She shook her head and leaned back, guiding his arms around her.
At first his embrace was calming and safe but as he traced lazy circles on the skin over her ribs, closer and closer to her breasts, she felt less calm and a lot more of the pull.
She longed to arch her back so his hands would end up where she needed them the most. She was free to be her wanton self with him. The previous night had shown her he enjoyed it when she took charge, when she told him exactly how she wanted him to touch her, what she loved and what she didn’t.
Sliding her palms over the backs of his hands and threading her fingers through his, she pulled one hand up and sent one lower. He caught on quickly, placing open-mouthed, hot kisses against her shoulder while cupping her breast. He flicked her nipple with his thumb and then rolled the nub. This time she did arch and then brought herself completely flush with his abdomen and chest, his hardness nestled against her bottom while his fingers played havoc with her sex and her senses. She gave a wriggle. He cursed. His other hand dropped beneath the water and before she had time to wonder at his next move, he entered her with one long, strong finger. With the others, he found her centre in her folds and rubbed gently up and down. She cried out when he added another finger and sped up the motion. Water sloshed and Daniella stifled her wild sounds with two hands over her mouth.
She needed more. She needed him to fill her until she felt whole, until she couldn’t take anymore. She reached for him beneath the water; he chuckled when her hand wrapped around his length.
“Slow down, Daniella. We have all the time in the world.”
“I don’t want slow. I want you now, inside me.”
He lifted her slightly with both hands under her backside. “Turn around. I need to see you.”
She was willing to do anything he wanted when they were like this. It scared her.
Daniella maneuvered herself so she was staring into the bottomless depths of his gaze, a lazy smile on his mouth beneath his beard. He lifted his knees and settled her back against them then he leaned forwards and took one nipple into his mouth while he cradled the other, running his fingernail over one peak while grazing with his teeth on its twin.
She rolled her hips and he had to stop what he was doing as he closed his eyes with a long, low moan.
With two hands she pushed back on his chest and repositioned herself over his manhood. This time he didn’t stop her, just kept his eyes closed as he filled her.
“You’ll be the death of me.”
“I’ll be needing you for a few minutes yet.” She cut off his reply and his surprise at her teasing when she placed her lips against his. His beard rasped, once again heightening her senses. She delved her tongue into his mouth, drank of him as though he was the elixir of life.
When her pace became too slow, he gripped her hips, held her up and plunged into her over and over, the pleasure building until her nails bit into his shoulders. With one final, deeper than expected penetration, her world fractured, exploded, ignited. He caught her screams in his mouth and her body in his hands as the room tilted sideways. Or perhaps that was her?
He didn’t usually get the last word in but in this she could find no argument, no reply.
“We were made for each other, you and I.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Hobson?” James closed the door of the little dining room and then sat at the low table. He couldn’t believe he was about to start this conversation but his thoughts were in turmoil and he needed the advice of his old friend. He and Daniella had soaped and rinsed and made love until they were wrinkly, and now she was upstairs drying her hair by the fire. As soon as they left the bathhouse she had mentally withdrawn from him, leaving him cold and anxious.
“I couldn’t find the captain, Major.”
“Couldn’t find him?”
“Oh, they know where he is but they aren’t saying.”
“They?” He couldn’t keep up.
“Sodding captain just about owns this town. He’ll know we’re ’ere, I’ll eat my hat if he doesn’t.”
“I do believe I am in over my head.”
“Only now, milord?”
He swallowed a sharp retort and instead sighed. “When did it get out of hand do you think?”
“Perhaps it was the day you disguised yourself as Her Highness’s servant? Or perhaps it was the day you snatched her from the virgin’s auction block? You shouldn’t have married her,” continued his outspoken servant.
“I know that,” he roared, upsetting the silverware in the table when he slammed his fists down on it. “Don’t you think I know that? God, what a mess. I should have waited until after this was all over and won her properly.”
“She was no innocent, James. You did not have to marry her at all.”
“I did have to marry her. My honour…I…” How could he explain that he loved her? How could he tell his friend he couldn’t give her away any more than he could cut his own throat?
“She didn’t ask to be married. She wants to be back on the open ocean with her father. You’ve complicated everything.”
“Would I really make such a terrible husband?” He stood so he could pace.
Hobson shook his head but followed his progression around the room with his eyes. “You would make the right girl a fine husband. But Miss Daniella isn’t the one for you and you are not the right man for her. She’ll see you as a trap if you take her back to London.”
James’s stomach sank even lower. Of course Hobson was right. She’d never consent to living in London and he had to be there to take his seat in the House of Lords. There
