The Cursed Countess (The Daring Drake Sisters 1)

The look of adoration in his brown eyes was far greater than with any of her husbands, even Stanhope.

“Damn,” he whispered, staring down at her. Before moving inside her, his lips found her nipple and brought the hard little nub into his warm mouth. His tongue flicked it and then he suckled her hard.

Her hips moved as he played with her breasts. Passion continued to build until she had to have relief. “Please,” she begged him. “Please.”

He smiled, lifting his head from her breasts. “Oh, my pleasure.” Slowly, he slid out of her, watching her face as he moved. “Tell me what you want, Tessa.”

“You, harder, faster....release.” Something she’d never received from her husbands.

“Yes, my lady.” He held her hips and plundered her depths, ravaging her control until she reached a peak she’d never been over before. But as he delved deep inside her again, his thumb rubbed against that sensitive spot, sending her spiraling over the cliff.

She moaned as her inner muscles clenched down on the length of his shaft. Her body shuddered in glorious release. Nothing had ever felt like this, never with her husbands, never by her own hand. She arched her back, drawing him even farther as wave after wave crashed over her.

“Tessa,” he groaned as he thrust into again and again until he reached his climax too.

“God,” he groaned and then slid into her one last time. Her muscles twitched and shuddered as he spilled his seed into her.

Realization of what happened slowly dawned on her.

“Oh, what have I done now?” she whispered to herself.

CHAPTER 9

Jack heard her whispered words and knew exactly what he had done. He lost control in a way he hadn’t since he was twenty. He had always been so careful to avoid the possibility of a bastard child. What was it about this woman that made him so careless?

He’d let his emotions get the best of him. A foolish mistake. The past three years working for Fairchild had taught him to hide his feelings from everyone, except his brother and grandmother. For some reason those two could always see right through him. And now, he had openly displayed his emotions to the one woman he should never let see them.

“I’m sorry. I should have withdrawn.”

“I think I understand,” she said softly. Her hand cupped his check as her thumb caressed his face.

He dared a glance at her and saw understanding. How could any woman empathize when what he’d done put her entire reputation at risk? “You do?”

She smiled. “I could be wrong, but I think we both lost a bit of control tonight.”

He leaned over and kissed her mouth slowly, sweetly. “You are right about that.”

Slowly, he pulled out of her, missing her warmth at once. “Lay with me for a while.”

“Oh?” She reached for her night rail that he’d tossed near the pillows, but he grabbed the crumbled cotton first and threw it across the room. “Jack!”

“I want to lay with you naked, not with layers of clothes between us.” He sat on the edge of the bed and removed his boots and the trousers. She pushed herself up to the pillows and dove under the covers. “Are you shy or cold?”

“Freezing!”

He laughed at her reaction and was thankful at the same time. He hated to see a woman too shy to let a man glimpse her naked. “Warm the bed for me too.”

He moved to the bed and tossed the covers over himself before drawing her near. The sensation of her body molded against his sent more lustful images to his head. Oh, the things he wanted to do with her. Now that his initial lust has been sated, he could take it slow the next time and explore every inch of her body.

“What will we do?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“If what happened here tonight has repercussions? It is highly unlikely since I have been married three times and never conceived”

Repercussions. He blew out a long breath. He’d been so careful the last nine years that he never thought about it. “We shall deal with it, when and if we discover that there is an issue.”

Slowly, he drew her back into his arms and let her head rest against his chest. For a while neither said a word, both lost in their own thoughts. Jack couldn’t get the idea out of his head that she might be a killer. His job was to prove that she murdered her late husband, or maybe even all of them. Somewhere in this house might be the evidence to prove her guilty. Then what would he do?