A Royal Kiss and Tell

Oh, madam. He glanced up from his attention to her breast. Her eyes had taken on a sheen that he hadn’t seen before, but he knew instinctively this was the deep light of desire. She may hold her virtue in high regard, but she lusted, just like him. Something primal and deep kicked hard at Leo. He braced his elbow against the armrest and brushed a curl from her temple, tucking it behind her ear. “If you allowed me, I would fill you up completely. I would carry you with me on an expedition the likes you’ve never experienced.” He kissed her cheek and whispered, “I would make you sob with pleasure.”

Her lips parted with the draw of her breath. Her fingers curled around his arm. “And then, perhaps, I would do the same to you?”

He was mesmerized. Provoked. Her smile was dangerous, and he could imagine how easily he could fall under her spell if he desired it.

She twisted a curl of her hair around her finger. “What’s wrong?”

“You,” he said. “Everything about you is wrong, and yet there is not enough of you.”

She sighed. “How odd that I would feel the same way about you.”

He ran his hand along her shoulder, over her collarbone and breast, down her side, and down one leg, to her ankle. He dug his way under her skirts until he touched the smooth silk of her stocking. She made a sound in her throat and wrapped her arm around his neck, rising up to him. Leo sank into her and shifted slightly so that he could follow a path up her leg beneath her dress, skimming over the silk, then sliding onto the bare skin of her inner thigh as he kissed her.

Caroline shifted lower in the chair, her legs a little farther apart, and Leo slipped a finger through the slit of her drawers and into the damp folds of her sex.

“Oh,” she said, as if she’d just heard something quite interesting. She closed her eyes as he moved his fingers on her. He could have pleasured her there, but it wasn’t enough. He kissed a path down her dress as he slid the hem of her dress up and over her knees. Caroline didn’t stop him. She grabbed at the fabric and petticoats, holding them there. She was as eager as he was, and knowing that aroused him even more. He took her by the waist, pulling her forward in the chair, then dipped his head beneath her skirt and brushed his mouth against the spring of honey curls.

Caroline was panting now. Leo nudged her legs farther apart and slipped his tongue between the lips of her sex. Caroline gasped with surprise, her fingers groping for his shoulders, gathering her skirt higher and higher. As he began to lave her, she groaned with the pleasure he was giving her, causing his blood to pound hotly.

He explored her thoroughly. She moved against him, panting for breath, the little cries of pleasure coming quicker and quicker as she neared her release. He stroked her, sucked her, nibbled as if she were a delicacy until she found it, crying out without regard for their privacy, her hands clutching at him, exalting in the throes of release.

And when it was over, she said, quite breathlessly, “Extraordinary.”

Extraordinary.

Leo sat up and delicately dragged a finger across his lips. He adjusted his clothing and watched with not a small amount of pleasure as her eyes skimmed over his erection. He carefully pulled her skirts down over her legs. There were desires and feelings he wanted to convey, emotions he wasn’t entirely sure he understood himself. The words that came to him were Alucian, and he couldn’t think how to say those feelings in English. So he said, “You are remarkable, Caroline Hawke.”

She laughed softly and sat up. “I know. But I didn’t know that so are you.”

Leo grinned broadly. He reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet, kissed the back of her hand as if they’d just finished a dance, then her mouth, lingering there. “I should go.”

“You should.” She brushed something from his cheek, his hair from his forehead. She didn’t ask him any questions. She didn’t ask when she would see him again. She said nothing and smiled that catlike smile, looking sated and happy and in need of a nap. “Good night, Leopold.”

“Good night, Caroline.” He bowed. She curtsied as she bit back a laugh. With one last tug of his clothing, he carefully opened the door and looked out, then stepped into the hall.

He strolled quickly away from her door, but when he turned a corner, he encountered another maid hurrying toward him, this one carrying linens. It seemed an odd time of night for linens, but Leo had no notion of how these things were done. “Pardon, miss.”

The maid stopped and awkwardly curtsied. “Yes, milord?”

“I should like some bread—”

“I’ll fetch—”

“No, no, you are clearly occupied,” he said, gesturing at her linens. “Just point me to the kitchen, will you?”

“It’s directly below us, milord. Two floors down.”

“Very good,” he said with a nod, and continued walking.

He had not forgotten what he had to do, the stirring interlude with Caroline notwithstanding.

CHAPTER NINETEEN