An Unexpected Earl Page 19

  He placed his hands on her hips and lifted her onto the desk. Her hand struck the plate of food, tossing it onto the floor with a clatter. The tankards of ale tumbled away next, the bucket of remaining water kicked and spilling across the floor—

  None of it mattered, because he’d grabbed her shift, lifting it up around her waist and baring her to his eyes.

  “Dear God,” he rasped out as he slid his hands up her inner thighs and gently parted her legs, revealing her completely to his eyes. Her feminine lips glistened in the firelight with proof of her desire. “So beautiful…”

  “I’m not,” she protested softly, closing her eyes in embarrassment. “Not…there.”

  “You have no idea how beautiful I find you, Amelia. Here.” He caressed her, mesmerized as her soft folds quivered with anticipation. “And everywhere.” Slowly, he circled her with his fingertip. “Every inch of you, from your toes to your soul. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”

  “You’re just saying that.” But her hands at his shoulders shamelessly kneaded his muscles. She wanted the pleasure he could give her, so much that she shook with it.

  “I mean it.” With every quickening beat of his heart.

  “Then…” She exhaled a deep sigh of surrender and whispered in challenge, “Prove it.”

  He lowered himself to his knees and brought his mouth against her.

  Seventeen

  Amelia caught her breath at the sensation of his warm lips between her legs. A kiss more intimate than any she’d ever been given before. Even when they were young and so very curious about each other, they’d never dared do this. Never more than a slip of his hand beneath her skirt to steal a quick touch, never his mouth on her bare flesh. But this—

  She whimpered. Oh, this was simply divine!

  He kissed her tenderly, careful not to frighten her, and his strong lips caressed over her with a featherlight touch that blossomed the feminine desire inside her. Liquid heat pooled between her legs, right beneath his lips.

  She reached down to brush her fingers through his hair, wanting to return the same affection he was showing her, and whispered, “Brandon.”

  He stilled.

  Her heart leapt into her throat. Had she misstepped? She’d called him by his given name only a handful of times in their entire lives. But during what they were sharing now, calling him Pearce didn’t seem right somehow. Didn’t seem special enough. And she longed to show him exactly how precious he was to her.

  But then he placed a slow and lingering kiss to her very core, and her worry melted away. Beneath his lips, she felt how much she meant to him. All of her doubts vanished.

  With a soft sigh, she draped herself backward over the desk to let herself enjoy every moment of this special kiss. But her pulse continued to pound, so strongly that she was certain he could hear it. Hear it? Good Lord, he would be able to feel it, so fiercely was the desire throbbing inside her, and right there, too, right where his lips were now teasing at her with increasingly persistent kisses—

  He licked her.

  She gasped, but he murmured soft reassurances against her and did it again. This time, the slow caress of his tongue rolled a shiver of pleasure through her, all the way out through the tips of her fingers and toes. And when he continued to do it, she could only bear the delicious sensation by digging her fingers into his scalp.

  Then the caresses changed. No longer the sweeping, exploring licks of before. Now he simply plundered, devouring her in large, openmouthed kisses that made her body shake and her knees clench against his shoulders as she tightened like a vise around him.

  A whimper of need rose from her throat. Her pulse raced beneath the relentless plunge and retreat of his wicked tongue, her blood flashing hot. Her hands grabbed at his head, and she closed her eyes against the rising desire to surrender total control.

  Then he shifted, moving his mouth just a bit higher, closed his lips around the little nub there, sucked—

  Her hips bucked as pure pleasure shot through her. “Brandon!”

  She slammed her legs closed as the sensation became unbearable. But his shoulders between her knees and his hands stroking along her inner thighs kept her spread open wide to the sweet torture of his mouth.

  Unable to hold back, she broke with a cry. The coiled spring inside her shattered, and pleasure spiraled through her in a wave of warmth that heated her from the inside out.

  She collapsed bonelessly against the desk, overcome with release and emotion. Her fingers combed in gratitude through his silky hair as he rested his cheek against her thigh to catch his breath.

  Slowly, he rose to his feet and gathered her into his arms, then carried her across the room to the bed. He gently placed her onto the counterpane and paused only to remove his breeches before following down over her with a heated kiss that was singular in its intention.

  He was going to make love to her.

  She pressed a hand to his shoulder. He stilled immediately, staring down at her in the firelight.

  “Pearce…” Through the tears that heated her eyes and the tightening of her throat, she couldn’t find the words to express all that needed to be said. Just as she could no longer find the resolve to keep him away.

  He didn’t move, but she felt the change in him, so much was he already a part of her again. Not disappointment, not anger. But understanding. “You once loved me.”

  God help me, I still do…

  “Give me that love again, and let me love you in return.” He stroked his knuckles over her cheek, and the tender touch seared pain all the way down to her soul. “There’s no longer anything keeping us apart.”

