Page 76 of The Duke's Rules Of Engagement
He lowered his head, his gaze piercing her with warmth. “Youwere there.”
“Why did that interfere with your plan?”
“You know why.” His voice was a low rumble, an erotic stroke up her spine.
She licked her lips, and his focus homed in on her mouth, his eyes darkening. The way he looked at her made her heart pound. Made memories of his fingers inside her pulse through her blood and heat it until a pleasant sensation simmered under her skin.
A slow, wicked smile curved his lips. His eyes bored into her, seeming to look into her soul. “And I know why you’re here now.”
So did she, even though she’d been denying it to herself.
She wanted him.
She’d hoped for…things. Things she couldn’t even imagine, much less articulate. But she did know they included his hands on her bare skin and hers on his. She wanted to explore every part of him and allow him to do the same. She wanted to feel that pleasure again and watch him feel it as well.
He’d drawn her in like the tide. To Mayfair, to his front door, to him. There’d been no stopping it, as much as Jo’s practical spinster mind had tried to direct her feet to move in an altogether different direction.
She closed her eyes, unable to look at him for a second longer without lunging at him.
“I tried not to come.”
“I know,” he murmured.
“But I couldn’t stop thinking of you. Of Vauxhall, and how you wanted me to come home with you. And how…how much I wanted to.” She pushed out the next words, though it took every bit of her remaining strength. “How much I want you.”
“Jo,” he whispered. He slipped off his chair and sank to his knees before her, placing his hands over her twisting ones on her lap.
“I thought perhaps…” She swallowed hard, entreating him with her eyes to understand. “I am a spinster, Matthew. One destined to never experience the pleasures of the flesh. But I thought I’d ask you if, just this once, you could let me know what it’s like. I promise, I shall be nothing but grateful, no matter what happens after. I just want to experience it. With you. Just once.”
Looking straight into her eyes, he nodded, and she knew he understood.
He squeezed her balled-up fists. Then his hands slid under her, and he scooped her up and carried her out of the wonderful library with its crackling fire.
She draped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, staring into his beautiful eyes, studying the fan of long lashes that shadowed them as he made his way down a long corridor and into a bedchamber. Kicking the door shut behind them, he lowered her gently, until her feet were on the floor and her body was pressed shamelessly against him, her arms still looped around his neck.
She gazed up at him, loving everything about him, how he felt against her, how his lips curved and his lids were low over his narrowed gaze, and how a lock of silky dark hair had fallen over one eye.
Never in her most erotic dreams had she imagined holding a man like him against her, feeling the hardness of his body pressed to hers like this.
“Beautiful Jo.” He bent down and kissed her, his lips so warm and soft, they carried her away on a sensual tide. So caught up was she that she noted his hands in her hair like a distant thing, his fingers diving through the strands to pluck out the pins one by one, and the weight of her hair as it finally cascaded over her shoulders.
He pulled slightly away from her, his hands wound in the loose strands. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he murmured.
“How long?” she asked, smiling.
“Since the day I first saw you, I think. I saw your hair all bound up in the back of your head, just those teasing strands on the sides, and wondered what it would look like down, how it would feel between my fingers.”
She sighed as his fingertips grazed her scalp. “Is it what you hoped for?”
“It’s better.” His lips brushed her cheekbone as he gently turned her head, trailing soft, warm kisses down her hairline to her jaw. “So much better. It’s soft. Beautiful. It smells like a warm day in the country.”
“What does that smell like?”
“Flowers and heaven.”
“Mmm.” Nobody but the women she lived with had ever seen her hair unpinned, but her hair had always been one of her best features—thick and wavy, with strands that lightened as the warmer months progressed.
Matthew pulled back, lifting the hair on both sides of her head between his fingers and letting it fall around her face. “So shiny. So many colors. It’s like sunshine and autumn leaves.”
