JORDAN Nicole (19 page)

Instinctively Roslyn raised a hand to her coiffure. She had pinned it into a sedate knot at her nape, a simple style that didn’t require a maid’s help to achieve. For years the Loring sisters had been too poor to afford servants of their own, and their step-uncle had been too miserly to provide them any. “What is wrong with my hair?”

“It’s too severe. You should wear it in a more careless style. Let a few curls frame your face. Better yet, let some tresses hang down over your shoulder. It’s most appealing if you look like you’ve just risen from your bed. That gives a man notions about taking you back there.”

“I’m not certain Iwish to give Haviland notions of taking me to bed,” Roslyn said dubiously.

“You need to. He’ll be more willing to tie the knot if he believes he won’t be getting a cold fish in his marriage bed.”

She frowned. “Do you think I am a cold fish?”

The duke’s expression turned enigmatic. “I know you are not, but you have to show Haviland as much. Which leads me to my next suggestion. You can do much more with your mouth.”

“More than pouting?”

“Yes. Your mouth is full and inviting, but you need to look kissable.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “How do I do that?”

“Bite your lips to make them look passion-bruised. Wet them with your tongue. You want to entice your suitor to kiss you.”

“Is that why Fanny made me wear lip rouge at the Cyprians’ ball?”

“I expect so. And it worked quite well.”

“You truly wanted to kiss me?”

“Very much. But you looked the part that night. You were much more approachable than now.”

“Approachable?”

She could see the duke almost smile at her peeved tone. “You don’t want Haviland to think of you as a delicate porcelain doll but a flesh and blood woman. It’s much more enticing to a man.”

The furrow in her brow deepened. “I don’t really understand the difference.”

“Take your friend Fanny, for example. She is considered a beauty, but that isn’t what most men find appealing about her. She has an earthy quality that’s highly alluring.”

“Which I lack.”

“But you can make up for it with your actions. You may appear a proper lady of refinement, but you want Haviland to know you have a passionate nature underneath that perfect, untouchable exterior. You must give him the urge to abandon all his gentlemanly discipline and think about bedding you.”

“I see,” Roslyn said slowly, although she had little confidence that she could pull off such a feat.

“So try looking kissable.”

Obediently, she worried her lower lip with her teeth, then wet it with her tongue. “Like that?”

“Yes. But try to be more sultry. Part your lips. Pretend to be a little breathless. And look directly at me. Remember, eyes and mouth are your first weapons.”

She held his gaze as she parted her wet lips and manufactured a subtle pant, but it still felt absurdly unnatural.

Arden obviously thought so too, since he shook his head ruefully. “You can do much better than that, darling. Come, now…make me want to kiss you.”

Despite her determination, the thought of kissing Arden again sent a thrum of excitement shivering across her skin. Purposefully ignoring the wanton feeling, Roslyn tried again to look kissable, slowly licking her lips while trying to appear sultry.

“That’s somewhat better,” he encouraged. “Just watching you should arouse me.”

Arouse the Duke of Arden? Impossible, Roslyn thought with a silent chortle. The techniques of seduction he was teaching her might work on normal men, but not in a million years would she ever believe she could have the same effect on him, especially when he knew exactly what tricks she was attempting.

When she broke off her struggles with a laugh, Arden sank back against the sofa in defeat. “Perhaps you are hopeless after all.”

“No, no, I can do it,” she asserted, trying to stem her amusement.

“Then show me. See if you can arouse me. Come sit beside me here so you have a better chance.”

When he gestured at the sofa cushion beside him, Roslyn hesitated barely a moment before gathering her determination. If she intended to conquer her self-consciousness with Lord Haviland, she would have to become more at ease with the physical aspects of a seduction. And she had a willing subject to practice on right now, perhaps for the last time, since the duke intended to return to London after this lesson.

“Now what?” she asked when she had settled beside him.

He lounged back against the padded arm of the sofa. “I will leave it entirely up to you. What did I teach you yesterday?”

“That I should contrive to touch you.”

“So do it.”

