Free Seducing the Viscount by Alexandra Ivy Page B

breasts.
    Against all reason he forced himself to pause and await her lead. If she had never been kissed, then it sure the hell reasoned that she had never enjoyed a man’s hands on her breasts.
    An aching beat passed, and then another. When it was obvious she was not on the point of slapping his face, he growled low in his throat and tugged at the buttons that held her bodice together. The thin muslin material readily gaped, revealing the sensible corset and shift beneath. A considerable barrier for most gentlemen. Thankfully, Ian was not most gentlemen, and with the skill only a true connoisseur of women could conjure, he had the corset loosened and the shift pulled down to reveal the bounty he was seeking.
    Unable to resist temptation, Ian pulled back to gaze down at the snowy white mounds, his heart halting as the pale pink nipples hardened beneath his survey.
    His hands actually trembled as he reverently palmed the soft weights, his thumb brushing over the tender peaks. They were more beautiful than in his dreams.
    Ian was barely aware he was moving until his head had dipped downward and he had his lips wrapped around the bud of her nipple. He wanted to taste her in this exact manner when he spread her legs and penetrated her. There were few things he enjoyed more than suckling a woman as she screamed out her climax.
    Well . . . perhaps having her suckle his . . .
    The delicious image of Mercy’s sunlight curls bouncing as she took him deep in her mouth was abruptly disturbed as her soft whimper echoed through the hushed air.
    It was not a whimper of pain. Quite the opposite, in fact.
    It was the sound a woman made when her passions were being stirred to the point of no return.
    The devil take it.
    It had been less than twenty-four hours since he had promised himself that he would not be the man to relieve this woman of her innocence. And yet, here he was, holding her half naked in his arms, a breath away from yanking up her skirts and doing precisely what he warned her he would do.
    He was a fool.
    Whether for presuming he could dare temptation without getting burned, or for denying himself what was so blatantly offered, was impossible to decide.
    Lifting his head, he glared in frustration at her flushed features and dark, siren eyes.
    â€œDo you have no sense of self-preservation?” he rasped.
    â€œWhy?” She blinked, her breath still coming in soft pants. “Do you intend to hurt me?”
    His brows snapped together at the ludicrous question. “What I intend to do is to steal your virtue, which many women would consider worse than death.”
    She touched her tongue to her lips that were still swollen from his kisses. “You can hardly steal what I was freely giving.”
    A heat that could have rivaled the fires of hell seared through him, nearly undoing his brief moment of sanity.
    â€œDamn you,” he gritted, forcing himself to drop his hands and step back from her exquisite temptation. “I will not have the sin of despoiling the daughter of a vicar on my soul.”
    With hands that were not quite steady she righted her rumpled shift and tugged at the stays of her corset. Ian felt a raw pang of disappointment to accept that the momentary encounter was at an end. He wanted to thump his head against the workbench, cursing his stupidity in allowing this chit to walk away unscathed. He would be suffering for days.
    â€œSo it is only the knowledge that my father is a vicar that halts you?” she demanded.
    â€œNot entirely.” With a muttered curse he brushed aside her fumbling attempts to button the tight bodice and efficiently slid the buttons through their matching eyes. “It may surprise you, but I have never made a habit of bedding virgins.”
    â€œHave you known any virgins?”
    Dropping his hands as if they had been scalded, he regarded her with a dark frown.
    â€œA few. All of them wise enough to slap my face when I became overly