“I promised to find the treasure,” she moaned, melting into him.
“For what purpose?” His finger slipped inside her and began to pump in a leisurely rhythm, driving her mad.
“Why does anyone seek treasure?” Her head fell back against his shoulder. “Heavens . . . that feels wonderful.” She shivered, and his hand at her breast gripped tighter.
“For money, for fame, for adventure,” he suggested, his voice so gruff, it betrayed his arousal. “Which is it for you?”
Charlotte arched her hips into his hand, her body on fire. His teeth bit into her neck, his fingertips tugged at her nipple, his fingers thrust between her legs until her orgasm was almost upon her. She cried out and tensed in expectation.
He stopped, and his hands left her.
“No . . .” she protested. “Don’t stop.”
With a hand between her shoulder blades, Hugh pressed her gently forward until she lay sprawled across the map. He lifted one of her legs and set it sideways atop the desk, opening her completely.
“Why do you want to seek treasure, Charlotte?” His palms stroked the curve of her bare derriere.
“For the money.”
“For the duchess?” He kissed the small of her back. “For yourself?”
“Both.” She shuddered, her arousal so painfully acute, she considered relieving it herself. Her hand moved off the desk to do just that.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. And then she heard him remove his trousers. “Tell me you’re not a virgin.”
Her throat was so tight, she could only shake her head.
“Do you want this?” he growled, thrusting his hard cock through the lips of her sex.
“God, yes,” she breathed. “I want it.”
He bent over and pressed his damp cheek to hers, his erection resting in the valley of her buttocks. “I want you more than any woman I can recall, Charlotte. Your scent intoxicates me, the feel of your skin drives me to madness, and your mouth . . . I want to do obscene things to your mouth.” He kissed her cheek so gently, her heart clenched. “But I need answers, and I expect you to give them to me. Will you do that when I’ve finished?”
At the moment, she felt like doing anything he asked.
Hugh’s hands stroked down her back, soothing, caressing. “Are you in danger, sweet? Perhaps you hide here to escape something unpleasant?”
Charlotte’s hands closed into fists. Seduction was one thing, as long as it was honest and without guile. “Don’t pretend to care, Montrose, when I hold no illusions that you do or will. You want sex. Fuck me, and be done with it.”
He straightened abruptly, his voice tightening. “I’m not lacking in sex. It’s you I want.”
She took a breath, then released it, sensing she’d pricked him and wondering why that mattered to her. “I swore not to tell anyone, Montrose. Can you collect that? I don’t know you. In a day or two you’ll leave and—”
She gasped as he thrust his cock into her with no further preliminaries.
Her fingers clawed at the desk and her back arched as pleasure seared her senses. He was large, so unbelievably built, and hard as steel, throbbing within her, until she felt nothing else.
Hugh leaned over her, lacing his fingers with hers. “I’m inside you, Charlotte.” He nudged deeper, reminding her of that fact. As if she could forget. “I intend to remain inside you for the next few days. There are things I can do, ways I can take you, that will prompt you to tell me what I want to know just so I’ll allow you to come. Or you can be a good girl and just tell me now. Then we can spend the next few days enjoyably discussing ways to alleviate your problems.”
Arrogant men were one of her deep irritations. “I am not without skills of my own,” she bit out, clenching deliberately around him, pushing herself into orgasm.
He growled, his hands tightening brutally on hers, as she came around his cock. She threw her hips back to take him completely inside her, biting her lip to hold back her cries. It was a breathless, burning release, searing her senses, but it was only a tease, a brief respite, and as he swelled in response, she writhed in torment, needing more.
Hugh withdrew from her, then slid forward again, making her feel every thick, silken inch, stretching her deliciously, until she thought she would die of it.
“Naughty Charlotte,” he murmured. He stroked her again with expert awareness. “We can stay here for hours.” Again he withdrew, again he thrust. “Or we can retire to my bed, and you can lay on your back. I could suck your nipples then, sweet. Lick them, bite them, while I fuck you. Wouldn’t you like that?”
She ground her teeth together and shuddered all over as he pumped into her again. “Bastard.”
“No, I’m quite legitimate. And wealthy. I could help you, sweet.” Out. In. “Why seek treasure when you have me?” His fingertips stroked the straining length of her spine.
“I don’t have you.”
He stilled his movements. “You could.”
She lay prone upon the massive mahogany desk, spread and helpless, filled with Montrose’s wondrous cock, her heart racing so fast she could hear nothing over the rushing of blood in her ears.
What was he saying? What was he offering? And why, when she’d given him what he desired without a fight?
Hugh didn’t move, he simply waited, and she knew without him saying so that he wouldn’t continue until she replied one way or the other. She didn’t understand what he was offering, but whatever it was, she wanted it, she wanted him. Desperately.
She’d spent her entire life caring for herself because there was no one else to do it. She found it difficult to trust others, and she was a pragmatist at heart who believed in keeping her emotions far removed from her sexual liaisons. And yet she found herself wanting to believe a silver-tongued rogue. Knowing she shouldn’t, Charlotte nodded her head.
“Thank God,” he muttered, his mouth pressing feverish kisses against her skin, belying the control he’d exhibited only a moment ago.
Hands on her hips, Hugh pinned her down. Releasing his desire, he began to fuck her with greedy abandon. Hard and deep, his driving rhythm unfaltering, he brought her to orgasm and then continued to take her, plunging through the grasping depths of her body. He came, she was certain of it. She heard his deep groan, felt his seed pulse and then spill out, but he didn’t cease, didn’t grow softer.
He slid her knee forward, opening her further, so that nothing impeded his cock from her depths. His sac, tight and hard, slapped against her clit, making her beg. Hugh swore and cursed, and came again. Charlotte could only grasp the edge of the desk and allow the pleasure to take her, to fill her, to sweep away her reservations, until all she felt was Hugh La Coeur and a tentative dream that would never come to fruition.
Chapter Four
Hugh stared at the map and wished he’d paid more attention to the Earl of Merrick’s discussions of trade routes in the West Indies.
He snorted. In the last twenty-four hours, he’d wished he paid better attention to a lot of things. He’d always been a bit self-absorbed and rarely bothered with matters not directly pertaining to him or Julienne. Now suddenly he found himself concerned for a stranger. It was disconcerting, to say the least, and confusing.