Page 19 of Road Trip With a Rogue (Her Majesty’s Rebels #3)

“I lied.” She stared up into Vaughan’s face.

“About what?”

“I’ve imagined it. What we’d be like together.”

His eyes darkened. His lips parted as if he would speak, but she didn’t give him the chance. “I’ve thought about what would have happened if you hadn’t stopped, that night in your study.”

He leaned in, closing the distance between them. “And what was your conclusion?” His voice was low, almost a growl, and the sound made her knees weak.

“I think it would have been good.”

“‘Good’?” He spat the word as if it was an insult, but his lips curved up. “As in, average? Vaguely pleasant? A way to pass the time?”

He caught the front of her shirt in his fist, as if he were about to shake her, and Daisy’s heart pounded in dark delight as he pulled her up onto her toes. Yes! She wanted him frustrated and irritated too.

“I think I can do better than ‘good.’” His breath brushed her lips and her stomach somersaulted.

“Prove it.”

His eyes narrowed into threatening slits. “Don’t say things you don’t mean. I’m in no mood to play games.”

“I mean it. We’re both adults. I’ll be returning to London tomorrow, when I catch the runaways, but there’s no reason we can’t enjoy each other tonight.”

Daisy bit her lip, amazed at her own daring. She’d never propositioned anyone before, but her body was on fire, tingling with anticipation. Please, God, he hadn’t been teasing her yesterday when he’d given her all the reasons she should give in. If he refused her now, she’d never forgive him.

But there was no hint of gloating in his expression, only mild suspicion.

His fingers tightened on her shirt. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Because if we start this, there’s no stopping.”

His warning tone only made her want him more. Was this some last-ditch attempt at being noble? She didn’t want noble. She wanted hot and fast and now.

“You promised me ‘incredible,’” she taunted. “Afraid you won’t be able to deliver?”

His lips quirked in an arrogant smirk. “Afraid you won’t be able to get enough?”

That was exactly what she was worried about.

She shrugged, feigning insouciance, trying to pretend this wasn’t the most exciting moment of her life. “It’s just bodies. It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

She wasn’t sure which of them she was trying to convince, but she needed to get him out of her system. Reality—however good—could never match up with her fevered imagination. They’d do this, and she’d be free of him.

The grip on her shirt loosened as he slowly flattened his palm against her chest. His fingers splayed across her collarbones, then slid up to cradle her jaw.

“Hamilton.” It was both a threat and an endearment, and her stomach clenched in dark delight. “You’ll be the death of me.”

“There are worse ways to go.”

“So true.”

He kissed her, hard, and she almost laughed in relief against his mouth. Yes! This was what she’d been craving. This connection, this passion. This man. His tongue tangled with hers, his taste filling her head, and it was exactly as she remembered it. Dark. Delicious. Intoxicating.

She released his wrist and slid her arms around his neck, pulling herself against him. He tilted her jaw, slanting his head for better access, and she melted, feeling her nipples tighten beneath her shirt where they rubbed against his chest.

Finally!

His left hand caught her hip, then slid around her lower back to anchor her in place, and his low growl of pleasure made her skin pebble. Liquid heat pooled between her legs.

When he dragged his lips from hers, she relished the way his dark eyes roved over her face. A faint flush of pink colored his high cheekbones.

“We’re doing this more than once, Hamilton. Agreed?”

He sounded as out of breath as she was.

She pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “Agreed.”

Once wouldn’t be enough. She wanted this man in every possible way. If they only had one night, she wanted it to be one she’d remember for the rest of her life.

He nodded. “Right. Do you see that desk over there?”

She turned her head just slightly. A handsome mahogany writing desk stood on one side of the room. She hadn’t even noticed it before.

“I’m going to show you exactly what I wanted to do to you that night you came barging into my house uninvited.”

Her pulse was pounding, but she managed a dazed nod. “Now?”

“Not yet. First, I’m going to strip off those bloody breeches of yours and pleasure you until you can’t think straight. Do you have any objections?”

She almost laughed at his bossy, no-nonsense tone. It was easy to imagine him giving such clipped orders to his men during battle. As if she’d have objections to being worshipped by this man.

She pressed her lips to the place where his jaw met his ear and relished the full-body shiver that ran through him. “None at all.”

“Excellent. Where are your knives?”

“I’ve only got one. On my belt. You have the others.”

He slid his hand around her waist and pulled the blade from the sheath at the small of her back with his free hand. He tossed it onto one of the armchairs by the fire, then unbuckled her belt one-handed, and she sucked in a breath as his knuckles brushed the sensitive skin of her stomach.

She bit his earlobe in response, and the hand on her jaw tightened with just the right amount of menace. “Wicked girl.”

He sucked on her lower lip, then kissed her again. She didn’t often cede control, to anyone, but she loved the way he overpowered her.

He made quick work of pulling her shirt over her head and unbuttoning the falls of her breeches, and she helped him, breaking the kiss momentarily to raise her arms, tugging off her boots and wriggling out of the breeches.

She welcomed the urgency. Now wasn’t the time for a gentle seduction. She wasn’t a shy virgin who needed coaxing to the next step. She wanted him now. Naked, against her, inside her.

The thought made her pause. Her body was urging her to throw caution to the wind, but an innate thread of self-preservation still remained.

“I can’t risk falling pregnant,” she panted, pulling away just slightly.

“Obviously,” he growled. “Do you trust me not to put you in that position?”

Daisy bit her lip. He meant: Did she trust him not to finish inside her? With Tom, she’d been afraid to take the chance, but Vaughan had far more worldly experience. He was no callow youth to get carried away and forget himself. And he’d want to avoid an “embarrassing situation” as much as she did.

“Yes.”

He nodded, once, and her heart clenched at the sight he made.

He’d shrugged out of his jacket and removed his cravat.

His shirt lay open at his throat and her fingers itched to explore his skin.

She could barely believe she was finally getting this chance.

God, she’d wanted this from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. Desire made her hands shake.

Her hair had escaped from its ribbon, loosened by his questing hands. It hung in a messy cloud around her shoulders, and he reached forward and wrapped a curl around his finger, using it to tug her forward.

She resisted, backing up, pulling him along until her thighs bumped the edge of the bed.

She hadn’t bothered with a corset or stays.

She was down to just her chemise and a pair of white stockings now, and her skin grew hot as his gaze roamed down her throat and lingered on the peaks of her nipples clearly visible through the cream silk.

She’d bought the thing from her favorite dressmaker, Madame Lef è vre; her sole concession to feminine attire.

“Irresistible,” he murmured.

He reached out and cupped her breast, holding her gaze as it filled his hand. The pad of his thumb brushed the peak, and he gave a slow smile as it tightened even more.

Daisy felt dizzy. She’d never really given her breasts much thought, but now her entire focus was on the way he touched her so reverently.

She’d expected him to take her quickly, in a passionate blur of limbs, but the bloody man seemed determined to take his time.

She sighed in relief when he lifted her to sit on the edge of the bed, but instead of ripping open his falls and thrusting into her as she longed for him to do, he bent and put his mouth over her nipple, suckling her through the silk.

She nearly shot off the mattress. His hot breath dampened the material and sent a flood of warmth to her belly, and when he repeated the gesture with the other breast, she arched and leaned back on her hands, offering herself up to the exquisite, teasing pull.

Just when she was about demand that he push aside the silk and kiss her skin, he placed his hands on her thighs, spread them open, and sank to his knees.