Hot Historicals Bundle with An Invitation to Sin, The Naked Baron, When His Kiss Is Wicked, & Mastering the Marquess

by Jo Beverley

  “I know,” she sighed, “but I just can’t seem to sleep. Perhaps I have become too used to being up at this time of night. I did try to lie down, but that only made me feel more awake than before.”

  She glanced at him, touching her hair again as if embarrassed that he should see her in such a state of disarray. “I only meant to borrow a book from the general’s library and take it back to my room.”

  For long moment they stared at each other. Silverton swore he could feel a lash of heat whip between them. Meredith wrenched her gaze away to stare into the fire, a sweet blush flaring across her cheeks.

  “But, somehow,” she said, swallowing nervously, “I seem to be much too restless to even read.”

  Silverton smiled to himself. He slid over to her end of the settee, plucked the glass of sherry from her hand, and carefully set it down on the table. Snaking his arm behind her, he reached his fingers into her hair and gently combed them through the silky mass.

  Meredith jumped slightly in her seat, but did not pull away. A myriad of emotions flickered across her face until they settled into one clear expression of mute and almost desperate yearning.

  “I…I should probably go upstairs now,” she stammered as her eyes dropped to his mouth.

  Silverton could feel his lips curve into a rapacious smile as he wrapped his other arm around her waist.

  “In a minute, my sweet,” he whispered before swooping down to capture her strawberry-colored lips under his mouth.

  Meredith felt herself opening to him like a flower opens to the morning light. All the fatigue and tension that had dragged on her for days was suddenly blasted away by the exhilarating heat of his kiss. She opened her lips and his tongue surged into her mouth. He devoured her like a man who had not taken sustenance for a week.

  She whimpered, collapsing slowly back into the cushions. Silverton answered with a low murmur deep in his throat, and the sound of it was so delicious her stomach clenched with an unfamiliar excitement. Her legs grew so weak she knew she could not escape him even if she wanted to.

  Meredith had nearly fainted when she saw him standing in the gleaming light of the fire, his golden hair burnished to the color of flame. He had looked so big and powerful, like an ancient god or spirit who had come to sweep her away to his enchanted realm. Her instinctive self had told her to flee the room before he could dominate her, but her rational mind had argued that she had the fortitude to resist him. She reasoned that no harm could result from spending a few stolen moments in his company.

  Now she knew how foolish it was to think she could ever say no to him. And she knew in the depths of her soul that she didn’t want to, because Silverton was everything she had ever longed for.

  Meredith clutched his arms, digging her fingers into the soft linen of his shirt. He lifted her hand and placed it around the back of his neck, shifting her closer into his embrace. The tender swell of her breasts brushed against his satin waistcoat, the rasp of her nipples against the fabric like nothing she had ever felt before. Hard and pointed, they tingled with an intensity that was almost painful.

  She pressed against him urgently, seeking to ease the delicious agony.

  Silverton seemed to know exactly what she needed. As he invaded her mouth with the stroke of his tongue, his hand smoothed over the front of her bodice until he captured her right breast between his long fingers. When he touched her nipple, it beaded even more tightly. That obviously pleased him, because he made a humming noise deep in his throat as he rolled it between his thumb and forefinger.

  Meredith pulled back and stared at him, shocked by the stab of sensation that jolted straight to her loins. Silverton’s blue eyes had darkened to indigo, and the expression on his face was so fiercely exultant that she quailed before the force of it. He gazed back, his eyes softening as he sensed her trepidation.

  “Easy, love,” he whispered in her ear. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I just want to hold you tonight—taste you a bit and soothe you so you can sleep.”

  His hand rested quietly on her breast as his mouth moved in soft kisses over her cheek, her ear, and down her neck. She relaxed under his soothing caress, the tension once more flowing from her body as he cuddled her against him. Her momentary flash of anxiety faded, banished by the feel of his strong arms enfolding her so securely.