Reaching out, she let her fingers settle on his hand, which was resting on his buckskin-clad thigh. In response, he slid his hand from beneath hers and placed his on top, covering her fingers and pressing her palm against his thigh. “This is more arousing to a man,” he explained.

And to a woman also,Roslyn reflected as her heart gave a leap at the feel of the granite-hard muscles beneath the soft fabric. But she wouldn’t let herself pull away. Instead she gazed directly at Arden and practiced her mouth exercises. His eyes lowered to her lips, but otherwise he seemed unaffected.

“Isn’t that good enough?” she finally asked.

“You should move closer. Tempt me with your nearness.”

She shifted her position and leaned forward so that their mouths were only a short distance apart, which made her excruciatingly aware of his body, especially since she was required to brace her hand against his thigh for balance.

“Now kiss me,” he ordered blandly. “You should learn how to do it properly.”

Her own gaze dropping from his, Roslyn eyed the sensual fullness of his mouth and felt herself tense. It would be utterly unwise to kiss Arden, even though she longed to. But then she chided herself for being missish. She had already kissed him once before—and allowed much more than that! Letting him teach her to kiss wouldn’t be nearly as scandalous, but could be highly beneficial in her campaign to win Lord Haviland.

A deep breath did nothing to calm her nerves, however, and when she hurried to press a quick kiss to his lips before drawing back, his slight frown told her clearly that she had utterly failed to impress him.

“Again, but more slowly,” he suggested. “Make it linger. And put your hands on my chest so that I’m aware of you touching me.”

His coat was open, so Roslyn tentatively pressed her palms against the lapels of his waistcoat. She had to lean over much farther than was comfortable, yet he didn’t intend to help her at all, she realized. He kept his arms at his sides and remained still while she set her lips to his.

The heat of his mouth was highly distracting, so she concentrated on ignoring it as she kissed him with untutored skill. After a long moment, Roslyn pulled back, eyeing him questioningly.

His green eyes had darkened a fraction. “Better, but still inadequate. Use your tongue. That’s very arousing to a man.”

Leaning forward again, she let her tongue slip inside his mouth to explore the warm recesses. It was highly intoxicating for her, if not for him, and had a profound impact on her senses.

She was more than a little breathless when she drew back. “Are you aroused yet?”

“Not quite. You’ll have to be more assertive. Lay claim to me when you kiss me.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Let me show you…”

Reaching for her, he lay back and pulled her on top of him, molding her softness to his much harder frame. She could feel the shifting muscles of his chest beneath her palms as their lips melded and he took over kissing her.

Her body softened, yielded to him, as his lips shifted over hers in sensuous coercion. Then his tongue slid inside and found hers, mating with it in a slow, intimate dance. When she gave a soft little sigh, he angled his head and pressed even deeper, exploring, tasting, coaxing.

For a long moment she became lost in the sheer wonder of his kiss, in the lush assault on her senses. The delicious feelings he aroused in her were overwhelming, kindling a throbbing ache between her legs, a fierce yearning. Without conscious thought, she began moving her hips against his, seeking a release she couldn’t even name.

When at last he broke off his kiss, disappointment surged through her. She hadn’t wanted him to stop. Yet she knew she had affected him this time. She could feel the taut muscled strength of his body beneath hers, and something more—the swollen hardness nestled in the cradle of her thighs.

Somewhat dazed, Roslyn opened her eyes and lifted her head. “There, that aroused you, I can feel it.”

“I would say so.” His voice was husky and amused as he caught her hand and drew it between their bodies to his groin.

It was shocking to touch the thick ridge of male flesh there; even through his breeches the heat of him was apparent. Yet she also felt a sense of triumph. She had wanted to learn how to arouse a man, and she had succeeded.

Suddenly recalling how improper it was to be fondling a man’s body, Roslyn quickly eased her hand from his grasp and made to rise.

“Not so fast, love,” Arden murmured as his arms closed around her to hold her in place. “We’ve barely begun your education in kissing.”

Without giving her a choice, he drew her head down again and resumed her instruction. But the tenor of his kiss changed. This one was harder, more powerful. If Roslyn had any thought at all of resisting, he shattered it quite thoroughly, his mouth slowly forcing hers open, his thrusting tongue seizing, claiming.

