Page 68 of The Rake’s Convenient Bride

“I would not call what was just done innocent.” A smile hovered at the corners of her lips. “Though I certainly enjoyed it.”

“Our engagement is to be broken.” He lifted a brow. “Is it not?”

She bit her lower lip and dragged her hands toward his stomach once more, then walked her fingertips lower to the edge of his breeches. “You haven’t asked me to marry you again.”

He swallowed, trying to remain focused. The woman was driving him to distraction in the best way possible.

“Will you marry me?” he asked, his voice husky.

She searched his gaze. “Do you love me?”

“I love you,” he breathed. “With everything that I am, I love you.”

She pressed her forehead to his. “And I love you,” she whispered against his lips. “I think I’ve always loved you. From when we first met, and certainly from the moment you saved me in the study by agreeing that you were my fiancé. I fell deeper in love when you spilled gravy on your cravat so no one would notice me. And finally, I fell irrevocably head over heels when you trusted me by telling me why you feared love.”

He kissed her then, without reservation, without holding back or giving a thought to her virginal state or his sordid reputation. They were a man and woman in love, a man and woman on the cusp of getting married.

And he had no intention of ever withholding anything from her ever again.

Elizabeth yielded to the passion blazing within her, kissing her soon-to-be husband back with all the love and desire coursing through her. As his mouth captured hers and then moved down the sensitive line down her neck, her hands played over his clothing, following the landscape of rigid muscle and arousal beneath the layers of cloth.

“I want you,” he growled against her skin, and she moaned in rely.

“Let me touch you.” Her words were breathy with lust, with eagerness.

He sat up, grabbed the back of his shirt, and unceremoniously ripped it over the top of his head, leaving his dark hair messy and his chest rising and falling with the frenzy of his breath.

Elizabeth sat up, letting her gaze roam appreciatively over the beauty of his body, the hard lines of carved flesh, hollowing shadows across his torso where the firelight didn’t touch. She ran her fingers across his soft, warm skin.

His eyes closed with pleasure, and he gave a little hum of approval as she stroked and explored his firm body with her fingertips, tentative at first, and then more boldly. Over the strength of his arms, down his powerful back, across the hard chest she’d laid her head upon, and down the valley of chiseled flesh to where his placket was fastened. A column strained against his breeches.

Her breath caught, knowing full well what that was, her heart hammering in anticipation. He leaned back on his elbows, gazing down at her where she kneeled next to him on the mattress, letting her decide how far she wished to go.

There would be no going back from this moment. And she had no intention of stopping.

She popped one of the buttons free. Then another. The placket shifted upward an inch. She lifted her brows, impressed, and he chuckled, the sound deep and throaty in a way that made her blood burn hotter.

The next two buttons almost sprang free on their own, releasing Jasper’s phallus which rose in a hard column from a thatch of dark hair, pulsing to a beat that matched the one between her legs. Looking cautiously up at him, she stroked her fingers up from the base to the tip.

Jasper sucked in a hard inhale.

Emboldened by his reaction, she curled her fingers around the shaft, his skin like fiery silk against her palm. His hand closed over hers, guiding her to move over his hard member, up and down.

His breath became labored, his powerful chest flexing with each stroke of her hand.

A sense of power washed over her, to know that she could give him the same kind of pleasure he had given her, even with her lack of experience.

“I have to have you,” he groaned. “If you keep going as you are, you’ll unman me before I can take you.”

“I want to please you,” she protested.

He exhaled a laugh. “You have, more than you know.” He sat up, pulling his breeches off, revealing strong legs dusted with dark hair, fully naked.

His voice was soft as he reached for the lacings of her bodice. “I want to see all of you too.”

She knelt on the bed in front of him, watching him as he pulled the ribbon free, as the silk gown was drawn down, followed by her chemise. His eyes roamed over her with appreciation, his jaw clenching as if restraining himself. When her clothes were pooled around her knees, he eased her to her back and slid away the garments, leaving her naked.

He stretched his body over hers, the silky head of his phallus nudging eagerly against her despite the slow progression of his kisses.