Judith wanted to melt into the floor. She was hot enough it was almost a surprise she hadn’t already done so.
After a quick prayer of thanks that her husband was a very large man and completely blocked her from the earl’s prowling view, she went back to work, attempting to sort out the mess of her gown. Her tugging was proving useless, however. The fabric was bunched and rolled, and refused to re-cover her nakedness no matter how she yanked at it.
“ Can I help you with something?” Piers asked Lord Holbrook.
The echo of the earl’s footfalls rang out in the cavernous hall as he moved closer to them.
Desperate, Judith gave another firm tug at her bodice. The fabric ripped nearly as loudly as Holbrook’s steps. Her heart fell straight through to the parlor below them.
But then Piers reached one hand behind him and took hers in it, squeezing as he backed up just a fraction of a step.
“ I assume you have the lovely Lady Lipscombe behind you and not a young lady whose virtue must be protected,” Lord Holbrook said mockingly. “I’m in no mood to play the gallant hero this evening-not that I could offer for the chit, anyway.”
“ You’re in luck, Holbrook. No one requires your services this evening.”
“ Well, if Lady Lipscombe is in need of some other services, I could certainly offer those…” His voice trailed off, leaving nothing in doubt as to what he meant, other than how Judith’s experience had limited her imagination.
“ That,” Piers said emphatically, “is most certainly not required. Perhaps you ought to make a similar offer to your own wife. Or have you forgotten you have one? The majority of the ton surely has by now. Good evening to you, sir.”
“ Very well.” A tinge of disappointment rang thick through Holbrook’s voice. “As you were.” His footsteps headed off away from them, and Judith peeked around her husband’s frame to watch him. Just before he reached the end of the long corridor, he glanced back over his shoulder and caught her eye. Lord Holbrook turned around and bowed to her with a flourish before disappearing around the corner.
When they could no longer hear his departure, Piers turned to her again. Judith held the ripped fabric up over her chest with one hand, breathing deeply.
He stared down her, his gaze roving over her face to her chest and back again. It was a possessive look. Primitive. Needy. One so very similar to how Lord Quinton always looked at Aurora. Could it truly be?
“ I’d better get you behind closed doors before I rip the rest of your gown from your body and someone else comes upon us.”
“ Of course,” was all she could say in response. Rip her gown off? She hadn’t realized it was possible to get any hotter than she’d already been.
Piers took her free hand and pulled her along behind him, forcing her almost into a run in order to keep up with his long legs. She trembled all the while with anticipation and the slightest amount of trepidation.
At the end of the hall, he turned the opposite direction from Lord Holbrook. After a few more turns, he opened the door to their suite and drew her inside behind him, closing the door and pushing her up against it in a single movement.
Then his hands were everywhere: on her breasts, in her hair, behind her and kneading her derriere, pulling her gown up to bunch at her waist, roving over her thighs. His length pressed into her stomach, hot and hard, and as thick as ever. If the door weren’t holding her up, Judith was certain she’d be a puddle on the floor. As it was, her legs had turned to jelly and shook harder with each new sensation.
His mouth was on her again, suckling on her nipple in that glorious, wicked, sinful way he’d done before. She couldn’t stop herself from calling out and drawing closer to him, closer to his heat and strength.
He backed away for a moment and Judith nearly fell forward in her need to stay connected to him. True to his word, Piers snatched her gown from her body. The fine muslin split along the path she’d started, falling from her body in a heap of tattered remains. And he didn’t stop there, either, tearing her chemise and stays free, then making short work of her drawers. In moments, she stood before him in nothing more than her slippers and a ruby necklace.
Still, he looked at her with that hunger, that gluttonous need she’d seen there for the first time only moments before. Where had this man come from?
Piers allowed her no time to ponder his sudden change, however. He yanked at his cravat with one hand, pulling her along behind him with the other. But he didn’t lead him to her chamber. Nor, for that matter, did he take her to his chamber. Instead, he took a seat on the settee before an open window and pulled her onto his lap, straddling him.
The moon shone through, illuminating her pale skin, especially against the darkness of the room and his clothing. Taking her as-to-that-point untouched breast into his mouth, he used his thumb and forefinger to pinch the tight nub of the other. The joint pleasure-pain sent a flood of need to her center. Judith struggled with the buttons of his coat, trying to free him, but he grabbed hold of her hands and stilled her.
