To Seduce a Bride (Courtship Wars)

His eyes had darkened with hunger, Lily saw. It gave her the confidence she had lacked until now. Tossing the key in the direction of her discarded gown, she crossed to Heath, then reached up and began to untie his cravat.

“Lily, devil take you…”

She laughed softly. “You may swear at me all you want, but I intend to have my way with you.”

Her laughter affected Heath more than anything else she could have done. He stared back at Lily as she unwound his cravat from around his neck. A teasing smile graced her lips, while her eyes were innocent and full of deviltry at the same time.

That look enchanted him, sending a hot rush of need straight to his loins, even before she slid her fingers down his waistcoat to probe the firmness of his burgeoning erection beneath his evening breeches.

“Do you really think you can resist me?” Lily murmured tauntingly. “Do you even want to try?”

Her big dark eyes sparkled with repressed laughter and something more: desire. She had been truthful when she said she wanted him. The realization aroused Heath even more than her tantalizing touch.

“I understand that seduction is an art,” Lily was saying as she knelt before him. “And I know firsthand that you are a consummate artist. So I hope you will forgive me if I am not quite as skilled at pleasuring you as you are at pleasuring me.”

When she unbuttoned the front of his evening breeches so that his sex sprang free, Heath muttered another oath and growled in a low voice, “Lily…I am not made of stone.”

“I should hope not,” she murmured, curving her fingers lightly around his cock. “Although this is rather like granite.”

Then she began stroking him…cradling the thick shaft of his manhood, grazing the blunt head with her fingertips, cupping the heavy, swollen sacs beneath.

At her boldness, Heath sucked in a harsh breath. He had never seen Lily like this. She had taken complete control, playing the enchantress, determined to seduce him. Her willfulness not only delighted and tempted him, it jolted him with stronger emotions he couldn’t begin to sort through just now. It was a struggle simply to remember why he had to resist her sensual assault.

“Am I doing this correctly?” Lily asked innocently, gazing up at him. “You had best advise me, or I might inadvertently hurt you.”

He didn’t reply except to curl his hands into fists at his sides. Then her touch grew even more brazen, her fingers wrapping around his turgid length, sweeping slowly up and down, squeezing, kneading gently.

Heath’s jaw locked and his entire body went rigid as he fought for control. Lily’s erotic caresses made him throb with heat. And when she leaned forward and pressed her lips to the crest of his arousal, it jerked eagerly.

He gave a low, strangled sigh as she closed her lips over the swollen head, tasting him with her tongue. A rush of fire flared through him, destroying the last vestiges of his resistance.

Tangling his hands in her hair, Heath closed his eyes and let his imagination take over. He could almost feel his shaft gliding slickly between the feminine folds of her sex…

The fire built inside him as Lily went on suckling him, plying him with warm caresses of her tongue and lips, laving and pulling, coaxing a shudder from him.

Heath finally yielded before he exploded. With a low groan, he grasped Lily’s shoulders and pulled her up. The satisfied smile on her lips gave him absolutely no choice but to haul her close and seize her mouth in a hungry kiss. He couldn’t possibly stop himself.

And in truth, he didn’t want to stop himself, Heath thought dazedly, drinking in her breaths as their tongues fiercely tangled. His strategy of keeping away from Lily seemed to have succeeded; she had come to him this time. Not only was she offering herself to him willingly, she was the pursuer, bent on his seduction-a huge step in their courtship war. And he intended to let her win this particular battle.

Lily would share his bed one day, it was inevitable. Even though she hadn’t yet agreed to wed him, she would soon. And claiming her body now would only hasten the day when he could make her his wife.

With that calming reflection, Heath forced himself to slow down. Although he was still breathing hard, he broke off their kiss and divested Lily of her chemise. Then he stepped back a short distance, the better to see all of her.

In the soft glow of lamplight, she looked like a cherished fantasy. A cloud of vibrant chestnut tresses framed her face and drifted about her shoulders, while her skin gleamed pale gold. Her disheveled look entranced him, but it was the sight of her luscious body that made his blood pound. Her high, ripe breasts. Her narrow waist. Her sweetly curving hips. Her slender legs. He wanted to explore the silken mass of her hair with his hands while he tasted every inch of her creamy skin. Yet he held back his impatience as he let Lily undress him.

When he was completely naked, she moved closer, into his arms. All her amusement seemed to have faded. Instead, she held his gaze solemnly, her hands roaming over his body as if she was hungry to touch him-which only made Heath hungrier.

In turn, he skimmed the undersides of her breasts, cupping her fullness. Lily made a breathy sound as he palmed the soft mound

s in his hands, a sound that became a whimper when he thumbed her taut nipples. He was mesmerized by the lure of her bare skin, yet he wanted more. Much more.

“Come,” Heath said hoarsely, taking her hand.

He drew her to the bed and lay back upon the sheets, pulling Lily down on top of him. But then he let her take the lead again. Her dark, fragrant hair fell in a silky curtain around their heads, then teased his skin as she bent and pressed passionate kisses over his jaw, his throat, his chest.

Heath welcomed her eagerness, reveled in the erotic friction between their bodies as she rubbed herself against the hardness of his erection. But then suddenly she stilled and raised her head, her expression uncertain for the first time this evening.

“Heath…I know I haven’t the experience of your other women,” she began before he abruptly cut her off.