The Earl She Should Never Desire by Lara Temple
War widow Lily Walsh has left her aristocratic family behind, but she can’t deny her younger sister’s request to come to London to meet her fiancĂ©. Though not a love match, Lord Sherborne is kind, amusing and ideal for her sister on paper. But as Lily gets to know him, she’s finding him alarmingly attractive! And the forbidden look in the earl’s eye shows the feeling is mutual…
This scene takes place after Lily convinces Marcus, Lord Sherbourne to agree to release her sister from their engagement so she can marry her childhood sweetheart. He agrees, but he has some conditions that Lily is only too happy to fulfill… They will meet three times and share three midsummer kisses. This is from their first meeting.
‘I don’t like gloves,’ she said, her voice low, almost dreamy. ‘I like to feel the world.’
‘Yes.’ He held on to her hand and brushed his knuckles along the line of her cheek with the other. The twin scars were a little puckered and he wanted to touch his mouth to the contrast between the velvety skin and those ridges. He touched his thumb to the line of her lower lip, settling on the soft, deep rose-coloured pout.
Her lips parted a little, her breathing shallow.
So was his. He hadn’t even done anything yet and his insides were already caving, his skin in flames.
One kiss today. Only one. Don’t be greedy.
He bent, touched his mouth to hers and had to stop, holding tight against the need to groan.
He proceeded carefully, brushing his lips against hers, buffing them like a cat. Her hand fluttered against his waistcoat before settling, her fingers curling into the fabric, dragging it against his skin. Cascades of sparks spread over his chest and downwards, adding to the growing heat in his groin.
God, he’d known it would feel right. He’d known it.
‘The day I came,’ she whispered, ‘you weren’t wearing a waistcoat.’
‘How improper of me,’ he whispered back and touched his tongue to the succulent middle of her upper lip. Her body shivered against him, her hands twisting deeper into the fabric of his coat.
It was going to kill him to go slowly.
‘I want you to be improper again,’ she whispered against his mouth. ‘Take it off.’
He drew back. ‘Take it off?’
‘Off.’
‘Here? Now?’
She flicked a button. ‘Here and now.’
He didn’t wait for further invitation. He tossed coat and waistcoat on to the table and she laid her hands gently on his shirt, the corners of her mouth picking up.
‘Better.’
He locked his legs. Steady on, now. ‘Your pelisse. Tit for tat.’
Her dimples deepened. There were only six buttons worked into the dark frogging and she slipped them off without coyness and laid her pelisse in a rather more orderly fashion on the back of a chair.
‘This doesn’t mean I agree to anything else,’ she said with a quick look and he shook his head.
‘Nor I. Just a kiss today.’
‘Just one?’ she asked.
‘I prefer to space out my treats. Come here.’
She laid her hands on his chest as she had before and raised her chin. There was so much in her eyes when she wasn’t being cautious. Excitement, worry, laughter. He gave up trying to understand either of them, cradled her face in his hands and kissed her.
https://books2read.com/ThreeKisses
Lara Temple writes strong and sensual Regency romances about complex individuals who give no quarter but do so with plenty of passion. She lives with her husband, two children, and one very fluffy dog and they are all very understanding about her taking over the kitchen table so she can look out over the garden as she writes and dreams up her Happy Ever Afters.
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