Page 49 of The Earl Next Door
It felt so damn good to be with her like this again, loving her, touching her. He looked into her eyes for a long moment before his gaze drifted down her face, lingered over her breasts, and swept back up to her eyes again. He whispered, “You are so beautiful I don’t want to stop looking at you.”
She smiled so sweetly at him. Lyon wanted to take her immediately, satisfy them both and forego the sweet building of pleasure that they both needed and deserved.
Instead he tamped down his rigid desire and buried his lips in the hollow of her throat, trying to ease the rage of his passion for her. When he was in morecontrol of himself, he fondled her breasts. First one and then the other, taking his time to feel their soft, firm shape and loving the arousing tautness of her nipples beneath his fingers. His body kept urging him to be as aggressive as they’d been last time they were together.
But no, not this time.
He held himself in check. Slowly, letting his lips trace down to tease, circle and cover the rosy tip of her breast into his mouth to heighten both their desires. He felt her body quicken beneath him.
Lyon savored the taste of her, taking his time to properly adore her body. He glided his hand down the plane of her hip, and when he brought his hand back up he caught the skirts of her dress and brought them with him. He caressed the warm bare skin of her shapely outer thigh and slowly let his hand slip between her legs.
“You wouldn’t believe how much I have wanted to touch you like this again,” he whispered in a heated voice against the cool, silky skin of her chest.
“Do you mean that?”
Lyon lifted his head, his expression questioning her. “Adeline, I will never lie to you about anything.”
She smiled shyly at him. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he whispered. “For wanting you? I’ve never desired anyone the way I have ached for you.”
“I have dreamed and longed to be with you again, too,” she answered softly.
Lyon saw and felt her words were as true. She wantedhim. Not just anyone to satisfy her.
“After the last time we were together like this yousaid you didn’t know if it was me you wanted or just someone to satisfy your desires.” A smile narrowed his eyes just enough to let her know he wasn’t being too serious when he asked, “Are you sure it’s me you want to be with or would just anyone make you feel this way?”
Her expression was almost shy. “I might have been unsure at the moment I said it, but no longer,” she answered. “I want only you.”
Adeline grabbed hold of the band of his trousers and slid them down his hips. She arched her hips toward him and surrounded his back with his arms, urging him to continue without hesitation. Her response was just what he wanted. Now he would to take over. Moments later Lyon claimed her once again for his own.
He made love to her with all the gentleness his eager body would allow. His movements were leisurely, sensual, and reverent. He kissed her, caressed her, and moved gently on top of her until he sensed that indescribable pleasure rising up inside her.
Lyon had never experienced such raw craving for a woman he’d already lain with once. With Adeline it was just as exciting and fervent as the first time. Her impatience for him was elating, the power she’d just given him exalting. His decision to go slow and follow her lead in the beginning was the right one. He reached down and swathed the tip of her breast, pulling it gently into his mouth, tugging lightly on it.
More tremors flowed from her and she whispered, “Lyon.”
He smiled against her breasts, knowing her desirewas for him, her pleasure coming from his touch. Her hands moved over his body, making him ache with deep longing.
They both inhaled with deeply satisfying gasps. Their movements were no less eager or frantic than when they last came together. Their passion was too strong to go slow or be tame. He swallowed every soft sound made, gloried in every touch she gave him. When he felt her body tremble and heard her soft moan of peaking pleasure he allowed his own fulfillment to follow. Their chests heaved, and both sucked in ragged breaths of ebbing, all-consuming sensations.
Lyon slipped one hand under her shoulder to hug her up close and relaxed against her body. With his nose, he nestled her neck and he kissed her over and over again.
Finally, his breathing started to slow, his heartbeat calmed, and he tried to move. His body was stiff from the awkward position he’d been in. He grunted and then chuckled low in his throat as he tried to move his leg and lift it over her.
“It was much easier to get down on this damn thing than it is to get up from it.”
Adeline whispered a laugh, too. “Then stay here with me a little longer.”
He kissed her deeply again and felt the urge to accept her invitation. But there were hazards in doing that. He didn’t want the housekeeper or the headmistress to come looking for her.
“Your drawing room is not the place for such intimacy between us,” he said, and then lifted himself off the settee with no small amount of struggle and effort.
“There has to be an easier way to do this,” she said, lowering her skirt and then reaching for her bodice that had been slung to the other end of the settee.
“I agree,” Lyon said and started adjusting his clothing as he smiled at her.
His attraction to her was even stronger than it had been the first night they’d met. She was different from any other lady. It wasn’t just the explosive desire he had for her that made him want her for his own. It was more than that. He welcomed her independence, her free-speaking, her strength, her generosity and kindness to the girls. He even enjoyed arguing with her. It was refreshing to know someone who took him to task when he was wrong and even when she knew he was right, as Adeline had a few minutes ago when she’d first heard the girls had entered his house.