“ No, love. Not now.”
She whimpered, but obeyed him. After all, she’d never imagined she could feel the way she did at that moment, and Piers was the one who had created these new sensations within her.
When she dropped her hands back to her sides, he moved his over her again, stroking her everywhere. His gaze followed the path of his hands. They moved lower, holding firm against the tops of her thighs. Then he pressed gently against the insides of her thighs as he spread her legs wider. Then with one hand, he cupped her sex.
“ Good God, you’re so wet.” His voice was frayed and raspy, and he leaned forward until their foreheads met. With a single finger, Piers moved past her curls and inside her, slowly at first and then gradually increasing his pace. Adding a second finger, he rubbed the pad of his thumb over her most sensitive spot, tenderly before increasing his insistence.
Piers met her eyes then. “Move with me.” His gaze left her no option to refuse.
She wouldn’t have anyway. Judith lifted her hips and then brought them back against his hand, matching his resolute pace.
“ Yes, my love.” He kissed her again, deep and fast and intoxicating. His tongue worked in tandem with his fingers, each piercing her and thrusting into her in time.
Sensations built up within her, unfamiliar and incomprehensible. She felt like she would explode if he didn’t stop soon and nearly begged him to do so-but surely she’d die if he didn’t complete whatever it was he’d started. Judith ground her hips onto his hand, urging him on.
But then, inexplicably, he pulled both his mouth and his hand away from her. “Not yet, love. Soon,” he promised when she let out an inadvertent sob. Piers lifted her from his lap and lay her over the table before him, closer to the open window.
The moon now shimmered over her almost directly overhead, illuminating her fully to his gaze. A cool, summer breeze gusted in, chilling her overheated skin and sending shivers coursing over her entire body. She lifted her hands to cover herself and pulled her legs together until he shook his head slowly.
“ Let me see you. I want to watch you come.”
Judith’s breath caught. She lowered her hands back to her sides, gripping the edges of the table so she wouldn’t be tempted to cover herself again.
Piers knelt down where her legs were hanging over the end of the table. He put light pressure on her knees, spreading her legs apart. He didn’t stop until her thighs were almost in a split, each knee hanging over the side of the table. She was exposed to his view thoroughly. Judith blushed more fiercely than she’d ever done before.
“ So beautiful,” he murmured. Then he stood. He took the end of the table in his hands and lifted it, and spun it around so the moonlight shone on her sex. “Absolute perfection.”
Judith pinched her eyes closed. It was a very good thing she’d thought to grip the table. Her mortification knew no bounds.
After he stood there, staring at her for a few moments, he knelt between her legs again. His hand returned to torment her sex, three fingers now stretching her wide, filling her as he rubbed a frenzied pace against her nub. She cried out something unintelligible, whimpering as the marvelous sensations renewed themselves within her.
“ Open your eyes, Judith,” Piers commanded. “Look at me, love.”
She forced herself to comply and met his gaze just as the first wave of tremors attacked her limbs. All sense of reason left her for she knew not how long.
By the time she regained her wits, Piers had pulled her body to the edge of the table. Her hips were lifted in the air, her legs were draped over his shoulders, and his tongue was delving deep inside where his fingers had been previously.
There was no time for her to be embarrassed about her current position. Piers demanded her focus when he used his fingers in her again, sucking her overly sensitive core into his mouth and grazing it with his teeth.
“ Oh, God,” she called out.
Piers lifted his head for just a moment, piercing her with his gaze. He chuckled. “Piers, love. Not God.” Then he dove back between her legs and blew cold air across her until she was squirming aggressively. He stabbed the crux of her need briefly with his tongue and then came up again when her hips nearly bucked her off the table. “If you don’t settle down some, I’ll drop you, sweetheart. Grab my hair and direct me where you want me.”
What? How was she supposed to know where she wanted him? Before Judith could determine what he wanted of her, Piers pried the fingers of one of her hands loose from the table and directed it to the back of his head. The other hand soon followed suit of its own accord. She laced her fingers through his hair and held on for dear life until she burst from the inside out again.