Truly a Wife (Free Fellows League 4)

Miranda lifted her eyebrow in a show of disbelief.

“Or I’d be at Lady Garrison’s party dancing with you.”

Or on the Channel smuggling. She thought it, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“I’m sorry you missed your party.”

“There will be other parties.” She straightened her back, then stretched out her legs, taking great care not to jostle the chessboard. “And if the truth be known, I’d rather be here playing chess with you than anywhere else in the world.”

“Careful, Lady Miranda,” he cautioned. “You’re in danger.”

She looked down at the chessboard.

“Checkmate,” Daniel said, before shoving the board out of the way and closing the distance between them.

He covered her mouth with his, and Miranda yielded to temptation, parting her lips, allowing him to deepen the kiss. He complied, moving his lips on hers, kissing her harder, then softer, then harder once more, testing her response, slipping his tongue past her teeth, exploring the sweet hot interior of her mouth with practiced finesse.

Daniel kissed her as if his life depended upon it, leisurely stroking the inside of her mouth in a provocative imitation of the mating dance, while Miranda followed his lead, moving her lips on his and returning his kiss.

What she lacked in experience, she made up for in natural ability and enthusiasm. And her newfound talent delighted him. Daniel made love to her mouth, sharing his store of knowledge, offering her the advantage of his greater expertise as he patiently taught her everything he’d ever learned about kissing.

Miranda absorbed his knowledge as she absorbed the feel of his lips on hers. She eagerly accepted his kisses and returned them in full measure, as she advanced from being a novice in the art of kissing, to becoming an intermediate and ultimately a virtuoso, in a matter of minutes. Mimicking the action of his tongue, Miranda took what he gave her, and succeeded in adapting the motions into a technique all her own.

The pleasure he felt while kissing her shook Daniel to his core. She took his breath away, and with it went all vestiges of his precious self-control.

He grew rock hard beneath the pink sheets. The blood pounded in his head, and his body trembled with the force of the passion that rolled over him, urging him to pull her closer so he could experience the exquisite pleasure of settling himself against her and surrounding himself with her warmth and softness.

Forcing himself to slow down, Daniel pulled his mouth away from hers as her soft sigh of surrender registered in his brain, reminding him that despite her extraordinary talent for kissing, she had never lain with a man.

He rolled away.

“Daniel?” Miranda rolled with him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

He felt her cool palm on his back and heard his name on her lips, but the sound seemed to come from a distance as he battled for control. He sucked in a breath as the tightening in his loins hit him like a punch to the belly. Damnation! Looking at her had the power to make him ache. Daniel struggled to tamp down his raging desire. His muscles were taut, his member rigid and insistent, and his control was stretched almost to the breaking point.

Miranda pressed her face against his back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Inhaling the clean pear and vanilla scent of her, Daniel closed his eyes. An image of Miranda lying naked on a cushion of satin pillows in the prow of a punt popped into his brain.

He did his best to blot out the image as she placed a kiss on his bare back. But he trembled beneath her touch. Miranda was dangerous. Dangerous to his peace of mind. And far more potent than the whisky he’d consumed the night before.

Because he wanted her with a passion that astounded him. He wanted to lie naked, buried to the hilt, between Miranda’s thighs. But first, he wanted to touch her and taste

her and make her writhe with the force of the pleasure he gave her. He wanted to explore her depth, feel her pulse around him, and to spill himself deep enough to make a miracle take root.

And then he wanted to do it again.

He wanted to fall asleep in her arms and wake up to the morning light holding her in his.

Reaching up, Daniel took hold of her wrist and brought it to his lips, where he planted a kiss on the vein where her pulse beat a strong, steady tattoo. “Go, Miranda,” he whispered. “Go before it’s too late.”

“I can’t,” she whispered. “Because it’s already too late.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Marriage has many pains,

but celibacy has no pleasures.”

—Samuel Johnson, 1709–1784