“Which you promptly joined, I’m sure.” Thomas’s impressed grin sent shivers through Violetta.
“Of course,” she said. “Though there was quite a strenuous vetting process. In the end, all three of us passed muster and were employed in the Secret Service.”
“Your sisters too?”
“Both of them.” Violetta beamed with pride, then grinned wickedly. “We were all given different names and provided with documentation to back those names up as well.”
“So your real name isn’t Violetta?”
“No.” She leaned closer to him. “It’s Hester, if you can believe it.” She made a face to show just what she thought of the name.
Thomas laughed out loud, then silenced himself with a sheepish grin. Violetta found the whole thing charming. “And you don’t regret your decision to enter a life of danger?” he asked.
“Not one bit. I relish the danger. It makes me feel alive and free.”
His expression turned melancholy, surprising Violetta. “I wouldn’t know what it felt like to be free,” he said, frowning at the lengthening shadows the dying sunlight cast on the wall behind them. “I haven’t been free once in my entire life.”
“That can’t be true.” Violetta scooted closer to him, finding his vulnerability fascinating and alluring. “You’re a nobleman. I’m assuming from the way you’re dressed that you have a fortune as well.”
“My father’s fortune,” he said with a note of bitterness. “Or rather, my brother’s now.”
“But aren’t you an earl in your own right?”
He shifted to stare at her. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Even less so because no one has ever expected much of me. I’m sorry to say that I’ve lived up to their expectations in every way.”
“That can’t be true.” Violetta rested a hand over his on the back of the sofa.
His smile warmed, his shoulders held their tension. “I was never as clever as Asher,” he said. “Or as well-spoken. Or as accomplished at cricket, or any other sport. Asher was always the golden child. I couldn’t even court the right kind of women.”
“Oh?” Violetta arched an eyebrow, eager to know all about his history with women.
He caught the wickedness in her expression and smirked. “I didn’t have the good sense to dally with bored, aristocratic wives or randy widows, like most members of my social circle were expected to do. I had much more of a taste for Bohemian artist types and modern women who professed to believe in free love.”
A shiver went through Violetta, pulsing deep in her core. “Do tell.” She flickered an eyebrow in invitation.
“I became quite the darling of that set.” He inched closer to her, toying with her hand and threading his fingers through hers. “The fine ladies of the progressive set positively adored me.” He moved closer still. “They found me uncommonly easy to train, you see.”
“Oh, my.” Violetta’s heart raced, and her sex throbbed in anticipation. “And what do you mean by easy to train?”
“In all the ways to please a woman.” He lowered his voice, shifting close enough to slip an arm around her waist and drag her flush against him. “I believe the rumor circulating around London about me was that I could make a woman come so hard she would black out.” He leaned in to whisper against her ear, “And then I could do it again.”
“Oh!” The single syllable came out all shivery as Thomas kissed her neck. His hands caressed her sides, teasing close to her breasts and searching out the buttons of her bodice. It didn’t once dawn on her to tell him not to undress her or to forbid him from kissing her. He brushed his lips along the line of her jaw to her cheek, then moved to close his mouth over hers.
His kiss was every bit as good as it had been in the alley behind the stage in the plaza earlier. Better, as there was no one to disturb them. He knew exactly how to part her lips and slide his tongue against hers in a way that suggested other things she could have in her mouth and making her want more. He had her distracted and panting in no time, so much so that she hardly noticed how quickly he’d undone her bodice and unhooked the top of her corset.
She was suddenly aware of how expertly he’d begun to undress her when he scooped a hand into her corset to squeeze her breast. His hand was warm against her soft skin. He knew just how to fondle her in a way that made her feel naughty for wanting more. And just when she thought she couldn’t enjoy his touch more, he pinched her nipple.
The short burst of pain turned instantly to deep pleasure, and she wriggled against him. “You are good,” she whispered, tilting her head back so he could trail kisses down her neck.
“You have no idea,” he said in a rich, sonorous voice.
He nipped at her neck as his hands went to work, loosening her bodice and corset further, until her breasts and shoulders were fully exposed. His mouth quickly took over the work of his hands, kissing and teasing her breasts. He wasn’t afraid to use his teeth and didn’t treat her as though she were something fragile as he enjoyed her. When he closed his mouth over one of her nipples and sucked hard, she arched against him, making a sound of pleasure so unfettered that she surprised herself.
Her whole body was alive with need, and he seemed to sense that. As he suckled and nibbled her breast, his hand searched under her skirts, finding the hem and bunching the yards of summery fabric up over her leg. He made no secret of what he was after, pushing her knees apart and stroking her thighs. Violetta moved exactly as he wanted her to, ending up splayed on her back against the arm of the sofa in no time, her legs parted as he played with her.
When his fingers slipped between the split in her drawers and brushed unapologetically against her wet sex, she jerked into his touch.
“Minx,” he growled against her breast, then shifted back.
He gathered her skirts in both hands and shoved them well above her waist, exposing her stockinged legs and drawers. With a quick tug, he loosened the drawstring of her drawers and pulled them right off, over her shoes and everything. Violetta trembled in anticipation as he grasped her knees and shoved them mercilessly apart, then leaned in to continue the work his fingers had begun with his mouth.
She gasped loudly, then moaned with pleasure, her eyes rolling back in her head, as he went to work on her sex with his lips and tongue. She was no stranger to pleasure, but Thomas sent her soaring to heights she’d barely even dreamed were possible. He thrust his fingers inside of her and stroked while circling her clitoris with his tongue and drawing wild worlds of pleasure from her. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear it anymore and would burst into orgasm, he backed off, keeping her just inches away from explosion. Every time he teased and stroked her again, the pleasure was deeper, stronger, but still he denied her.
“I can’t…you must…” she panted, but he merely laughed in reply, sending wonderful vibrations through her.
At last, when she thought she would lose her mind with pleasure and denial, he increased his pace, letting her spill over the edge. She let out a loud cry as her orgasm slammed into her, throbbing hard in her core and radiating pleasure through her entire body. It seemed to go on and on, filling her with heat and light.