A Hint of Seduction (20 page)

“Just a little longer.”

It was so easy to give in to his wishes when her body was feeling as it did right now. Expectant.

“I like the way the moonlight plays on your lips.” He rubbed his thumb over her mouth again. “It makes them very seductive. So enticing that I’m going to put aside my good sense and instead of letting you go, I’m going to kiss you again, but this time longer.”

John dipped his head and captured her lips in a harder, more passionate kiss than before. Her lips parted and his tongue slid inside and he tasted her. She gasped at the pleasure that filled her. His invasion was tender yet commanding. A wave of desire floated low in her stomach, and she moaned softly against his lips.

Her arms rested on his chest, forming a barrier between them, keeping them apart. She needed to be closer to him. There was an ache in her breasts, and she wanted to feel them against his chest, so she lifted her arms and circled his neck.

John took advantage of her movement and pulled her
tightly against his body as his lips and mouth plundered hers, softly, deftly. He must have loved her touching the back of his neck, his shoulders, and his back, because his breathing grew faster. His lips moved down her cheek, over the line of her jaw, and rained kisses down her chest to the low neckline of her gown.

She loved the feel of being completely caught up in his arms. She knew she’d been waiting for this to happen between them ever since their first kiss in the park. On that early morning, she had her first taste of passion, and she had been longing to experience it again.

He lifted his head and said, “That kiss was much better but still not long enough.”

“I don’t know why, but I feel breathless when your lips are pressed against mine.”

“That’s the way you are supposed to feel. Breathless and hungry.”

He kissed her again and again and she loved it. A fluttering filled her chest. His mouth and tongue ravaged hers in a slow savoring kiss meant to seduce and be victorious.

Catherine had no desire to stop him, but she did mumble against his lips, “I really should go. I don’t want to get caught.”

“We won’t. I’m listening for footsteps and voices in the hallway,” he answered as his lips left hers and he kissed his way down her neck and back up again to her mouth.

“It sounds as if you have been in a situation like this before.”

“Once or twice,” he admitted with a soft chuckle.

“You are a rogue, Lord Chatwin,” she whispered.

“I know.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

“I expect you ask for, and receive, kisses from all the
young ladies you corner in closets. That is part of your charm.”

“Is it? I don’t even remember the other ladies I’ve kissed anymore,” he said softly.

“You lie, my lord.”

He looked down into her eyes, and she noticed that he looked serious when he said, “Not this time. Not with you.”

He reached up and kissed her eyelids, letting his lips linger. He slowly kissed his way down her nose and across first one cheek and then the other, teasing her. His lips slid over her jaw and down her slender neck. She threw her head back to give him greater access to the places he wanted to go.

Catherine loved the feel of his lips moist against her skin. She trembled with a need and a wanting she didn’t understand.

His hands moved to her waist and rested there for a moment before moving on to outline the flare of her hips, over to her stomach, and then around to the rise of her buttocks. She gasped excitedly with each new place he stroked. No one had ever touched her in these intimate areas before.

“You are a beautifully shaped woman, Catherine,” he whispered to her.

“And you are big and strong,” she answered as her hands roamed over his broad back and shoulders.

She had no idea it would feel so wonderful, so satisfying, yet leaving her with a feeling that she wanted so much more.

But more of what she didn’t know.

His hands slid up her arms to her neck, and once again his fingers caressed her earlobes and that soft skin behind them. He played with the long dangle of her sapphires that
fell from the lobes of her ears and farther down to the heavy jeweled necklace around her neck.

Slowly his hands slid down to her breasts and he fondled them both at the same time, softly caressing them with the confidence of a man who had no fear he’d be spurned.

Catherine gasped at his boldness, but had no desire to stop him.

His hands stilled, but he didn’t move them away from her breasts. He lifted his head and looked down into her eyes.

“How does my touch make you feel?”

“I’ve never been touched so intimately before. It’s—it’s wonderful, exciting.”

He smiled and resumed his firm yet gentle caressing of her breasts. “That’s very good. And just so you know, it wouldn’t necessarily feel this way with every man.”

“It wouldn’t?” she asked, barely able to speak coherently for the delicious thrills racking her body from his masterful ministrations.

“No, you have to be attracted to a man to feel this way.”

“Does the same hold true for a man? Does he have to be attracted to a woman to feel such pleasure?”

He raised his head and looked down into her eyes as he smiled. “No. Not always. Men are different.”

“What makes them different?”

He laughed lightly. “Nature and that is all I’m going to say on the subject.”

“But do you touch me because you are attracted to me?”

The smile faded from his lips and his eyes, and a serious expression masked his face.

“Oh, yes,” he whispered huskily. “Have no fear or doubt, Catherine. I touch you because I desire you like I have no other woman.”

He bent his head and captured her lips in a fierce kiss of passion. Catherine didn’t know if she believed him, but right at that moment she didn’t care. All that was important was that he was receiving as much pleasure from her as she was from him.

