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  She looked puzzled, then her brow cleared. "I do not give a fig for Society."

  "I shall be gentle with you, Sarah." Justin reined in his passion. If she needed time and seduction, he'd give her those, even if his body paid the price for it. "You will come to no harm at my hands."

  She looked down at one of the hands in question. It pulled hers away and lowered the fabric to reveal her breasts once more. Her breath came faster.

  He cupped her anew. "You fit my hand perfectly, see?"

  With a tiny moan, she allowed his caress.

  "You like that, Sarah? Do you like this as well?" he asked against her lips as he pulled slightly on her nipple, elongating it.

  She expelled her breath into his mouth. "Oh, I must be very wanton..."

  "You are perfect." He cradled her breast in his hand. With his thumb, he caressed her nipple. "You do like my hand on you, do you not, Sarah?"

  "Is it improper of me to like this?"

  Heat pierced him. He cleared his throat. "Not if it gives you pleasure."

  Her lashes flickered as she stole a glance at him. "Truly?"

  "Between a man and a woman who want to—" He paused, searching for the right word. Finding it, he smiled down at her. "—to delight each other, nothing is wrong."

  She pushed him back so that she could stare into his eyes. He felt them searching his expression as vividly as if she touched him

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  with her hands. "You are persuasive, sir, but I am aware of the consequences of our actions."

  For a moment, he felt cornered, like the fox as the hounds bayed their triumph. He shook it off. Surely Sarah referred to more personal, intimate issues. He thought of the French letters in his dressing room and smiled. "Do not worry. I shall protect you." He kissed her, slow and sweet and hot. She trembled in his arms. "Let us enjoy each other and forget everything but us now."

  "I must think!"

  "Do not think, Sarah," he urged. "Feel. Feel how much I want you. Allow yourself to admit how much you want me." He pressed closer, making sure she knew how hard, how aroused he was. "I shall make it sweet for you, Sarah. Put yourself in my hands."

  She gasped. Her eyes widened, then darkened. "You are too near, sir."

  "Let me come nearer. Let me come inside you."

  Her eyes turned darker, her body softened. He felt her knees tremble. Tightening his hold on her, he watched as her own rising desire warred with her sense of propriety. Encouraging her, he kissed her tenderly, persuasively. He knew the moment she surrendered to her passion.

  His kiss turned possessive as he worked at the remaining fastenings of her dress. She seemed not to notice as it pooled to the carpet. "You will not be sorry," he promised.

  He felt her breasts move with each breath she took. Each tiny upheaval was a caress against his chest. He pulled his shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder. Taking her hand, he placed her slender fingers against his heart. "I feel your heart beating. Now feel mine. It almost bursts for want of you."

  She left her fingers there. He couldn't believe it, but yes, she was actually caressing him, tweaking at his nipples in a gentle imitation of what he had done to hers, pulling at his chest hair.

  She seemed fascinated by it. He glanced down to see her fingers

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  buried in it. The contrast between her soft, pale hand and his dark furred chest made him catch his breath.

  It appeared she noticed, too. "All this dark hair. It makes me feel quite weak in the knees."

  "I am strong. I shall take care of you." He whirled her to the bed, where he dropped her and followed her down to the enveloping softness.

  "Justin!" she gasped as she landed on her back. "What are you doing?"

  "No more talk, Miss Wilder." He lifted himself on an elbow to smile down at her. "Now I am going to make love to you."

  "I cannot sway you from this?"

  He looked deep into her eyes. Warm, spicy with arousal, they looked back into his. He read excitement, daring, fascination, a hint of fear, and above all, what excited him most, acceptance, even eagerness.

  He smiled. "Never."

  She smiled back, scorching his brains. "Then, would you mind very much kissing me again?"

  He complied, again and again as her breast swelled in his hand and her kisses grew fiery against his mouth. He ached to thrust himself into her, again and again, until he found the release he craved.

  Justin felt his rod harden to aching proportions and settled himself against her.