  When he lowered his head to kiss her, her hand at his shoulder stopped pushing away and now grasped at his bicep to keep him close. This was what she had always longed for, for Pearce to make love to her. But so much had happened, so much that would keep him from her in the end…

  Yet at this moment, he was here with her, asking her to allow him to love her. For now, she would let that be enough.

  “Yes,” she whispered, barely louder than a breath.

  But he heard and deepened the kiss. On his lips, she tasted the love they shared. The certainty that he was the man to whom she wanted to give her innocence came over her as suddenly as a summer storm and just as intense, just as electrifying. She knew it with every breath she drew, with every ounce of her being—tonight was right, with him. This man she’d loved since she was a girl.

  He trailed kisses down her body, across her breasts, and lower to the flat of her belly. Heat flared between her legs in anticipation, shooting up inside her in a wave of liquid desire so strong that it left her panting.

  A soft chuckle rumbled against her abdomen, as if he knew the reaction he flamed inside her. Wicked man…and more wicked still for brushing his hands up her legs, pulling the chemise up her body as he went. When he reached her shoulders, she raised her arms so he could lift it over her head and toss it away, leaving her draped naked across the bed.

  She shivered, but she wasn’t cold. How could she be beneath the heat of his gaze as it traveled slowly over her, lingering at her breasts and hips and flaming prickly heat across her skin? There was no shame in lying bare before him, no embarrassment in letting him look his fill of her. This was Pearce, and she would never be ashamed with him.

  “I knew it,” he murmured longingly.

  She affectionately caressed the soft hair at his temple. “Knew what?”

  “That you’d be breathtaking.” He trailed a fluttering hand over her bare shoulder and down across her breasts to her hip. “You were too tempting not to be.”

  He lowered his mouth to capture hers in a kiss born of need and desire, of twelve years of absence and loneliness. One that left her dizzy and weak and trembling. A kiss that made all the ones he’d given her before seem like whispers against the ferocity of a
scream. His lips devoured hers as if he couldn’t taste her deeply enough to satisfy himself. She knew he was trying to make up for every minute he’d been away from her, for all the other kisses they’d been denied.

  She moaned against his mouth, verbalizing her surrender. He gently massaged her breast as if in reward for letting go of her nervousness and giving over to the yearning he created inside her. But it was easy to yield to the growing desire that gripped her, to the firm but tender caresses, the sure and delicious kisses. Because she loved him. Always had.

  She knew then that she always would.

  “I will make tonight perfect for you, Amelia,” he whispered against her lips. “I promise you that.”

  She caressed her fingers along the side of his face, unable to speak. You already have…

  He took her bottom lip between his and sucked, and the pull of his lips tugged through her from all the way down between her legs. Each deep suck seemed to pool all the blood in her body right there, where she throbbed and burned and longed to be touched.

  She tightened her arms around his neck and pulled to bring him down on top of her. But he didn’t budge. She might as well have attempted to move a mountain, but he kissed her lips with amused appreciation that she’d tried. She should have known better. He was setting the pace, every touch and kiss his to grant.

  He wasn’t caressing her tonight. He was discovering her. No—rediscovering her. And the sensation was simply exquisite.

  He swept his hands over her body, along her sides and down over her thighs to her knees. Then he switched directions, moving upward along her inner thighs toward her core. She held her breath, all of her shaking as she waited to be touched at the very center of her being, as deliciously as he’d touched her before—

  But his hands skirted over her hips to return to her shoulders where he’d started.

  A moan of frustration poured from her. “Don’t tease.”

  “Before this night is over, my love,” he warned as he lowered himself to stretch his tall and muscular body alongside hers, “you’re going to appreciate my teasing. Very.” He hooked her leg over his, and his hand slid up her calf. “Very.” Then along her inner thigh. “Much.”

  He slipped a finger into her tight warmth.

  She gasped as the unfamiliar sensation of having him inside her shot through her, her eyes locking with his in the firelight as she fought to catch her breath in fast little pants. Then a second finger joined the first, and he began to caress her with slow, teasing strokes. She clasped her arms around his shoulders as each small slide of his fingers spilled a liquid warmth through her. So soft and gentle, almost sweet in his wicked ministrations, and sheer happiness thundered through her. She was lost to the sinful feel of his fingers, to the weight of his body pressing deliciously down on hers. To the joy of once more being loved by him.

  When he pulled his hand away, a whimper of loss rose on her lips—only to turn into a soft mewling of anticipation when he reached between them to grasp his manhood and rub its round head against her folds. He circled her aching core until her wetness covered his tip, daring to dip deeper into her slick folds with each pass.

  She squirmed beneath him, her body craving him with a primal need she couldn’t restrain. The pleasure he’d given her earlier was wonderful, yet she knew there was more to come. There would be his body inside hers, her body wrapped around his—the joining they’d always been meant to share.

  “Amelia,” he whispered, tenderly kissing her forehead. He poised ready against the aching hollow at her core. The time for teasing was over.

