Bad Boys Ahoy!

not?'

'I forfeit.' She'd never done such a thing in her life. Cursed (or blessed, depending on how one looked at it) with a competitive nature she took every challenge seriously.

'Beg your pardon?'

'You win. I forfeit. Can we have sex now?'

'Hell and damnation!' Hugh pushed away from the desk and began to pace. 'You are not allowed to forfeit.'

She stood. 'Why not?'

'Because I need to help you with this.'

'You can help me later.'

He paused and faced her, holding his arms out, displaying his perfection even as he displayed his frustration. 'Why are you being so bloody difficult?'

'What do you want, Hugh?' she asked softly. 'What do you gain by assisting me?'

Growling, he turned away. 'The storm will pass soon, leaving me no reason to tarry here.'

'Yes, I know.'

'My carriage was new, damn it, and cost me a bloody fortune! I should be enraged, furious, that the wretched thing broke. Yet I'm grateful, because it gave me the opportunity to meet you. And I suspect once I leave, I shall miss you, and I never miss anyone.'

Her heart racing, Charlotte crossed the small space that separated them. Her hands caressed his back, feeling the muscles tense beneath her fingertips. His words, his passion… she'd never witnessed anything like them. 'Hush,' she soothed.

'You left this morning to bathe, and you were gone forever. It's madness, I tell you. A horrid, insidious madness, to crave the company of a stranger the way I do yours. Yesterday at this time, I didn't even know who you were. And last night, when I was inside you, I wanted no more than that. But this morning, I thought perhaps more would be nice-'

'Shhh…'

'-and now-'

Too short to reach his lips, she pressed an ardent kiss to his nipple, and his hands fisted in her unbound hair.

Hugh pushed her roughly away, revealing fierce, dark eyes that might have frightened her if she hadn't been so aroused. 'And now I want you to come with me. Become my mistress. You'll want for nothing, I promise you that.'

'Oh Hugh…'

He crushed his mouth down on hers, and Charlotte was flooded with sensation, a sharp, almost painful racing of heat across her skin. All morning she'd craved him. She'd needed his touch, his smile, the warmth of his gaze. It was madness, she agreed, to want the attentions of a stranger, but that was how it was, and she couldn't be sorry, not when it felt this wonderful.

Sinking to his knees, he pulled her down with him, his hands leaving her hair and moving to her breasts, every touch rife with an underlying tenderness that cut her to the quick. 'I'll replace all your jewels, all your gowns. I'll give you a home, and it will be yours, in your name-'

'Cease talking, damn you.' She didn't want promises or dreams. She just wanted right now, just this moment, and nothing more. She was afraid to want more.

Spinning away, she dropped to all fours and spread her legs, waiting for the sweet, oblivious pleasure that filled her when they joined.

But when he moved, it wasn't as she expected. It wasn't with the fevered urgency he'd displayed only hours ago. Instead it was a hot brush of breath through her gown, the heated press of his cheek against her spine, the soft slide of his hands along her sides.

She dropped her forehead to the rug, her body quivering, her skin dampening with sweat from her proximity to the fire.

'I would like the luxury of touching you like this,' he murmured, his fingers running along the length of her spine. 'I want to take my time, savor you, instead of feeling so rushed, so desperate.'

'Desperate?' she gasped, arching into his touch.

'That is how I feel, as if I must have my fill before it's too late.' Hugh lifted her hair to his face and breathed deeply. 'This is such a beautiful color. It's the most glorious shade of red I've ever seen.'

Charlotte attempted to roll over so she could savor him as he was savoring her, but he held her still with a firm grip.

He slid her gown up slowly, using the soft material to caress her skin. She shivered as his hand dipped between her legs, tangling in the damp curls. 'And this red-darker, more passionate. From the moment I saw you on that massive horse, I wanted to know what color the hair here would be.' His finger circled her engorged clit with a featherlight touch, while his other hand reached around and cupped her breast. 'When you lie naked in the bed, your hair spilled across the pillows, your skin so pale, your nipples and lips so dark… I can hardly bear it.'

He kissed the curve of her derriere. 'But it is the things you say and the sound of your laughter that move me most.'

She closed her eyes, awash in feeling and emotion. Charlotte looked at life pragmatically, and she felt no shame for her past. The need to survive had long ago overridden her pride. But in all of her experience, she'd never had a man take such time with her, stoking her arousal, making her liquid with desire, as Hugh had done from the very beginning. The sexual act shouldn't feel this intimate, not when the situation was so temporary. But then he slipped a finger inside her, and she lost her trepidation. He entered a little more, and she tensed, sore from his earlier amorous attentions.

Hugh hummed a coaxing sound, and then his mouth was there, his tongue moving in deep licks, just the way he kissed. He parted her with his fingers, his other hand kneading her breast, rolling her nipple.

'Please,' she whispered, circling her hips into his thrusting tongue, wanting him… desperately.

He straightened, and a moment later she felt the hard heat of him, pressing slowly into her, filling the empty ache she hadn't known was there until he'd arrived. Patient and tender, he stroked her spine, soothing her, as his cock stretched swollen tissues unaccustomed to such constant use.

'Yes…' she sighed, when his thighs touched hers, her body stretched to the limit to accommodate him. She arched her hips upward in silent invitation, and he slipped deeper inside with a soft curse.

'This feeling,' he grunted, hunching over her and cupping her silk-covered breasts with his hands. 'I cannot imagine ever having enough of this.'

He slid out slowly and then pressed forward again, starting a leisurely rhythm and maintaining it, the steady in and out inundating her with pleasure. She whimpered and began to writhe, begging him to end her torment.

'Do you truly want it to end?' he asked in a husky murmur. 'I don't.'

Her short nails left scratch marks in the rug as he slowed his pace. She didn't want it to end-this moment, his visit, none of it. But if she didn't orgasm soon she was afraid she would die. 'Please…'

He thrust deep and groaned, burying his cock to the hilt and coming, burning her from the inside with hot, pulsing streams of his seed.

Charlotte came just like that, convulsing around him, his chest to her back, his hands on her breasts, his groans with her cries, until she couldn't tell where she ended and Hugh La Coeur began.

Hugh brushed fiery red curls from Charlotte's face before kissing the tip of her nose. 'I want you to come with me when I leave.' Lifting her from the floor, he carried her to the bed.

She buried her face in his throat. 'I cannot leave here.'

'Why not?' He set her atop the counterpane and then slid beside her.

She caught his hand and brought it to her heart, her eyes a soft and misty green. 'Because we're safe here, the servants and I. We have a home where we're comfortable. It may not be ideal, but it's reliable.'

Resting against the pillows, Hugh studied her face. 'I can be reliable. I shall open an account for you, in your name. I've promised you a house, and I'll provide it. Everything I give you will be yours to keep. Plenty to provide for you and the others.'