Oh, hell, Pen, he groaned, firming his grip on her. He was incapable of gentleness. The storm outside was a pale echo of the storm in his blood.
On another guttural groan, his mouth crashed down.
As the ship plunged like a wild thing, Cams mouth ravaged hers. Astonishment held Pen captive as a fierce mixture of sensations struck her harder than the waves against the hull.
Since she was a girl, shed imagined Cams kisses. The reality was earthier, more intimate, more passionate, more exciting than anything shed conjured in fantasy, no matter how lurid. His mouth was hot and commanding. His hands were ruthless and inescapable. The storm beat around her until she wasnt sure whether the chaos was outside or within her.
Pen was no longer the nineteen-year-old innocent who had turned down his proposal. She knew how a man behaved toward a woman he respected. In Cams kisses, there was neither caution nor care.
Some distant corner of her mind urged her to protest. He treated her the way hed treat a strumpet from the docks. But how could she demur when she basked in endless heat? All her life, shed felt so cold, so cold.
His tongue plunged between her lips, demanding a response. Helpless to resist, bewildered and giddy with arousal, she gave it to him. She opened her mouth wide, sucking his tongue, tasting this man shed always wanted. Her senses flooded with his rich flavor, his salty scent of storm and ocean and clean male sweat.
She moaned and arched into his damp clothes, frantically seeking the searing heat beneath. Shed set him alight and the flames of his desire lashed her. His hard length jutted into her vulnerable belly.
The knowledge of how much he wanted her set up a throbbing between her legs and she wriggled, wanting more. He rocked against her in an imitation of the sexual act. The breath scraped from her throat and she closed her eyes, reveling in incandescent sensation. Never had she felt like this.
Still his mouth explored hers as if he claimed a private kingdom. She could hardly breathe, sinking into untamed delight. She clung to his shoulders as her knees threatened to collapse. He was shaking too. If he wasnt braced so firmly against the window frame, theyd tumble to the floor.
Still his mouth explored hers as if he claimed a private kingdom. She could hardly breathe, sinking into untamed delight. She clung to his shoulders as her knees threatened to collapse. He was shaking too. If he wasnt braced so firmly against the window frame, theyd tumble to the floor.
His hands roamed over waist and hips and thighs. She didnt hear her dress rip, so she was startled at the sudden coolness across her chest. When his hands closed greedily on her breasts, she cried out in surrender. His long fingers plucked the beaded peaks, teased the areolas, stroked and squeezed and pinched. Shed recognized his desire weeks ago, but had no idea he wanted her so ferociously.
His hands pushed her to the edge of pain, but the agony was glorious. Never had she felt this intensity. Awe lanced through her.
Still he wasnt tender. She was past caring. Shed permit him anything, as long as he kept kissing her, touching her, panting his appreciation into her neck. She burned to touch him. Return this bliss. Conquer him in turn.
Hesitantly she slid a shaking hand between their bodies, cupping him. He was large, vigorous, daunting in her hand. She shuddered to feel the vibrant life. The thought of all that power thrusting inside her made her head swim.
Damn it, Pen, he groaned into her bare shoulder and nipped her sharply.
Shock sizzled through her with the sting. His savagery appalled her, scared her, but spiked her excitement to a level where she threatened to combust.
Should I stop? The storm made her feel as though they were in a world of their own. She nibbled a line up his neck and along his strong jaw. Tell me to stop.
Hell, no, he groaned and drew one pointed nipple into his mouth. More exquisite pain flowed into intoxicating pleasure. To share this delightful hurt, she clenched her other hand in his tangled, wet hair.
He sucked her other nipple. Heat flooded her as every muscle tightened into a delicious coil. Through the haze, she felt his hand on her leg above her stocking. Another hitch against the ships movement and his fingers curled around her mound. She jerked at the intimacy.
She tugged at his shirt until her lips skimmed hard pectorals, kissed the mat of soft hair. When one long finger invaded her body, she released a sharp inhalation and sank her teeth into his chest. He jerked and returned the favor with a sharp bite to her throat.
With a stagger, he swung her from the window. Away from the embrasure, the ships pitching was dizzying. Or perhaps Pen was dizzy with passion. Cam tumbled her toward the luxurious bed where shed slept alone for two weeks, tormented to know he lay just across the corridor.
Breathless with excitement, she toppled back onto the mattress. Then she was doubly breathless when Cam flung himself on top of her. His weight was unfamiliar, thrilling. The boats tossing rolled them together so they wrestled like puppies. Inside her, a great emptiness yearned. She ached for Cam to fill her. She grabbed his shirt and ripped it off, desperate to feel his bare skin. She was as fierce as he was. Even now when it was clear that he was mad for her, she still feared that this glory might end before shed drunk it to the dregs.
