This Duchess of Mine(89)

But: “I’m worried about your heart,” Jemma said. He looked down and her eyes were wide open, anxious—terrified.

He brushed her lips with his own. “I’ve never been better. Do you know what I love, Jemma?” He moved slowly forward, sliding into her, stretching her. She squeaked. “You didn’t think you’d be naked today.”

“Of course not.” She arched up against him so that he nearly lost his train of thought. “We shouldn’t be naked,” she pointed out. But there was no real conviction in her voice.

“You wear perfume when you think you’re going to be naked.”

“Yes,” she breathed, pushing back against him at just the right moment.

“I love it when you don’t wear perfume. You smell so good,” he whispered, nuzzling her. “You smell like clean rain, and hot woman.”

“Elijah!” She was trying to sound scandalized, so he ignored her.

“Now I’m going to—“He lowered his mouth to her ear again and told her in detail what he meant to do. And then because his language had been thrillingly rough, he followed it up with kisses so sweet that he felt another pulse of nervousness. Making love wasn’t supposed to be so—so loving.

He shook the thought away, threw his head back, and pumped. But even as Jemma squeaked when he filled her, her hands clutched his shoulders, and her moan was of fear.

He opened his eyes. “Jemma?”

“I’m afraid for you,” she gasped. There was rain on her nose, and shining in her curls, and she was so beautiful that it took everything he had to stop the movement of his hips. Even so, he couldn’t stop himself, and nudged forward just a bit. Just enough to make sure that she was with him.

She was, because she took a quick breath and her fingers bit into his shoulders.

“I’m covered with sweat,” he observed, stilling again.

“Is that bad?” Her eyes went wide again.

“No! It’s good. Remember, I told you that regular exercise has helped my heart?”

“Yes, but this isn’t—”

“It is. If you stop me now, it’ll be a terrible shock to my body,” he offered.

She scowled at him.

“My heart’s steady,” he said. “Here, feel it.”

Her little hands came up to his shirt and pressed. “I can’t feel anything,” she cried, frustrated.

So with a groan of regret he pulled away, stood up and pulled his shirt over his head. She liked to look at him. He could tell the way her eyes darkened, just a bit. In a flash he was back where he needed to be.

“Now you’re going to monitor my heart,” he said, grinning because he couldn’t stop.

She swatted him. “Elijah, we’re making love in the outdoors, in case you didn’t notice that. What if that little monk comes along?”

“In the rain?” He snorted. “The man is snuggled up next to a fire somewhere drinking a toddy. That’s what monks do. They certainly don’t engage in gardening.”

“As if you know!” But she looked better for a little jousting: more like herself, and less like a frightened, white-faced woman he didn’t recognize.

“Now as I said, you’re in charge of monitoring my heart, not that anything will happen.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because, I never faint when my heart is pumping. Exercise seems to make it go in a steady rhythm. It’s only when I’m resting or fighting with Stibblestich that it skips a beat now and then.”

She clutched him. “Oh my God, you’re resting right now.”

“That’s right,” he said, enjoying every evil moment of it. “I’d better stop resting. For my own good.”

Her eyes narrowed. He knew he had her. So before she could start arguing, he slipped back into the cradle of her thighs.

Sure enough, she protested. She had starting thinking in the two minutes it took him to remove his clothing. “Elijah! We really shouldn’t do this. We’re—we’re outdoors.”

“Stay put,” he told her. The sight of her had peeled away all his niceness, and now he was just one growling male again. “I want you.”

Rain was falling like an uncertain melody, just one drop here or there. One fell on her breast, glistening like a diamond.

He licked it off and then gave her a little bite and she apparently forgot that she was outdoors, because even a monk behind stone walls could have heard that shriek. Then he blew on her skin, and gave her another sweet, deep caress.

It seemed that this particular duchess liked making love outdoors.

Finally, when he had her just where he wanted her, he came up on his knees and drove into her with one powerful stroke. She came. Just like that, with a wild cry, and a convulsion that damn near sent him over the edge too.