Enticing Eve: Scandalous Secrets, Book 2 (29 page)

Colin locked his fingers around his neck, inhaling deeply in an attempt to calm his rapid breathing.

“What is it?” she asked, lines of concern etched in her brow. “Did I say something wrong?”

“You shouldn’t have done it, Eve. I’m not worth the sacrifice.”

“Why would you say such a thing?” she asked, her delicate cadence trembled.

Avoiding her gaze, he instead stared at the far wall. “I became someone deplorable after I left.”
 

His jaw tensed and even in her blissful and slightly inebriated state, reality crashed upon Eve like a large boulder. Dear God in heaven, what possessed her to admit to such a thing on this night of all nights?

Damn champagne! Wicked, corrupting drink!
Eve vowed she would never again consume one more sip of it.

“Colin,” she scooted to the edge of the bed but he still refused to make eye contact with her. He had stepped out of her reach Eve noted with a pang of regret as she hopped off the bed, bridging the distance between them.

“Look at me,” she demanded, stepping in front of him before wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled him closer to her until he complied. “You are worth it, and I would have sacrificed more if it meant bringing you back home to me.”

“My God, Eve, I know how much those jewels must have meant to you.”

“Not as much as you do.” Tears stung the backs of her eyes. “I loved you and I was willing to do anything to find you. Never again will I regret that.”
 

“Don’t cry,” he whispered, bending down to kiss her forehead. “I never meant to make you cry.”

“You don’t understand how much I love you,” another tear trickled down her cheek. “How much I have always loved you.”

He brushed the tear aside with his palm, whispering, “I do understand. Shush, don’t cry.”

“There are two people in my entire life that I have ever needed – you and Grandmamma,” she whispered.

How her plan had evolved. From her elaborate ruse to marry Colin and keep her pride intact to laying her heart on display for him to see, for him to crush. Eve knew Colin could destroy her with one word yet it was a risk she had no choice but to take.
 

She had resolved to be brave. On that, she would never again falter.

“When you left,” she began, her determination unwavering, “it was as if half of me was missing. I didn’t want to live without you.”

“But you did.” His tone was flat.
 

“I survived, and a part of me thinks I did so for no other reason than because my grandmother needed me. When I thought you would never return, I was lost. Even when the sun was shining, my world was gray.” Eve caressed his cheek. “The realization that you were gone hurt me more than the death of my parents, Colin.”
 

She’d never admitted it to anyone, even herself, but it was the truth. He needed to hear it because the guilt reflected in his eyes broke Eve’s heart.
 

“I never meant to hurt Tristan. But, when you returned, when you said you still wanted to marry me … though I was too stubborn to admit it at the time, I could never have married him after your admission.”

“Eve,” he sighed.

Her hands trailed to his chest, where she placed her palms over his heart. She could feel it beating through the fabric of his snowy white shirt. “I can live without you but I don’t want to, Colin. I tried, and I much prefer sharing my life with you. Please never again tell me that you’re not worth sacrificing a few jewels for, because nothing could be further from the truth.”

Colin kissed the palm of her hand before enveloping her in a tight embrace.
 

What had he done to deserve this woman’s love?
 

He knew not the answer; however, he would do anything to keep her safe and happy. If that meant never telling her the truth about his past and how he amassed his large fortune, so be it.

He would love her until the day he died, and he would make certain she’d have a good life. Wasn’t that enough? Honesty would hurt her, possibly make her doubt him, and he wouldn’t let that happen.
 

Not now, not ever.

He vowed to protect Eve from the truth. It was Colin’s solemn vow as he captured her mouth with his own. Desperate to prove how much he loved her, his passionate kiss was urgent.

His bride was quick to allow him full access, parting her lips before tracing his tongue with hers, as she’d done with each kiss since the one they shared on the terrace at Kellington Manor.
 

Flames of desire engulfed him as he explored her mouth. All the while, Eve massaged his tongue with hers, the slow, methodical motion heightening his passion for her, driving him insane with need.

As if unaware of the raging inferno she fanned within him, Eve leaned against his length, her fingers clutching the hair at the nape of his neck.
 

His hands slid down her back, to her buttocks. He longed to explore her naked form. After tearing his lips from hers, Colin let out a ragged sigh before managing in a rugged whisper, “I want you, now.”

“I want you, too. I have no desire to call for my maid or your valet. I just want you.” Eve’s lips were swollen from his kisses as she pressed them against his for one brief moment before continuing, “I feel as if my body has awakened. I don’t know what to expect but somehow I am certain it will be glorious.”
 

He smiled at her heartfelt words. Only his wife could be so honest and so disarming.

Eve trailed her fingernails down his back, over the lightweight fabric of his shirt. She then traced a path upwards, back where she started from only to repeat the process, her every touch sending shockwaves throughout his body.

Colin’s breath caught in his throat and Eve grinned causing him to suspect that this was a deliberate attempt to arouse him. Her eyes, darker and more intense than he’d ever seen them, locked with his.

She then let go of him, and a pang of disappointment echoed in his heart. Without taking her eyes off him, Eve reached up and unpinned her hair before shaking her thick tresses, sending them spilling over her shoulders.
 

Interpreting her gesture as a silent invitation, Colin combed his fingers through her silken, blonde waves. An intimate act, one performed by a husband with his wife. One that caused his manhood to throb for her.

Eve had ignited a molten desire within him. He longed to become one with his bride in body and soul.
 

He crushed his lips against hers. His kisses, hard and demanding were met by her own intense hunger. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, exploring, caressing. It was as if she couldn’t get enough of him.