  Meredith began to breathe in long, slow surges as she slid her hands up his chest. As if they had a will of their own, her fingers unbuttoned his waistcoat, parting the material to stroke the hard muscles through his shirt. Silverton’s hand left her breast, reaching up to tug the knot in his cravat, pulling it away from his neck and tossing it on the floor. She slowly walked her fingers to the opening of his shirt and slipped them inside.

  Meredith marveled at the coiled strength she sensed in him, at the heat that flowed into her tired body as she nestled in the crook of his arm. She stroked and played, weaving her fingers through the wiry blond hair scattered over his bronzed skin.

  He stilled beneath her hands, letting her explore him. Pleasure built inside her as she felt his muscles flex under her sensitized fingertips.

  Meredith couldn’t resist stretching up and touching the edge of her tongue to the base of his throat. She tentatively licked the rapid pulse that beat there as she whispered an incoherent appreciation for his intoxicating and potent masculinity.

  For a long moment he seemed to freeze. Then, in a movement so swift that she felt it before she saw it, he dragged her across his lap, settling her on his thighs. She opened her mouth in a surprised squeak, but he dipped between her lips, ruthlessly capturing her breath and drawing it into him. One hand wrapped hard around her shoulders, keeping her still, while the other grasped her hip, stroking and kneading through the thin layers of her dress and chemise.

  Meredith felt as if she were melting, the soft flesh between her legs turning hot and damp. She wanted to writhe against him even as she thought she might collapse into his arms in a heated swoon.

  Silverton’s kiss tasted like hot brandy. He smelled faintly of the spice of his snuff, and something intangible and yet so wonderful she wanted to burrow against him like a kitten searching for warmth.

  She returned his kiss with an eagerness that some dim part of her mind knew she should be ashamed of. But instead of shame she felt only growing excitement and need—a sense that she was about to launch herself off a precipice into a glittering place where every sense would be heightened, every feeling magnified.

  Grasping the edges of his open collar, she pushed herself into his kiss, sucking his tongue in a wicked imitation of what he had done to her only moments ago. Silverton pulled back gently and nuzzled her cheek, pushing her head sideways to expose the side of her neck to his questing mouth. He made her shudder with pleasure as he hungrily licked and bit the sensitive flesh beneath her ear.

  Meredith let her head fall back, the slide of his wet tongue across her skin so intense that it made her dizzy. Her eyes were shut now, but she could feel his hand move leisurely to her bodice, clever fingers searching, tugging at ties and pulling the delicate silk away from her breasts. She forced herself to raise her lids as something inside compelled her to watch his face as he exposed her body to his gaze for the first time.

  He cradled her on his lap, one hand moving up her back to hold her steady across his thighs. His other hand pulled at the ribbons of her chemise, carefully lowering the lace-trimmed garment to her waist.

  Meredith couldn’t help but moan at the feral expression on his face—a mewling sound that brought his eyes up to hers. His features were as hard as granite, but his eyes shone with a tenderness that made her want to weep. He lowered his mouth to hers, brushing a gentle kiss across her lips as if to reassure her. But he immediately returned his gaze to her breasts, and she understood that he would not be distracted again until he had gotten exactly what he wanted from her.

  With an almost painful sense of anticipation, she watched him study her. Meredith was ashamed to admit it, but she l
oved the covetous look on his face as he gazed at her body. His hand finally moved back to her breast, his fingers stroking upward from the plumpness beneath her nipple. She panted as he teased her, embarrassed that she couldn’t control her uneven breathing. His lips parted again in a mesmerizing smile as his fingers circled her nipple, making her wriggle her bottom against his muscular thighs.

  She suddenly became aware of his erection nudging against her as he slightly parted his legs so that she rested more heavily against his lower body. Meredith felt the moist heat grow between her legs, and she was afraid he would sense the dampness through the thin fabric of her gown.

  But in the next instant he lowered his head to her breast, taking the hard peak of her nipple and sucking it into his mouth. She jerked in his arms, choking back a cry of astonishment at the streak of sensation she felt all the way to the center of her womb.

