Page 52 of An Affair at Stonecliffe

NOELLE WRAPPED HER arms around Carlisle’s neck, meeting his kiss with a hunger of her own. He stepped up into the narrow hallway, his mouth still fused to hers, moving forward blindly until they came up against a wall. There, finally, he raised his head and his arms relaxed around her, letting her slide down his body in a slow and thoroughly erotic manner. He glanced around a trifle dazedly, saying, “Where...”

“Down there,” Noelle murmured, making an equally vague gesture to the hall behind her.

He abandoned the topic as he trailed his lips down the side of her neck, his hands gliding down her sides and curving over her buttocks, pulling her hips firmly to him. Noelle pressed into him, eliciting his low groan, and Carlisle’s mouth returned to hers, harder, deeper, hungrier.

There was the sound of a door opening along the hall, and Carlisle turned, wrapping his body around Noelle’s, shielding her from view. “We should go inside.” His husky whisper ruffled her hair.

“Yes.” Noelle rubbed her cheek against his chest, soaking up the warmth, the scent, the feel of him, the feel of his heart pounding beneath her ear.

He let out a breathy laugh. “That’s not helping.”

“Isn’t it?” She smiled and slid her arms beneath his jacket and around his waist.

“Nor is that.” He nuzzled into her hair.

“I’m sorry.” Her hands roamed his back. “Should I stop?” Her fingers spread teasingly down to his hips.

She felt his smile against her hair. “In an hour or so.”

Her laugh was low and sultry as she curved her hands down over his buttocks and felt him surge against her. “Is someone still there?”

“At the moment I don’t care.” But he lifted his head to glance down the corridor. “No. Apparently we shocked them back into their room.” He straightened, pulling back a little. “And I would very much like to be back in our room now.”

“Then we should go there.”

“It seems a terribly long distance.” He bent to take another kiss before starting down the corridor, his arm around her shoulders, holding her to his side. Halfway along, he stopped to wrap his arms around her and kiss her again.

“We shall never reach it at this rate.” Noelle smiled up at him.

“When you smile at me like that, I don’t care where I am.” He cradled her face between his palms, studying her, then slid his fingers back to tangle in her curls. Heat flared in his eyes. “I can’t think of anything except how much I want you. I’ve been going mad these past days. Weeks. Since the moment I saw you, if I’m honest.”

She arched a brow. “You certainly didn’t seem enamored of me, I must say.” Her fingers went to the buttons of his waistcoat.

He sucked in a shaky breath. “Oh, you were as infuriating as you were desirable. I’ve never known any woman like you.”

“Like me?” She raised a brow.

“So lovely.” He bent to place a soft kiss on her forehead. “So strong.” He made his way down her face, his lips touching her with each statement. “So determined. So troublesome. So stubborn. So utterly, gut-wrenchingly tempting.” His mouth lingered on hers. “And now, I think we must get to the room, or I shall thoroughly disgrace myself right here.”

“Well, we can’t have that.” Noelle pulled back, reaching down to take his hand, and led him to their door.

They had barely stepped inside the room before he pulled Noelle to him, his mouth desperately seeking hers. Noelle trembled, knees suddenly weak, her very core seeming to melt into him. She wanted him with a hunger she could never before remember, flesh and heart aching. His need was raw and fierce, and that doubled her own.

She pressed up into him, moving her body against his. He went to the buttons down the back of her dress, his fingers clumsy with haste and desire. Noelle attacked the buttons of his waistcoat in return and shoved the sides apart, her hands hard and searching through the thin cloth of his shirt. His neck cloth was more troublesome, but she got it unknotted and hanging, then made quick work of the simpler ties of his shirt.

Reaching the last of her buttons, Carlisle hooked his hand inside the neckline of her dress and peeled it down. Stepping back, he shoved off his own unfastened garments. Noelle’s dress sagged around her arms and she let it fall to the floor. Noelle grasped the bow that tied her chemise and began to pull, the slender satin strip sliding apart. Carlisle’s eyes flared with heat.

“Here,” he said hoarsely, taking the delicate ribbon in his fingers. “Let me.”

“Very well.” Noelle knew how she looked—her hair mussed, eyes lambent and soft, lips red and swollen from his kisses—and she was equally aware of how her appearance affected him. For years she had done her best to downplay her looks, to never show the slightest hint of sexuality. But she wanted now to tease and beckon, to promise him with her eyes and lips...and to know the complete fulfillment of that promise. Her lips curved invitingly. “If you wish.”

“Oh, I wish.” His voice was deep and rich with anticipation. “I wish very much.”

He hooked two fingers in the loosened neckline of her chemise and dragged it downward with aching slowness, across the white globes of her breasts, over the red, hardening buds of her nipples, until it revealed all of her torso. His eyes darkened, his mouth heavy and full, as he reached out and cupped her breasts in his hands, thumbs drifting over her nipples.

She shivered a little under his touch, and he murmured, “Cold?”

“No.” Her hands went to the buttons of his trousers, and her eyes glinted as she looked up at him. “Not cold at all.”