She nipped his bottom lip with her teeth. Colin could hear her gasp for air, felt her bosom rise and fall against his chest.
 

“Make me yours,” she whispered, her breathing labored.

How she thirsted for this man.

Colin placed his hands against her buttocks causing Eve to moan aloud. Although fully clothed, the intimate gesture still sent shockwaves throughout her body, causing her pulsate somewhere deep within her feminine heart.
 

His hands trailed up her spine, nimbly unbuttoning each of the small buttons trailing up her back.
 

Eve met his gaze, Colin’s indigo eyes now the color of a tumultuous sea. She then placed her palms flat against the linen of his snowy white shirt before trailing her hands up towards his neck.

Wrapping her fingers around his cravat, she gave it a gentle tug, pulling him closer to her. Eve brushed her lips against his. The catch in his throat thrilled her, giving her confidence to move forward.

Tracing his lips with her tongue, Eve’s heart raced at a frantic rate. Colin’s dexterous hands had unbuttoned the last of her dress, peeling the garment open. The warmth of his hands against the bare flesh of her back seared Eve’s skin, forever branding her as his.

Their mouths still locked, Eve unlaced his cravat before tossing it onto the floor. She then unbuttoned his shirt, yearning to explore his bare flesh.

Once his shirt was open, Eve wasted no time pushing it from his shoulders. His exposed flesh felt glorious, his heat radiating through her hands, warming parts of her that she never knew existed.
 

Colin tore his hands and mouth from her, releasing her long enough to shrug out of his shirt. Eve noted the scars slashing the span of his bronzed chest and rib cage. Five indented lacerations, just like the scar above his lip, but larger. Her eyes searched his for an explanation. In response, Colin stood still, his shoulders proud, his soul exposed.
 

“What happened to you?” she asked.

His intense gaze never faltered from hers. “I left thinking I wasn’t good enough for a Viscount’s daughter.”

“India,” she whispered. “Colin … the war?

He studied her, “I was determined to amass enough wealth to deserve you.”

With tears pooling in her eyes, Eve murmured, “Oh, Colin, you fought in the war?”

Her fingers traced the scars, each one tearing at her heart like a thousand blades, which is what she suspected had pierced his flesh.

Eve then leaned forward, bending down to kiss each scar as his muscles tightened reflexively under her lips. Once she was finished, her kisses traced a path up his chest, his neck, to his lips.

“It is I who does not deserve you,” she asserted before tracing his lips with her tongue, her fingers grasping the wavy hair at the nape of his neck.

Colin’s tongue sought hers with a newfound intensity. His kisses were urgent while his firm hands inched her dress up her legs, her buttocks, her shoulders, his fingertips leaving a tingling sensation in their wake. His mouth released hers just long enough for his dexterous hands to pull her gown above her head and toss it onto the floor.

Colin studied her bosom, which swelled above her bodice, the flimsy fabric of her chemise all but transparent. Hooking her corset with his finger, he pulled her closer to him, splaying his palms against her waist. Her breasts, round and full, were the perfect size, he thought, as he tantalized the tight buds beneath the fabric of her chemise.
 

Eve quivered, closing her eyes and clutching his shoulders as if to steady herself.

“Do you like this?” he asked, certain of her answer.

A guttural moan escaped from her throat.
 

Crushing his lips against hers, Colin devoured her in a demanding, soul-searching kiss.

Eve’s hands trailed from his shoulders to his back then lower, and Colin felt like he would explode with need. It took all of his hard-fought control to remind himself that this was his wife’s first time, and she deserved love, adoration, respect.

Hell, she deserved a soft bed.

Tearing his lips from hers, Colin turned his wife around, brushing her hair to the side before unlacing her corset. Then he kissed the back of her neck before leading her to the bed. Eve glanced from the mattress to Colin.
 

“What?” he whispered.
 

Dear God, please don’t let her have second thoughts.
Colin didn’t think he could endure it.

Silently his wife climbed onto the bed, kneeling at the edge of the mattress. She reached for him, pulling him closer to her. She then placed his hands under her shift, against her bare flesh, against her buttocks while Colin’s need reached an urgent level.
 

Bunching the fabric of her shift in his fists, Colin slid the garment over her buttocks, her back then her head before tossing it onto the floor. The sight of her naked form stole his very breath.
 

His bride was more beautiful than he ever could ever have imagined.

His fingers explored the milky flesh above her breasts. She was soft, sinfully so he thought. He knew his touch was exciting Eve as the tight pink buds of her nipples hardened under his attention.

Go slow.
It was his silent command even though it was killing him, his painful erection throbbing harder with every second that he wasn’t inside of her. As if sensing this, Eve hooked the waist of his breeches with her finger and pulled him closer towards her, his chest all but ablaze from her naked breasts heaving against his bare torso.

Eve unbuttoned his breeches, her fingers trembling ever so. Once on full display, she studied his manhood, her eyes wide with open admiration.

Colin stepped out of his breeches, noting that Eve never averted her eyes. Her shameless interest in his naked form filled his heart with pride.

As if sensing what was to occur next, Eve laid on her side in the center of the fluffy mattress. He climbed next to her, noting her labored breathing as he settled his weight.

“Relax,” his rich baritone was hoarse with desire as his fingers trailed down her hip and thigh, then towards her womanhood. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Eve reached for him, tracing his lips with her soft fingertips. “I’m feeling many different sensations at the moment,
nervous
is not one of them.”