Seduced by Innocence by Lucy Gordon Read Free Book Online Page B

that went through her, then the slight stiffening as if she were rejecting what was happening. For a moment, he almost thought she would break away from him, and the thought almost drove him to madness. He wanted her, not Elena Calvani’s daughter but her, Teresa Wainright with her soft skin, candid eyes and air of innocent abstraction. He wanted her and he would have her.
    He tightened his hold, turning her in his arms so that he could look into her face. Her head was thrown back and her lips were slightly parted, but what struck him most was the startled look in her eyes, as though she couldn’t understand what was happening to her.
    “Teresa...” The word was torn from him. “Teresa...”
    He was kissing her before she knew what he was going to do, kissing her with a mad lack of restraint that made a mockery of his careful plans. There was no calculation now, only a burning desire to possess this woman, to discover the heart of her mystery and understand it, so that it ceased tormenting him. She was sweet and melting in his arms, yet with a hint of fire far back, fire that he knew would draw him on so that it could engulf and consume him.
    He’d known that her pale blond beauty, so seemingly English, was but a mask for her hot Italian blood. Now he rediscovered it with new force. That mask hid the truth of her, and the truth was what he was determined to have. He forgot that he, too, hid behind a mask of steel that he kept between himself and the world. The touch of her lips on his left him feeling defenseless, open to her and all the new experiences she promised. He kissed her more deeply, reveling in the discovery of a woman unlike all others.
    In the first shattering moments of his embrace, Terri tensed. The old instinctive withdrawal was still there, but it couldn’t survive under the onslaught of Maurizio’s passion. She’d been kissed before, but only by boys who’d politely retreated when they sensed her coolness. This was a man who would retreat before nothing, whose desire was fierce enough to melt her icy barriers. She put her arms about him, returning his kiss in a way she hadn’t realized she could. But she did know it because the knowledge was born into every woman for the man who could bring it to life.
    She was dizzy as his lips moved slowly over hers. The world seemed to shift underfoot so that she might have fallen but for his arms supporting her. She closed her eyes, wanting not to see him but simply to be totally aware of the magical new sensations that were coursing through her. It was like being reborn, but born with nerves that vibrated to his touch, giving every sensation a thrilling intensity. She let her head fall back against his shoulder, offering herself up completely to what was happening, astounded at her own reaction but glad of it with every fiber of her being.
    Maurizio heard her sigh and drew back to look at her. “What is it?” he murmured.
    “Nothing, just—kiss me again....”
    No power on earth could have made him resist that invitation. Before her words were fully out, he covered her mouth, driving his tongue inside to seek her more deeply.
    She was aware of him not merely through her lips but all over her body, as though the dress had melted, leaving her naked. Once, that thought would have embarrassed her, but now she knew that nakedness was the right, the inevitable thing with this man. This kiss was but the first step on the road to physical union, and already that was what she wanted.
    His tongue inside her mouth thrilled her. It was teasing her subtly yet purposefully, evoking sensations no man had aroused in her before. In a few seconds those sensations had spread to possess her entire body. She was hot and cold together, calm like someone who’d come home at last, yet trembling with eager discovery.
    She could feel his hands roving over her body, trying to find their way to her but defeated by the dress. She wondered wildly if he could tell that she was naked