Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard

Author:Amalie Howard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2021-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Ravenna saw the doubt and the unworthiness start to creep in like the poisons they were. She would not have it, not now, not when this was the most unguarded and open she’d ever seen him. Not now, when he was real. Pushing up to her elbows, uncaring of her own nudity, her gaze held him. “Stay with me.”

Panicked dark eyes shot to hers, nostrils flaring. “I—”

“No, stop. You promised me one night. No dukes, no heiresses. Just you and me. Are you so faithless as to renege on your word?”

“Promise me you won’t want more than this, Ravenna.” His voice was tortured. “I couldn’t bear disappointing you. Can you do that?”

“Fine.”

Clearly torn, he let out a breath. “I don’t want to hurt you when this is over.”

“You won’t. Now strip, lover.”

She hoped. Deep down, though, Ravenna had the feeling that a man as closed off as he was would hurt her without even knowing it. The fortress that surrounded his heart would not let anyone get too close. Not even his wife. But if she wanted him—and she did—she would simply have to separate the two…the physical desire from the emotional attachment. Not insurmountable, but not easy either.

This was about pleasure, not intimacy.

Ravenna adjusted herself and crossed her bare legs, seeing his hungry gaze instantly go to them. The pose was provocative, though she hadn’t meant it to be. Notwithstanding the fact that she was nearly naked in a location that was not a private bedchamber and a man who had just pleasured her to infinity was staring down at her like she was his last meal, a beat of shyness pulsed through her. She almost giggled. Said man had just spent a great deal of time lodged between her thighs, his sinful mouth pressed to her most intimate place, devouring his fill.

At this point, modesty was laughable.

A devious smile curled her lips as she remembered what the boatswains on the clipper had said about mouths going there. It had seemed shocking, unpleasant even, but disgust had been the last thing on her mind in the moment. No, her mind had been teetering on the knife edge of pleasure until Courtland’s sleek tongue had hurled her off into the abyss.

Summoning her inner temptress, Ravenna peered up at him, bringing a knuckle up to her lower lip and brushing it back and forth. An obsidian gaze lifted to fix on the movement. “One would think a man of your considerable…acumen could follow simple instruction.” Her hand drifted down toward the ribbon at her throat, and his hot stare followed the teasing path of her fingers. “Do I need to resort to more overt tactics?”

Ravenna lifted her upper body off the bench, and in one swoop, tugged the fine lawn of her chemise off her shoulders. She resisted the natural urge to cover herself and, instead, stretched like a contented kitten. She felt herself heat from the force of the gaze snapping to her exposed breasts, but not with embarrassment. With pleasure.

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