  "You must get off me, sir." She pushed at his chest, but he refused to move. The feel of her soft little hands against him, even through his clothing, was enough to sear his lungs.

  "You are heavy, sir." When he lifted himself slightly, resting his weight on his elbows, she inhaled and ran her hands over her chest. "Your shoulders, see how much broader they are than mine? You could engulf me easily."

  "I could. Would you allow me?"

  "Allow you?" She traced a muscle in his corded arm. "How could

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  I stop you?"

  He looked into her face, into the disquiet posed as a question. "You have nothing to worry about, Sarah. I promise you."

  "Men promise very easily. They also break those promises as easily."

  He framed her face with both hands. "We are talking about more than you and I, are we not?"

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  Chapter Eight

  The light went out of her eyes. Justin cradled her head and pressed a tender kiss to her brow. "Who has hurt you, Sarah?"

  "It must be obvious that a promise made to me was broken." She surprised him with the steadiness of her voice, by her cool tone.

  "Who made the promise, Sarah? A man?"

  She exhaled, a long, shuddering breath that broke his heart. "I was engaged to be married to a subaltern in my brother-in-law's command. My sister's husband promised me he would keep Robby safe, but he sent him into combat."

  "Sarah, sweet Sarah. Many men die in battle."

  He meant to console her, but she turned furious eyes on him. "Do not preach of manly heroics to me, sir! Robby was killed deliberately because I..."

  "Because you what, Sarah?" Justin asked, his eyes narrowing as a suspicion formed.

  "Because I would not allow my sister's husband to force his attentions on me!" Sarah finished in a rush.

  Justin closed his eyes to hide the pain of his supposition confirmed.

  "See? Even you admit I am guilty."

  His eyes flew open. "No, never." He pressed kisses to her brow, her cheekbones, the tip of her nose. "I am proud of you, Sarah, for refusing what he had no right to ask." He kissed her tenderly, a butterfly-light touch of his lips to hers. "I am only sorry that you had to suffer for it."

  "Oh, Justin," she murmured against his lips. "You make me feel

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  worthy. So happy. I had forgotten how it is to feel joy."

  He nuzzled her throat at the hollow where her pulse beat. The fragrance of spring flowers rose up and surrounded his senses. "I am thankful that I can do that for you. Will you allow me to give you more?'

  "What more can there be?"

  He hid his smile in the beguiling hollow between her breasts. "Allow me to show you. I shall do my best to make you happy."

  "You still wish to make love to me?" she whispered.

  "I do." He kissed her hard and deep and pressed his rigid erection against her belly. "Does that tell you what I want?"

  She smiled, a slow, seductive smile that cast warmth and delight into his deeper reaches. "I believe that will do."

  For a moment, he was startled by the change in her. On reflection, though, it made sense. When Sarah determined to do something, she did it with her whole heart and being. She had rescued her niece and made it through the storm to his doorstep. He admired that single-mindedness of purpose, that devotion, so he should not be surprised when she turned her attention to him.

  Now
that she had made up her mind, she was beguiling, sensual and all woman. He'd never bedded a woman with this much spirited conversation before, but he liked it. He liked her quick wit, her acceptance of the passion between them, her lack of artifice. He liked her. "For a start, at any rate."

  "You will show me more?"

  "You must put your trust in me." When she smiled up at him, giving him that assurance, he all but shook. "A moment, Sarah." He went into his dressing room and returned with a French letter.

  He dropped it on the bedside table, then sat to pull off his boots. He cast them aside in blatant disregard for their shine. He stood again to undo the buttons of his breeches and pushed them off his hips, all the while conscious of her eager gaze on him. God. He'd never had a woman look at him with such demure delight, such admiration.

  Fully naked before her, he felt himself grow larger and more

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  powerful. Did she know what she did to him just by looking at him that way? His cock stood at full mast, straining to find its home within her soft, delectable body. He'd dreamed of this. Now that the moment was here, could he last?

