Amazingly, she complied.
For a moment he did nothing but look at her. It was so rare that she was still, that something on her face wasn’t moving or speaking or expressing an opinion with nothing more than a scrunch of her nose. He just looked at her, memorizing the way her eyebrows arched into delicate wings and her eyes grew wide under the strain of keeping quiet. He savored the hot rush of her breath across his finger, and the funny little sound she made at the back of her throat without realizing it.
And then he couldn’t help it. He kissed her.
He took her face in his hands, and he lowered his mouth to hers. The last time he’d been angry, and he’d seen her as little more than a piece of forbidden fruit, the one girl his father thought he couldn’t have.
But this time he was going to do it right. This would be their first kiss.
And it would be one to remember.
His lips were soft, gentle. He waited for her to sigh, for her body to soften against his. He wouldn’t take until she made it clear she was ready to give.
And then he would offer himself in return.
He brushed his mouth against hers, with just enough friction to feel the texture of her lips, to sense the heat of her body. He tickled her with his tongue, tender and sweet, until her lips parted.
And then he tasted her. She was sweet, and she was warm, and she was returning his kiss with the most devilish mix of innocence and experience he could ever have imagined. Innocence, because it was quite clear she didn’t know what she was doing. And experience, because despite all that, she drove him wild.
He deepened the kiss, his hands sliding down the length of her back until one rested on the curve of her bottom and the other at the small of her back. He pulled her against him, against the rising evidence of his desire. This was insane. It was mad. They were standing in her mother’s drawing room, three feet from a door that could be opened at any moment, by a brother who certainly would feel no compunction at tearing Gareth apart limb from limb.
And yet he couldn’t stop.
He wanted her. He wanted all of her.
God help him, he wanted her now.
“Do you like this?” he murmured, his lips moving to her ear.
He felt her nod, heard her gasp as he took her lobe between his teeth. It emboldened him, fired him.
“Do you like this?” he whispered, taking one hand and bringing it around to the swell of her breast.
She nodded again, this time gasping a tiny little, “Yes!”
He couldn’t help but smile, nor could he do anything but slide his hand inside the folds of her coat, so that the only thing between his hand and her body was the thin fabric of her dress.
“You’ll like this even better,” he said wickedly, skimming his palm over her until he felt her nipple harden.
She let out a moan, and he allowed himself even greater liberties, catching the nub between his fingers, rolling it just a touch, tweaking it until she moaned again, and her fingers clutched frantically at his shoulders.
She would be good in bed, he realized with a primitive satisfaction. She wouldn’t know what she was doing, but it wouldn’t matter. She’d learn soon enough, and he would have the time of his life teaching her.
And she would be his.
His.
And then, as his lips found hers again, as his tongue slid into her mouth and claimed her as his own, he thought—
Why not?
Why not marry her? Why n—
He pulled back, still holding her face in his hands. Some things needed to be considered with a clear mind, and the Lord knew that his head wasn’t clear when he was kissing Hyacinth.
“Did I do something wrong?” she whispered.
He shook his head, unable to do anything but look at her.