A Common Scandal Page 21

  “What are you talking about?”

  Her fingers toyed with the mother-of-pearl studs along the front of his shirt, leaning in close enough he could smell her and feel the warmth of her body. She was so beautiful—the only woman he wanted—and she was here, barely dressed, in his arms and touching him. He was hard, and had been since he glanced down and saw what she was wearing. Or rather, what she wasn’t wearing. His need for her fisted tight in his gut.

  He should back away, escort her safely back to her room and go to bed alone. But Amelia wasn’t done tormenting him. She leaned closer, until the tips of her breasts brushed against his shirt. Nate drew in a ragged breath as his cock throbbed. “Tonight’s my last chance to choose,” she murmured. “And I choose you. Just this once, while I can still choose this for myself.”

  She leaned up and kissed him again, a languid, hot, openmouthed kiss that he had no choice but to return. Her breasts pressed against him and her hands slipped up his chest to grip his shoulders. In the war between his head and his body, his head was rapidly losing ground.

  There was a great deal to sort out, with both Radwill and Cheadle breathing down her neck, vying for her hand, and her father far away in London. The right thing to do would be to wait, to take her back to her room tonight and spend tomorrow putting things in order. But a man could only take so much and in the end, it seemed a little thing, a matter of timing only. Perhaps tonight was rash and precipitous, but he would make it up to her. He meant to have her as his wife, to take care of her all her life. It wasn’t as if he was cajoling her, leading her unwillingly into temptation. Amelia wanted him. She was offering herself up to him. He was helpless to do anything but take her.

  He molded her body against his as he kissed her hard, his tongue sweeping into her mouth and finding hers. She sagged against him, her body pliant as he began to explore everything he’d seen but not yet touched. Her perfect breasts, always confined by corsets and gowns, were soft and ready for his hands. When he laid one palm across her breast, feeling its generous weight, the lush fullness of it, she moaned, a low sensual sound that would make him lose his mind. His thumb swept across her hardened nipple and she shivered.

  “Nate...please don’t stop tonight.”

  Any lingering reservations about what was transpiring were swept away by her whispered plea. She wanted this, so he’d give it to her, and he’d make it so good. She would never regret this night. Her fingers began to work the studs free in the front of his shirt as she kissed him with as much passion as he gave to her. She didn’t pause when his shirt fell open, merely swept her hands underneath it and over his shoulders, pushing it off him and down his arms. She brought her palms to his bare chest, spreading her fingers over his ribs as if to memorize the feel of him.

  Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her to the bed. Amelia was such a force of nature, he often forgot how small she was. She weighed nothing and she felt so little tucked against his chest. It stirred something fierce and protective in him. He never doubted she could take care of herself, but he didn’t want her to have to, ever. As long as he lived, he would put himself between her and every danger.

  Pausing beside the bed, he kissed her again, drawing it out, before lowering her down. Her fingers gripped his hair, pulling him down with her, refusing to let him break the kiss. Stretching out beside her on the bed, one hand resting on her stomach, one knee between hers, he settled in to finally, fully explore the glorious woman in his arms. She tugged on his shoulders, trying to pull him on top of her, but he chuckled as he resisted. A kiss on her cheek, the side of her neck, he trailed slow, openmouthed kisses across her, tasting her skin, learning her body.

  “Slowly, Amelia,” he murmured against her. Her breath shuddered out. “We have all night. I won’t be rushed.”

  He brought his mouth back to hers as his hand began to work free the ties of her robe. It fell open and Amelia wiggled beneath him, shrugging it off her shoulders. Running his palm down her bare arm, he helped free her from it. Now only a nightgown of the sheerest white lawn barely concealed her body. He could see the rosy color of her hardened nipples, the dip of her waist, the shadow between her legs. His mouth watered, imagining tasting every bit of her, not only this night, but all the nights, the rest of his life. He’d never tire of her.

