Page 70 of As the Devil Dares

He kissed her again, this time flicking his tongue across her lips entreatingly until she parted them with a sigh. His tongue thrust inside in a possessive rhythm that sent her heart racing and her breath panting, and she forgot about the cold and the darkness, knowing only the heat and solidity of his body next to hers.

But even that wasn’t enough. She wanted the warmth of his bare skin against hers and longed for more of the aching heat he flamed inside her. She wanted the barrier of her gown and his finery gone from between them, along with all their competition and fighting, until it was only the two of them…man and woman, bared to each other.

She slid off the bed and moved away just far enough to kick off her slippers, then reached behind her back for the tiny buttons—

“Oh no, you don’t.” He caught her from behind and slipped his arms around her waist. “I get the pleasure of undressing you tonight.”

As his rakish words curled through her, anticipation fluttered low in her belly, and she ordered breathlessly, “Then undress me.” She thrilled at the control she possessed over him. “And take your pleasure.”

He growled in a mix of affection and devilish appreciation, “Minx.”

She laughed, delighted at the reckless excitement that pulsed through her. But when he unfastened the first button and placed a hot kiss between her bared shoulder blades, the laughter choked in her throat. Then it turned into a deep sigh when he kissed lower down her spine with each inch of flesh he revealed.

Her bodice fell loose around her shoulders, and he pushed the dress down to puddle on the floor around her feet. She shivered as he knelt behind her and placed a kiss against the small of her back, just below the end of her short stays. She closed her eyes. His mouth on her body…simply heavenly!

His hands slipped beneath her shift to caress her legs—

She jumped with a gasp. “Robert!”

He took her hips in his hands to calm her as he explained in a raspy voice, “Stockings.”

That single word was enough to understand why he’d been sliding his hands up her legs, but it didn’t ease the nervous fluttering in her belly. “Of course,” she whispered breathlessly, not wanting him to think her a complete goose when it came to men.

“I’ll leave them on, if you prefer.” He placed a tender kiss against the base of her spine, and it twined its way up her back, leaving goose bumps in its wake. “After all, what matters isn’t the stockings but the woman inside them.”

Her eyes stung at the soft compliment, and she whispered, “Then take them off…if you’d like.”

“I’d like it a great deal,” he murmured, and his hands once more slid beneath her shift and up her legs.

With a small tug of his fingers, the garter holding the stocking in place slipped free. He traced his fingertips over the lace edge encircling her thigh, then slowly rolled the silk material down her calves, over her feet, and off. One leg, then the other, just as torturously seductive…

When he’d finished, he rose to his full height behind her and stroked his hands up her body and against the side swells of her breasts.

Mariah caught her breath. She barely dared to believe that this was happening. That Robert truly found her desirable. But when he began to pull free the lace of her stays with both hands, each pull coming faster than the one before in his eagerness to have her undressed, his desire filled her with a longing so intense that her eyes blurred with emotion. This was what she’d dreamt about, the moment when she could come to him bare and without pretense, as a lover instead of an enemy. And now that it was truly happening, oh, it was simply divine!

She closed her eyes, overwhelmed by nervous anticipation as her stays fell away, leaving her in only her thin shift. Then that, too, was slowly peeled away. The cold air tickled over her bare skin, and excitement pulsed through her as she stood naked in front of him in the shadows of the dark room.

“Dear God, Mariah.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “You are so beautiful…”

Stepping forward to bring her into his arms, he captured both breasts against his palms and leaned her back against his chest. The buttons of his waistcoat scraped cold against her spine as he kneaded her fullness, and the wanton sensation sped through her with a yearning ache. She couldn’t believe how wonderful the heat of his large hands against her breasts, how tantalizing his fingers teasing at her nipples until they grew hard and aching. Then he pinched them, and a pulse of pleasure-pain shot through her, landing hard between her legs.

“Robert,” she whispered, her lips thick with arousal as she arched her back to bring his hands harder against her. There was no shame in so boldly giving herself like this, not to him. No shame in encouraging him to find pleasure in her the way she knew she would find the same in him. Delicious tingles danced through her, and having his hands on her naked body exceeded her wildest fantasies. “I want…I want you to…”

“This?” He slid his hand down her belly and through the triangle of curls, to slip gently into the valley between her thighs.

“Yes,” she panted out as his fingers stroked against her, each caress delving deeper into her folds and flaming the throbbing at his fingertips. He touched her confidently, as if he already knew her intimately. Instead of frightening her, that thought completely eased away her nervousness. She closed her eyes as her head rolled back, giving herself over to pure pleasure. “Oh yes…exactly that.”

“You are lovely, Mariah,” he whispered achingly, his mouth resting at her temple while his hands continued to explore her body and stoke the arousal burning inside her. “So much spirit in you, so much daring, yet still soft and feminine.”

Encouraged by his words, she drew a breath to calm the pounding of her heart and shifted her legs farther apart. Her pulse spiked when he groaned softly at her boldness, and a shivering thrill raced through her. His tender caresses intensified against her, harder and deeper, until one finger slipped inside.

She gasped, all of her tensing. It was a sensation unlike any she’d ever experienced, making her feel inexplicably vulnerable and emboldened at the same time. Both wanton and wanted. But when he began to stroke inside her, she melted with a soft sigh and shivered as a delicious warmth spread through her, all the way out to the tips of her fingers and toes.

“So many nights I fantasized about being with you,” he murmured as he tenderly kissed the side of her face. “Holding you in my arms, making you happy.”

“So did I,” she admitted, her eyes stinging at his words. He was making her so very happy tonight…although she’d certainly never imagined it feeling as good as this. Each swirling plunge and retreat of his finger came as a tender caress that left her tingling with pleasure and yearning for more, for something she couldn’t name but felt approaching with the intensity of an oncoming storm.

“Did you fantasize about me kissing you, too?” His lips nibbled at her earlobe and elicited a tremble from her. “Kissing every inch of you?”