Page 32 of To Tempt Lady (Victorian Outcasts #10)

thirty

In the library, Marcus pressed a key of the typewriter to check it worked properly. The type bar shot forwards to print its letter on the paper. Repairing the device hadn’t taken too much time; it’d been easier than he’d thought.

Like talking with Emma.

When he’d entered her study to tell her the truth, he’d believed she would have asked him to leave her house immediately. Her compassion and understanding had truly given him a new chance at life.

Her soft footfalls filled the silence of the library. His heart answered by pounding faster.

She stopped next to him in front of the typewriter. “Such a beauty. So strong.”

“It didn’t work properly for a while.”

“Just a fleeting moment of difficulty.” She pressed a few keys. “As I said, strong.”

He trailed a finger over her hand, up her arm, and to her neck. “There’s nothing I want more than to be with you. I’ve never felt like this with anyone. Only you.” He caressed her cheek with his knuckles.

She quivered under his touch. “There’s a small sitting room at the end of the corridor. Trevor never uses it.”

He was more than tempted to gather her in his arms, carry her to the study, and not let her out until she was thoroughly satisfied.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, wishing with all his heart she said yes.

“I’ll show you.” She took his hand and led him down the aisle.

They passed rows of old books and ancient knowledge that added a solemn air to the moment.

A door opened to the left. A tufted red sofa and a low table were the only furniture in the small study smelling of worn leather and rich wood. When she closed the door behind them, only one diamond-paned window let the light from the street lamps in.

His situation hadn’t changed. He would never be able to marry her. They could be nothing more than lovers until she found a husband. Then they wouldn’t even be friends. He would be an embarrassing memory she wouldn’t want to remember.

Moments like that would be everything he would ever have, and he accepted his fate. He would make those moments last for a lifetime.

She lit an oil lamp; its flame glowed over the brown wainscoting and the curtains. She sat on the sofa, bathed in the golden light. He knelt in front of her and took her lovely face in his hands. He opened his mouth to ask her again if she was sure, but she spoke first.

“Don’t think too much.” She stared at him, reading his thoughts. “This isn’t the time to think about the future.”

It was. But their futures were different—her future was safe and certain; his depended on too many things out of his control. But he wanted to make her happy now, in that moment, in that small room.

He kissed her.

The kiss had never the chance to start slowly. She parted her lips and stroked his with her tongue, and he couldn’t contain his passion. She kissed him hard as if she wanted to prove to him she didn’t care about his past. He replied in kind, feeling every one of her breaths on his skin.

Forgetting about the future was easy as she kissed him deeply and moaned softly.

Only that moment existed. Even his past vanished.

She wasn’t the daughter of an earl anymore, and he wasn’t a disgraced engineer, broken by an injustice.

They were Emma and Marcus, and it was perfect.

He was free to be himself with her. No tumble for money.

And that made all the difference because he’d never experienced the wave of wonderful sensations going through him.

They shared heat and breath as he lifted her skirt and petticoats to bunch them around her hips.

He broke the kiss, needing to see her face. “I want to kiss you.”

“You are.”

He shook his head and slid a hand up her inner leg. “Here.”

“Oh.” She didn’t sound shocked at all, but curious.

He caressed her thigh. “Do you want me to? Your wish is my command.”

All the emotions Emma was experiencing couldn’t be normal.

Marcus had said they were, but as her blood was boiling and her body was pulsating, she wondered if she was just too wicked.

As she sat on the sofa, his hand stroked gently her inner thigh and didn’t make her think straight. He was nestled between her legs, his large build barely fitting, and she couldn’t help but hug him with her legs, lest he escape.

Did she want to be kissed? Yes.

He pulled apart the opening of her drawers and waited for her answer. “I’ll stop if you don’t like it.”

He shouldn’t have doubts. Just the thought of him kissing her started that delicious quiver through her body. She was more than ready. She would need only a light touch from him before she screamed out his name.

“Yes.” It came out all breathy and husky.

He placed her legs over his shoulders, and her pulse spiked at the scandalous pose.

He stared at her adoringly before dipping his head, and her muscles clenched.

He kissed her, and it was shocking, delightful, and too powerful to stay quiet. Energy burst through her as if a hidden furnace had been lit inside her.

She had to trap her bottom lip between her teeth not to scream. He’d barely started, but she was already pulsating with pleasure, her head light and her chest heaving. She had no idea a kiss would be incredibly better than his touch.

He kissed her deeply and teased her with his tongue, and she couldn’t believe the build-up of energy was starting all over. Her body must have waited all that time before releasing the hunger taking her over. Not one of the men she’d met so far had tickled the lurking desire within her.

She clenched her fists, squirmed, and curled her toes, but only Marcus could soothe the ache burning her.

When the second wave hit her, it was as if she were diving into a pool of warm water. She’d never experienced anything so liberating, powerful, and pleasurable.

He scattered kisses on her inner thighs, knees, and calves as she lay back, boneless and spent. Maybe she was too sensitive, but she adored every single brush of his lip on her heated skin.

He cupped her cheek, a mischievous light in his gaze. “I guess you liked it.”

She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms and legs around him and kissing him madly. She kissed every inch of him available to her lips. They fell to the hard floor in a froth of fabric, but he laughed as she kissed his face.

“Take me, Marcus. Now.” She straddled him, already anticipating the sensation of feeling him inside her.

The fact she had never done it didn’t matter. Her instinct would tell her what to do.

He brushed a curl of her hair from her face. “Here? Now?”

“Yes.”

“No. Not like this.”

“I want you to feel what I feel.”

“But I do.” He stared at her in awe. “For the first time in years.”

“That’s surprising.” She put her palms on his chest.

He took her hand and placed it over the falls of his trousers. “This is new for me as well. Emotionally, that is.”

She gasped, and curiosity won. She opened the falls of his trousers and touched him. The deep groan rumbling from his chest was a great reward for her curiosity.

Indeed, as she stroked him, his breathing sped up, and he arched his back exactly as she’d done. The fact she was the one who made him feel that way pleased her to no end. With all the women he’d been with, she was the one who pleased him the most.

He shuddered and held her to his chest, and she returned the hug, lying on top of him on the cold floor. She pressed her cheek against his chest. His heartbeat thumped strong and steady, and his body shivered.

“I’ll never forget this moment,” he said. “Whatever is going to happen—”

“We don’t talk about the future here. It’s just us and just now.”

He nodded solemnly. “You’re my first one, too,” he whispered. “Before you, being with a woman was only a physical act. With you, my body isn’t the only one involved. My heart and soul are with you. I feel what you feel.”

Out of nowhere, a sob remained trapped in her chest. All the pain and loneliness he had to endure hurt her intimately because she could have done something to spare him the pain.

She hugged him again. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. But that time, she wasn’t seeking to satisfy her body ache. Only her heart.