Daniel sighed. Of course she wasn’t talking about the deed he would prefer. She was talking about leg shackling him. He really needed to clear up this confusion about his presence meaning he intended to marry her. And then he had to get out of the house, find Richard, collect George and—The thought of George made him glance toward the window he’d tossed the man out of and Daniel’s eyebrows shot up as he spotted movement on the ground below. Leaning closer to the open window, he squinted into the darkness, just able to make out Richard down below, rolling George back up in his blanket.

“What’s that?”

Suzette was suddenly beside rather than behind him and he straightened at once and caught her arm to urge her away from the window, but she tugged at her arm and peered over her shoulder, craning her head to try to see.

“I thought I saw someone down there doing something, Daniel. I—” Her words died abruptly when he did the only thing he could think to do, and pulled her into his arms to kiss her.

It was a desperate attempt to distract her, and it worked. For both of them. At first he was in control, his mouth slanting over hers, his arms holding her firmly in place, his tongue sliding out to enter her mouth and sweep thoughts of what she’d glimpsed from her mind. But when Suzette released a little mewl of pleasure into his mouth and shifted her hips, her body pressing closer and rubbing against his groin, Daniel lost the thread of his plan. In the next moment, instead of a cool controlled kiss, it was a wild demanding one and his hands were moving, searching out the secret delights he was suddenly so eager to touch.

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Suzette gasped as Daniel cupped her behind through her gown and urged her tighter still against his growing hardness. But it was the hand that suddenly slid between them to cup her breast through the damp cloth covering it that made her moan and shudder with delight. His touch and the way he was kneading the tender flesh was sending shock waves of pleasure through her that surpassed anything she’d previously experienced. When he caught her growing nipple through the cloth and pinched lightly, she cried out into his mouth and then tore her lips from his, suddenly afraid that in her excitement she might bite his tongue.

Daniel’s mouth immediately slid across her cheek to find her ear. He nibbled there briefly, and then his mouth moved downward, following the line of her throat. The entire time his hand continued to play at her breast, kneading, squeezing, pinching and stirring up such a riot of pleasure in her that she didn’t think she could bear it. Suzette honest to goodness feared she was going to swoon from it all. Certainly, she was suddenly finding it hard to breathe, her chest rising and falling in rapid pants, but seeming to take in little air.