The Lord and his Lady (Forbidden #2)

Chapter Forty Seven

He hadn't known his want to feel her full, soft lips on his until the moment he had allowed himself to. Her lips parted against his in obvious surprise, resulting in the initial gentle kiss becoming deeper than he'd intended. She hadn't responded yet, and it was clear to him that she had never been kissed before. Despite it, her lips molded against his at the slightest pressure and he suppressed a groan.

Instead of taking more as he wanted, he softened the kiss into a gentle coaxing until he felt her relax. Finally, she pressed her palms against his chest and kissed back with a hesitant push of her lips. She tipped her head back, inviting him to further explore her mouth. The sensuality of such a simple action sent his pulse racing. He allowed himself to taste her with a gentle stroke of his tongue.

His hand released her chin, knuckles tracing the soft skin of her jaw working against his before cupping the back of her neck, letting his fingers tangle into her soft, beautiful curls.

Louise broke away, her deliciously voluptuous lips made for kissing now shining and swollen. Her half-lidded eyes glazed with lust were so very vulnerable, so innocent that it shook him to the core at how much his whole being wanted her.

Good God, he wanted to make her his. She made him feel like a man.

His thumb ran over a small area of her cheek that reminded him of the soft petals of peonies before gently tracing her lower lip. He heard her swallow. She met his steady gaze. She hadn't pulled away or ran away like she had numerous times which, Richard supposed, was a positive sign. He wondered if she could feel his galloping heart beat, no doubt thundering against her soft bosom pressed ever so tightly against him.

Without wasting another second, he bent his head to softly capture her lips again for a brief kiss. Then another kiss followed. And another. With each time their lips met, the kiss deepened. He walked her backward and pressed her against the wooden wall of the stable, one arm above her head encasing her in between, the other sliding down to the curve of her hip that he could feel from under the fabric, and securing her against him.

You must stop, a voice told him, before you go too far. Reluctantly, he parted from her quivering lips. He wanted to take them in his again, feel the velvet smoothness of it, but he refrained. If he let all reins of self control go...he would allow himself to ravish her and if one were to get wind of it, it would only propel her into scandal. He wouldn't knowingly bring chaos to her or his family. He would go through with this in the proper manner and what was expected of him, as he would with any lady were he to court them.

"We must stop, my love," he said thickly, licking his lips to savour the taste of her there. Her hands weakly clutched at his shirt, breaths coming out in short, ragged puffs.

"My lord, I—"

"Richard now to you," he whispered, his mouth faintly brushing her top lip unable to untangle himself from her.

"I cannot." She pushed at his chest and he obeyed, giving her space to breathe freely. The moment he did, however, the heat that her warm, soft curves had provided him was gone and he yearned to feel her against him yet again.

Then the words registered, and the haze faded. "Why not?"

"This goes against society."

"To hell with society and its conventions then," he snapped. "I've been raised to see everyone unequivocally equally. You say one thing but your lips say quite another. If there were no slightest inclination to your own feelings for me, you would have pushed me away once again. Yet you did not. What does that tell you?"

At his demand, she resorted to silence, looking away. Richard wouldn't have that, no, not after what they had shared mere moments ago that ran deeper than a momentarily loss of sense.