  Amelia’s hunger shouldn’t have surprised him. He’d had her writhing in his arms before, begging for his touch. But she did surprise him now, reaching for the hem of her nightgown and making to strip it off. He caught her wrist.

  “Not so fast, love. That’s my job, and one I mean to enjoy thoroughly.”

  She smiled at him before she lay back, her hands falling to either side of her head, offering herself up to him without an ounce of guile. He swallowed hard, his smile fading as the enormity of it descended on him. He’d had a lengthy and adventurous sexual past. From the first, a girl from Portsmouth on a trip home, through all the lovely women from around the world in all the far-flung ports he’d visited. He’d enjoyed them all, and he’d enjoyed all the varied ways those experienced women had pleasured him. But none compared to this, Amelia giving over her virginity to him, her eyes brimming with trust and affection.

  Because it was Amelia, who knew him better than anyone, she sensed the change in him. A furrow appeared between her brows as she scowled up at him. “What is it?”

  “You might not believe this, but I’m nervous.”

  Her expression relaxed into a smile and she reached for him, hooking a hand behind his neck and drawing herself up to kiss him. “It’s only me. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

  Wasn’t it her place to be nervous? Wasn’t it his job to do the reassuring? “It’s all the more important for being you. No one is more precious to me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t. You could never hurt me.”

  Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her as gently as he could. “I promise you won’t regret this.”

  “I promise I won’t.”

  She lay back on the bed again, black curls spread around her head, her barely clothed body beneath him like some sort of sensual dream. When he reached for her hip, his hand shook. It steadied as he ran it down her thigh to the hem of her nightgown. This gift she was prepared to give to him could go to no more grateful man. He’d endeavor to deserve this for the rest of his days.

  Shifting, he pressed a kiss to the curve of her hip, covered by delicate cotton. She sighed. Another kiss, this time to her knee, and then, when he’d raised her nightgown a bit, to her knee again, this time bare. He trailed his tongue over it and up her thigh, bunching the gown as he went.

  “Nate,” she moaned, her hand coming to his head, her fingers knotting into his hair.

  He wrapped his hand around the back of her thigh, sliding her legs apart, still kissing his way up, lips and tongue and sometimes a nip of his teeth. She began to writhe underneath him, tugging on his hair, the pain providing a delicious counterpoint to his pleasure. His cock throbbed and he pressed his hips into the bed, desperate for relief but loath to rush this slow unveiling of her.

  When her nightgown lay bunched across her hips, he slipped his hand underneath, brushing gently against her. Her back arched up off the bed. He kissed the crease where her thigh met her pelvis and she whimpered, her head thrashing from side to side.

  “Be still,” he murmured into the hollow of her thigh. His fingers slipped into her wet warmth seconds before his tongue did, pulling another whimper of pleasure from her. He settled in to enjoy her, the heat and sweetness of her on his tongue sweeping aside each and every rational thought. There was only this woman, her body and the pleasure he meant to wring from her for both of them. His fingers pressed into her and he groaned against her, imagining that tight sheath around his cock. Soon, soon, but not until...

  She gasped again, arching off the bed. He steadied her hip with one
hand, keeping up his relentless assault of lips, tongue and fingers. Her thighs began to tremble on either side of his head, her fingers twisting in his hair. He felt her release wash over her, her breaths coming in ragged gasps as her hips thrust gently against him. He eased off slowly, riding her wave, drawing it out until she sagged against the sheets, eyes closed and body spent. Only then did he proceed up, tugging her nightgown the rest of the way off. She raised her arms weakly, letting him draw it up and away. He stopped, sitting back on his heels between her spread thighs, looking down at her, naked beneath him. She was perfection, all generous curves, full breasts and pale, perfect skin, flushed from her pleasure. She smiled lazily up at him, dark eyes glittering under lowered lids.

  “That was magnificent,” she sighed. “I had no idea people did... That one could...”

