“I’m already yours, James.”

Sophia spread one hand over his chest, her heartbeat pounding against her ribcage.

“If anything happened to you because I didn’t take enough care with your safety, then I’d gladly slit my own throat so you remained out of harm’s way.” He wound a long lock of her golden hair around his fist and kept her imprisoned against him.

“I’m safe right now.” Her head spun, both from his immense closeness and the headiness of his powerful touch. “Stake your claim.”

“You truly wish for me to do so?”

“Yes.” He’d kissed her only moments ago and sent her mind spinning, her desire flaring. She certainly understood he wouldn’t be able to make a formal offer for her, but if he made her a promise from his heart which she could hold onto, then doing so would be just as powerful. Slowly, she eased his jacket from his shoulders and let the fabric slide to the floor where it crumpled into a heap. No faltering. She would show him with her actions exactly how much she loved him. She unknotted his cravat, tossed it aside then flicked his shirt buttons open before smoothing over the hard muscles of his abdomen, his torso strong and rigidly firm. On her toes, she touched her mouth to his, her fingers digging into his muscled flesh.

“You will be the end of me. I’m certain of it.” Groaning, he caught her head in his hands and took their kiss deeper, longer, an entwining of their very souls. “I want to devour you, Sophia, but I won’t ruin you.”

“Devouring sounds delicious.”

“You need to cease encouraging me.” He nudged her backward, not toward the bed, but until her back came up against the wall, the rigid lines crossing his belly tightening so magnificently.

“I trust you.” She’d given him her trust the first day they’d met, when he’d caught her as she’d toppled from a wooden pail while trying to rescue a wee kitten from its precarious perch between two branches. Never would she take that trust back.

“Then let me show you the woman I see before me, the one I wish to stake my claim of, the one I shall always adore.” He loosened the laces at the neckline of her nightgown and slid the fabric down her arms. The ivory linen caught at her elbows, her breasts spilling free, then gently, he turned her to face the tall-standing oval mirror propped in one corner.

Her reflection shimmered back at her. She stood bared to her waist, the man at her back shirtless and a head taller than her, the light from the glowing fire glittering in his passion-filled eyes. He trailed a finger along the arch of her brow down to the sweeping hollow of her cheek then along her jaw. She tingled everywhere he touched.

“You’ve skin as pale as alabaster and as soft as satin.” A sweep of his hand down her neck, his voice low and husky, his gaze moving over her breasts. “You’re so beautiful.”

Her skin heated, her cheeks flushing, her nipples hardening into tight peaks. She’d bathed in a tub in this very spot, the fire roaring, and countless times she’d stepped clear of that tub and dressed before her mirror. She’d seen her body, each and every curve, but with his gaze upon her, she saw herself differently for the first time in her life.

She saw herself as a woman being looked upon by a man.

She saw what he saw.

Desire. Need. Love. All shining in her eyes.

She tipped her head to the side and rested it back against his shoulder, her back arched and breasts pressing forward.

James dipped his head to her neck, his dark hair sweeping forward over his brow.

She gasped as he nuzzled her flesh, as he lifted his hands and cupped her breasts.

“I want to bring you pleasure, my sweet Sophia.” Nibbling on her earlobe, he kneaded her breasts. “Will you allow it?”

“Yes, by all means, please continue.” So many sensations roared through her, all she desperately desired.

“I want to suck on your breasts.” He grinned wickedly as he stepped around in front of her. “Does that request shock you?”

“Yes.” Heat throbbed between her legs. “But in a good way.”

“I want to lavish attention on you.” Head bent, he wrapped his mouth around her nipple while he gently pinched the other.

As he took the tender tip deeper into his mouth, his dark head an alluring contrast against her pale skin, she gripped his shoulders and held on tight.

“My sweet, this is why ladies are never permitted to be alone with a man.” He licked across to her other breast, his tongue tracing the heart-shaped mole above her heart as he did. Tingles raced across her skin, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

More sucking, so deeply delicious.

She melted, although all too soon he swept back around to her back, his gaze once more on hers in the mirror, his gaze burning with desire. “I need to see you fall apart in my arms. Say yes, that I might have my wicked way with you.”

“Yes.” No hesitation. She wanted everything he could give her.

“Thank you.” He pushed her nightgown past her elbows and the cotton slithered to the floor, leaving her completed bared to his gaze.

