Read Online Lord Ruin by Carolyn Jewel - Free Book Online Page B

Ruan thought she was not so yielding. He fancied if he pushed hard enough he’d feel the bite of steel beneath.
    “Under different circumstances, I might have banished us both, but I’m afraid I cannot stay away long enough for the gossip to die a natural death. So, it’s Satterfield, not Fargate Castle. I’ll be in town, though. I can’t say if I’ll be able to join you very often. I shall if I can get away. Christ,” he sighed, brushing his fingers through his hair. “I’ve not been gone twenty-four hours, and I’ve nothing but disasters to be dealt with.”
    “Including me?”
    He gave her a sharp look, but she smiled, and the tension in him eased. Without thinking what he was doing, his slid his hands up her arms, savoring the warm, silky flesh. “Believe me, you are the least of them.” In the back of his mind, he puzzled over how at ease he felt with her. It once again struck him that he might have known her for years. Just like with Devon. An odd, but certainly not unwelcome realization. “So, my dear Anne, only when we have achieved our mutual goal will I banish you to Cornwall.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I am a practical man.” She made a little sound of surprise when he cupped her elbows and pulled her close. He watched her, feeling his interest rising, stirred in a surprising degree. Really, she wasn’t a bad-looking woman at all.
    “That is not your reputation.”
    He kept her close. “And that is?”
    “That you make women love you.”
    “I never in my life
made
a woman love me.”
    “And the moment they do, you are bored and must find another heart to break.”
    “If any broke their hearts over me, that’s not my affair. Now, Anne, surely, there are more pleasant things at hand than whether I am bored by silly women. Do not look away.” He put a finger under her chin and brought her head back to face him. “Your skin is soft. Like silk. Everywhere I touch you.” He put action to his words and stroked her cheek. “I made love to you. Here. In this very room.
We
made love, make no mistake of that. You were—and are—so very passionate, and you made me feel like a bloody stallion.” He ran a finger down her throat, feeling her racing pulse. “The experience was . . . shattering. Last night. . . Last night—I shan’t ever forget it. I can’t.” He hadn’t intended to make love to her, but now there wasn’t anything he wanted more.
    And she, sensing the change in him, went stiff. Her hands made fists at her sides, and she clenched her jaw.
    Her perfume floated to him, light and pleasant, with a hint of citrus. “I will be gentle.” But her body shook, and her eyes locked onto his, wide and panicked. Thinking to calm her, he kissed her. Tenderly. A lover’s kiss. The sort of kiss he had used to great effect on dozens of other women: soft and just the least bit eager. With his fingers now buried in her hair, he tasted her, feeling the shape of her mouth under his and, regrettably, absolutely no indication that she knew what to do to help things along. “Have you never been kissed?” he asked, pulling back from her. “Well,” he amended, remembering the likely answer to that. Other than by me.
    “No.”
    After a moment’s consideration, he said, “I think I like that.” He drew her closer. “Do you feel it?” he whispered. He could tell she had no idea what he was asking. “When I’m this near you, the very air thickens with desire. I could reach out and grab a handful, it’s so thick, and all I can think of is kissing you and feeling your maddeningly, wondrously soft body against mine.”
    Anne’s head came just under his chin which meant he had only to tip her chin to his to brush his lips over hers once again. As he did so, he slid a hand between them and lightly touched his thumb to the crest of her breast. She nearly jumped out of her skin. He summoned all his patience, which wasn’t much but would have to be enough. His hand fell away from her. “I won’t hurt