John’s hands moved from her breasts to her buttocks, and he fit her lower body up against his. Catherine felt a hard bulge beneath his trousers, and it quickened her breath. She had never felt anything like it before, but knew she didn’t want it to go away.

She raised her hips up to meet his demand, and she felt him shudder with passion and a soft moan of pleasure passed his lips. He dipped his tongue in her mouth, deeper, farther. Slower and then faster. They couldn’t kiss or touch or press fast enough to sate the passion raging out of control.

Catherine glowed red hot. A longing ache started between her legs and rose up to spread throughout her abdomen, stomach, and breasts. Everything she was feeling was so new to her. She didn’t have time to wonder if what she was feeling was simply passion or something akin to the love she had read about in her poetry books.

Finally John lifted his head. His breathing was fast and erratic as he said, “You are so lovely, so tempting. You feel so good in my arms, I ache to take you right now and make you mine.”

“Can you do that?” she asked and didn’t know why she had except that she didn’t want the thrilling feelings inside her to stop. Somehow she knew they had not finished what they had started, and she wanted him to continue.

She reached out to him, but he stepped back as far as he could without tumbling the furniture. Her heart constricted.

He took a deep steadying breath before lowering his
voice to a husky whisper, “No, I must not touch you again. I can’t do this to you. Not here. Not like this.”

Without giving her time to respond, he reached over and took her gently by the shoulders and eased her away from the door.

“I’ll go out first and make sure the hallway is clear. If you hear me talking to anyone, do not come out. Understand?”

She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her thoughts. “Yes, but I’m wondering how you can sound so coherent when I’m still reeling from your touch,” she said feeling a bit rebuffed.

His eyes held on hers. “I have to get away from you now—before it’s too late for you, or me.” He took another long breath. “Besides, I’ve kept you away from the party much too long. I’m sure Mrs. Goosetree is looking for you.”

“Probably,” Catherine said, but what she wanted to say was “I don’t care. I want to be in your arms again.”

“When you walk back into the buffet room, if anyone asks where you have been, tell them that you became lost in the house.”

“I know how to handle myself in a delicate situation, sir. I shall be fine and need no tutoring from you.”

He nodded. “I have no doubt of that. I’m going to find Mrs. Goosetree and tell her I’m coming to take you for a ride in the park tomorrow afternoon.”

What a confusing man he was. He pushed her away and now he was telling her he intended to see her again. She didn’t know whether to be angry or relieved.

“You can try, but, John, you know Vickie. She could very well say I’m not available.”

“I won’t take no for an answer. We need some time to talk about what you are doing.”

“You mean by allowing you so much freedom to touch
me when we kiss? I want to do that. You are not forcing me against my will.”

“I know that, Catherine. What I want to talk to you about is your ill-fated search for your father.”

He opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind him.

Just like that he was gone.

Catherine couldn’t have been more surprised if he had thrown cold water in her face. Her search for her father was not ill-fated.

How dare he? Did he think she could stop her search now?

Suddenly the man who she wanted to continue kissing and caressing her just moments before, she now wanted to strangle.

Thirteen

“H
OW DARE YOU
,
Lord Chatwin?” Catherine whispered to the closed door. “Ill-fated, indeed.” She huffed. “We’ll see about that. Not only am I not going to stop searching, I will find a way to convince you to help me.”

How could she stop looking for her father? Especially now that she had whittled her list of possibilities down to two? She was making progress, and neither Lord Chatwin nor the fact that the two remaining men were odd was going to stop her.

One of them was her father, and she was more determined than ever to find out which one was.

She folded her arms across her chest and softly tapped her foot on the floor until she realized what she was doing. She would not let John frustrate her or pressure her to give up her quest.

She had to admit that the men she sought were a bit different with their unusual quirks: one hating the color green
and the other walking everywhere he went. But none of that mattered. How could she go through the rest of her life not knowing what her real father looked like, not knowing why he never married her mother?

Catherine deserved to know.

It wasn’t that she wanted either one of these peculiar men to have fathered her. She had been quite happy with the father she’d known all her life. But her mother had loved one of these two men enough to lie with him before marriage.

Catherine wouldn’t be content until she knew which one. She wanted to talk to him and find out what happened all those years ago. She needed to know what her mother’s diary didn’t tell her.

And her task would be so much easier if John helped her. As an earl he could make the introductions to the two men, which would give her the opportunity to talk to them, get to know them, and question them about their past.

She leaned back against the furniture and pondered. Yes, she really needed John’s help. Even though she found him immensely charming, and it was truly unbelievable how much she enjoyed his kisses, he was not to be a serious contender for her husband no matter what Victoria thought. He’d proven that the night he invited her to his uncle’s party and then danced with everyone but her.

And it wasn’t just John’s kisses that made her light of heart when she thought about him. She liked the fact that he never told anyone she took his horse that day. She liked the way he favored Lynette and other young ladies who weren’t beautiful with dances and compliments. When she told him she might be his sister, he immediately went about finding the answer without hesitating and without telling his uncle about her plight.