At the stretch of her muscles, Lauren lifted her head, meeting his eyes over the plane of her flat stomach. While his glittered with a mixture of desire and regret, she did not see any indication he would go further than he already had. Disappointment edged away her satisfaction at the realization.
“You should stop me now, Lauren.”
The words whispered across her skin where his mouth pressed. Each breath was a little spark from a bigger fire. Each caress a flame waiting to be reignited. Each kiss a promise he could burn her alive again and again, and she would beg him not to stop.
“Why?”
Lust flashed in the blue depths of his gaze at her question. He did not look away as he nipped her hipbone before answering.
“Because soon, I won’t be able to stop. Push me away, Lauren, before I do something irrevocable. I don’t have the willpower, you see. Not with you.” His smile was sad. Lopsided. “I never do with you.”
“You haven’t any mistletoe,” she said. “No justification.”
“It doesn’t matter. I won’t need it. Now, push me away.” Even as he harshly instructed her, his fingers were spreading her open again, preparing her for the lush sinfulness of his mouth.
“I—I cannot,” Lauren groaned as he thrust two fingers inside her. Hot and probing, his tongue darted out, lapping up the evidence of her arousal. “Theodore, please. Don’t stop.”
Oh, what was wrong with her that she was eagerly accepting of this? So hungry for him? So desperate for his touch? He had turned her world upside down. Everything was topsy-turvy. To the point she would give him every shilling of her obscenely massive inheritance. “I cannot deny you.”
“Lauren, I’m begging you…” His words were frantic, muttered between licks of her flesh. “Send me away!”
Still fully dressed in afternoon attire, although minus his coat, Lauren dazedly supposed Theodore resembled some sort of ravaging beast hovering over his prey. How pale she must appear in comparison, her nudity in stark contrast to his dark clothing. She couldn’t send him away. Not when he was so hungry for her and she for him.
With customary stubbornness, Lauren shook her head, clutching handfuls of his hair so she could hold him harder against her. Theodore cursed something unintelligible, the heat of his breath searing her flesh.
“Then I will take what is mine, and before I make love to you, I will taste your sweetness once more on my lips.” He suckled the sensitive bud between his teeth and gently bit down while thrusting his fingers upward in a curling motion.
Ecstasy, sharp and sweetly exquisite, loomed on the horizon. But this was different from before. This robbed Lauren of breath. Of sanity. Of any resistance.
When Theodore did it again, she quivered in obedient response.
Captured and held prisoner on the precipice of something dangerously, wondrously addictive.
“Theo…” His name escaped her in a helpless, keening cry of pleasure. An answering low growl of satisfaction emanated from Theodore.
BOOM!
It’s my heart. Exploding. Can Theodore hear it? He must, for it’s so loud… like thunder.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Lady Lauren? Are you there? I must speak with you at once. It is imperative.”
A man’s voice penetrated Lauren’s haze of desire, punctuated by someone’s fists pounding the door to her rooms. The swelling inside her caught and held, trembling, waiting to be pushed over the edge or allowed to recede. It only needed another thrust of Theodore’s fingers, a bite from his sharp teeth, and she’d be flung over the stars and back. Flying without wings.
“What the bloody hell…” Theodore hissed. Lifting his head, he glared in the direction of the door then back to Lauren. His fingers remained curled inside her but had gone motionless now. “Goddamn Sanderson. I will murder the fool before all is said and done.”
“Sanderson?” Lauren repeated, blinking rather stupidly.
“Indeed, my dear.” Theodore’s eyes held a devilish glint. “He’s determined to court you, it seems. Shall I allow him to enter? Or should I stay otherwise engaged?” His fingers flexed experimentally, and Lauren melted with a gasp. But the delight was short-lived. He was already withdrawing from her. Rolling from the bed, he stood beside it and gave her a fierce frown.
“Lady Lauren? I know you are there…” Sanderson’s insistent voice sliced the air between them. He knocked again, three sharp raps.
“It is men like him your father wished to shield you against.” Theodore waved a hand toward the door. “Brash, unthinking, selfish, greedy.”
“As were you,” Lauren said, sitting up and drawing the tattered edges of her clothing together. The robe, still intact but just as flimsy and delicate as the nightdress, was hurriedly wrapped tightly around her body. “Yet, my father handed me over without a moment’s hesitation.”
Theodore’s eyes narrowed, his gaze almost silver in the shadows. “Yes. He did, and I accepted that gift and responsibility.”
“Lady Lauren?” Sanderson sounded almost plaintive. “I’m merely checking on your wellbeing.”
Ignoring the man on the other side of the thick, wooden door, Lauren rose up on her knees upon the mattress. Rather shakily, she reached for Theodore’s hand. “What would you do differently now? If given the chance?”
Theodore swallowed hard. His eyes pinned her, gleaming in the shadows of the room. “It’s a conversation for another time.”
Lauren rubbed her thumb over the back of Theodore’s hand. “My father had much to do with my state of unhappiness, I’m afraid. I am only now discovering it is impossible to lay everything at your feet.” Looking up, she saw an expression of heartbreak mar his features. She wanted to fold him into her arms. Forgive him for the many nights she cried, her heart breaking because she thought he’d meant to use her.
“You may place anything you desire into my care, Lauren. Even yourself.” Theodore breathed. “I will always handle you as though you are crafted of the finest porcelain. Do you not understand yet that you are my most precious treasure?”
Sanderson pounded again and incredibly, tried the doorknob. It jiggled with a soft clinking sound as the lock was tested.
“I thought I might keep you company, my dear,” the man declared, his voice muffled by the oak door. “Or I could be of assistance in massaging your temples should your headache still persist. I’m quite good with my hands. Won’t you let me in?”
Theodore gave Lauren a look filled with astonished fury. “I will break every bone in his body if he dares touch you.”
Lauren grimaced, bounding off the bed before he could stop her. “That’s hardly a sentiment in keeping with the Christmas spirit, Theo,” she exclaimed over her shoulder while moving toward the door. “One moment, while I make matters clear to Lord Sanderson.”
“Lauren, don’t open that door.”
In response, she stuck her tongue out then sidestepped him with a giggle when he lunged for her. Guessing he might make a second attempt, she dashed across the room, nimbly evading capture while Theodore swore under his breath.
She flung open the door. With a scant second to spare, Theodore removed himself from Sanderson’s line of sight, his hands and teeth clenched, ready to tear the other gentleman limb from limb.