He sighed inwardly. For one thing, this meant she probably had no idea why he was an ineligible marriage partner. Her mother seemingly hadn’t got around to explaining it to her yet. But he didn’t want to think about that particular problem.

“Charlotte,” he said, his voice velvety smooth and deep. “Come here.”

She looked at him and did nothing.

“Charlotte.”

She walked over and stood just before him. Deliberately he reached out and put his hands against her cheeks. Then he slowly allowed them to slide down her body, over the swelling mounds of her breasts, down to her slim waist, right down to her thighs … as far as he could go without stooping. She shivered and he saw her tongue nervously touch her lips, but she didn’t move.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, finally.

“Because it was fair,” he answered obscurely. “Now”—he took her hands in his and placed them on his cheeks—”you do the same.”

Charlotte stared at him, her green eyes large. She won’t do it, he thought. She’s a gently bred lady, for God’s sake. She’s probably about to run back to the house screaming. But there was something scornful about his look that steeled Charlotte’s backbone. Just as deliberately as he had, she drew her hands down over his cheeks. They were prickly with a growing beard, his face shadowed by small hairs. Her fingers drew slowly over the tiny hairs’ sharp edges; she wondered what they would feel like against her lips. Watching her, Alex felt himself growing even harder, if that was possible. This was a great idea, he thought, remaining absolutely still.

Charlotte’s fingers trailed down, down the strong brown column of his neck, down over muscled shoulders and chest. Then she pulled her hands away.

“Oh, no,” Alex said in a curiously deep voice, recapturing her hands and returning them to his chest. “You have to keep going.”

Charlotte blushed. He kept his hands on her wrists, flattening her hands against him, and slowly, slowly drew them down his body. Charlotte felt herself flushing scarlet. Her heart was racing. When he reached his crotch, he stopped. Charlotte gasped. Under her right hand was a huge, swollen … It pulsed slightly against the palm of her hand. Alex looked down at her, his eyes an enigmatic black in the moonlight. She pulled her hands away from his, turning away. As she was about to run back to the house Alex grabbed her shoulders from the back, pulling her against his chest.

His lips were warm on the back of her neck. “You see,” he said so softly that his breath hardly lifted the tendrils of hair on her neck. “You are driving me around the bend.” He punctuated each word with a kiss. “I don’t remember ever feeling this … mad.”