‘Ooohhhh,’ she moaned breathily. The skin of his face was slightly bristly, although he’d looked clean shaven. It rasped in contrast to his tongue, which lapped, and his lips, which brushed petal soft.
‘Mmmhhm,’ he growled into her neck just below her ear. The sound sent vibrations through every nerve ending in her body, sending a message to the juncture of her thighs, where a completely delicious sensation was building. It was getting harder and harder to keep still. Her hips seemed to have developed a mind of their own.
She shuddered. And squirmed. And wondered what to do with her hands. If she let them have their way they would tear off her gloves so her greedy fingers could plunge into the thickness of Lord Deben’s black curls. Then she would push his head back down to her breasts, which were getting desperate for the attentions of that clever, wicked mouth.
Mouth. So far he had not gone anywhere near her mouth. He was teasing her. Tormenting her. Goading her to grab him by the ears and pull his face to hers so that she could know, at last, what it would feel like to be kissed by an experienced man.
So she clenched her hands into fists and rammed them into the sofa cushions, lest she gave way to this sensual torment and reveal how very desperate he was making her.
‘Miss Gibson.’
‘Hmmhh?’
‘Here endeth the first lesson.’
‘Wh-what?’ She opened her eyes, to find him looking down at her.
A horridly satisfied, smug look on his face.
Somehow she managed to sit up and push him away, though it took a few more seconds before she could gather her scattered wits enough to speak.
‘Thank you.’ Was that her voice? It sounded so hoarse and breathy at the same time. As though she had been running. Gracious heavens. Her legs most definitely felt as though she’d been running. All weak and trembly. Like a newborn lamb’s.
‘That was most...edifying,’ she croaked.
‘Indeed it was. And now for the second lesson.’
‘The second?’ Oh, no. She was not ready for any more of that sort of thing. Whatever had she been thinking, to ask a rake to teach her about seduction? What was it she’d thought about Miss Waverley—that she’d done the equivalent of poking her hand through the bars of a lion’s cage? Well, she had just opened the gate, walked right in and practically offered herself up to him for dinner.
And just look at him! All cool and calm and collected. Not a hair out of place. Not a wrinkle in his coat.
The contrast between them brought her quite suddenly, and bewilderingly, close to the brink of tears.
‘When you leave this room,’ he said quite sternly, ‘I want you to think about your waist, as you walk.’
‘My waist?’
‘Yes. If you think about your waist, as you walk, you will find your hips will sway, naturally. And men will watch you with interest. If you see one you like the look of, catch his eye.’
Oh, how very lowering. But at least his brutal reminder that he was only doing this to give her the ability to attract other men dealt with her fleeting emotional lapse. Had she not warned herself not to read anything romantic into this...this episode on the sofa?
‘Then look at his mouth,’ he said. ‘You know the potential for pleasure a man’s mouth can bring to your body now. Consider, will the touch of this man’s lips make your breasts tingle? Will the heat of his breath on your cheek send shivers of desire down your spine? Will his hands work your reins with skill, or will he fumble?’
Dear God, he’d known she felt like that?
Of course he did. He’d been with dozens of women. Scores of them, probably. And she had been making little mewing noises, and gyrating about, so it must have been obvious that his lips had been every bit as potent as he’d boasted. Chagrined, she averted her face.
He took her chin in his strong fingers and turned her back, so that she had no choice but to meet his dark and penetrating gaze.
‘Your face is so open,’ he said more gently. ‘No man could help but respond, without even perhaps knowing why. And then, Miss Gibson, you must lower your gaze and blush. Which you are doing very prettily, by the way.’
She tossed her head, freeing herself from his grip.