“I want what you want,” Theodora whispered, fingers sliding seductively up Quinn’s arm.

Quinn craved her touch even as he worried at her motives in following him to his bedchamber at this hour. All through the day, when Quinn had felt the weight of his anger bearing down on his shoulders, Theodora’s fleeting touches had quieted his mind and given him renewed strength to endure the humiliation. He did not think she was aware of how much he’d needed her today.

She lay against him, rested her chin on his chest and held his gaze in a way that seemed too intimate for so short an acquaintance. Even as he marveled at her boldness, he craved more from her. “What do you imagine I’d want?”

Her smile was immediate. “I’m here for whatever you need. To talk, or not talk. Whatever it is, just ask, and it is yours.”

“I don’t want to talk.” What appealed to him as Theodora rubbed against him was a vastly improper use of his new secretary. But he could not use her just because he was angry and heartsick. He was wary of beginning an affair under the cloud of tonight’s events, too. He curved his lips in a tight smile. “I don’t want to think.”

“Then don’t. There is a time and place for everything. A time to be proper and a time to set aside everything just to feel.”

He touched her face, unable to help himself. He’d been committed to Adele for five happy years, or so he’d always foolishly imagined them to be. In all those years, he’d never once been tempted to indulge with another woman, whereas Adele had already strayed.

What would it feel like to take another woman to bed? Would he feel guilt or self-loathing in the morning for seeking comfort from a woman who thought she still depended on him for her livelihood? Her mother appeared not to have told Theodora about the gems he kept for them. He wasn’t sure why. “Is that what you did after your Daniel died? Carried on as if you were not broken inside and pleased yourself in private?”

“Yes, but not at first.” She touched his face too, scratching her nails over stubble gown too long. He’d not shaved since the night before, and the ruggedness of his appearance must have appealed, since she continued to stroke his face as if she was fascinated.

Adele could never bear him looking like this. She’d have ordered him home to shave before coming back to spend a few brief hours in her bed.

Was it really so wrong if Theodora was an eager participant—nay, enthusiastic seductress—in this affair? He had not invited her to come to his room or encouraged her beyond opening the door.

She smiled, blushing a little. “Daniel was not my husband, but I was expected to mourn him, to wear black and sit quietly in the corner as if my future had ended with his life. It was unfair. Daniel may have died, but that didn’t mean I had to die, too. I had my own dreams to fulfill that remain wanting still. There are desires to explore that he awakened. I was uncertain at first, but if one is cautious, and chooses the right time and partner, such selfishness can be a balm for the soul.”

“Selfishness?”

“Shared selfishness is perhaps a more appropriate description in our case.” She sighed. “No one ever touches me, but it is what I miss about my ill-fated engagement to Daniel. Connection. Comfort. Reassurance I am not alone, even for the length of one short hour to make love.”

Would he only be allowed an hour? Rushing intimacy had never been satisfactory, in his experience. “You’re not alone. You have your mother,” he reminded her as her hands moved over his body. Exploring.

“It is not the same. I miss a man’s passion more than I can bear at times,” she whispered. As her fingers crept toward his ear to tease, Quinn shivered with anticipation. “I would like to touch you,” she said, her lips parting and her breath quickening.

“I believe you already are.” He grasped her shoulder, drawn to reciprocate the attention she’d lavished on him all day. She sounded very lonely and so vulnerable. He knew the feeling, but still did not like to think he’d be taking advantage. He tried one last time to draw back. “Are you sure this is wise?”

“What I want is never wise. It is necessary, though.” Theodora unbuttoned the waistband of his trousers and then unbuttoned his shirtsleeves. “You were together a long time. Years, you said. Time spent together discussing your hopes and dreams. You’re angry at her, and that is understandable, even expected.”

“I imagined I’d marry her.” His confession startled him. He’d never revealed that to anyone. Not even his mother knew that he was contemplating the battle he might face to make Adele his wife.

Theodora smiled tightly. “And now?”

Now he never would. Adele had revealed her deceit. Her true colors. “I don’t want to imagine the woman anymore because when I do, I see my father, naked in her bed where I lay with her not three nights before.”

She slipped the shirt over his head, and her hands fell to his waist. “You need a new memory to cling to, if only temporarily.”

“Temporarily?”

“As I have already promised you, I have no ambitions to become a permanent part of your life. But satisfying this ache,” she slipped her hand into his trousers, and discovered he’d unwittingly become aroused by her proximity and their frank talk of pleasure, “can take your mind off a troubling image.”

She stroked him with the assurance he needed tonight. With skill and enthusiasm for the task of bringing him fully erect. He’d never been one to be led into dalliance, but she had a point. He couldn’t think clearly with Theodora Dalton’s tiny hand sliding over his skin. He wanted oblivion very much tonight.

As his trousers slid past his hips, he caught the first button on Theodora’s gown and undid it. He undid each button slowly, pausing to touch every new piece of skin revealed. Although he had briefly imagined Theodora in this manner when she’d propositioned him, he’d never honestly expected to take her to his bed. But if he had, he couldn’t imagine a better beginning than this. He’d made her no promises, not for money or jewels, not even for tomorrow morning.

She expected nothing from him but kindness and passion.

