A Lady Dares by Bronwyn Scott Page B

beholder.’
    The moonlight had made her reckless. She reached for him, cupping him between his legs as he had her. He was hard against her touch, so very long, so very rigid, a potent force beneath his trousers. ‘Or the hand, as the case may be.’

Chapter Ten
    D orian flicked open his trousers in a deft movement. ‘Then by all means, my lady.’ Her hand closed around him, firm and decisive, sliding to the root of him. Dorian sucked in his breath, letting her learn him. The firmness of her grasp was a sign of her confidence if not also her knowledge. There was wide-eyed appreciation in her gaze even as she recognised the power she held in those moments. She was newly come to such intimacies, but not without imagination.
    She stroked up, finding the wet, tender tip of him, a smile lighting her face at the discovery. She stroked downwards and then up again, establishing a rhythm that fired his blood. Her hand was cool and welcome onhis heated flesh. He would not last long at this rate, nor did he want to. The promise of exquisite relief waited just beyond the moment. Dorian reached back and dug his hands into the bark of the tree, pumping hard into her hand, uttering a harsh groan as release took him.
    Elise was exultant. ‘What are you smiling at?’ Dorian teased.
    ‘I’m smiling because I was right. A man
is
beautiful in his pleasure.’
    ‘I don’t think anyone has ever called me beautiful before,’ Dorian drawled with a nonchalance he didn’t feel. He kissed her then, drawing her close against him so she couldn’t see his face, couldn’t see how the comment affected him. He felt the first stirrings of new arousal. There was more he’d like to do with her, this bold princess of his, but not tonight, although his body was willing.
    He was no stranger to seduction. He’d seduced women before: married women, widowed women, flirtatious débutantes, the touched and the untouched. He had few boundaries when it came to sex. What boundaries he did have, Elise was provoking. His earlier thoughts about coveting and protectingwere threatening to resurface at a most vulnerable time—right after intimacy when he was open to susceptibilities. ‘We need to get back,’ he murmured against her hair.
    The walk to the hidden door was quiet, but not awkward. They’d strolled slowly, his arm about her waist, keeping her close. He had no doubt her mind was as full as his was at present. Their spontaneous outing had been illuminating, although probably for different reasons. Dorian found it was easier, less troublesome to his conscience, to think about her thoughts than his. He was not convinced this was her first encounter with raw passion—perhaps with the depth of pleasure the encounter had wrung from her, but not the nature of the encounter itself. Still, first encounter or not, he could guess what was racing through her mind: what had she done? Was there shock or shame over her own audacity? Was she pleased at the discovery of such pleasure? Emboldened by it even? Or did she think herself the wanton for having enjoyed it? And she
had
enjoyed it, Dorian knew she had. Most of all, she was likely wondering what it meant. Anything? Nothing? Everything?
    That was the place at which his thoughts intersected with hers and it was where he’d made his first mistake. By his own rules, he shouldn’t have allowed it to happen—not yet, not without an agreement. Up until now, all of his seductions occurred
after
some explicit or implicit plan had been established, interest signalled and accepted by both parties.
    With that signalling came an understanding. What would proceed would be a seduction in which he would gladly take the lead, but to which there would be an end. There would be nothing beyond. If and when both parties concurred on those negotiations,
then
such things as what had transpired tonight would take place, but not before.
    Tonight had got the plan backwards. And he’d set himself up for it. He’d gone to her