Free Everything and the Moon by Julia Quinn Page A

hands clutched at her, roving over her body, trying to remember and memorize each curve.
    â€œTorie,” he murmured, trailing his lips down the line of her neck. “I've never…No other woman…”
    Victoria let her head loll back, all reason having fled with the first touch of his lips. She'd thought she'd forgotten what it felt like to be held in his arms, to feel the touch of his lips on her skin.
    But she hadn't. Every touch was achingly familiar and startlingly exciting. And when he lowered her onto her bed, she couldn't even think to protest.
    The weight of his body pressed her into the mattress, and one of his hands wrapped around her calf, squeezing and caressing its way up past her knee.
    â€œI'm going to love you, Torie,” Robert said fiercely. “I'm going to love you until you can't move. I'm going to love you until you can't think.” His hand traveled ever higher, reaching the hot skin of her upper thigh where her stockings ended. “I'm going to love you the way I should have before.”
    Victoria groaned with pleasure. She'd spent seven long years without so much as a hug, and she was starved for physical affection. She had known what it was like to be touched and kissed, and she had no idea how much she'd missed it until that very moment. His hand moved, and she dimly realized that he was fumbling with his breeches, opening them and—
    â€œOh, God, no!” she cried out, pushing at his shoulders. In her mind's eye she could see them from above. Her legs were open, and Robert was settled between them. “No, Robert,” she said again, wriggling out from beneath him. “I can't.”
    â€œDon't do this,” he warned, passion still glazing his eyes. “Don't tease me and—”
    â€œThis is all you ever wanted, isn't it?” she demanded, darting off the bed. “All you ever wanted from me.”
    â€œIt was certainly one thing,” he muttered, looking as if he were in pain.
    â€œGod, I'm so stupid.” She crossed her arms across her chest in a defensive maneuver. “One would think I'd have learned my lesson by now.”
    â€œAs one would think I'd have learned mine,” he said bitterly.
    â€œPlease go.”
    He stopped on his way to the door, just to be contrary. “Please? Such nice manners.”
    â€œRobert, I'm asking you as politely as I know how.”
    â€œBut why ask me to leave?” He stepped toward her. “Why fight it, Torie? You know you want me.”
    â€œThat's not the point!” Horrified, Victoria realized what she'd just revealed. She wasn't sure how she managed to get the words out, but she forced herself to lower her voice and said, “For the love of God, Robert, do you understand what you're doing? I am within an inch of being dismissed from this post. I cannot afford to lose it. If you were to be found in my room, I would be tossed out on my ear.”
    â€œReally?” He looked intrigued by the prospect.
    She spoke slowly, carefully measuring her words. “I realize that you do not harbor any wealth of good feelings toward me. But for the sake of common decency, please leave!” She hated that she sounded as if she was begging, but she had no choice. At the end of the house party, Robert would leave and resume his life. This was her life.
    He leaned forward, his blue eyes sharp and intent. “Why do you care? You can't possibly love this position so much.”
    Victoria snapped. She just snapped. “Of course I don't love this position. Do you think I enjoy attending to the needs of the world's most monstrous five-year-old? Do you think I enjoy being spoken to as if I were a dog by his mother? Use your brain, Robert. What there is of it, at least.”
    Robert ignored her insult. “Then why stay?”“Because I don't have any choice!” she burst out. “Do you have any idea what it is like not to have any choices? Do you? No, of course you