How to Wed an Earl by Ivory Lei Page B

call yourself that horrible name again, do you hear me?”
    His lips twitched and his eyes gleamed with wry amusement. “You are one bossy bit of goods, did you know that?”
    Without warning, he pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. The kiss was soft, almost reverent in its tenderness, and Penelope gave herself up to the sweet shock of it as she had done the last time.
    Lucas seemed to sense her willingness, for he growled his approval as he lifted his mouth to trail hot kisses down her sensitive neck. “I think you would make an excellent countess, sweetheart.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her throat. “It would be an honor to be married to you.”
    She swallowed. “You seem awfully sure I’ll marry you,” she said shakily.
    He touched his tongue to her beating pulse, making her jump. Then he straightened and looked straight into her eyes while his large hands cupped her face.
    “Enough of these games,” he said in a husky tone. “Will you marry me, Penelope?”
    “I don’t think we’ve had enough time to — ”
    She let out a strangled gasp when he suddenly tugged her down to the blanket and pulled her onto his lap.
    “It looks like you need more convincing,” he whispered, his hot breath wafting over her, sending a quivering sensation down her belly. Then he claimed her mouth with his, and she drifted her hands up his bare chest to link around his neck, offering herself up to him.
    She dimly felt him unbuttoning her gown with a tenderness that was at odds with the wild hunger of his kisses. She’d been waiting to have him kiss her again and she was glad,
eager
, to let him do what he wanted with her, to feel the heady pleasure he gave her.
    When he plunged his tongue deep in her mouth, she moaned with delight and held him tighter, loving the feel of his warm, naked skin beneath her hands. She started to move her hands over his broad shoulders, and he lifted his mouth from hers to kiss the area just below her chin.
    “Yes. Touch me, my sweet nymph. Let me feel your hands on me,” he rasped against her throat.
    For once, the nickname he’d given her sounded apt, for Penelope felt rather like a wicked nymph enticing this warrior to share her world in the woods.
    She wanted Lucas to be in her world.
She always had.
    Penelope let her hands skim down his back, his taut muscles leaping in reaction to her touch. She was so enthralled with the feel of his naked skin that she barely noticed him shoving her gown down to her waist. Then he pressed open-mouthed kisses down her neck and collarbone, and she stiffened at the new intimacy his caresses demanded.
    “Lucas, are you sure … ?”
    “Yes,” he muttered. “Bloody hell, yes.” His eyes were glittering with need. “I’ve wanted to do this since I first met you.” He sucked her breast through her chemise, dampening the sheer fabric, tonguing her nipple as he caressed the other one with his hand, fondling her flesh beneath the thin covering.
    Penelope clutched his dark head, not knowing whether she was pulling him to her or pushing him away. All she knew was that Lucas was touching her in ways she never thought a man would want to. Especially not this handsome man who had finally walked into her life, turning it upside down, awakening a dormant part of her she hadn’t realized was there until he coaxed it to life with his heated touch and demanding kisses.
    He tugged her chemise down, exposing her breasts to his dark, hungry gaze. She squirmed on his lap in embarrassment, then stopped immediately when she heard him groan.
    “Don’t stop,” he murmured hotly against the slope of her breast. He positioned her to sit fully on top of the hard bulge in his trousers, urging her to move as he sucked her breast so hard she cried out with the sheer pleasure of it.
    “Do you like that, nymph?” he rasped against her skin.
    “Oh, yes … ” she whispered.
    “Should I do it again?” he asked, his tongue laving the sensitive tip