Page 38 of In the Prince's Bed

“Alec, what are you doing?” she tore her mouth from his to whisper, scandalized. Fascinated. Dying to see how far he’d go and what it would feel like.

When had she become so very wicked?

He nipped at her earlobe again, sparking an electric sensation along her every nerve. “Tell me what you want.”

She couldn’t catch her breath. Another button came free. And another, while she waited in shameless anticipation. “Not this,” she said feebly.

“No?” Her bodice gaped open, and Alec slid his hand inside, then beneath the low neck of her chemise to cup her naked breast.

She sucked in a breath and curled her fingers into his coat.

“You don’t like this?” he asked, his voice low, guttural.

“Oh, my word,” she choked out. Sin should not feel so sweet and amazing…and incredibly erotic. His hot hand warmed her flesh, turned it molten. He thumbed her bare nipple, and she nearly shot off the table. Heaven, pure heaven. When it ought to be anything but.

He nuzzled her cheek, his breath ragged against her skin. “I wanted to touch you like this last night, sweetheart. But I didn’t dare.”

“Yet you dare to do it now?” she whispered, then shivered delightfully when he moved his hand to fondle her other breast.

“If that’s what it takes to convince you that you want me as much as I want you, then I’m eager to oblige.”

Before she could answer, he kissed her again, so deeply and thoroughly that she hardly noticed him settling his body between her thighs until her skirts inched up to accommodate him. Then catching her behind her hips, he pulled her flush up against him, so tightly she could feel the bulge in his trousers even through her bunched-up riding habit and petticoat.

“Alec, you have to stop this.” She sighed against his lips.

“Not yet.” He rubbed his thickening flesh against her, rousing a strange new ache between her legs. “Not until you admit you like having my hands and my mouth on you, that you like having me touch you.”

He caressed her naked breast so temptingly that she groaned aloud.

“Tell me,” he urged. “Tell me you want me, Katherine.”

“I…I…”

“Tell me!” he demanded as he pressed between her legs so firmly that pleasure bolted through her, making her cry out.

“Yes, you devil, yes—I want you!” she practically screamed.

His eyes shone with triumph, as if he’d won a battle. Which he had, of course.

Ashamed, she hid her face in his coat. “There, you got what you wanted.”

“Hardly,” he murmured. “I want much more than that from you.”

That statement brought her fully to her senses. “Well, you can’t have it.” She grabbed his hand and tried to pull it out of her gown. “Stop touching me.”

“Katherine—”

“Now, Alec! Before someone sees us in here, and my reputation is ruined forever.”

He hesitated, the fierce hunger in his face feeding her sudden panic. Then he stiffened, as if fighting for control over himself.

When at last he drew his hand from her bodice, she could have wept with relief. “Thank you,” she whispered. Swiftly she fastened her buttons, but when she tried to get off the table, his body still held her pinned there. “Please let me down.”

Clasping her about the waist, he pulled her off the table until she slid slowly down his body, every inch of his rigid flesh branding her even through her skirts.

His eyes darkened. “One more kiss,” he whispered, “then we’ll leave.” And before she could even protest, he took her mouth again.

Chapter Ten