  "I am naked before you, Sarah. Will you permit me to remove the rest of your clothing?"

  She blushed, but allowed him to disrobe her.

  Her arms dropped to cover her mound. Justin gently peeled her hands away. "Do not hide yourself from me, Sarah." He learned the shape of her, the gentle curves, the softest rose of her nipples. "You are a delight to me, so smooth, so beautiful."

  She met his gaze. "Am I really?"

  He gave a passing thought to the dozens of women he had paid meaningless compliments to, and, tracing the puckered flesh of her aureole, he knew without a doubt that he would never think of Sarah in the same terms. "You are the most precious thing I know."

  "Ah," she murmured and surged into his arms. The feel of her breasts against his chest made Justin inhale sharply. Pleasure surged through him at her courage, at her desire for him.

  "Sarah, Sarah." He placed her against the pillows and devoted himself to kissing her. Long moments later, he lifted his head and gazed with satisfaction at her swollen lips, at her glazed eyes. "You are a wonder."

  She traced the lines of his jaw, his mouth, then down his throat to his chest. She followed the shape of his muscled arms, then lifted her head to kiss his shoulder.

  "You are very large, sir. And velvety soft to the touch. I thought your skin here would be as hard as your hands."

  His breath hissed out.

  "Does it distress you that I touch you?" she asked when his cock quivered against her belly.

  "Distress?" he echoed though his brain threatened to explode. "No. Quite the contrary."

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  "Ah. In that case..." She placed a string of tiny kisses across his collarbone to the center of his chest. "You do not mind?"

  "You must please yourself," Justin replied, though he nearly strangled.

  "How kind of you." Sarah lightly pulled the hairs that covered his flat nipples, then burrowed with her tongue to lick one, then the other, in imitation of his mouth on her breasts. "You do not mind that I...play with you?"

  "Please.. .play." Sweet Jesus! He gritted his teeth and vowed he'd withstand her inquisitive, investigating touch. He'd endure anything to make certain that Sarah should suffer no shame, no pain.

  When he went to lower himself beside her, she stopped him. "Stay just so a moment longer, sir." She rose to her knees. Sinking back onto her heels, she studied his body. "You are a beautiful man, Justin."

  "Not beautiful," he chuffed. His stomach contracted as she touched it with the tip of her finger, then smoothed her palm across his flat belly. "God!"

  "May I touch you...there?"

  He couldn't trust himself to speak. Closing his eyes, he nodded. The anticipation of her small hand on his engorged shaft had him breathing in harsh gulps.

  When it came, it was more than he'd imagined. It was heavenly. It was torture. It lasted only a moment, as he quivered and jumped under her fingertip.

  He opened his eyes to see her draw her hand back, her eyes wide and her mouth a small O. He wanted to fill her mouth, to fill her every crevice, to teach her all the delight a man and a woman could share together.

  Instead, he made himself be still.

  Cautiously, she touched him again. "You are so hot. So smooth, like satin."

  She ran her finger down the length of him, while Justin braced his legs and forced himself to endure the most agonizing arousal he'd ever had. He threw back his head and closing his eyes, he grit-

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  ted his teeth. For an untutored maiden, she managed to reduce him to a state of mindless desire. He groaned.

  She took her hand away. "Is that displeasing to you?"

  "Ah, no," he managed.

  "May I touch you again?"

  The thought of what else she could do to him had his blood boiling. "Yes."

  She placed her hands on his hips and ran them down his flanks, his thighs then back up the insides of his thighs until she could go no further. He sensed her hesitation. Silently, he willed her to experiment, to touch him as she pleased.

  As if she heard his silent acquiescence, she delicately touched his sac. When his balls rolled, she gasped, then lightly played with him until he felt ready to burst.

  "You have a magnificent body, sir."

  "Justin," he reminded her.

  "Justin," she repeated obediently as her small hand burrowed between his legs.

  He shuddered. He'd never felt this way before, impaled by his desire, captivated, his blood so hot he could hardly bear it. All he wanted to do was come into her, to thrust himself into her, to bring her the pleasure she brought him.