  “I want you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. “So very much…”

  As his mouth captured hers, he lowered his hips. He pushed inside her with a single, smooth thrust that broke through the slight resistance of her maidenhead and plunged him fully inside her tight warmth.

  For several long seconds he didn’t move, his body lying perfectly still over hers. The fleeting pinch of pain dissolved away until she was left with only the wonderful sensation of being filled completely as she cradled him between her thighs. Then, when he began to move inside her, he stroked into her so deeply yet so carefully that his tenderness took away what little breath she’d managed to regain.

  Her heart ached that he was so concerned about her, that he was careful to keep his full weight from crushing her. That a man this large, muscular, and powerful should be so very gentle—emotion overcame her, and she buried her face against his neck.

  His strokes slowly increased in their pace and intensity. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep his spicy scent and brushed her lips against his skin to taste the delicious flavor of him. She wanted to impress onto her mind forever the smell and taste of him, to brand onto her body the feel of him inside her.

  But even this closeness wasn’t enough.

  “Pearce, please.” She arched herself beneath him, instinctively, knowing that there was more of him to possess. “Stop holding back.”

  He shook his head, his body tense with restraint as he panted out between labored breaths, “I don’t…want to…hurt you.”

  “You won’t.” She wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles at the small of his back. “Give yourself to me. I’ve waited too long already.”

  She bit his bottom lip in wanton challenge.

  A growl tore from him, and he thrust into her, the single stroke so powerful and deep that she gasped. But primal pleasure also surged through her, and she clung to him, welcoming both her own overwhelming rush of passion and his capitulation to the raw desire flaming between them.

  His large hands closed over her hips, and he guided her into a fast, hard rhythm, lifting her hips to meet each plunge of his. Moans of need poured from her. She was unable to stop herself from crying them out, just as she was unable to stop her body from moving with his. They were joined completely now, body to body, soul to soul, and she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

  The fire of release began to build inside her again, this time spreading out from low in her belly like a gathering storm. Each driving plunge of his hard body into hers sent a powerful jolt of yearning spinning through her, each retreat a devastating loss. She clasped her arms around his neck and simply held on as she felt herself running toward the fire, to sacrifice herself to the flames.

  The storm broke over her, raining sparks and flames down upon her. Her release flashed like lightning, hot and just as electric. The pain of the past washed away until all she knew was bliss.

  With one last thrust, he sank deep and held himself tightly against her. His body arched above hers as he poured himself into her, his buttocks squeezing to give up every last drop of his essence to her. Selfishly, she drank him in, refusing to surrender any part of him now that he was finally hers.

  He collapsed onto the mattress beside her. She turned onto her side to continue to hold him, spent and shaking, in her arms. She couldn’t bring herself to release him and end this moment, not yet. Tears gathered at her lashes in stunned appreciation of how he was capable of devastating her so completely.

  He rested his forehead against her bare shoulder as he struggled to regain his breath. Slowly, he found the strength to place a tender kiss to her hot lips.

  “I’ve never…never,” he murmured, unable to put into words the experience they’d just shared. As if just as bewildered as she about the intensity of the passion between them, the overwhelming affection that bound them together. “You have no idea how special you are to me.” He lowered his head to nuzzle his cheek against hers. “I love you, Amelia. I always have.”

  Her pulse spiked. This was the moment she wanted to remember for the rest of her life, of being held in his arms when she felt safe and protected. When she could let herself believe that the rest of the world didn’t exist and tomorrow would never come. When there was only Pearce and nothing else mattered
but being loved by him.

  His eyes shone intensely in the firelight. “Marry me, Amelia.”

  With that, her world shattered.

  “We belong together… We always have.” He touched his lips to hers, mistaking her shocked silence for nervous uncertainty. “Now more than ever.”

  “No.” The single word was barely more than a breath falling lifelessly across her stunned lips. How she managed even that much effort, she had no idea. Because the pain engulfing her was blinding. Starting at the tips of her toes, it worked its way upward until it reached her chest and strangled her heart. “I can’t…I can’t marry you.”

  Confusion darkened his face. “You don’t love me?”

  “Of course I love you.” Her fingers trembled as they reached for him, to touch his jaw and feel his strength and solidity. She breathed out the confession, “I’ve always loved you.”

  “Then why won’t you marry me?”

  His handsome face blurred beneath the anguished tears that welled in her eyes. “Because…I’m already married.”

  Eighteen

  Pearce poured a glass of whiskey. He’d need fortification to get through this conversation. He also needed a few minutes away from Amelia to clear his head and tamp down his shock. And his anger.

  To keep a secret like this from him, and when they’d just— Damnation.

  Crossing the small room to her, he held out the glass as she stood at the window, looking out at the dimly lit street below. But the sleeping city was still shrouded in fog and darkness and would be for another several hours. Dawn was still a long time away.

  She declined the drink.

  “I think you’ll need it,” he cajoled. Lord knew how much he did!

  “And I don’t think there’s enough whiskey in the world to make this any easier.”