Page 21 of Always the Lyon Tamer
“I am slowly untying the ribbons of my bodice,” said Rebecca quietly. “My…my fingers are warm against my skin.”
The effect was instantaneous. John moaned as his body twitched.
“Now the ribbons have fallen to the floor, and the only thing holding up my gown are my fingers,” she whispered.
“Christ alive, Titania,” John groaned, pulling at his breeches to remove them.
As they fell to the floor, Rebecca could not take her eyes away from…Well. She had known the theory, of course.
“I…I am pulling down my gown,” she continued.
John, now utterly naked, moved to the edge of the bed and reached out for her. “Come here.”
Rebecca laughed, stepping aside from his questing fingers. “Not yet—remember, you forfeited the game, John. That means you do what I say.”
But they were naked together. She was about to experience everything that she had ever dreamed of, and then they would be married and be happy forever.
If he weren’tcareful, John knew he was going to come just thinking about the woman who was standing mere feet from him.
Bloody hell, he was in deep here—a real expert, a woman who could drive him wild just by the sound of her voice!
God knew what other delights she was keeping from him.
John reached out again in the darkness, and there was that laugh again.Damn and blast it, she was avoiding his fingertips, and that was only driving him closer to the edge!
This Lyon Tamer felt intimately known to him, and yet that could not be. No woman in his acquaintance would ever act in this way!
Play a game with a blindfold? Tease him with her finger, offer herself to him on his lap?
John shivered. No, ladies of good reputation did not do such things. When she was his wife, he would ensure she was given a little training on how to behave like a lady—at least, in public.
She could behave exactly like this when they were alone.
“You wanton, wild thing,” he said aloud with a groan. “God, I want you here in my arms, damnit!”
Fingertips across his chest—John grasped for her, but she slipped from his reach, and he moaned with disappointment at the scant touch he had enjoyed.
This was the sort of woman he wanted—someone who was not fazed by his charm, good looks, and title.
The Lyon Tamer leaned closer and whispered, “All in good time.”
A jolt went through John. As she grew closer, that scent filled his mind again, and it reminded him of…
But it wasn’t her.Miss Rebecca Darby would never be so brave, so foolish as to risk her reputation by coming to an establishment like the Lyon’s Den.
The thought of her caused a flicker of guilt through John’s heart. She was the one he had fallen in love with—the first and only woman who had truly captured his heart. If only he had been braver. If only he had spoken out when he had had the chance.
John closed his eyes and remembered the sensations of Titania’s bottom in his palms, and tried not to explode. Miss Darby would never do anything like this. What he wanted was a mixture of both. The laughter, joy, beauty of Miss Darby, and the elegance and wild sensuality of this woman.
“Come here, damn you, I want you,” he said aloud, reaching out his hands.
John shivered. “Where are you?”
Fingers that seemed nervous touched his shoulder. “Here, John.”
Some of the bravado seemed to have left his Titania.Was she…was it too much to suppose that she was nervous?
It did not make sense. She had chosen to play this particular game with him, true—but surely Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s ladies have worked the tables on the gambling floor before?She was not a virgin?
