“I want you to”—her hair tumbled out of its chignon, falling around her naked breasts in honey curls—“make me”—her voice husky, her skin warm and radiant—“come.”
Evan stepped back, his eye wide. “Pardon?”
“Pardon?” Rose shook her head. “You heard me.”
“How do you even know…?”
“I have a married sister. Goodness. I know just about…everything.”
“But you’re a lady.”
“A lady who wants to—”
“No, no.” Evan clutched his forehead. “Don’t say it again, Rose. Good God.”
“Evan, surely you know how to—”
“Yes, of course. But not with you. Not until… Just not with you. It isn’t right.”
Rose raised her eyebrows. “But you’ve been with other women?”
“Yes.”
“Then why not with me?”
“You’re…different.”
“How so? I have two eyes, two ears, a mouth.” She smiled and jiggled her breasts just a little. “Two breasts, and this lovely secret place where I get really—”
He quieted her with a kiss. “Rose, you mustn’t talk like that.”
She lowered her hand to the bulge in his trousers. “You want me.”
“My God!” He brushed her hand away. “What in the world?”
She reached forward again, but he stopped her.
“What’s the problem? I’m just like every other woman you’ve been with.”
“No, you’re special.”
How ridiculous. How was she to be sure she could feel magic with him if he wouldn’t allow her to experiment? “How so?”
“You’re a lady of the peerage. I can’t…take advantage of you that way.”
“But you can take advantage of some other woman?” Ire rose within her. First Cameron had been obsessed with her station, and now Evan. “That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
“No, there are women, and there are…ladies.”
Rose scoffed. “Nonsense. Women are women, no matter to whom they’re born. None of us had a say in it, you know. I didn’t ask to be born to the Earl and Countess of Ashford. If I had been born a commoner, you would give me what I want, wouldn’t you?”
“Rose…”
She quickly pulled her corset up and turned around. “Do me up, please.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“If I had been born a commoner—” She stopped. If she had been born a commoner, she would be Cameron’s woman. Cameron’s wife. The wife of the man she loved.