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He was so close, his enormous body keeping her exposed, ready for ruin. And yet no words slipped from her lips. This was war, and the spoils were pleasure. The pleasure his mouth gave her as the tip of his tongue circled her one nipple. Then the other. Again. Devastatingly slow, barely there.

Not enough!

Her hand went in his hair to guide him where she wanted more, needed more. He caught her wrists mid-air, pulling them behind her back in one fluid motion, trapping them. She gasped in desperation, arching into him, hunting the pleasure he was denying her. He nipped her collarbone.

“Want more?” His voice was almost unrecognizable with gravel. “Beg me. Give me what I want.”

An electric jolt went through her at his debauched words. She shook from head to toe, her core leaking brazenly. This time, the answer refused to form because her body had forgotten its basic functions. Like drawing breath.

“So stubborn,” he accused.

His fingers were next, going up her ankles, grazing the skin behind her knee. Victoria writhed without control over her body, her mind, her very soul. A ripple of desire lanced through her every cell.

“Stephen!”

“Yes!” he hissed.

He dared more, his fingers marking her thighs as they dug into her skin. His mouth found the sensitive skin behind her ear, and he kissed and licked till she was boneless, unable to control her body.

His fingers became even more daring. He ventured higher, higher, closer to where she was aching, where her whole being was wound up. He nipped her neck as he touched her there.

“Oh God!”

Victoria almost catapulted out of the bench, out of reality itself. She dug her nails into the hand that was holding hers and drew desperate breaths. She had never been touchedthere, never thought about how it would feel to be touchedthere.

“That’s it, Victoria.” He coaxed more sighs out of her.

He found her slick heat, and she trembled. One slow, lazy stroke, then another, not much, just enough to make her whimper with want. Then, he pulled away.

“No!” she protested.

She fought to free her hands, she arched her back, she tightened her thighs—anything to keep him there, where she needed him the most.

“You like this. You want this,” he purred.

He came closer, his breath fanning her face, his hips gently rocking against her. He was seducing her in the most devastating way possible. She leaned up for a kiss at least, but he pulled back a little, fire burning in his eyes.

“I want to kiss you, Victoria,” he said softly. “I want to touch you.”

He leaned in, just barely, just one light stroke over her lips. It set her on fire. She chased after him, but he wouldn’t allow it.

“I want to show you pleasure. Iwillshow you pleasure,” he hummed. “Just tell me what I want to hear, Victoria. You won’t ever let him touch you, never even think that you will be his.”

Victoria nearly sobbed in frustration. He caught her earlobe between his teeth. His fingers returned, firmer now, touching her with agonizing precision. She parted even more for him, no shame at all in her need. He found a spot there, a bundle of nerves, and he circled it softly.

Her soul left her body. This was the best she had ever felt in her life. There was nothing else in the world, nothing mattered. If the whole of the ton descended upon them, she wouldn’t stop. There was only him, his heat, his torturing words, his exploring hand, his wicked mouth. He planted open-mouthed kisses on her neck, licked her collarbone, bit her nipple. And his fingers…

God!

She squirmed and tensed and sighed and said his name again and again, out of her mind. Pleasure coiled tight in her belly, her body a bow ready to snap.

Then, he stopped.

Her cry of protest echoed through the greenhouse. He muffled it with his kiss, deep and possessive.

“You will not marry him, Victoria,” he demanded against her lips. “Say it. He won’t ever touch you like this.”

She moaned. The hand holding hers tightened, and the other grabbed her decisively by the jaw, bringing her closer to him, and forcing her to look into his eyes. She was floored by the need she saw in those tempestuous eyes. She licked her lips.