Wild Lily (Those Notorious Americans Book 1)(46)

She gasped, clutching him closer and rubbing her breasts against him. “Show me.”

“What?”

“The better things.”

He crushed her to him. “You’re too adventurous for your own good—or mine.”

She arched an elegant brow. “Say it’s our secret.”

He swirled her beneath him to the cushions. “A witch.”

She chuckled.

But her laughter was caught short by his assault on her mouth. His tongue laved the seam of her lips and she let him inside. He stroked the wet cavern of her with a demanding glide and she undulated under him, willing and wanton. The fires inside him exploded in flames of glory. She was his. Would be.

He needed more of her. His lips branding her skin, laying claim to all she was. He lifted the hem of her white blouse, his suspicion that, like last night, she wore no corset or chemise a correct one. And in his fury to have more, he tore the thin cambric straight up the center. She was bare to him, her bounteous breasts pale and glowing in the rays of the moon.

“Darling,” he said as he cupped one breast and admired the large round nipple that hardened as he gazed at it. “I have never seen such perfection.”

And then he took her areola in his mouth and sucked her high and hard into him.

She bucked, her nails digging into his jacket, her legs restless.

He caught one of her thighs and hooked it up around his hips. The new position made him growl for now his cock was nestled in the hollow of her loins. He caressed her hip and sent his hand further along the line of her cleft. Dear God. Had she nothing but those sweet damn trousers between his hand and her finest treasures? Finding the waist of her trousers, he slid his hand inside and down. Her skin was silk. Her folds were heavy, flowing with need of him. She was so ready for him, he pressed his forehead to her chest. And madman that he was, he sent his fingers along her juicy cleft and up inside, deep into her hot flowing core. She wanted him, in all ways. Of that, there was no doubt. Virgin and minx, innocent and wanton, if she wanted him, he’d give her all he could.

He captured her mouth and sank his fingers higher inside her. She groaned and shifted to give him better access to her core. It was then he turned gentle and heathen and found her nub. Satin hard, her bud stood in invitation and he circled her, tapped her, rubbed her over and over as she writhed and let him take her up to a rough ecstasy where she clung to him, suspended in her own passion and cried out, drifting down to him and his fierce embrace.

He cuddled her close, the aftermath for her so vital to his suit. She shuddered and nestled near to him.

“Julian,” she murmured.

He kissed her time and again.

With one hand, she cupped his cheek. “That was marvelous.”

He grinned at her, the rogue in him coming out. “For me, too.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “I daresay not as much.”

“You know the mechanics of this business, do you?”

“I grew up on a ranch. I’ve seen horses and cattle in their throes. But—” She licked her lips. “Never imagined it was this…thrilling.”

He pinched her nose and pulled the two sides of fabric of her ruined blouse together. Then he slipped off his jacket, urged her to put it on and pushed himself away from her.

He rose, strode to the fireplace and back. His cock raged to have her. But his code of honor told him he mustn’t have more than he’d taken already. “I promised you and myself I’d never hurt you.”

“I believe you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

She startled, her lashes fluttering in confusion. Presently, she clutched the garment to her chest. “Why not?”

He jerked around. For all his days, he’d never get over how direct she was. “I want you. Badly. Want to offer you more and yet I…”

“Don’t stop,” she urged him.

“I want to say…”

“Please tell me, Julian.” The light in the room did not reach her. But he could see her heart in her beguiling blue eyes. She was too precious to toy with or avoid her appeal.

“Lily, I have nothing. Soon, less than nothing. We Setons are on the verge of ruin.”

She blinked. “I am not enamored of money.”

“How wonderful of you to say.”

Standing, she clutched his jacket more tightly about her. “I don’t say what I don’t mean, Julian.”

He had to be as forthright. “You come with stipulations.”

Her eyes darkened. Her mouth thinned. “Not I. My father’s, you mean.”

“No—”

“It’s the shipping company. You object to…to what? American money?” She grew angry.

He winced. “I object to being bought!”

She sucked in a breath. Insult had frozen her. “And I to being sold.”

“We are two people who want someone whose circumstances offend their pride. What if,” he asked with bated breath, “we were neither sellers or buyers, but simply two people who were meant for each other?”

Shock limned her features. “Are you asking me to marry you, Julian?”

Could he ask for her hand in all good faith?

Her face fell. She whirled away toward the door.

He caught her by the wrist. “Don’t go. Look at me. I’m asking if—”