Now, his kiss made her weak-kneed and delirious. She relished the glide of his hands down her back, following the curve of her waist and hips. As he shaped his palms around her derriere and lifted her to him, she moaned, aware of the shocking urge to writhe against him in an effort to assuage the burning demands of the flesh.

Brushing kisses over her face, he left a trail of heat. “Natalie … I’ve had the very devil of a time keeping my hands off you.”

“Mm. A pity, for you do have the most skillful hands.”

His deep chuckle tickled her skin. “That’s quite the praise, darling, when you’ve had only the merest sampling of pleasure.”

Darling. Was she truly his darling? She wanted to believe so, if only to ensure that she meant more to Hadrian than just a passing fancy. He had a deft charm that must have been honed by abundant experience …

All lucid thought abruptly vanished as a wave of giddiness made her unsteady. Feeling on the brink of swooning, Natalie instinctively locked her arms around his lean waist for support. In the next instant, she realized that the unbalanced sensation was no illusion. She was indeed in motion, tumbling backward, her spine meeting the silken cushion of bedcovers and goose-feather mattress.

As Hadrian settled over her, she absorbed the heavy weight of him even as her feverish senses recorded the novel details of lying beneath a man. His masculine scent of leather and spice. The burning intensity in his hooded eyes. The swift beating of his heart that matched the frantic fluttering of her own. More than anything, she quivered from a keen awareness of his loins nestled into the cradle of her hips. Her experience might be sorely lacking, but she recognized the rigid length pressing against her.

On some hazy level, Natalie knew she ought to be alarmed, that she ought to push him away and banish him from the bedchamber at once. Yet fascination lured her deeper into a realm of passionate desire. He was just too sinfully tempting to relinquish after only one kiss.

Their mouths joined again for long, leisurely minutes that left her exhilarated and breathless. Rife with infatuation, she let her hands rove over the hardness of muscle in his back and shoulders, then upward to discover the dense silk of his hair. He ended the kiss to nuzzle her throat, his faintly whiskered cheek deliciously abrading her tender skin. She tilted her head back, the better to enjoy his ministrations. At the same time, he stroked her silk-clad bosom to spectacular effect, fanning a fire that spiraled downward and into her core.

It was then that she realized his hand had descended to cup her mound, rubbing in a way that felt darkly delightful. Her hips moved instinctively even as the breath lodged in her throat.

He feathered a kiss across her lips. “We needn’t complete the act in order for you to enjoy my touch. Will you trust me to show you?”