“Stockings beneath your trousers, Miss Cavanaugh? How inventive.”
Then he peeled off the trousers, leaving her in said stockings alone. He slowly peered up at the length of her from his crouch. Her entire body blushed red, but she held herself still under his devouring gaze. She felt his eyes, like a physical touch, on every dip and curve of her body. She didn’t know what to expect, only that she craved his attention.
Christopher stood and tugged her into his arms. The night closed around them, holding their passion and secrets close. They came together, kissing even more passionately than before, and she could only clasp his shoulders and surrendered to his ravishment as he bore her down to the cushions and pillows on the carpeted floor.
“Pippa,” he groaned against her lips as if tortured.
“I want you…and tonight I will be wicked.” This was her choice. It was unlikely he or anyone would marry her, and that was fine, for Pippa knew enough of independence to believe she could forge a future for herself and flourish. Tonight she would choose a moment to remember for her entire life, memories of pleasure and not those of hurt and disappointment. And she would do it with a man she was falling irrevocably in love with.
“I do not want the risk of falling with a child…do you know how to prevent this?” she tried to sound worldly, but the blush that covered her entire body pulled a tender smile to his lips.
“I do.” Another kiss of violent tenderness before their lips parted. “I want to court you…do this properly…”
Her heart lurched inside, and she searched his gaze, unable to trust in this declaration. It was the passion, the lust speaking. She was the daughter of a disgraced baron, and he the duke of eminent power and respectability. The entire ton knew the kind of lady he was expected to marry, and it was not her. The false promises Mr. Nigel Williamsfield had made suddenly reared their head. “I have no expectations of you,” she said with frankness. Yet her heart screamed for more.
This was proving more dangerous than she’d anticipated.
Christopher pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips, and down to her neck. “Trust me,” he murmured along her jaw. “I would not ever willingly hurt you.”
She wanted to believe in his words so much her throat ached. “Why not?”
He cupped her cheeks, tipping her face up toward his. “Because you are already precious.”
Then he took her lips with carnal tenderness. Her body felt flushed and unfamiliar. A shiver of alarm and anticipation in equal measure worked through Pippa when he dragged his fingers along her stocking-clad shin.
He trailed his fingers up the length of her leg, and over her silken stockings. Then he explored farther, letting his hand drift up the sensitive skin of her inner thigh to the wet heart of her.
“Oh!” she gasped at the delightful intimacy and then moaned when he parted her folds with one of his fingers.
Their gaze collided and she could not remove her eyes from his. All her senses became centered around the feather-light pressure against her sex. Then he slipped a finger into her, and she arched sharply off the ground.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, taking her lips with soft, soothing kisses.
Each stroke into her wet, stretched sex was a shock of exquisite pleasure, and Pippa whimpered craving more. The shivering sensation low in her stomach felt as if she were falling.
“How adventurous do you wish to be tonight?”
In answer, she leaned forward and put her lips against the naked flesh of his chest, parted her lips, and let her tongue swipe across his nipple. He groaned, and she almost purred. She peppered kisses up to his throat and chin. Pippa was unable to voice the wanton leanings in her heart. But then…she’d never been a coward. “I want endless kisses,” she murmured against his mouth, before kissing him deeply.
His mouth moved more urgently against hers in a kiss of exquisite tenderness, while his hands learned each dip and swell of her body. It was as if each place he touched caught fire and burned long after he had moved on. With nips in between kisses, he awoke the carnal creature within her. His hand glided over her breast, the lightest of touches, then his tongue curled around her nipple.
Pippa moaned weakly.
“How beautiful you are,?
?? he murmured roughly. “I want to woo you…court you. I am falling into your smiles, your cleverness, your impropriety, and I do not want to stop, Miss Cavanaugh. I do not ever want to stop.”
She found it impossible to understand what he hoped to gain by his extraordinary declaration. “Woo me?”
A kiss was pressed against her lips. “Woo you…marry you.”
She did laugh then, startling them both. Pippa sobered, staring at him, not trusting the sweet feeling bursting in her heart. Oh, Christopher. His name whispered in her mind like a caress. A sweet, piquant longing struck her in the stomach, thick and undeniable. Dear God. She hesitated, in equal surprise and doubt. “You jest with my hopes and emotions.”
“No jesting," he murmured. "You make me feel, Pippa, a thousand sensations, hope, and dreams, and I can tell I am eager to experience a million more with you."
He had a look in his eyes that touched something cold way down inside of her and thawed it.
“I do not believe in sacrificing my happiness to suit my family’s notions of respectability,” he murmured, kissing her lips with such tenderness a lump rose in her throat. “You are not disreputable. You are kind and wonderful, improper and wanton, and I adore everything about you.”