  Silverton raised his head at her smothered shriek, his eyes filled with laughter, an expression of mock alarm on his face.

  “Hush, my darling,” he exclaimed softly. “You must not cry out so loudly.”

  “I’m sorry,” Meredith gasped, mortified by her lack of control. “I just can’t seem to help it.”

  “I’m depending on that,” he murmured before lowering his head back to her breast.

  She was about to ask him what he meant when his teeth closed around her nipple. He tugged on her flesh so sweetly that she could swear it plumped more fully into his mouth. Meredith tried to swallow the moans forced out against her will as he licked and nipped the tight bud, stopping occasionally to blow air on it before sucking it back into his mouth. Just when she thought she would lose her mind, he switched to the other breast, swirling his tongue in luxurious strokes that built up the tension in the pit of her belly to almost unbearable levels.

  “Please!” she gasped, not understanding quite what she wanted but certain he would know exactly what she needed. “Please!”

  Meredith arched her back, deliberately pushing her breast against his rasping tongue. He made a low purring sound, like a giant cat, feasting on as much of her softness as he could pull into his mouth. She writhed in his lap, pressing against an erection that felt rock hard and startlingly large against her bottom.

  He lifted his head with a gasp, his face branded with a flush of desire that made her heart pound even harder. Silverton looked into her eyes; his expression was both rampantly possessive and achingly tender at the same time.

  Meredith suddenly realized with a bone-deep conviction that he would do everything in his power to protect her. She lay across him, completely vulnerable and open to his touch, completely at his mercy, but feeling safer than she had at any other time in her memory.

  “God, Meredith.” His deep voice reverberated through her body. “You are so beautiful I can hardly bear it.”

  The words were almost as good as his touch. Her eyelids fluttered shut when his mouth returned to her lips.

  As he slipped his tongue inside, his hand moved under her dress and up her thigh. His touch was not so gentle now, his fingers firm against her leg as if he could barely restrain himself. He moved past her garter to exposed skin, sliding upward until he reached the damp curls between her legs.

  She could hardly breathe as she inhaled in ragged sobs, her emotions a dizzying combination of eager impatience and a stunned bashfulness that made her want to shrink from his commanding touch. But Meredith knew he would not stop, nor would she ask him to.

  Silverton stroked through her curls and probed carefully, pressing a long finger into tender folds that seemed to melt as he pushed farther inside her. She was no longer a woman of reason and control, but a creature of sensation, and only he could satisfy her spiraling need.

  He stroked her sheath, a knowing hand fondling her drenched softness. Meredith trembled under the onslaught, her body straining to understand what his hands were teaching her.

  Silverton suddenly withdraw his finger from inside her. At the loss of his touch, she opened heavy lids to look at him. His eyes swept across her, and she felt incredibly wanton as she lay against his thighs and chest. The curls between her legs glistened with moisture, her breasts, tipped with hard pink nipples, still wet from his mouth. A soft growl rumbled in his throat as his eyes lifted to meet hers.

  He held her gaze as he deliberately, relentlessly pushed her thighs wider with the hand that still played between her legs. Stroking once more into her curls, he found the most secret part of her, an aching sensitivity hidden in the folds of plump flesh. Parting her once again, his fingers caressed and gently rubbed the swollen bud. She began to shiver deep inside, the sensation both unbearable and glorious.

  She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t take any more. As if he knew, he pushed a long finger back inside her as he simultaneously exerted a steady pressure on the little bud. She arched her back, completely unraveled by the intensity of the pleasure radiating from her very core, rippling out in shuddering tremors through her body.

  Meredith parted her lips to cry out just as Silverton brought his mouth down on hers—hard, dominating, taking into himself the sweet, sweet blessing of the astonishing release.

  Silverton fell back against the cushions as Meredith collapsed in a trembling heap on his lap. It was a miracle he hadn’t come himself, what with her delightful bottom wriggling so sensuously against his cock. He continued to gently stroke her butter-soft flesh, and he kept the bounty of her full breast captured possessively in his hand. Silverton had no idea how he would ever let her go, when all he wanted to do was pull her down on the floor and bury himself in all that satiny heat.

