“But I’m not Sandrine tonight. I’m Lady Sapphire, a worldly, experienced courtesan, and I’ve come here this evening expressly for the purpose of being kissed in the gardens by a notorious rake.” She reached up and untied his mask, setting it aside. “From the look in your eyes you want to do more than kiss me. It looks to me like you have an entire list of depraved things you’d like to do to me.”
“You may be right.” Hell, she hadnoidea how long the list was.
“You wouldn’t be doing thingstome, you’d be doing themwithme, at my specific request. And do you want to know why I chose you, Mystery Man whose name I don’t even know?”
Don’t ask her. Escort her back. End this now.
“Why did you choose me?”
“Because I saw a very nearly nude portrait of you in the entrance hall, and it gave me forbidden carnal cravings.”
He tried not to smile and failed. “I’m heartily sorry for giving you carnal cravings. I’ll have Madam Avalon take down my portrait.”
“Too late. I’ve already seen it. There you stand, staring at the painter with challenging arrogance, confident in your attractions, your handsome face rendered perfectly, sensual lips and that dimple in your chin, and all with dark temptation in your eyes. One large hand holding a figleaf over your... endowment. Leaving that alone to a lady’s imagination. And I couldn’t stop imagining what was under that fig leaf. I’m imagining it right now.”
A choking noise emerged from his lips. She was imagining his cock right now with her innocent mind, trying to picture what it looked like. His cock responded by swelling against the placket of his breeches, informing him that certain parts of his body would be more than happy to satisfy her curiosity.
“Your body is so different from mine, Dane. You’re sculpted from muscle that looks hard as marble.”
“Especially when you’re close by.”
“What do you mean?”
“Merely a little joke.”
“My mother was always warning me about carnal cravings, going on and on about how the serpent tempted Eve to sin, and now, for the very first time, I understand what she was on about. I’d never felt anything of the sort before I met you. It’s a feeling like rushing water inside my body, a blissful glow in my heart, a quickened pulse, little thrills running up my spine. A longing to be kissed. I’m not leaving this garden until you’ve satisfied that craving.”
“If I give you one kiss, you’ll be satisfied?”
“Completely.”
It was a very dangerous idea and twisted logic, at best, but his mind had ceased being logical, and desire had taken the driver’s seat.
“One kiss, that’s all you’ll get, my worldly courtesan.”
One soft brush of his lips against hers. Nothing more. Hands by his sides, not exploring her curves. Just a little taste inside her mouth. She opened for him with a sweet eagerness that shattered his resolutions. He caressed her hips and brought her closer, molding his body into hers. She shifted her hips, moving against his cock, her breasts crushed against his chest.
Too much.
He broke the kiss, but she pulled him back with her hands on his shoulders, pressing him closer until he was lost to everything but her. He deepened the kiss, skimming his hands down the sides of her breasts and lifting her bottom until he could fill his hands with her generous curves and settle her more tightly against him.
This was more than just a kiss. It was everything he’d been dreaming about since the moment he met her. This melding of bodies, hearts beating together, her soft encouraging moan urging him to lay her down in the grass.
He pulled back reluctantly. “There,” he said, breathing heavily. “One kiss. That’s all you get.”
Her eyes were hazy blue in the moonlight, her lips swollen and red from his kisses. Her breasts rose and fell, nipples nearly visible below her low bodice. She made an erotic portrait. One he’d like to hang in his bedroom.
She held his gaze, and a smile teased her lips. “I want more.”
“You can’t have it.” He wouldn’t be the one to ruin her. She would regret it. And she would hate him. And he’d live with her hatred for the rest of his life. Like he’d lived with his brother’s hatred.
“I’m here in your world, Dane. Show me, teach me, tell me what we would do together in this garden if I were a bold lady looking for pleasure and I picked you out of the crowd because I saw your portrait. What would you do to me? Tell me. Tell meeverything.”
“Everything.”
“All of it.”
He groaned.