Page 66 of When the Scoundrel Sins

Yet what she wanted was more than just the physical touches her body craved. She wanted the comfort she knew Quinn could bring her, his strength and reassurances, his resolve never to surrender even when she herself had given up. She wanted him.Allof him, right down to that charming grin. If only for tonight.

When he didn’t answer, her fingertips stilled. She stared up at him, confused. “I thought…”

“You thought what?” he pressed, puzzling her further. Instead of the desire she expected to see on his face, a mask carefully hid his thoughts.

Not at all what she’d expected. “Apologies.” Her cheeks heated with humiliation. And confusion. But she’d seen his desire with her own eyes! How could she have been so wrong? “Apparently, I was mistaken.”

When she moved to step away, his hands slid down her arms and pulled her against him, stopping her. “You thought what, Annabelle?” he murmured, each breath tickling hotly against her lips.

She shivered, drinking in the heat and strength of him. “That you wanted me,” she breathed. “Do you?”

Sliding an arm around her waist to keep her hips pressed against his, he cupped her face against his palm and brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. Each little caress spun an electric tingle through her. “Very much.”

She gasped as his fingers trailed down her neck to touch her racing pulse in the hollow at the base of her throat. His lips curled into a pleased smile. Themostconfusing man, and the most thrilling she’d ever met. More—he was protection and security. And when he touched her, he felt like…home.

His fingers paused in their downward caress at the neckline of her dress. So close but not yet touching the swells of her breasts now rising and falling rapidly as she fought to keep both her breath and her wits. He brushed his lips against her ear. “But do you wantme?”

Heavens yes.She trailed her fingertips across his cheek, wanting tonight with him more than she’d wanted anything in her life. Perhaps as much as she wanted Glenarvon. He was leaving, she was staying…and tonight she simply didn’t care about the future. All that mattered was being as close to him as possible, both body and soul. She would worry about the morning when it came.

His eyes shined brightly in the darkness. “Do you, Annabelle?”

If he only knew what she really felt for him! She gave a throaty laugh, only for the sound to catch in her throat when he captured her breast against his palm, cupping her fullness in a gesture so possessive that she shuddered from the intensity of it.

His fingers teased lightly at her nipple through the silk of her gown, and a wisp of pleasure drifted through her. Her breasts grew heavy and warm, and she leaned harder against him, begging him with her body to give her more.

“Well…to be honest,” she panted out beneath the wonderful sensation of her nipple pebbling against his palm, “you were…my second choice.”

His hand stilled. “Oh?”

Thatwas definitely jealousy! And her heart soared with it. “But Angus Burns was busy, so—”

“Bluestocking,” he growled as he captured her lips beneath his to give her a blistering kiss whose hunger stole her breath away.

She clung to him as he ravished her mouth and left her craving more. Even now, pressed against him with her arms wrapped around his neck and the heat of his body soaking into hers, she still wasn’t close enough.

A soft moan of need rose from her lips. “I want you, Quinton,” she murmured as he drank in her words.I love you…Not a single doubt existed inside her about giving herself to him tonight.

Still kissing her, he carefully maneuvered her backward, and she went willingly. All of her prickled with pins and needles of nervous anticipation, but oh, how much she wanted this! When he lowered his head to kiss her again, her body arched against his with a whimper of willing capitulation.

He released her from his arms only long enough to strip out of his jacket. As she watched him, her stomach somersaulted with pure nervousness. He was undressing. If what she wanted to share with him tonight happened, then of course—but heavens, he wasundressing! She trembled with trepidation…

Until he draped the jacket over the waist-high stones behind her.

She blinked, puzzled. “Why did you do that?”

He grinned. “So I can do this.”

His hands encircled her waist and lifted her easily off the ground, to set her on top the low wall. Then he planted his hands against the stones on both sides of her and leaned in for a kiss. Slow, intense, and of single purpose…to make clear how much he wanted her. The kiss grew until she panted breathlessly against him, until her thighs clenched to quell the throbbing heat at her core that threatened to consume her.

She clung helplessly to him as his mouth swept along her jaw to her ear. Every touch of his lips to her body only increased the longing she felt for him. He nibbled teasingly at her earlobe before drawing it between his lips and sucking, before the tip of his tongue circled the outer curl of her ear—

His tongue swirled inside her ear, and she gasped.

“Beautiful Belle,” he murmured, plunging his tongue inside once more and rewarding her with a shivering, aching shudder. “Finally mine.”

She dug her fingers into the hard muscles of his shoulders to keep from falling away, even with the solid rock beneath her. The world whirled around her, and her only anchor was Quinn. And oh, what an anchor! Even now his hard muscles rippled beneath her fingertips, his body solid and broad. Nervousness flooded through her at the thought of what that very large, solid, and broad body was going do with hers tonight.

“Quinn.” Her voice emerged as a tremulous whisper. “I don’t know…what to do.”