“I do.” He nodded. “I also understand, Anna Seaton, if I cannot have more of you, this instant, I will not answer for the consequences.” He brushed his lips over hers. “The workmen are gone, and they won’t be back until the heat of the day has cooled. We have this time, Anna, and I would like to use it.”

“I will not lie with you.” Anna shook her head. “It would be… dishonest.”

“I will not lie with you then, either.” He kissed her again, more lingeringly. “But I would pleasure us both. Don’t for the love of God argue with me, Anna.” His arms slipped around her waist. “You need pleasuring almost as badly as I do, and there’s nothing to stop us.”

“There’s me to stop us,” she said, but she was kissing him back between her protests.

“Stop me later, then,” the earl suggested, shrugging out of his waistcoat while his lips cruised her neck. “Preferably much later.” He kissed her more deeply, but to her eternal consternation she was less committed to her protests than he was to his seduction.

For days she’d told herself physical pleasures were fleeting and an undesirable entanglement in her circumstances. She’d told herself she couldn’t miss something she’d shared with the earl on only a handful of occasions—a few kisses, some caresses, unimaginable pleasure and intimacy.

But she’d missed him like the land misses spring and the flowers miss the sun. She’d missed him like a soldier misses home on the night before battle and the night after. She’d missed him so…

“That’s it,” the earl coaxed when Anna’s arms went around his waist. “No more words, Anna. Unless it’s to tell me how to please you.”

He kissed her long and deeply, stilling her protests, stealing her will and making it his. She did want to share these pleasures with him, with him and no one else, ever. She did not want to leave him, and yet leave him she would.

She rose up to press her body more closely to his, and he gathered her more tightly in his arms. All of her reserve and self-control went flying out the window, and in their place was need. Need for him, for closeness with him.

“Your clothes,” Anna breathed, arching against him.

“Yours,” he whispered back. Deftly, he began to undo the buttons down the back of her dress, even as she continued to drink in his kisses. He pushed the cap sleeves of her dress off her shoulders and bent his head to worship her neck with his lips.

“I love that,” she said. “The way you touch me there.”

“And here,” he murmured, shifting lower, “you taste like sunshine, and sweetness, and female.”

She was trying to get his shirt out of his waistband but couldn’t kiss him and make her hands work at the same time. Gasping, she stepped back.

She eyed him in frustration. “This isn’t working. Please take your clothes off. Now, Westhaven.”

He smiled an I thought you would never ask smile and pulled his shirt over his head, letting her watch. He arched an eyebrow, his hand going to the fall of his trousers, and Anna nodded, holding his gaze the whole time. With deliberate movements, he got out of his boots, stockings, and breeches, standing before her naked, aroused, and unselfconscious.

“Oh, dear…” Anna’s eyes went wide as she surveyed him. “You are very interested.”

He stalked toward her, his erection curving up against his taut belly. “While you are very overdressed. Clothes off, Anna. All of them.”

She nodded, knowing it would represent new territory for them. She had never been naked before him, not in the broad light of day.

“Lock the door,” she said, swallowing. His smile became feral as he complied with her command. He’d told her to strip for him; she deliberately used the imperative on him, as well.

“Quit dithering, love.” His tone was gentler, amused but only so patient. Slowly, Anna let the bodice of her dress fall forward then shoved it below her hips. She stepped out of the dress and stood in the middle of its billows, like Venus rising. While Westhaven watched from just a few feet away, she bent to undo her boots and stockings then let her chemise join the dress on the floor.

“Better,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “Much, much better.”

She took a step toward him then hesitated. He closed the remaining distance and caught her against him, letting her press her face to his throat.

“Shy?” he asked, amusement back in his voice.

“We are… very undressed,” Anna said as a blush rose up her chest and suffused her face. “This is new.”

The earl bent his head to kiss her, then slid his hand down to cup her derriere. Before she could react with even another blush, he lifted her and tossed her onto the middle of the bed.

“Stay right there, shyness be damned,” he said to her as she rose up to brace her elbows behind her. “You look adorably dazed, thoroughly kissed, and much in need of my company, as you, my dear, need to be relieved of a certain ignorance. Not your innocence, as no man can divest you of that, but your ignorance. I fault Mr. Seaton for not seeing to this.”