  “One can do all kinds of things you can scarcely imagine, Amelia.” He slid a hand along her thigh, his mind filling with all the ways they could pleasure each other. He looked forward to exploring every one with her.

  “Does it feel the same for you?”

  “Does what?” he asked absently, entranced by the contrast of his rough, tanned hand against the snowy smoothness of her inner thigh.

  “That. My mouth on you. Would it feel as good?”

  He choked on his surprised laugh. Of course Amelia would ask for the bald truth, without an ounce of embarrassment.

  “Um...yes. A bit different, but just as good.”

  She reached out, running a finger along the fly of his trousers. “Shall we see?”

  His hands went to the buttons, but he paused. “It doesn’t have to go any further than this tonight, Amelia. We can stop right here. It’s not too late.”

  She frowned. “Don’t you dare stop now, Nate. I’ll never forgive you. I’ve been dying to know what you look like. Isn’t it time you showed me?”

  Then she stunned him into silence, sitting up and reaching for the buttons herself. He could only watch in stunned arousal as her nimble fingers undid them. As the last buttons came loose, she tugged his trousers and drawers down until his cock sprang free, painfully hard. Her eyes went wide and she stared. Slowly, she reached for him, her small hand closing about his length. Closing his eyes, his head fell back and he groaned.

  “Good God, Amelia, you have no idea...”

  “I think I might have some idea, Nate,” she murmured, her voice low with desire. Shock mixed with an almost painful arousal as he felt her lips on him, the warm, wet perfection of her mouth sliding over his head. His eyes flew open. The sight of her, sitting up before him, her hand around him, her lips around him...he nearly died at the vision it made. Without meaning to, he reached for her hair, guiding her, and the exquisite pleasure of her mouth on his cock wrenched an agonized groan from him. Gently, he pushed her back.

  “What’s wrong? I thought you said it would feel good.”

  Drawing her up, he kissed the top of her head and chuckled. “Absolutely nothing is wrong. It feels perfect. But this will end all too soon if you keep on. It will have to wait until next time.”

  “But Nate, there won’t be a next time. There’s only tonight, and then we can’t ever—”

  He raised her face in his hands until he could look her in the eye. “Listen to me, Amelia. We’ll be together tonight and for a lifetime of nights. You’re not marrying Radwill or any other man but me, do you understand?”

  She blinked, her eyes glittering in the soft light of the bedside lamp, tears catching in her lashes. “But—”

  He kissed her hard, pressing her back onto the bed, following her down and covering her body with his own. “Only me,” he muttered between kisses. “You’ll marry only me.”

  “Only you,” she whispered into his mouth. “It’s only ever been you, Nate.”

  His control was stretched thin and he was unable to keep to the slow pace he’d started, but Amelia showed not an ounce of hesitation. With her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her calves wrapped around his thighs, she urged him on. He stopped long enough to shuck his trousers entirely before stretching over her once again, prepared to claim this woman tonight and for the rest of his life.

  “It might hurt,” he said, kissing her cheek and willing himself to slow down as his cock slipped between her thighs.

  “I trust you,” she whispered.

  “You feel like heaven on earth,” he sighed, pressing slowly into her, letting her adjust to the feel of him. He cradled her head in his hand, gently easing in, kissing her lips as she drew in short breaths. “It will only hurt this once.” With one quick thrust of his hips, he settled fully into her. Amelia gasped and he held still, waiting for a sign from her that the pain had passed.

  “It’s all right,” she said, stroking a hand through his hair. “It’s not bad. I’m all right.”

  Finally, blessedly, he began to move inside her. Amelia might have been an innocent, but her body learned the ways of his quickly, and soon she was meeting his thrusts with her own. The pleasure built in him with astonishing speed, but he held it at bay, sensing Amelia beginning to lose herself to the sensation.

  “I’m not sure...”

  “Just give yourself over to it, Amelia. Let it take you.”

  “Ohhh.” She released the sound on a breathy moan. Her back arched and her nails dug into his shoulders. “Nate...”