She squeezed her eyes shut, shock and desire pulsing through her in equal waves.

“If you want me to stop, simply say so.”

“No, if you stop, I shall never speak to you again.” She opened her eyes and peeked at her reflection. Longs legs, curved hips, and golden curls covered her entrance below, his gaze moving over all of her.

“You’re such a vixen, my vixen.” He swept his fingers along her inner thigh and gently nudged her legs farther apart. With soft butterfly nips, he trailed his lips across her collarbone and into the sensitive curve where her shoulder and neck met.

Anticipation thrummed through her.

Being held in his arms was spellbinding.

He pressed his palm flat to her belly then speared his fingers downward into her curls. One finger dipped between her folds and nestled there. She held her breath and leaned back against him, then when he rubbed her nub, she gasped, her legs trembling.

She’d touched herself there before while bathing, had found the spot sweetly sensitive, but with him touching her in the same spot, everything was different. She gripped his outer thighs through his buff breeches as something devilishly hard prodded her lower back. “Can I touch you?” she whispered. “The same way you’re touching me?”

“No, otherwise I’ll come in my breeches. I’m already extremely close to doing so and I won’t allow that. Your pleasure comes first.”

“How does a man come?” She couldn’t help but ask the question, particularly when she wanted no secrets between them. “Will you tell me?”

“A man, when he reaches the pinnacle of his passion”—he pushed his hips firmer into her back, the bulge somehow even larger—“comes by way of release, ejaculating semen from his cock. It’s a thick whitish substance and should I release that inside of you, it could leave you with child, which would cause you ruin, and which I will never do.”

“I see.”

“But you can come at my hand, and find pleasure.” He plunged his finger deep inside her channel.

“Oh my.” She closed her eyes as sheer pleasure stormed through her.

He sucked on her earlobe, his fingers rubbing inside her lower flesh.

Never had she experienced such heavenly heights as this. She moaned, and he stroked her harder and faster. So deliciously fast. Everything went dark and her core sparked and caught alight. A fire of desire roared through her and she soared clear of her body, catapulting to the very stars. Dizzy, her legs buckled and—

“I’ve got you.” He caught her up in his arms and carefully laid her on her bed. With his boots kicked off, he unbuttoned the front of his breeches. Standing beside her bed, he held his handkerchief over his freed cock and pumped himself in long pulls.

“Kiss me,” she whispered, needing him closer.

“I can’t, or else I’ll toss this cloth and push my cock inside you. I want to, Sophia, more than I could ever express with words.” He increased his speed, his breath coming more rapidly, then he gritted his teeth, his body convulsing. Growling low, he jerked and leaned over her. He pressed his forehead to her forehead, his handkerchief wet with his seed. “Giving you up, will never be an option, not anymore. As soon as I’ve completed my investigations and sorted out this mess surrounding me, I will make you my wife. Say yes, that you’ll wait for me, for however long it takes.”

“Yes, I’ll wait for you, for forever long it takes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him down onto her. She kissed his jaw, his ear, his bare shoulder. “I love you, James.”

“I love you too.” He swept a lock of her hair behind her ear then kissed her with an open-mouthed kiss that had her clinging to him with breathy moans.

“You looked so stunning when you came. I shall never forget that moment, not for the rest of my days.” He lifted up a touch, fastened his breeches then settled back over top of her. “One of us needs to remain at least partially clothed, and that shall be me.

“I shan’t forget the moment you came either.” She tickled her fingers over his bare chest, then down each indent lining his belly, his midsection packed with muscle. “I love touching you. I fear I’m becoming a wanton woman.”

“You can be as wanton as you like with me.” He rolled them both over until she came up on top of him, her breasts pressing into his chest. With one arm curved around her waist, he settled his other hand over one lower cheek and stroked a small circle with his thumb across her skin.

White-hot flames danced back to life within her. “You took me to a place far beyond my own body.” She trailed a finger along his lush lower lip. “I adored it.”

“You are learning how to be a seductress rather quickly.” He gripped her hips, lifted her bodily higher and fastened his mouth over one nipple. “Which I love,” he muttered as he swept to her other nipple and sucked that one deep between his lips.

“My lord, I do agree with the way you stake your claim.”

“I believe I agree with it far more.”

He crushed her in his arms and kissed her wildly, as if trying to take her into his very heart and soul, which he already had. Never did she wish to be anywhere else.