The Princess and the Peer(49)

Knowing she had to do something, she reached up and threw her arms around Nick’s neck. Arching onto her toes as high as she could manage, she tugged his head down and placed her lips against his.

He stiffened against her, clearly taken by surprise. Her pulse thudded, afraid he might pull away at exactly the wrong instant. Tightening her grip, she redoubled her efforts and kissed him with every bit of skill she possessed—which admittedly was not a very great deal.

Apparently it was enough, however, Nick’s arms coming up to wrap her in a snug embrace. Fitting her to the powerful length of his body, he murmured something that sounded like “God help me.” And then he was kissing her, claiming her mouth as if she were the answer to a long-held prayer.

Fire rippled through her system like a match set to dry kindling, igniting a desire she had tasted only once before on the night of their first kiss. His touch was as dark and sweet as the finest chocolate, making her crave more, sudden need driving everything out of her mind but him. She couldn’t even remember why she had initiated their kiss; she was only glad she had, delight filling every pore.

The world spun around her as he crushed his mouth harder against hers, coaxing open her lips so he could lead her into a new game of the most dangerous kind. She hung in his arms, trembling with fervid pleasure as he showed her one wicked trick after another.

Utterly lost, she did not demur when he turned and pressed her back against the side of one of the stalls. Reaching beneath her cloak, his hand found her breast, curving his palm around it in the most devastating of ways.

She whimpered and shifted against him with a restless energy she didn’t entirely understand. Then she gasped, throwing back her head as his thumb began tracing slowly widening circles that turned her flesh taut and aching.

His mouth went to her neck, caressing the tender curve before trailing his lips upward over her chin and cheek and temple. A red haze formed beneath her closed eyelids. Her mouth was wet and trembling, in dire need of his.

Blindly she sought him again, her fingers burying themselves in the dark silken hair at the back of his head. He took her deep once more, the pair of them joined as if they were of one heart and a single mind. In that moment she wanted him all the more, loved him with a boundless, joyful passion she couldn’t keep herself from feeling no matter how dangerous such an emotion might be.

“You there,” called an offended voice, intruding on the hazy distraction that had wrapped around her like an impenetrable fog. “This ain’t no place fer such carryin’ ons,” the voice said again, gruff and male.

What was he yammering about? she wondered dazedly, unable to tear her mouth from Nick’s in spite of the fact that they now had an audience.

“There’s families wots come ’ere, an’ the little ’uns don’t need seein’ such dealings as this.”

She frowned, a few more of the words penetrating her mind this time.

Nick shivered against her, then abruptly broke their kiss, his breathing a bit ragged.

Rather than letting her go, however, he curved her closer so that the stranger, whoever he was, could not see her features. Closing her eyes, she buried her face against the soft wool of Nick’s coat and wished the man to perdition.

“My apologies,” Nick said after a long moment. “My… um… wife and I are on our honeymoon, you see, and we didn’t think anyone would notice us here. I suppose you might say we lost our heads.”

His wife!

She stiffened in surprise and tried to push herself away, but Nick held her securely against him, his arms as immovable as a steel cage.

“Newlyweds, are ye?” the man said far more amenably. “Well, I suppose no real ’arm’s been done, though the pair of ye ought to have more sense than to sneak off fer a tryst in such a public place.”

“You are entirely right,” Nick agreed reasonably.

“Still,” the other man drawled, “when yer young and in love, it’s not always easy to do what’s right and proper, is it?”

“No, indeed, it is not.”

Amazing, she thought. If she didn’t know better, she would think they really were newlyweds and that Nick actually did love her. She hadn’t realized he could dissemble with such apparent ease and believability. He’d even managed to sound rather sheepish in his explanation. If not for the fact that he was an earl and a trained ship’s captain, she would have advised him to take up a life on the stage.

Emma heard, rather than saw, the man drum his fingers against some metallic object in his hands, some of his wares perhaps? “I suppose then that I won’t call the constable,” he said.