He dropped his lips to her shoulder and tasted her skin for the first time as he pulled the ribbons of her corset undone. Her skin was sweet and soft and warm, and very, very available. A soft little moan fell from her lips, and brought a smile to his. He cupped her breasts after her shift was tossed away and let himself feel nothing but desire.

Theodora made that very easy. She leaned into his touch, even while caressing him. She traced his chest, sliding her fingers over his muscles, teasing her fingers into his chest hair. She had taken her lip between her teeth, and her fascination with his body caused him to thicken even more.

He kissed her. He had too.

He had been captivated by her clever mouth since the moment they’d met.

Theodora wound her arms around his neck as he pulled her close against his body, and they fit together as naturally as water sliding over the hull of his ship. He loved the way she moved without a trace of awareness or awkwardness—as if they were the only two people in the world and nothing else mattered but pleasing him and herself.

He lifted her off the floor and hugged her tightly. A small squeal left her lips as his fingers lightly grazed the side of her breast.

He chuckled softly. “You are so…”

“So?”

“Provocative.” He palmed her breast again, but more firmly this time. “I think that is the most unexpected thing about you.”

He kissed her again, hungrily and deeply, stroking his tongue into her mouth without restraint. Memories of Adele were pushed aside in the rush of pleasure of having Theodora Dalton in his arms.

He lowered her feet to the ground so he could frame her face with his hands. Holding her head still did not mean Theodora was in any way passive. She teased his balls, stroked his erection firmly a few times, only to stop suddenly before beginning again.

She drove him wild until he ached to be inside her, until he shook with something far better than his anger.

Quinn shoved the plate aside and eased Theodora onto the foot of the bed. As her legs parted, he ducked his head between and took a long, slow lick of her sex. Her soft whimper of pleasure was music to his ears, so he did it again. This he knew and trusted to be real. Theodora was intoxicating and very wet. There was no chance she could fake the excitement he found and tasted.

He buried his head and feasted while Theodora shuddered and gasped, pressing up toward his lips every time he retreated for air and his sanity. He was on fire for her bold passion, torn between the need to delay to ensure her pleasure was found, and the desire to possess her for his own to forget the day and night that had passed.

He covered her with his body, beguiled by her soft curves and warm, grasping hands. He braced himself above her and slowly lowered his face to steal another kiss from her sweet lips.

A shiver raced through him at the contact of their mouths. Theodora hummed, as she did while she worked, and the tune stuck in his mind firmly and couldn’t be expunged. The tune goaded him on, caused him to decide that next time he could go slower. Tonight, he wanted like he never had before.

He cradled Theodora against him and carried her up the length of the bed. When she was settled with her head upon his pillows, he held her head between his hands gently as their passion rose, tongues danced and bodies aligned. With Theodora’s fingers tracing down his spine and grasping his bottom, he knew too soon where their adventure would lead them.

Theodora was too impatient to demand less than everything he could give.

He drew back, climbed off the bed and shoved his trousers off his legs, and then returned to Theodora’s waiting arms.

She said nothing, but sought more kisses immediately and held him close as he moved into position again between her widened legs. He delayed a moment, pausing to kiss her thoroughly until she writhed beneath him.

As her legs wound around his back to pull him in, he thrust forward carefully, entering her gently but determined to lose himself, for them both to become lost in a sexual daze of passion and completion, before the night turned into a new day.

Her breath shuddered past her lips as they moved against one another, grinding together silently in his bed. He pinned her arms to the mattress and thrust harder, causing her to moan aloud finally. Her back arched and her eyes fluttered shut. Quinn watched her every move, spellbound by her excitement.

Her lashes fluttered, and her eyes opened slowly. “Quinn,” she whispered, at last using his given name. A slow smile formed on her lips. “You are a good-looking man. Simply gorgeous to behold…but this is a gift. My God,” she gasped, straining upward as he slowed his thrusts. “Don’t stop.”

“I’ve no intention of doing that, my dear.” Her praise of his looks thrilled him, as did the hunger in her eyes and words. She was about to come, and he dared not change a single thing about his technique. Her mouth opened, eyes widened as she convulsed wildly but in utter silence beneath him.

After five years of Adele’s theatrical thrashing, he was taken aback by Theodora’s quiet confirmation that his passion was exactly what a woman wanted. “Theodora?”

She licked her lips, chest heaving as she came down to earth again. After a while, her eyes opened and she stared at him sleepily. “Yes.”

He released her arms, fearing he’d been too rough. “Are you well?”

“Oh, indeed.” She slid her fingers up his arms to his face, and she brushed his lips with them.

Still hard and eager to tease this woman, he took one digit into his mouth and sucked deeply. Theodora groaned, quivered around his cock until he released her finger. She moved, tightened her legs about his hips, forcing him to slide within her body, creating glorious friction.

“Do that to me again,” she whispered.

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

He thrust again, pleased with her request. He wasn’t ready to come yet, and he certainly wasn’t ready to end their night so soon. “If you would allow me the honor, I’d have you stay in my bed until dawn,” he whispered.

“Yes!” Her smile was slow as she slid her palms down his sides. One delicately arched brow lifted. “Give me everything you are and more, please.”