Page 17 of The Marquess Match (Love’s a Game #3)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

C lare lay tangled in warm, rumpled sheets, her body utterly wrecked in the best possible way. Her limbs felt boneless, her skin flushed, her breath still coming in lazy, satisfied waves.

Three times.

She had told herself this would be one night, one time , enough to exorcise the years-long infatuation she had carried for Ash.

But once hadn’t been enough.

Not even close.

She turned her head on the pillow to look at him, this man who had completely undone her.

Ash lay beside her, one arm draped behind his head, the other lazily tracing patterns over her bare hip. His gray eyes, hooded with satisfaction, met hers, and that damned smirk tugged at his lips.

“You’re staring,” he murmured.

“You’re smug,” she shot back.

He laughed, shifting slightly so he could prop himself up on one elbow. “I’ve just spent the last few hours thoroughly ruining you. Can you blame me?”

Heat flashed through her all over again at the memory of exactly how thoroughly he had done so.

She bit her lip, forcing herself to focus on something else—anything else—before she forgot herself entirely and climbed back on top of him.

Ash’s fingers idly traced her thigh. “Why did you want to meet here tonight?”

She allowed a sensual smile to curl her lips. “Isn’t it obvious?”

He slowly dragged his tongue over his bottom lip. “No. I mean. Why risk another scandal?”

She sighed and dropped her head back onto the pillow. “The first time I ruined my reputation for nothing. There was absolutely no pleasure in coupling with Marsden.”

Ash nearly choked on a laugh. “I don’t doubt it.”

“If I’m to be ruined, I wanted to experience pleasure at least once.”

Ash cleared his throat. “It was three times …and counting.”

She tossed a pillow at his head. He caught it and gave her an unrepentant grin. “So?”

She arched a brow. “So what?”

“ Ahem , I do hope I didn’t disappoint.”

“Fishing for a compliment, my lord?”

“Never.” He dragged his fingers up her thigh again and chuckled. Then he fell back against the mattress, clutching the pillow to his chest. “Where do you suppose your mother thinks you are at this very moment?”

Clare exhaled a slow breath, blinking up at the ceiling. “She usually leaves me alone when I’m staying with Meredith.”

He nodded, letting his fingers trace little circles on her hip. “And when you’re not?”

“When I’m not,” she said, voice dry, “I’m at home in the countryside with her. Where she provides me with nearly constant condemnation.”

“Truly?” Ash asked, his brow crumpling into a frown.

“Oh, yes. She never allows me to forget for a moment that I’ve ruined the family.” She let out a loud, long sigh. “At least I am an only child. I should hate to have ruined a sibling as well. I doubt I could handle that guilt.”

Ash’s hand stilled on her skin.

“She shouldn’t treat you like that,” he said, his tone sharp with quiet disapproval.

Clare laughed, though the sound was humorless. “As if I have a choice,” she murmured. “As if I have a choice about anything —how I’m treated by my mother, by Society.” She turned her head to look at him. “This is my choice. Tonight is my choice.”

His gaze darkened.

And then—just like that—the tension between them shifted.

Ash moved swiftly, rolling her onto her back, his bare weight pressing against her.

“Then by all means,” he murmured, lips ghosting over hers , his voice all heat and promise. “Let’s do it again.”

She gasped as he captured her mouth, their bodies already moving together, desire flaring white-hot between them once more.