He groaned softly as he felt the stroke of her tongue along his, hesitant at first and then more assuredly. His body instantly responded to the intimacy, engorging, and lengthening impatiently inside his pantaloons.
Christian pressed his body intimately into Lisette’s as he kissed her harder, deeper. Hearing her responding groan as his tongue now explored the sweetness of her mouth, at the same time as his hands moved restlessly up and down the length of her spine.
His fingers brushed against the tiny buttons fastening the back of her gown, and he continued to kiss her as he unfastened enough of those buttons to slip one of his hands inside and touch the softness of her bare skin.
She felt like silk beneath his fingertips. Warm, soft silk that seemed to heat to the touch of his caressing hands.
It was not enough. Christian needed to see all of her. To touch her. To caress and pleasure her—
‘No!’ Lisette had wrenched her mouth away from Christian’s to protest, eyes wide as she stared up at him in what looked like a mixture of fascination and shock.
The first emotion Christian could understand; he was experienced enough to know when a woman found pleasure in his kisses. And he had no doubt Lisette had enjoyed their kisses as much as he had.
The shock appeared to have occurred because he had unfastened her gown and touched her bared skin...
Her dilated pupils, and the quick rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed deeply, told him that Lisette’s shock was completely genuine.
Not a whore, then.
The mystery that surrounded this young woman deepened every second they were together.
She pushed determinedly against his chest now in an effort to escape his imprisoning arms. ‘You must release me, Christian. Please!’ Her eyes met his in appeal when her efforts to free herself proved unsuccessful.
He looked down at her searchingly. ‘You did not enjoy being kissed?’
‘No! Well. Yes.’ A blush heated her cheeks. ‘Of course I enjoyed being kissed—’
‘Then why have you stopped me?’
Why had she stopped him?
For the same reason she knew that she could not remain here alone in this room with this man a moment longer.
Because she had enjoyed his kisses too much. Had wanted his hands upon her bared flesh too much.
Because she had wanted so much more than just his kisses.
For just a brief time, a few moments, Lisette had wanted to lose herself in Christian’s kisses and caresses, to forget the unhappiness of these past months, along with the uncertainty of no longer knowing who or what she was.
For this time, here with Christian, she had wanted to just be herself. The Lisette Duprée who had been loved and cherished by the couple she had believed were her parents, and not the illegitimate daughter of a woman who seemed to care nothing for her, who owned and ran a lowly Parisian tavern frequented by criminals and whores.
That same woman who Lisette now knew had not even claimed her as being her daughter.
Except it really would not do.
The brief pleasure Lisette might know in Christian Beaumont’s arms would not, could not, drive away the otherwise unhappiness of her life for more than a few minutes, at the most hours.
Whereas the reality of the life she now led would last for her lifetime.
‘I have to go.’ She avoided meeting Christian’s gaze as she stepped away from him. ‘I must return to the tavern before I am missed—’
‘Perhaps you have already been missed...?’
Her heart leaped apprehensively in her chest. ‘Do not say that, Christian, even in jest.’
Christian frowned. He saw how pale her face was in the firelight. ‘Do you fear retribution from your aunt?’
&nbs