Eventually she leaned back to see his face. To his delight, her expression held no reticence, just curiosity and a stirring sensuality that made him hard. “I know you can do better than that.”
“Aren’t you enjoying it?”
“Of course I am, but perhaps it’s time to get to the good stuff.” Her pout did nothing for his precarious control. “We’ve only got one night.”
Over his dead body. “Caro, stop trying to direct events. I’m your lover, not the steward on your estate awaiting daily orders.”
“But, Silas—”
He hauled her up against him and took her mouth in the kind of kiss that shook empires. She stiffened in shock before on a muffled moan, she kissed him back. After yesterday’s fierceness, he should know what to expect from her passion. But her reckless ardor sent his heart crashing against his ribs. He lost himself in a succulent heaven of satiny lips and flickering tongues and nipping teeth. When he raised his head, they were both breathless.
“Shall I take down my hair?” she asked huskily, releasing his shoulders.
“Let me.” He caught her hands and placed quick kisses on each set of knuckles. “I’ve waited for this since I first met you.”
“Really?” she asked in a wondering tone. “I had no idea.”
He slid a pin from the rich brown hair. One long lock snaked across her round bosom. In a disgustingly adolescent fashion, his heart skipped a beat. “I know.”
She stared at him with wide blue eyes. “You wooed me all that time.”
“I did.” Another pin. Another loosened lock.
“I didn’t realize I was…interested in you until I thought you were in love with Fenella—then I wanted to kill you both.”
His lips twitched. “How appalling.”
She regarded him wryly. “You know I’m no angel.”
“For which I’m heartily grateful.”
Another pin free. Then another. And another. The fashionable coronet started to look alluringly disheveled.
The simple act of undoing Caroline’s hair threatened to bring him to his knees. One night? A lifetime wouldn’t be enough.
“I’ve been so blind,” she murmured.
“Not anymore.”
With the last pin gone, her hair tumbled in disarray about her shoulders. On a low growl of pleasure, he buried his hands in its soft luxuriance. He kissed her again, with all the reverence he felt. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
She moaned against his lips and plucked at his shirt with an unashamed impatience that stoked his need. Panting he pulled away to tug his shirt over his head.
Her gaze fixed on his bare torso, and the salacious way she licked her lips sent another pulse of heat shuddering through him. “It’s a sin to cover you up.”
His laugh held a hint of bashfulness. “Why, thank you.”
Expression intent, she placed her hands on his chest. He trembled as she stroked his shoulders and pectorals and belly. For a woman who had been in a hurry, she suddenly seemed to have all the time in the world. Just when he was ready to move a little faster, damn it. Still, her touch created its own joy. Torment, too, perhaps, but definitely joy. His skin burned under her lingering exploration. She curled her fingers in the light covering of hair on his chest and the sting of fingernails made his blood simmer.
With a sigh, she moved closer, trailing kisses over his collarbone and lower. When her lips grazed his nipple, the simmer turned fierce. His breath hissed out.
With visible reluctance, she raised her head. “You don’t like it?”
He laughed softly and plunged a hand into her hair, holding her for a quick kiss. “You take me to paradise.”
“Good,” she said, and returned to torturing him.
He endured her predations in a lather of barely restrained hunger, until those clever, seeking hands found his cock. “Devil take you,” he grunted, catching her.