Page 100 of The Pursuit of Lord Kit Cavanaugh

He made a frustrated sound and complied, dragging his arms from the sleeves, then having to pause and open the cuffs before flinging both shirt and waistcoat away.

Then he spread his arms wide. “There. Satisfied?”

She smiled delightedly, flung herself against him, certain he would catch her, and hauled his lips to hers as she exulted, “Yes, yes, yes!”

His arms wrapping around her, he fell back beneath her onslaught.

Hostage to impulses and a driving need she’d never before known, she plundered his mouth, then turned her attention to the long, strong column of his throat, nipping and tasting as she worked her way down, sensing from the way his hands stroked over the skin of her naked back that he rather liked her attentions.

She smiled against his skin and took her kisses lower. To the wide muscles banding his chest, to the discs of his nipples that hid beneath the crisply curling hair.

His hands were busy, stroking over her back, learning the planes and contours. She had to pause, shuddering, when his thumbs cruised the sensitive sides of her breasts, and he chuckled deep and low.

The sound skittered over her nerves; anticipation lit and smoldered, even as she lowered her lips once more to his skin.

They fed each other a banquet of caresses, lavish and enticing, yet ultimately unsatisfying. The activity only tightened their nerves more and drove them harder.

She could sense the coiling tension in him, in the contraction of his muscles, in the increasing pressure of his hands.

Emboldened, she reached for the waistband of his trousers and deftly flicked the buttons there free. Then she slid her hand beneath the opened flap and closed her fingers about his hard length.

He uttered a choked protest, but she doubted she was causing him any true pain as she stroked the steely rod encased in fine velvety skin.

Then she closed her fingers around the girth and gently squeezed.

Every muscle in his body tensed—as if to some breaking point.

On a muttered curse, he caught her wrist and hauled her hand away. Capturing her other hand as well, he came up in a roll.

Intrigued, she let him roll her to her back. As he settled over her, she wriggled and shifted until his hips lay between her spread thighs. Expectantly, she smiled up at him.

Only to realize he was almost glaring at her. “We’re supposed to be taking this slowly!”

She blinked and stared up at him. “Why?”

Through gritted teeth, he muttered, “In case it’s escaped your notice, you’re a virgin.”

“Yes, I know.” And she wasn’t of a mind to waste time discussing it. “It’s an issue I anticipate rectifying in short order.”

To underscore that intention, she slipped one hand free, caught his head, and hauled his lips back to hers, then seizing the moment, she undulated beneath him, using her breasts, her hips—as much of her as she could—to caress his hard body and urge him on.

He’d been patient, kind—generous. Tonight, she was his reward—and what a thought that was. She wrapped it around her like a safety net and plunged into the moment.

Into the unknown.

Into passion. His and hers.

She poured all her longing, all her passion and desires, into her kiss, let need and that hungry, now-ravenous wanting flare and invest her movements as, with wanton deliberation, she used her body to tempt him to sate them both.

Kit gave up—surrendered. What else could he do? He hadn’t allowed himself to think too much about this night, yet he’d had a vague notion of having to go step by slow step, gently easing her—a virgin—along the path to intimacy.

Instead, he had a commanding, demanding, fiery and passionate female in his arms.

He suddenly realized his error—the stupidity of his assumption. This was her—the real her he’d glimpsed for the first time when she’d stormed into his office weeks ago. The lady he’d been dealing with ever since—strong, confident, fiercely passionate. A lady who knew her own mind.

This was his Sylvia without any guise—exactly as he always wanted her to be when with him.

And she wanted him, valued him, and matched him in this arena as in all others.