Page 51 of A Relentless Rake

But when he lowered his head, she released her doubts and welcomed the kiss.

The touch of his lips was so gentle and tender that she barely felt them moving against hers, yet she sensed every inch of him like an electric shock. Its tingling fingers curled around her spine as it shimmered through her. Her body yearned to be beneath his and let the pleasure engulf her like a storm. But her heart—oh, her silly heart! It knew what anguish would follow…and simply didn’t care.

When he whispered her name against her lips, she sagged against him with a yielding sigh.

Even with his arms around her, her body seemed to float toward the sky as he deepened the kiss with a gentle but insistent sweep of his tongue against her lips. She wanted this stronger taste of him and parted her lips, and a low groan of appreciation tore from his throat. His tongue delved inside her mouth to explore and claim all that he could. He cupped the back of her head and held her still as his tongue plunged between her lips in a primal rhythm that flamed a throbbing ache between her legs.

She tore her mouth away from his to pant back her breath, but she couldn’t find the will to push herself from his arms. As if he knew what thoughts warred within her, he brushed his lips against her temple in a soothing caress, yet he gave no quarter and swept his hand up to her breast. The heat of his palm seeped through the layers of her clothes as if they weren’t there at all, and when he began to gently massage her, the whimper of need that rose on her lips was smothered beneath his mouth as it once more captured hers.

Oh, how good it felt to kiss a man like this! How delicious the sculpted muscles beneath her fingers and the firm lips tasting hers. She forgot her anger toward him until all she knew was the wonderful sensation of having her soft body molded against his hard one.

He swept his mouth away from hers, down her neck, and across her chest above her bodice. He placed delicate kisses along her neckline, each one lingering slightly longer than the one before, until his mouth remained on her, giving her hot kisses that made her shiver.

“A brilliant mind coupled with such beauty…” he murmured against her flesh and continued to caress her with his lips. “You have no idea how tempting you are, do you?”

“I’m not…tempting to you…” But her protest emerged as a panting purr and completely undercut the soft chastisement she’d been aiming for. So did the way her hands slipped up from his chest to his neck and buried her trembling fingers in his soft chestnut hair.

He chuckled, and the low rumble flared heat into her bosom. “You have no idea how much… Shall I show you?”

Knowing what she craved, he slipped his fingers beneath her bodice and gently freed her right breast from the layers of clothing until her nipple was exposed above the lace of her neckline. He lazily circled it with his fingertip and smiled wickedly at the way it drew up into a hard pink point. Then he leaned down and captured it between his lips.

Her sharp inhalation faded into a soft sigh as he began to tease at her with the tip of his tongue in slow, wet licks. Surrendering to the throbbing desire he stirred low in her belly, she arched herself into him and pulled his head down tighter against her. The sensation of his mouth on her bare breast was too delicious to stop, and she bit back a moan of pleasure that rose on her lips.

She felt him smile against her flesh at her reaction. Following the path he’d traced over her earlier with the rosebud, his hand trailed down her ribs and belly toward where the flower still rested in her lap—

“Lord St James!” Mrs. Peterson’s shrill voice pierced the quiet of the garden. “My lord, wherever have you disappeared to?”

Startled, Olivia pushed him away and scrambled to her feet. Tucking her breast back inside her bodice and straightening her neckline, she backed to the far side of the bower as panic replaced the passion inside her. She swiped the back of one hand across her lips and frantically smoothed at her dress with the other.

Alec remained calmly seated.

“She’s looking for you,” Olivia whispered through her fingers. Her stomach knotted into a nauseating burn. “I’ll hide here, but you have to go—”

In aggravation, he arched a brow, then pointedly dropped his gaze to his lap.

Her eyes followed to the tented line of his trousers.Heavens, he was in no condition to go anywhere! An aching heat blossomed low in her belly, and she stared shamelessly at his crotch, causing his brow to arch even higher.

Mrs. Peterson called out again, this time much closer.

With a gasp, Olivia grabbed her bonnet and placed it on his lap, then stepped back to size up her work.

Well,thatonly called more attention to his distress.

They needed another plan. And quickly.

“Stay here,” she ordered. Her hands trembled as she reached for her bonnet, her fingers moving close to his…to his…uncomfortablyclose for both of them. With a deep breath of resolve, she snatched up the bonnet. “I’ll distract her.”

Before he could stop her, she ducked through the bower entrance and out into the bright sunshine of the garden. She finished tying her bonnet ribbons beneath her chin just as the smiling woman came around the curve in the path and spotted her.

“Mrs. Peterson!” Olivia huffed out as she hurried toward the portly woman, suddenly out of breath. “Isn’t this just the most beautiful garden? Oh, you really must see the fountain!”

Olivia firmly took the woman’s arm and turned her back toward the house.

“But I—I was looking for St James…” Mrs. Peterson gazed back over her shoulder and dragged her feet, but Olivia kept a firm hold and determinedly moved her forward. She’d haul the woman to Newcastle if she had to.

“He’s at the house,” Olivia assured her. “I saw him go that way at least ten minutes ago.”

“No, I was just there.” She pointed toward the rear of the garden in the direction of the bower. “A footman said he’d been walking this way.”