Cam fondled her breasts, pressing them together, kissing her nipples. Response rippled through her like fire as she bowed up toward the hot rasp of his tongue.
He kept speaking, broken words of praise and encouragement. Kiss me. Touch me. Hold me. There. There. Ah, just there. Youre beautiful. I want you. Thats right. More. Harder. Tighter. Dont stop. A feverish litany of demands that set her wayward heart pitching like the yacht.
With an urgency that stoked her craving, he slid down her body, setting his mouth wherever he reached. Throat. Breasts. Stomach, still covered by her shift. Shed had no idea her skin was so sensitive. Somewhere between the window and the bed, shed lost her corset. She still wore her dress. Barely. Her skirts frothed around her hips.
His hands were everywhere. She jolted as he ripped her drawers away. His touch commanding, he caught her thighs and parted her. The ship gave a mighty kick as though protesting at his action.
Chest heaving as he rose, Cam caged her between his arms. You drive me insane.
Gasping, she hooked her hands around his neck and held on hard. Making love in this storm was like embracing on a galloping horse. I think were both insane.
Lightning flashed again and again, turning the room continually bright. He looked desperate, as shed never seen him. She thrilled to think that she, Penelope Thorne, did this to him. He dipped his hips until he rubbed against the place where she wanted him.
I need more than this. Urgency made him sound angry.
Dont talk. She pressed higher into that intriguing hardness, gathering her courage to unbutton his breeches. Above, there was a deafening crash as if a mighty tree fell. The yacht plunged, setting Pen bouncing. If Cam had been naked, hed be inside her.
His hands on her waist were insistent, holding her firm against the shifting mattress. Say youll give me more than this.
What on earth? She frowned at him, struggling through her lunatic arousal to understand what he asked. Of course Ill give you more than this.
Having you once isnt enough. Give me a month. He pressed his face to her naked breast. Well go somewhere. Somewhere nobody knows us. Cornwall. The Highlands. France. A month will make no difference to your aunts bequest.
Bewilderment, passion, recklessness vanished within the second. Like freezing seawater, stark reality crashed down. A month, she repeated flatly.
He didnt notice her tone or that her body no longer curved toward his in welcome. Instead, she lay stiff as the planking on the deck.
A month. Say youll give me that much. He shifted to cradle her face in his elegant hands. I promise you more pleasure than youve ever known.
Quickly and thoroughly, he kissed her. There was still no tenderness. Minutes ago, she wouldnt have minded. Stupid, brainless, needy little fool she was. Even now, her heart raced, her skin yearned for his touch.
Whats wrong? He raised his head and stared at her in concern. Is it the storm? This is hardly the best place to start an affair, but I see you and I cant keep my hands to myself.
Apparently.
This time, he noted her tone. Slowly he sat back on his knees and she stole the chance to scramble up against the bedhead. She curled one hand over the carved top while the other clumsily struggled to restore her dress.
Lightning revealed Cams wary expression. The flash also showed her how shed devastated his clothing. How mortifying. His shirt hung in tatters over his powerful shoulders and chest. She struggled not to glance at his breeches, after a nervous glance revealed that he was still mightily aroused.
He ran a hand through his hair and his lips twisted in self-castigation. You told me not to talk.
You should have listened. She blinked back corrosive tears of anger and frustration. And hurt. When would she learn to keep her distance? Venturing closer to Cam always shredded her into bloody gobbets. But never so agonizingly as today when hed asked her to be his temporary mistress before he married another woman.
What did you think I offered? He no longer sounded like her ardent lover, but like the authoritative man who had escorted her through the Alps.
I didnt think, she admitted grudgingly. She still had trouble making her mind work. Anger and pain had doused passion, but her blood still pumped hot and ready.
I didnt think, she admitted grudgingly. She still had trouble making her mind work. Anger and pain had doused passion, but her blood still pumped hot and ready.
What in Hades is this, Pen? Cam growled low in his throat. You dont want to marry me. You made that clear nine years ago. I cant believe youve changed your mind.
Had she changed her mind? The awkward truth was that if he loved her, shed swim a mile through the heaving ocean outside to marry him. With one arm tied behind her back.
The even more humiliating truth was that if he loved her, shed sneak away in the blink of an eye to his love nest. If he loved her, shed give up her last drop of blood to make him happy.
But the sad and unalterable reality was that he didnt love her. Hed never allow himself to love anybody.