“My ignorance?” she said, watching him climb onto the bed. “Westhaven…”

“That’s talking, Anna,” he chided. “You are only to talk if it’s to tell me what pleases you.”

“It pleases me not at all,” she said sternly, “to be handled like a… oof!” He straddled her and gently pushed her onto her back. “What are you about?”

“Hush, sweetheart.” He nuzzled her neck, crouching over her. “It’s too hot for lecturing. We must conserve our strength.”

The bed, Anna realized, took some of the urgency from him. When he could loom over her this way, passively rest his erection against her stomach and know she wasn’t going to squirm away, he was easier to deal with. The pace of his kisses slowed, and the quiet of the house settled around them.

“Someday,” he said, grazing his nose down her sternum, “you will want it fast and almost rough. You’ll want me to shut up, and you won’t care if we tear our clothes or leave the door unlocked or make a racket.”

“Can you promise me such a day?” Anna arched her back, trying to get closer to him.

“I can promise you as many of those days as you want.” He flicked his tongue over her nipple and rested his cheek on the swell of her breast. “I can promise you nights when we get no sleep but rise with more energy than had we slept soundly. I can promise you long afternoons spent in sensual abandon, when we both have places we must be, things we must do, but we let them all go hang.” He turned his face and took her nipple into his mouth, and the pleasure he brought her was almost unbearable.

“Yes,” Anna breathed, not sure if she’d spoken aloud or simply felt the word in every part of her body. The earl drew more strongly on her and used his fingers to tease the other nipple. He paused and raised himself enough to meet her gaze.

“Take your time, Anna. We have hours if you want them, and my appetite for you is without limit.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said, letting her hands stroke through his hair. “Take my time?”

“Our time,” he said, closing his eyes. He bent his head to her breasts again and spent long minutes using his mouth to arouse and please her. Her breasts were wonderfully sensitive, and she unabashedly reveled in the nudity that allowed him unfettered access to them.

“Westhaven…” Anna arched restlessly some minutes later. “It’s too much.”

“It’s not enough,” he said, easing a hand down over her stomach. He kept his movements deliberate, as if reminding her tacitly they had all the time in the world. Slowly, he caressed her midriff, occasionally letting his fingers tease at her nipples or drift down to tease at the curls above her sex.

“You are losing flesh,” he said, leaning over to kiss her breast. “You will please stop this, as I require you to be sturdy.”

“I always drop some weight in the summer,” Anna said, realizing he was in a different mood entirely from when he tossed her onto the bed. “You are over your chicken pox.” She ran a hand over his abdomen, marveling at how perfectly his skin had healed.

“I had good care”—the earl smiled up at her—“and I’ve been conserving my strength.” His hand dipped lower, into her curls, and Anna felt her frustration spike. Well, turnabout was fair play, so she sent her own hand drifting down to explore his erection.

“How long can you stay like this?” She circled him with her fingers and sleeved his length.

“Many men are in a state of near perpetual arousal for much of their adolescence,” he said, closing his eyes. “Myself included. It got better at university, when I could actually do something besides pleasure myself several times a day. Hold me tighter, love. Like that.” He sighed, gave up, and rolled to his back.

Anna smiled, pleased with herself for getting the better of him. She pushed up and sat cross-legged at his hip then resumed her exploration.

“Are all men as well endowed as you?” she asked, her free hand slipping up to brush over his nipples.

“I am the most well-endowed man on earth,” he said, eyes still closed. “You are to be envied among all women; you’ll be bowlegged when we become lovers in fact.”

“Be serious,” she chided, tugging at him gently.

“Serious…” he breathed. “God, that feels good… It’s hard to say really who is well endowed and who isn’t, as one seldom sees another fellow aroused. We peek, certainly, but I’ve seen very few cocks other than my own ready to do the deed.”

“You’ve seen other men in this state?”

“Most men wake up in this state,” he informed her. “Slow down, sweetheart, or I won’t be able to maintain it much longer.” She slowed her hand, fractionally, but leaned over and swirled her tongue over his nipple.