It was a kiss of possession, devastating, expert. The blatant sensuality of it was stunning as his mouth made love to her mouth, as his hands slid around her hips to capture her more firmly, letting her feel his hard arousal through their clothing.

Yet it was a trap from which she had no desire to escape. Instead, Roslyn kissed him back with an intensity that she would have thought utterly foreign to her nature.

They were both breathing raggedly when it finally ended. Drawing back, Roslyn stared dazedly down at him.

His eyes were dark and sensual as they surveyed her flushed face. “You look extremely kissable now,” he observed in a low rasp.

Roslyn had started to return a diffuse smile when she realized his hands had moved to the back of her gown and were unfastening the hooks. A small gasp escaped her when she comprehended what he was doing, but she made no protest as he pushed down the décolletage and freed her breasts from the confinement of her chemise and corset.

His eyes flashed as he bared the pale mounds to his hot gaze.

Her nerves knotting in near painful anticipation, she held her breath, knowing exactly what came next. She should stop him, Roslyn told herself sternly as he raised her higher to give his mouth better access to her nipples. But she couldn’t find the willpower.

Then he bent his head, and her heart leapt. He didn’t suckle her as she expected, though. His tongue merely circled one taut aureole, never touching.

Roslyn arched against him, wanting desperately for him to put his mouth there. Instead he merely played with her, his lips nibbling around the aching tip, deliberately arousing but never fulfilling.

“Your grace…” she murmured in a breathy plea.

“Call me Drew.”

“Drew…please.”

His hands moving to cup her naked breasts, he pressed his tantalizing mouth closer to her nipple. The first flick of his tongue made her breath hiss between her teeth. Then he drew back slightly to blow a stream of air across the wet bud. The delectable sensation sparked a low heat inside her belly and dredged a trembling pleasure sound from deep in her throat. When she felt the nip of his teeth against the sensitive tip, Roslyn whimpered. Yet he continued to deny her, his lips rubbing and teasing over her breasts.

Finally, however, he drew a dusky peak between his lips. Her hands gripped his shoulders as he sucked the engorged nipple deeper into the moist heat of his mouth, igniting a searing heat deep within her.

His tongue kept laving slowly, and each time he stroked, a new thrill shot through her. Roslyn shivered with heat as his lips suckled the peak to an unbearable tightness rivaling that in her chest. She felt almost faint with delight. She was drowning in sensations. He was a master at giving pleasure, and she accepted eagerly.

How wonderful it felt. How wonderful and thrilling.

When his teeth nipped her again, she moaned helplessly, so caught up in his erotic attentions that she was only vaguely aware his right hand had moved to her bare shoulder. It drifted down her back, caressing the arch of her spine, then lower over her hip and down the skirt of her gown. When he raised the hem, drawing it upward, she felt the sensation of cool air on her legs.

In contrast, his warm fingers fondled her bare thigh, stroking her skin in small undulations, teasing with lazy spirals and slow, erotic touches.

The trembling, shivery ache in her belly heightened by slow degrees, building until his caresses moved to her inner thigh. Then she tensed, wondering what he intended.

His hand had moved upward to cover her woman’s mound. When he cupped the warm, throbbing place between her thighs, Roslyn gave a start and abruptly lifted her head.

He held her startled gaze as his fingers parted the damp curls of her sex. When he began to stroke the wet folds of her flesh, the pleasure of his probing touch took her breath away.

Roslyn shuddered, her heart beginning to pound, yet she was unable to look away; he was holding her captive with the intensity of his eyes as he found the aching nub that was the secret of her femininity. She could feel urgent desire burning through her senses like fire. The powerful sensations centered in the shimmering, heated core of her body, and her hands clenched reflexively, digging into his shoulders.

Then one finger slowly slid inside her hot, slick moistness. The novel, shockingly intimate caress was wholly unexpected.

Gasping, Roslyn jerked her hips away as a feeling of panic suddenly assaulted her.

Her body jolting, she pushed herself off him and stood on shaken limbs, covering her naked breasts with her arms as she stared down at him.