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me at all.”
    Richard pulled her into his arms. “My brother is an idiot.”
    He hated seeing her like this. More than her hurt and disappointment, however, he hated seeing the evidence of her feelings for Henry.
    “Richard—”
    “Henry didn’t deserve you,” he said fiercely, knowing in his heart that Sophie and his brother wouldn’t have had a happy union. She needed more than friendship, and his brother’s heart already belonged to another.
    She drew back to meet his gaze. “I’m not upset. Quite the opposite, in fact. You can’t imagine how guilty I felt when I thought he might be a little heartbroken, because, you see, after meeting you I soon realised I was involved with the wrong brother.”
    A tumult of emotions swept through him at her admission.
    “It’s been killing me seeing you with him at all those events when I wanted you for myself.”
    “I want that, too,” she said, her voice a soft caress.
    He could no longer think beyond the fact that Sophie was in his arms, all soft and warm, smart and brave. The light lavender scent she wore seemed to envelop him, and this time he wasn’t going to let her escape. Lust threatened to overtake all reason, but somehow he kept his kiss gentle, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs as he breathed in her soft sigh of contentment. He trailed his hands down her body, enjoying the way she moved into his touch, and just like that the tenuous hold he had on his control began to slip. His head swam with an almost desperate need as he crushed her against him and took her mouth.
    She clutched at his shoulders and the little sounds she made as she welcomed him, eagerly twining her sweet tongue around his, drove him mad. He was a hair’s breadth away from throwing her onto the floor and having her right then.
    “Sophie,” he said, taking a deep breath to steady himself and pulling back a fraction so his lips hovered just above hers, “is this your first time?”
    He knew what her answer would be, yet her small nod of affirmation caused an unexpected surge of possessiveness to sweep through him. No other man had ever touched her, or had shown her the heights of passion as he would. His cock was now so hard it was almost painful, yet he forced himself to think of her needs. It was nearly impossible, however, to see beyond the haze of passion that clouded her eyes. To think past the way her magnificent breasts felt pressed against his chest. To imagine what it would feel like to thrust into her tight, wet heat.
    “We need to slow down,” he said, forcing the words out through sheer will alone.
     
    The very last thing Sophie wanted was to slow down, and, from the feel of his manhood pressing against her lower belly and his almost pained expression, she knew he didn’t want that either. Now that she had overcome her misgivings about having a love affair with Richard, she couldn’t bear the thought of waiting another minute. Just being with him, alone in his house in the middle of the night, had her heart racing. She couldn’t help thinking about all of the delightfully wicked things they would do together.
    Her breath was not quite steady when she stretched up to place her mouth on the spot where his jaw met his neck, and ran her tongue along the whisker-roughened skin. She rolled her hips and smiled with satisfaction when his breath hissed out from between clenched teeth.
    Richard pushed open her cloak and brought his hands to rest against her ribcage. Against the heat of his touch, her silk gown felt impossibly thin, and when he smoothed his thumbs along the outer curve of her breasts in lazy circles her nipples tightened.
    A nerve ticked along his jaw and she followed the movement with her tongue.
    “I’m trying to be careful and you’re not making it easy.” The words, a rumble against her ear, sent shivers through her.
    “Good,” she said, drawing back to give him a wicked smile.
    With a low growl, he dropped his head and his tongue surged into her mouth