  “Yes, darling, like that.” He curled a hand under her bottom to angle her hips better and drove himself into her in short, sharp thrusts. She cried out, shaking around him as pleasure took her once again. Only then did Nate let himself go, his body going rigid as his own release washed over him.

  He collapsed down on her, body spent, but soul taking flight. Her fingers languidly raked through his hair and down the back of his neck, sending a shudder through his body. Kissing her shoulder, he pushed his weight off her, rolling to his back and bringing her with him.

  “Oh, my,” Amelia said, her fingers playing across his chest. “I had no idea.”

  “We’re just getting started, darling. I promise to show you pleasure like you’ve never known.”

  “Nate,” she sighed, the languor vanishing from her voice. She sat up, a naked vision at his side, black curls tumbling down over her shoulders. Without thinking, he reached for her, smoothing his palm over her shoulder and down her arm, skimming the side of her breast, coming back to cup it, to run his thumb over her hardened nipple. She hiked one eyebrow at him. “Pay attention, please. What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to get married, Amelia.”

  “But—”

  He pressed a finger to her lips. “Yes, it isn’t what anyone planned, but we’ll work it out. I’ll talk to your father. Somehow I’ll convince him of my worth. I promise you.” It would be much easier to manage now he was going into partnership with Lord Hyde. “I know your family had hopes of a title, but we’ll convince them your happiness is worth more than any title. You will be happy with me, Amelia, won’t you?”

  She smiled, her eyes on the rumpled sheets wrapped around them. “I would be eternally happy.”

  “Then be happy, darling.”

  She blinked, her black lashes fluttering against her cheekbones. “I am happy.”

  Hooking a finger under her chin, he lifted her face until she was looking at him again. Her eyes glittered with emotion. “Excellent, I’ve done my job well. Now, as delightful as the night has been thus far, I’ve overlooked something of paramount importance.”

  “What is that?”

  “Your breasts,” he murmured, reaching out to palm one fully. Her eyelids fluttered again and she moaned softly. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve been imagining them and I have yet to touch them properly. And then there’s my mouth.”

  Nate leaned up and laid her back on the bed. “Your mouth?” she mumbled, drunk with desire again.
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  He lowered his head, teasing her with the tip of his tongue. “Here, let me show you.”

  He did, and she didn’t leave his bed until many hours later.

  * * *

  Nate lay sprawled on his stomach, sound asleep. His long arms were spread wide, nearly consuming the surface of the bed. Amelia’s eyes roved over him, committing every inch of him, every second of the night, to her memory. For all she knew about him and everything they’d shared, there was still so much more to discover, and tonight had merely scratched the surface. Did he always take over the bed when he slept or only in the exhaustion following lovemaking? Would he stay sprawled that way all night or would he curl himself around her body? Did he surface slowly from his dreams or did he spring to alertness all at once? Those intimacies were reserved for another woman, in another life.

  Because for all his noble protestations, despite his stated intention to marry her, she couldn’t take him from Julia, and she couldn’t derail his future. As she’d intended when she came to his bed, this would be their only night together.

  She’d given herself body, heart and soul to him, and now she was leaving him behind for good. Was she leaving him for Radwill? It was still impossible to say. She’d come to him determined to share this one night with him and before submitting to her duty. But now she’d done it—now she knew—marrying Radwill, or anyone at all, felt like a heresy. Perhaps she couldn’t go through with it in the end, not even for Mother’s sake. That was a problem to be faced in the morning.

  The grandfather clock in the hallway had just struck four. It was time to return to her room, before the servants began stirring for the day. Drinking in one last lingering glimpse of Nate—his tousled gold hair, his face relaxed in sleep, looking more than ever like the boy she remembered, his long, muscled limbs, his smooth, gold skin scattered here and there with scars she’d never have the chance to ask about—she kissed her fingertips and blew it to him. Without a sound, she slipped from his room.