Free The Rogue and I by Eva Devon

spinning. She stroked his tongue back with her own, opening her mouth wider, to taste more of him.
    As though he might suddenly disappear like an apparition or a dream, she clung to him, holding him hard against her. The warm, tingly passion of it roared through her, the world a million miles away as they shifted and moved their faces to kiss deeper. It was as if he were trying to climb inside her.
    Her hands slid up to his dark hair, twining in the damp strands. Slowly, his mouth moved down to her neck kissing her pulse. Harry’s head dropped back and her eyes opened to the bright, blue sky. Perhaps she had died and, in fact, she had been transported to heaven.
    His firm lips opened ever so slightly and he nibbled at her skin as he worked his way down to her collarbones. Her breath came in a shaky rhythm. This was impossible. Shocking. Deliciously wicked.
    If her mother knew what she was doing! In plain sight out on a lake. In a boat. What she was allowing to be done. Somehow the thrill of it, and the fact that it was him, shoved all care and morality from her consideration.
    Carefully, he tugged at her chemise. Cool air brushed her breasts and, ever so gently, his mouth closed over her nipple. Harriet gasped in wonder. A perfect ache formed between her legs and throbbed with every flick of his tongue on her sensitive flesh.
    She lowered her gaze to the top of his dark head. Her fingers were still entwined in his hair, encouraging his kiss. If she threw all caution to the wind. . .
    “This is madness,” she whispered.
    Slowly, regretfully, he pulled back from her breast. “Yes. It is.”
    She smiled slightly at him. He looked as if the most marvelous sweet in the world had just been yanked away from him. “Making love in a boat sounds tremendously romantic but really—”
    He grinned. “It would be terribly awkward.”
    “And if we capsized you would just have to go about saving me again.”
    He gazed down at her, tucking an errant lock of her hair behind her ear. “I like saving you.”
    Her heart pounded with a ridiculous glee at his words. “Lucky for you then I get into all sorts of scrapes.”
    Not answering, he pressed a light kiss to her lips then turned and bounded over the boat’s edge. He landed in the water with a great splash.
    He gripped the edge of the boat and that silly grin of his was plastered on his lips as he blinked the water from his eyes.
    Shaking her head, Harry couldn’t tear her eyes from him. He was so. . . wonderful. Alive and charming. Just what a man should be.
    “You know,” she said wildly. “I think you are going to be mine.”
    Her Lancelot just smiled up at her and said, “Yes. Yes, I think I am.”
    *     *      *
    T he Present
    The Trent Estate
    Harriet absolutely loved masked balls. It was the perfect opportunity to get away with a great deal. And tonight? Well, she had plans to make Lord Garret’s life pure hell. She was certainly dressed for the part.
    “Cousin, I cannot believe you’re really wearing that!” Emmaline gasped with perfect horror.
    Harriet preened before one of the tall hall mirrors, worthy of Versailles what with all the gold filigree. Red silk and silver cloth clung to her body. The bodice was a second skin, baring a fair amount of her breasts and all her shoulders with just the barest red silk straps about her arms. The skirt was a cascade of slick, red sin and silver ruffles which went perfectly with the diamond cuffs about her red gloves and the sparkling neckless at her throat. The mask was the piece de resistance. A red leather and diamond devil mask. Her rouged lips curled in a wicked grin. “It suits me, does it not?”
    Emmaline merely shook her head in a disapproving, motherly fashion. Most of her face was hidden by white feathers. A vision of a swan, all perfect elegance, her gown shimmered white and soft pink, bedecked with feathers. “All I say, is don’t be tempted too much. You know what they say, sometimes a person becomes