Page 23 of Road Trip With a Rogue (Her Majesty’s Rebels #3)

Daisy disappeared into the adjoining dressing room while the dinner plates were cleared away, and when she emerged it was to find Vaughan making a circuit of the room, extinguishing the candles and turning off the lamps. Soon the only illumination came from the glowing fire in the grate.

She’d removed her breeches and shirt in preparation for sleep, but as he glanced up and saw her lingering in the doorway in just her chemise, her heart started to pound.

The look on his face was the same hot, hungry look he’d sent her across a hundred crowded rooms—only now it was just the two of them, alone in the dark.

“Come here.”

His low command made her stomach flip. She crossed the room, but when she got close enough to touch him, he caught her hips and pushed her back against the edge of the desk. Her pulse kicked up another notch.

“You were wearing a wicked dress, that night,” he murmured. “I wanted to eat you up.”

He slid the chemise off her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, following it with a gentle bite that sent a jolt of heat curling through her bloodstream. Daisy gripped the edge of the desk, determined not to show how desperate she was for him.

“I wanted to kill every man who looked at you.” He pushed the silk down, exposing her breasts to the firelight, and she sucked in a breath as he took one into his mouth.

Oh God. This was what she’d wanted that night. His mouth on her. His hands. Every ounce of his attention.

And now she had it. Just for tonight.

He swirled his tongue, then lightly teethed her nipple while his left hand stroked her other breast and Daisy arched up into his touch like a flower craving the sunlight. The scrape of his evening beard made goose bumps break out on her arms and she felt him smile against her skin.

He knew what he was doing to her.

His hands slid down to caress the bare skin of her thighs, sliding up under the hem of the chemise.

She shifted, restless, and he caught her hips and lifted her to sit on the edge of the desk, bare feet dangling.

He stepped between her knees, his soft buckskin breeches sliding against her inner thighs, and she tilted her head back to look into his face.

“I can’t believe I managed to resist you.” His eyes were almost black as he slid his hand up her throat and cupped her jaw. “God, Daisy. This is what I wanted to do.”

He tilted her chin and kissed her, a kiss so blatantly carnal it was a miracle she didn’t go up in flames. Daisy groaned and met his tongue with hers, savoring the edge of hungry desperation.

He unbuttoned his falls and she shifted to the edge of the desk as the hot length of him slid against her, teasing her with the promise of more. She wrapped her legs around his hips, dragging him even closer as he positioned himself at the entrance to her body.

“Yes,” she whispered, shameless. She leaned back, bracing her hands on the desk as he cupped the back of her head, threading his fingers into her hair.

He entered her in a slow, delicious thrust. There was no resistance; she was more than ready for him, and she gasped, savoring the stretch, the incredible sensation of fullness and completion.

He was inside her, around her, commanding every one of her senses. The midnight-forest scent of his skin filled her nose, his taste filled her mouth. He made her feel overwhelmed and cherished, helpless and powerful, all at the same time.

“This is what I wanted,” he repeated hoarsely, tightening his grip in her hair. He rocked his hips and they both shuddered. “You. With me. Like this.”

He pulled back with almost punishing slowness, then pushed in deep again, setting a tantalizing rhythm that made her blood sing in her veins.

He kissed her, his tongue tangling with hers, mimicking the thrust of his body, then bit her lower lip, sucking it into his mouth, easing the sting with another kiss that made her clench around him.

“So. Fucking. Good,” he rasped.

The desk was hard beneath her, not entirely comfortable, but she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, loving the feral way he was taking her, hard and almost desperate.

She tilted her hips, trying to find just the right angle, then gasped as he suddenly caught the back of her thighs and lifted her clean off the desk.

The room blurred as he carried her over to the bed as if she weighed no more than a feather. When he laid her on the mattress and followed her down, still buried deep within her, the change of position nudged the perfect place inside and she couldn’t contain her groan of pleasure.

“Good?” He pushed forward again, apparently conscious of her every gasp and shudder.

“So good,” she panted, scarcely able to frame the words. “Just… keep—”

He didn’t stop. He drove into her, a relentless pace that made everything knot tighter and tighter. She was almost there. She fisted his hair, tightening her fingers in a way that must have been painful for him, but he just let out a rough sound against her throat.

“Yes. Use me. Hurt me if you need to. Take what you want, Daisy. Take me.”

She held her breath, straining against him to reach the peak. And then it came, blinding, stealing her wits in a rush of pleasure so strong she felt as if she was drowning.

He held her close as she splintered apart, but as soon as her shudders faded, he withdrew from her body. When she protested, he merely shook his head, rolling to the side and fisting his cock.

“Promised,” he gasped, pumping his hand. “Not inside you.”

His back arched and his hips bucked as he reached his own climax, and Daisy watched in awe at the way his muscles rippled and twitched. God, he was beautiful. Seeing him come apart, eyes squeezed closed, head thrown back against the pillows, was the most incredible sight she’d ever seen.

He let out a deep sigh and relaxed into the bedclothes, his big body suddenly lax, and she couldn’t prevent the foolish smile that spread across her lips.

“Well, you certainly keep your promises, I’ll give you that,” she breathed, and he let out a low, exhausted rumble of amusement.

“Man of my word. Told you.”

A laugh bubbled up in her chest. “You didn’t even remove your clothes.”

He glanced down and seemed surprised to discover that he was still wearing his breeches, boots, and shirt. He frowned down at the damp mess he’d left on his shirt, over his belly, then pulled the garment over his head and crumpled the material into a ball.

“I’m not going to have any clean clothes left at this rate,” he grumbled.

Daisy sent him a weary smile. “Don’t worry. Tomorrow you can go and find all the clean clothes you could wish for. As soon as I get Violet and Peregrine, you’ll be free to return to your country house.”

She’d thought the reminder would cheer him, but his lips compressed, and he looked vaguely irritated for a moment before his expression cleared. “I suppose we ought to get some sleep, then, if you want an early start.”

He rose from the bed and she tried not to ogle him as he tossed his shirt onto one of the chairs and stripped out of his breeches. The dying embers of the fire caressed the strong lines of his body, and she bit back a wistful sigh. She could look at him naked every single day and not get bored.

He turned and caught her eye as she tugged her chemise back up over her shoulders.

“Am I permitted to sleep under the covers tonight?”

She slipped under the sheet, then threw back the coverlet for him. “You might as well. It will be warmer.”

She waited for him to pull on a shirt, but he padded back to her naked and slid in beside her. She shivered as he stretched out, but then he reached over and pulled her against his side and her body relaxed, melting into his warmth with a sigh of surrender.

Just for tonight.

Tomorrow they’d go their separate ways, and it was unlikely that she’d see him with any regularity once they were back in London. She’d be able to look back on this extraordinary interlude with a happy smile.

If they did happen to meet at some social event or other, they could just pretend to be nothing more than polite acquaintances. And if her heart felt a little pang of residual longing, then it was a small price to pay. A man like Vaughan was only ever going to be a temporary madness.

Daisy closed her eyes and allowed herself to wriggle closer to him, and she could have sworn she felt the brush of his lips against her temple as she drifted off to sleep.

“Good night, Hamilton,” he murmured. “Sweet dreams.”