  She lifted her head to gaze at him. "Do I shock you?"

  "Yes." His breathing sounded harsh in the quiet room. "No. More."

  Emboldened by his request, she applied herself to learning more about his body. She touched, she stroked, prodded and patted. Smiling, she curled her fingers and slid her hand down his cock. Finding a rhythm, she did that repeatedly, experimenting with pressure, with the way the cockhead bulged and the veins flared.

  Justin gasped for breath. "Enough!" he all but shouted when a drop appeared on the tip of his rod. "I shall embarrass myself before I have pleasured you."

  She opened her hand, but did not release him. His yard pulsed on

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  her palm. "You shall pleasure me, Justin. You are pleasuring me now."

  "Stop, Sarah. Allow me to attend to you."

  "Not yet, Justin, please. Tell me what else I can do."

  Her pleading tone did him in. "Are you sure?"

  She touched the tip of his penis with her finger, then brought the whitish drop to her mouth. Her tongue flicked out, tasting him. Sweet Jesus!

  His breath came harsh and loud. "Sarah, do you mean it?"

  She nodded, her gaze fixed on his throbbing cock.

  "Touch me with your tongue. Lick me."

  She raised wide eyes and stared up at him. "Lick you? Here?" When he nodded, too far gone to speak, she moistened her lips.

  The touch of her tongue, hesitant, wet and warm, undid him. He groaned and fell back on the bed.

  "Justin?"

  He heard the doubt in her voice and forced himself to speak. "You are a delight, Sarah."

  He felt her smiling as she bent to him and licked him again. Growing bolder, she stroked his yard and kissed his quivering flesh.

  An unselfish woman. Oh, Lord, what had he done to be so rewarded? Justin grasped the sides of her head, burying his hands in the soft strands of her honey hair and held on as his body bucked and throbbed under her hands. He came, a great wrenching orgasm that arched his back and neck. He cried out as he spewed forth.

  "Did I do something wrong?" she asked in a small voice.

  When he could speak, he touched her hair. "Far from it. I am the one at fault. I have not satisfied you."

>   "You haven't?"

  "Not the way I shall," he promised. "If you will be patient with me for just a short time."

  "Why?"

  He slid her hand through his chest hair, down his belly until it came to rest around his now flaccid cock. "That is why."

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  She gripped him, gently, but possessively. His cock, hardening again, rose in an erection he would never have thought possible. He turned his gaze on Sarah. "You are a witch. How did you do that to me?"

  Her eyes, shining and warm with passion, flickered over his rod, and then met his gaze. "I think you have underestimated yourself, Justin."

  "Not I. This resurgence is all your doing."

  "Mine? It appears to me that it is your... appendage which stands between us."

  He chuckled. "Nonetheless, you have a magic touch."

  She stroked the sensitive skin between his legs with her finger tip. "I am glad you think so."

  "Shall I tell you what else I think?"

  Her smile was pure enchantment. "Please do."

  "I think I shall play the sorcerer." He sat up and brought her to i his side. When she rested comfortably, he lowered and took her mouth with his. She tasted of him, of the most masculine part of him. He might once have been put off by such a thing, but now he reveled in it, sharing with her his joy that she had taken—and kept— him in her mouth while he convulsed.

  His tongue penetrated, probed and touched each slick curve and moist crevice of her mouth. With one hand, he smoothed his way down her throat to her breasts, and took one into his palm.

  He lifted his head and stared down at her. "Now it is my turn."

  She sighed, languid and yet her eyes were filled with deviltry. “One must be fair, I suppose."

  Chapter Nine

  "You have been so ingenious in your attentions, Sarah, that I shall have to be extra careful in return."

  She stretched beneath him. The feel of her breasts rubbing against his nipples set him afire. His belly contracted as she ran her hands down his flanks.

  He reached behind him and grabbed a hand. "No. That's enough experimenting. Let me return the favor."