“Selena, love,” he said on a gasp, “if you keep this up, neither of us will be able to return to the ball without changing clothes first, and then all our guests will know precisely what we’ve been up to.”
She should have been worried, but instead she laughed, a low, husky, triumphant sound, too pleased with the sudden discovery of her new powers to abandon her sensuous assault just yet. It was left to Kyle to retain a vestige of discretion and sanity for both their sakes.
With struggling determination, he grasped Selena’s waist and lifted her up, settling her again in one skillful motion astride him. And as her wide-eyed gaze focused on his face, he thrust upward slowly, seeking the very depths of her sensuality. Her lips parted in a soft gasp while her back arched, bringing her tantalizing breasts closer, the rose-pink nipples excited and turgid. Kyle could almost hear his wildly beating heart quicken in response.
Fighting his urgency, he inhaled a sharp breath and surged upward into her clinging heat, luxuriating in the feel of her hot velvet pulsing around him, all the while wondering at the incredible, overwhelming desire he felt for her. How was it possible that with all the women he had known before, this passion he felt with Selena was so achingly new? How could she arouse such hot longing and compelling delight in him, such searing pleasure and lavish satisfaction, without even trying?
He watched the quicksilver light play over her delicate features and pondered the questions in one small but insistent corner of his mind—and came to one definite conclusion. He was skilled enough to make Selena’s body want him, but that wasn’t enough for him any longer. He wanted her to need him, to ache for him the way he did for her.
Suddenly Kyle was all seriousness, no longer feeling the slightest urge to prolong what was torment for them both. He took her mouth, his kisses violent and hot, with the same demanding intensity that he took her body. Crushing her soft, silken curves into him, he rose to meet her restless ardor, pressing her hips fiercely down as he swelled within her. And as the first convulsive shudder shook him, and he felt her fingers tighten on his shoulders in frantic response, Kyle captured Selena’s cries of delight with his mouth, aware even in his turbulent passion of the need for circumspection. Still, he couldn’t suppress his own rasping groans as she carried him with her to the sublime, dizzying heights of ecstasy.
A long, exquisite moment later, Selena collapsed on his chest, panting softly, sated and fulfilled. His own breathing labored, his racing heartbeat echoing hers, Kyle basked in the same repleteness. His hands gently stroked her back as he held her close, his cheek against her hair, his own body languid with sensual pleasure and contentment.
It felt natural and right to hold her like this—the thought floated through Kyle’s mind when he could once again think. Odd that once he’d wanted to be free of Selena. He understood now that he’d never be free of her…that he didn’t want to be. Somehow, without his ever realizing it, Selena had become immeasurably important in his life.
Yet even as he contemplated this new notion, the murmur of voices reached him. One was female and pleading; the other male and determined.
They were rapidly growing closer, Kyle realized with a silent oath. Selena heard the voices a moment later and went rigid in his embrace, but when she tried to sit up, Kyle’s arms clamped around her. It was too late now to make a graceful exit, and any mad scramble to settle their clothing or alter their compromising position would only draw attention.
“Don’t panic,” Kyle whispered as he slid Selena off his lap to the bench beside him and quietly began adjusting the bodice of her gown.
He was fastening the buttons of his pantaloons when he recognized the voice of his sister Lydia. When he reali
zed the other was Tanner Parkington’s, Kyle stiffened in outrage. It was one thing for him to bring Selena out here; she was his wife. It was quite another for an impoverished youth to seduce his innocent sister after he had been warned away.
Kyle clenched his fists as fury surged through him, but when he would have leaped to his feet, Selena’s hand sought his arm and stayed him. In the moment that he’d hesitated, she had realized the young couple were not bent on lovemaking but rather on arguing. And when they paused just outside the summerhouse, silhouetted against the moonlit sky, she could clearly make out the subject of their argument.
“You don’t love me,” Lydia was saying petulantly. “You don’t really want to marry me.”
“Of course I love you,” Tanner replied, an edge of frustration in his calm voice, “and of course I want to marry you. How can you doubt it? You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and the kindest, and the sweetest—”
“If you did, you would at least consider running away with me.”
“Lydia, please, be sensible. We can’t elope. Your brother was right. I couldn’t support you, not yet, not until I find steady work. I couldn’t even offer you a place to live. My uncle has taken my family in only begrudgingly, but he would balk for sure if I tried to foist a wife on him.”
“But I wouldn’t be at all expensive. I can be frugal, Tanner, I can!”
“I know you would, my love, or at least you would try, but I couldn’t allow you to make such a sacrifice. Perhaps it’s my pride, but I want to be able to give you things—pretty gowns and whatnot. It won’t be long, I promise.”
“It will,” Lydia replied, sounding near tears. “Kyle said a year at least, and then only if you have an income. And you told me how difficult it is for a gentleman to find employment.”
“Well, it isn’t for lack of trying. I just haven’t had any success yet. It would be easier if I had a trade. All I know is planting. But I’m considering trying to apprentice out as a carpenter.”
“That could take years!”
“Lydia, don’t cry, I beg you. Come here.”
There was a soft sniff as Tanner put a comforting arm around Lydia’s shoulders. Within the summerhouse, Selena felt Kyle tense beside her, and again she pressed his arm in warning.
Kyle didn’t move, but he ground his teeth as he watched Lydia lift her face to Tanner’s. “Tanner, will you kiss me?”
“Lydia, I can’t. It’s not honorable. I shouldn’t even be speaking to you. We’re betraying your brother’s trust as it is.”
“I don’t care. And you wouldn’t either, if you loved me. Maybe you’ll be sorry if I find someone else to marry.”
Tanner grasped her shoulders. “No, you’ve got to promise you’ll wait for me.” The urgency in his voice must have communicated itself to the girl, for she sighed heavily and murmured “Oh, Tanner,” before burying her face in his shoulder. A moment later, she suddenly drew back. “I know!” she exclaimed, sounding hopeful. “I’ll find a position. Perhaps Mr. Chandler would allow me to work in his store like Mrs. Whitfield does.”
“No, I won’t have it,” the young man replied, putting a period to that notion at once. “Just try a little to be brave, my love. We’ll find a way. Now come, I’d best return you to the ball before you’re missed. We’ve already been gone too long.”