Page 91 of Cocky August Rake

She had done much the same in the garden that first night.

But then, he had been a stranger.

He wasn’t now.

Now she knew the sound of his laughter. The gentleness of his hands. The passionate heart he kept hidden beneath all that control.

Now, when she heard his breath break against her lips, Rose knew the truth she had fought too long to name.

She loved him.

She loved the man she had come aboard to deceive.

BLISS ON THE GALE

Rose had come to him. She was here.

And that changed everything.

What had happened at The Domus had been different.

There, Rose had controlled every moment. She chose what to wear, how to move, when to pause, and where to touch him.

Nothing had been accidental.

She had drawn out his pleasure until he could scarcely bear it.

But this…

This was real.

Her hands closed around his shirt.

“I want you,” she whispered. “Please.”

That plea broke what remained of his control. “Aye, love.”

Reginald backed her toward the bed until it caught behind her knees. She sank onto the mattress, and he followed, gathering her skirts in both hands.

His palms moved over her calves, then higher.

Her skin was silk beneath them.

And then Rose parted her thighs for him.

For one breath, the hunger in him gave way to awe.

He’d wanted. God, how he’d wanted. But he’d always believed love demanded a fair exchange—and that he would always come up short.

Rose had somehow, against all reason, shattered that belief.

“Please,” she said again.

Always,” he promised, the word torn from him.

Heat blazed through his body as he moved over her. She held his gaze, and then…

She reached for him.