Page 50 of How to Fall for a Scoundrel
“Better than stealing?” she whispered.
“Better thananything,” he groaned. “Better than a royal pardon on the scaffold. God, you feel so good.”
Ellie spread her arms wide, pressing them into the bed, as he set a slow, languorous rhythm. He seemed determined to push her to the very heights of frustration, to turn her into a begging, babbling mess.
He called her a good girl, a bad girl, a beautiful vexation. He fisted her hair and kissed her throat and stroked her skin as if it were the softest cashmere and he’d die if he didn’t keep touching her.
By the time he finally took pity and quickened his pace she was almost delirious with desire. When her climax finally claimed her, it was a mercy, a shattering wave of pleasure that sucked her down into a glorious spiraling blackness then washed her up on a sparkling shore, breathless and reborn.
Harry stilled, still inside her, waiting until her last shudder had passed before resuming his torturously slow strokes. He didn’t last much longer. His breathing grewchoppy, his thrusts more frantic, and just when Ellie began to think he’d forgotten his promise not to spend himself inside her, he withdrew from her body with a fevered groan.
He angled his cock down, between her thighs, rubbing himself along her cleft without actually entering her body. She gasped at the delicious new friction, but Harry let out a hiss of frustration. Quick as a flash, he rolled her over onto her back, grabbed her wrist, and wrapped her fingers around his cock.
His fevered gaze locked with hers as he thrust into her hand, and she tightened her grip, determined to help him reach his own climax.
The sight of him above her, his sleek, powerful body flexing under her control, sent a heady shot of feminine power straight through her veins. She pumped her hand, sliding against him, acting on pure impulse, and was thrilled when he threw back his head and found his release.
When he finally caught his breath, he looked down at her with a wry smile. “I knew from the moment we met that you’d be trouble.”
Ellie batted her eyelashes. “Me? I’ve never caused trouble in my life.”
He shook his head and glanced at the small brass carriage clock on his nightstand.
“It’s still early, but we need to get you back to King and Company before the streets get too busy.”
Ellie bit back a little stab of disappointment. He was only being practical. No point risking her reputation by having someone see his coach depositing her at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. That was how scandalous rumors started.
“You’re right. If you’ll let me use the bathing room, I’ll get cleaned up and we can be on our way.”
She slid off the bed and collected the green dress from where she’d discarded it the night before.
The mirror in the bathing room showed the full extent of her debauchery. Her hair, already a mess from having been pinned beneath the wig, was a riot of untamed waves. She looked thoroughly rumpled. But her skin was glowing with good health and her eyes held a suspiciously bright sheen. She looked exactly as she’d always imagined the phrase “well pleasured” would look.
Ruination clearly had its advantages.
She eyed the huge copper bathtub with envy. She would have loved the luxury of a hot, deep soak—she had aches in muscles she never knew existed—but Harry was doubtless keen to see the back of her and she was determined not to be gauche and unsophisticated.
The silk gown slid over her newly sensitive skin like a caress, and since she couldn’t reach the laces at the back, she slipped back into the bedroom for Harry’s assistance.
He was fully dressed, and for a disconcerting moment he looked like a stranger, standing across the room from her. And then he raised his brows, and smiled, and she pulled her hair over her shoulder and presented her back to him.
“Could you tighten my laces, please?”
He stepped close. “Of course.”
His fingers were deft and sure, and she wondered with a pang how many other corsets he’d encountered in his life. She stepped back from him as soon as he’d finished, and he tilted his head at her.
“All good?”
She wasn’t sure if he was asking about the tightnessof her laces, or her general state of wellbeing, but she smiled at him and tried to imagine what other, more worldly women would say at a time like this.
“All good, thank you. Shall we go?”
He swept his hand toward the door. “After you.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Harry did not join her for the journey to King & Co. and Ellie couldn’t decide if she was relieved, or disappointed. So much had happened in the past twelve hours, but she wasn’t quite ready to dissect it all just yet.