The Dangerous Love of a Rogue. Jane Lark

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Thames through the glass. She’d forgotten the garden bordered it.

      Ripples ran with the current of the river, shimmering in the moonlight. While dots of light sparkled from windows and lanterns on the far bank. It was a scene from fairytales.

      Lord Framlington lifted their joined hands, pulling her awareness back to him as he brought her fingers to his lips, then kissed them. His dark eyes gleamed staring at her glove, then he freed the button at her wrist, and then began to pull each fingertip free.

      Once the glove was loose he stripped it off and tossed it on the table where his gloves laid. Then he removed the other too.

      She should not allow him to touch her skin, but beautiful sensations skipped up her arm as his lips pressed on her bare knuckles.

      Was everything which felt good wicked?

      “What are you thinking?” He pressed a kiss on each of her fingertips.

      Her heartbeat stuttered, she could not find words to reply while his breath warmed her skin.

      Pain circled low in her stomach.

      His gaze lifted to hers, “What, Mary?” then lowered. He slipped the tip of her little finger into his mouth and sucked it gently.

      She pulled her hand from his grip, a blush burning. “I should not allow you to do this.”

      “You should not be here, come to that.” His voice was deep and low.

      “No…”

      “But you are.” His hands braced her waist.

      The danger she faced reared. They were a long way from the house. No one would hear her cry out if he forced himself on her.

      Her heart raced harder as her fingers gripped the muscle of his arms through his evening coat and her breath caught in her lungs as she looked up at him.

      “You do not trust me.” It was a statement, not a question.

      She did not. How could she? “I barely know you…”

      “Apart from your brother’s tales.”

      His face had moved into shadow. What had seemed an enchanted place, suddenly felt like a gothic novel.

      “I’ll not hurt you,” he whispered. “Don’t heed him, I am no monster, Mary, darling. I do not wish you harm. I want you to be my wife, why would I hurt you?”

      “I… I…” She struggled to find words as his gaze dropped to her lips.

      She turned her head, so he would not kiss her. He merely kissed her cheek instead.

      A tremor raked her muscles as his lips touched her earlobe too, then her neck.

      Her fingers clasped his arm. “Why does John dislike you so much?”

      His head lifted, moonlight catching as a glimmer in his eyes, which were dark here. “Pembroke sees himself in me. He was not always a saint. He had an affair with my eldest sister.”

      “With your sister…”

      He smiled. “I suppose he did not mention it. Yes, he cuckolded my brother-in-law, Lord Ponsonby, not that I think Ponsonby cared. It was when we were in Paris.”

      “You were in Paris with him…” His palms felt heavy on her waist.

      “Yes.” The deep masculine burr tingled over her skin.

      John had spent seven years abroad. She’d written to him, but he’d rarely replied and she’d been too young to hear much of how he’d lived. He’d married Kate soon after his return.

      “If you do not believe me, ask him. I doubt he’d lie. A young man’s recklessness is part of life – a part your brother now claims to be above. But he has no cause to judge me ill beyond my lack of wealth.”

      “But you have a reputation.”

      “Yes. Ignore it, it is irrelevant to us; your brother had a reputation. Now he has a wife. This is about the two of us, no one else. You and I shall be all that counts.”

      Her heart ached. But her common-sense whispered. “Only because you need my money.”

      “What I need right now, Mary, darling, is not your money. I need you.”

      A muddle of turbulent emotion writhed inside her but longing overrode them all, as his lips pressed down on hers.

      She forgot doubt and responded as his tongue slipped past her parted lips. Her fingers gripped his shoulders and when she slid her tongue into his mouth, he caught it lightly in his teeth, for an instant, before sucking it deeper.

      It was so intimate.

      Her fingers slid up into his soft, thick hair.

      I love you, the words whispered through her thoughts unbidden. She did, she loved him, no matter what John said, no matter the risk. She loved him.

      His hands held her, resting against her back.

      She remembered everything he’d done the other night. His lips left hers and began travelling a path of kisses along her jaw then down her neck.

      “You’re beautiful,” he said, against her skin.

      She shivered. “And rich,” she whispered to the air above her, forcing her mind to return to reality.

      His head lifted and a soft laugh left his lips as his finger tapped beneath her chin. “Yes you are rich but there is far more to you than money.”

      His fingers fell to either shoulder and slipped beneath the short sleeves of her gown then slid them down. They hung loose on her arms and her bodice sagged

      His gaze dropped to her breasts, and his heated palms cupped them.

      Mary’s mouth dried and she looked up at the glass roof above. It reflected her image, against the jet black wash of night.

      She saw his dark hair against her pale skin as his lips touched the hollow at the base of her neck where her pulse flickered.

      When his fingers slid into the fabric and gripped her breasts, she shivered again.

      Oh dear Lord. A sweeping sensation plunged down to the place between her legs. She ached for him there.

      He eased one breast free, then his lips brushed her nipple before covering it and then sucking it; cradling her nipple on his tongue.

      Her bones dissolved and her fingers clasped in his hair, as she watched the mirror image above them.

      This was wicked, but delicious; the sensations intoxicating.

      Her breath came in pants. He made her body ignite.

      Still sucking her breast, his hands slid to her hips, and began lifting her dress.

      Cold СКАЧАТЬ