Hardly a Husband (Free Fellows League 3)

Sarah laughed. "Last night… " she began.

"This morning… " he corrected.

"This morning you flatly refused to consider teaching me."

Jarrod nodded. "You took me by surprise this morning. I wasn't prepared for your proposition." He reached out and took hold of her hand, tugging it gently until Sarah stepped forward. He opened his legs and pulled her between them. "But I've had all day to think about it and all evening to stare at your bosom and…" He shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision. I believe you're right. I am the perfect man to teach you what you need to know — especially if you don't intend to marry. I mean, no young lady should be completely innocent when she begins her career…"

"Or when she marries," Sarah quickly added. "If she marries."

"Exactly," Jarrod agreed. "Every young lady should have some idea of what's to be expected of her…"

"How true," she breathed, mere inches from his lips.

"And every teacher ought to receive some sort of compensation for his dedication to imparting the lesson at hand…" He paused.

"I agree completely." Sarah leaned closer, shivering with anticipation as Jarrod released her hand in order to tug at the neckline of her gown.

"Mind if I satisfy my curiosity?" he asked politely.

"Be my guest," she invited.

Jarrod hooked his index finger in the center of the square o

f her neckline at the valley separating her breasts. Feeling for the fabric of her bodice and corset, Jarrod ran his finger from side to side.

Sarah moaned as his knuckle brushed the tips of her breasts. She moved forward without realizing it until her thigh was pressed against the hard ridge at the apex of his opened legs.

Jarrod applied constant gentle pressure until her dress gave up the ghost and her breasts popped free from their restraint. "What have we here?" he mused. "A French pastry with a pink frosted rosebud just for me." He looked at her to gauge her reaction, then leaned close and slowly licked the underside of her breast, tasting the tiny beads of perspiration there before he moved upward and covered the sensitive tip with his mouth.

Good heavens! Sarah's knees buckled, but Jarrod was prepared. Catching her around the waist, he settled her weight on his thigh, holding her still with the arm about her waist while he began a second assault on her senses by slipping his other hand beneath her skirts.

Fire, like the fire of a glass of sherry on an empty stomach, shot through her, only this fire was a thousand times better than anything alcohol induced. Sarah gasped. The tip of her breast swelled into a hard little nub as he ministered to it with his tongue and teeth and his hot, wet kisses. He kissed and nipped and sucked until her nipple grew harder and she ached in the secret places of her body — all the secret places proper ladies never admitted to having.

Sarah arched her back, filling the folly with the little incoherent sounds she made deep in her throat. She wiggled in his arms, moving steadily closer until she finally reached up, clamped her fingers into his thick black hair, and held him pressed against her. She whimpered hoarsely as Jarrod continued to tease her with his wicked tongue, delighting in igniting spontaneous currents of hot desire that flared throughout her body.

Jarrod chuckled deep in his throat, thrilled with Sarah's exuberant response to his touch and heady with the powerful sensations swirling around them and with the incredible realization that the rector's daughter from Helford Green enjoyed his touch as much as he enjoyed touching her.

Turning his head so that he might breathe once again, Jarrod shifted her weight off his thigh and onto the bed, then slowly worked his way over to her other breast. He wanted to unbutton her dress and shove it down over her hips, but he fought to control that urge as he nuzzled her other breast, lavishing it with a rush of hot, moist air.

God, but he wanted to touch her, all of her. He wanted to suckle at her breast and taste the sweet hot essence of her. He wanted to bury his length inside her warmth and to feel the heat of her surrounding him as he throbbed and pulsed within. He wanted to capture her lips and swallow her cries as he made hot sweet love to her. He wanted to wrap her legs around his hips and take her on the journey of her life where they were joined in pleasure.

And he wanted to feel her touch him. To taste and caress him as he tasted and caressed her.

Jarrod worked his way from her breasts back to her lips. He plundered her mouth with his warm, rough tongue, tasting, devouring, wanting, as he worked his way beneath her single petticoat to her stockinged thighs and beyond, past her garters to the bare skin. He ran his hand over the top of her thigh and down into the valley between her legs.

Sarah sucked in a ragged breath as he found the opening in her brief drawers and touched the triangle of soft hair hidden there. Placing her hands against his chest, Sarah broke the kiss. "Jays?"

"Sssh, sweetheart," he whispered against her mouth, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Jarrod…"

Jarrod took a deep breath. He knew he was taking advantage of her inexperience, knew he was venturing into uncharted territory, praying that he could explore all she'd allow him to explore, then find his way back with her virtue and his sanity intact. He knew he should stop what he was doing and send her straight back to her aunt, but for the first time in his life, Jarrod couldn't force himself to do What he knew to be right. For the first time in his life, he wanted to throw caution to the wind and feel.

And Sarah was what he wanted most to feel. Jarrod sighed. Who would have thought that little Sarah Eckersley could make him burn? Who would have thought that she would be so eager to join him in the conflagration? "Do you want me to stop?"

"No," she sighed.

"Then, what is it?" He kissed her chin, then the corner of her mouth, then the tip of her nose, and finally, her eyelids, before working his way down again.