Read An Imprudent Lady for Free Online

frame, and he murmured unintelligibly in reply. Then his other hand slipped around, and he lifted and set her on the edge of the desk.
    “Don’t move,” he ordered hoarsely. With a violent shove, he sent the blotter and every other article on the desk crashing to the floor.
    Charlotte would have giggled but she found her arms filled again with Daniel and the notion dissolved like sugar in hot tea. Amidst a long, insistent kiss, he nudged apart her knees and pressed her back onto the desk until he leaned above, dominating her world. She arched into his touch, hungry for more, and he obliged by cupping her breast.
    But it wasn’t enough. She wanted those fingers on her bare skin, and she wanted to touch him in return. She pulled aside his collar to stroke the searing skin underneath.
    Hot kisses trailed across her cheek to the sensitive tendon at the side of her neck, where Daniel paused to lick tantalizingly down to her shoulder and then back to her ear.
    “God, angel. You taste like a dream.”
    This was decidedly better than any of the erotic dreams that had left her hot and needy and incomplete over the years. Hunger bloomed, flooding her senses.
    She was desperate to touch him, to slide her fingertips across his flesh. It took a couple of tugs, and Daniel’s assistance by shifting his weight, but she managed to pull his shirttails free. She burrowed her hands under the pool of linen and discovered raw heat. She hesitated when she brushed the patch of hair upon his chest. At nineteen, Daniel had been smooth and the unexpectedness of it reminded her of the past when she’d been awash in the moment.
    Then Daniel groaned again and whispered, “Touch me some more, Charlotte. Please, just touch me,” and she let the moment steal her away again. Now her palms ached to explore his chest, but that didn’t prove enough to satisfy her restlessness. She wanted to see him. To study the man he had become and the changes the years had wrought.
    When she tugged on the shirt again, he obligingly pulled it off and tossed it aside. And there he was, muscles sleek and gleaming in the firelight. Her joy at the sight was eclipsed only by the scars she could make out in the dim light. Old scars. Scars that marred one shoulder and the pectoral muscle beneath.
    “Oh, Daniel,” she whispered and traced a pale seam with her fingertip. “Look at you. Were you hurt badly?”
    He shrugged and leaned forward, stifling her words with another consuming kiss. He gathered her, lifting her by the shoulders in counterpoint to his hips, which ground seductively against hers. Her laces loosened at his tug, and his lips moved to her neck, leaving a trail of fire down the length. He nudged the shoulder of her gown aside as he descended, exposing a breast covered in nothing but a thin chemise.
    “Look at you , angel,” he whispered and palmed the soft curve. “A bit more to you than before.” The opposite shoulder fell free and her other breast received similar treatment. “But these nipples are every bit as pretty as I remember.” As he spoke, his thumbs grazed the puckered peaks and she groaned, lust pooling between her thighs. His eyes dilated at her cry, and he did it again, clearly relishing her response and demanding more.
    “Kiss me, Daniel,” she begged, rocking against him. He inhaled deeply.
    “As you wish,” he murmured, and then he tugged free the ribbon of her shift. His warm lips engulfed one nipple, and he continued caressing the other with his thumb.
    Her heart pounded and her breath came in quickening gasps. She ran her hands down his broad back, enjoying the muscles that shifted beneath her touch. As he continued to kiss her, she felt an urgency she could no longer contain.
    Her inquisitive hands returned to Daniel’s waist then drifted lower. With one, she eased her fingers under the waistband of his breeches, and with the other she boldly stroked down the length of his erection. Daniel reared back, looking as wild as she