Her hand curled into his shoulders as she clenched, provoking another long exhalation. “Shall I move?”
“Ride me as you will,” he bit out. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled for restraint.
He wasn’t a man who relinquished the upper hand easily. He wasn’t a man who relinquished the upper hand at all, if he could help it. Yet here she was, naked except for her chemise and stockings, holding him deep inside. If that explosive encounter against the wall had proven anything, it was his physical superiority. Yet he gave her the initiative.
A slow, pleased smile curved her lips and this time she deliberately tightened around him. To the music of his groans, she adjusted her position.
Experimentally she rose. She loved the glide of his body. She loved to control the pace and depth. His hands flexed on her hips and she waited for him to take charge. But he didn’t. She poised above him, their bodies only just joined, then descended hard. Immediately he filled her.
Nell couldn’t credit how different this felt. She’d like to do this again. And again.
She swiveled her hips. Through her chemise, his hands framed her waist. Their joining seemed more decadent because neither was naked. Every time she moved, his breeches slid against her thighs.
Her breasts bounced wantonly. He caught one peak between his lips and drew until she cried out. She broke the contact as she sank, eager to feel him inside her.
His breath emerged in humid gasps and a fine sheen of sweat covered his torso. Every time she took him, her muscles clamped, demanding his surrender. Such heady knowledge that she’d brought him to this edge. Except that she too verged on climax.
She wasn’t there yet. Not… quite.
This time when she took him, he tilted forward to nibble an incendiary path up her neck. When he reached her mouth, his tongue stabbed into her the way his body did. She sucked hard, loving the taste of his desperation.
Kissing her as if he starved, he stroked that secret place between her legs. She launched into flight, crushing her face into the hot curve of his shoulder to stifle her guttural cry as she split into a thousand incandescent shards.
Through her rapture, she felt him push upward. Heat flooded her. As her body milked him, he flowed endlessly. For time without measure, she floated in a golden orb where she only knew delight and the warmth of Leath’s arms.
After an eon of glory, she drifted back to earth as softly as a feather on a gentle breeze. Nell opened her eyes to find him tipping her back against the couch. After he’d taken her against the wall, she’d read so many conflicting emotions in his eyes. Sexual repletion. Anger. Regret. Now she saw joy. The dark gray shone like the lake at Alloway Chase at dawn.
As she stared up at this man who watched her as if she was the greatest miracle in creation, she believed in him completely. No heartless seducer could make her feel so precious. It was beyond any deceiver’s art.
She swallowed, preparing to confess that she no longer doubted him. But he spoke before she mustered a word.
“Marry me, Eleanor.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leath felt Eleanor stiffen beneath him, then frantic hands shoved him away. She toppled off to crouch with a hunted expression before the fire. She looked like she hated him again. Which hurt even more, given that seconds ago she’d been staring dreamily into his eyes as if she never wanted to leave him.
He sat up, running a hand through his hair. “I take it that’s a no.”
She scowled as if he’d suggested some perverse liberty. “You’re feeling guilty because you’ve ruined me.”
“For God’s sake, Eleanor, that’s not why I proposed.”
“I’m sure it isn’t.” Her tone indicated the opposite. She looked magnificent on the red and blue rug with her breasts catching the fire’s glow. The flames lent her hair a hundred different colors.
When she noticed the way his gaze lingered on her chest, she clumsily tugged her chemise into place. He couldn’t help regretting her modesty, although having her half naked did nothing for his concentration.
She looked around, flustered. “What on earth are we thinking, staying in here so long? Everyone will know just what we’ve been up to.”
“That’s not why I proposed,” he repeated grimly, ignoring her sudden concern for propriety. If his behavior shocked the Sedgemoors and their friends, too bad. “But I have ruined you. Earlier tonight, I treated you like a tart I picked up off the streets, instead of a woman I esteem.”
The resistance ebbed from her expression. To his surprise, she laid her hand on his knee. “You were angry and you set out to teach me a lesson. But we both know that’s not how it turned out in the end.”
“I lost control.” His gut cramped to think what little reverence he’d shown her against that bedamned wall. Worse, he’d be a liar if he said he hadn’t enjoyed it.
“I love that I make you lose control,” she whispered, staring at him with shining eyes. “And I never felt like you didn’t care. Either time.”
His lips twisted. “I care too much.” A confession of love hovered, but her dismayed reaction to his proposal silenced him. Right now, he felt infernally vulnerable. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t know what to do about it.