d had no idea such wonderful sensations existed! Clearly, she’d taken leave of her senses. Then Joshua started thrusting his tongue inside her, and her heart nearly failed her. It was . . .exquisite. No other word sufficed.
Catching his head in her hands, she pressed him into her to gain more of the ecstasy she craved, and he gave a triumphant chuckle.
She didn’t care if he triumphed, as long as he kept . . . doing . . . kept doing . . . oh, Lord,that! Exactly that. Because now he was delving in and out of her with his tongue in a rhythm that seemed both familiar and exotic. It tugged her up and up, like Jack’s mythical beanstalk growing toward the sky.
Soon Joshua’s tongue was stroking more deeply, and his thumbs were stroking, too, but in an incredibly sensitive spot that made her want everything he could give her. She could hardly breathe for the excitement rising down there, carrying her on to greater heights . . . into the clouds and beyond to magic worlds . . . that unfurled as if . . . in a dream.
“Joshua . . .” she begged, not quite knowing what she was begging for. And then whatever it was found her, like a bolt of lightning. “Joshua!” she screamed, clutching him to her as she shattered into a million pieces, all at once.
As waves of pure, decadent pleasure shook her, she collapsed against the settee’s back. “Ohhh,Joshua.”
He kissed her thigh, then drew down her shift so he could wipe his mouth on it.
“That was . . . amazing,” she whispered. “I never dreamed it could be like that with a man. It was the perfect end to my debut ball.”
“Has it ended?” he asked in a ragged tone. “What a shame, now that I am finally beginning to enjoy it.”
“No, you’re right. It can’t be over.” She pushed herself up to sit beside him once more. “You . . . haven’t . . . foundyourpleasure yet.”
He pulled down her skirts to hide her legs. “I had enjoyment enough in pleasing you.”
She arched a brow. She knew exactly how men found their pleasure, and it wasn’t like this.
“Besides,” he continued, “someone is bound to have missed us by now, and we’ll soon have them all gossiping if we stay out here too long. Youare, after all, one of two guests of honor at this ball.”
She found her gloves crammed between the cushions and drew them on. “I suppose you’re right.”
That he could go so easily from giving her the greatest pleasure she’d ever known to thinking rationally about hiding their illicit encounter was upsetting. But then, that was Joshua’s way, wasn’t it? Pretend he didn’t care, that it didn’t matter. Or perhaps he wasn’t pretending. Perhaps he was a less-obvious version of Lionel, still wanting to take advantage of her without marriage being part of it.
Feeling an acute pain in her chest at that possibility, she stood and roamed the room, hunting for her reticule. She found it on the floor near the settee. Then she heard Joshua’s cane clicking on the stone floor as he came up behind her.
“I do not regret one moment of what we did,” he murmured. “It was . . .”
When he faltered in describing it, she said, “Magical. For me, it was magical. Thank you for that.” She struggled to hide her hurt. “But don’t worry. I won’t assume that it means anything. After all—”
“So this is where you two got off to,” a hard voice said from the door that led to the house proper. “I did wonder.”
Gwyn whirled to find Beatrice standing there, glaring at Joshua. Heat rose in Gwyn’s cheeks. How long had his sister been standing there? What had she seen?
Oh, Lord, if she’d seen Joshua pleasuring her, Gwyn would just die.
“They’re asking for you in the ballroom, Gwyn,” Beatrice said, though her gaze never moved from her brother. “Grey wants to make a toast to both of us, and I told him I’d find you.”