  But he wouldn’t take her in his uncle’s library, especially not the first time. Part of him couldn’t believe he had pushed her as far as he did, but his accumulated frustration had collided with her sweetly offered desire, and his control had melted like ice in a spring thaw. He knew that the next time he held her like this, there would be no holding back for either of them. Still, he reminded himself, it wouldn’t help Meredith to be discovered in so compromising a position.

  With one more lingering look at her glorious body, Silverton smoothed her dress and pulled her chemise and bodice over her breasts. Meredith, who seemed to be in some kind of floating daze, began to move as she felt him rearrange her clothing. Her eyelids fluttered open and he saw consciousness returning, along with a dawning expression of incipient panic.

  She began to struggle against him as she attempted to sit up. He bit back an oath as he clamped her firmly in place.

  “Stop struggling, sweetheart.” Silverton fought to speak in a soothing voice. “Just rest in my lap for a minute to recover yourself.”

  She continued to squirm, forcing a groan from him as she pressed down on his aching cock.

  “Meredith,” he growled, “sit still.”

  She froze at the sharp command in his voice, a look of consternation spreading across her face. He sighed and sat up higher, easing her into a more comfortable position on his lap.

  “I didn’t mean to alarm you, my sweet, but if you keep moving like that I cannot be held responsible for my actions.”

  Meredith frowned, not comprehending the pain she caused him. But then she glanced at his face. Blushing, she dropped her gaze as she clumsily began to tie up her bodice.

  “Let me help you, sweetheart,” he said, brushing aside her shaking hands. “You need to be still for a minute, give yourself a chance to regain your, ah, poise. After all,” he smiled at her, “you just had your—”

  “No, no, don’t say it,” she cried in a flustered voice. “I don’t want to know what it’s called! Please, my lord, you must let me up.” She wiggled against his groin as she attempted to rise.

  Silverton involuntarily tightened his arms around her in response. “Meredith,” he ground out between clenched teeth, “please stop calling me my lord.”

  “Well, I don’t really know what else to call you, except Lord Silverton,” she protested as she pushed ineffectually against his chest.


  Hoping to quiet her, he nuzzled his mouth against her neck. For a moment, she did stop squirming. Silverton lifted his head, pleased to see her lips parting as her eyes turned the color of velvet mist.

  “You could try calling me Stephen,” he murmured. “At least when we’re alone.”

  Her body stiffened as she resumed her struggle to get up. “My lord, we cannot possibly be alone like this again. I shudder to imagine what you must think of me, but I assure you I have never done anything like this before in my life. You must let me up—now!”

  He muttered another oath, releasing his grip around her waist and shoulders. Meredith pushed herself from his lap in a tangle of flailing limbs and skirts. She stumbled as she came to her feet, and he reached out quickly to steady her.

  Rising, Silverton scowled as she bent to rummage around on the floor for the slippers that had fallen off her feet.

  “Meredith, we need to discuss what happened here tonight.”

  She shook her head vigorously as she yanked on her soft shoes. “No, my lord, we have no such need. This was a mistake. I don’t blame you for dallying with me….”

  “I am not dallying with you! What in God’s name are you talking about?” Try as he might, Silverton could not hold back his resentment that she would think so poorly of him.

  Meredith edged away from him.

  “I know you meant no harm, my lord.” She avoided his eye, hastily tying up the tapes of her gown. “And I know that you do have some feelings for me….”

  “Feelings for you!” he thundered. “Is that what you call it?”

  “Keep your voice down,” she hissed, looking over her shoulder at the door.

  Silverton stalked across the room and grabbed her chin in his hand. He tilted her head up, forcing her to meet his gaze.

  “Explain yourself,” he demanded.

  She stared back at him, her face a study of conflicting emotions. “I know you meant no harm. I know that you even care for me. But it’s wrong to indulge ourselves in this way, and…” Her eyes slid away from him.