Twice the Temptation by Beverley Kendall Read Free Book Online Page B

closed as if drugged, an invitation he accepted by crushing her mouth beneath his and cupping her bottom to press her indecently close. Catherine tipped her hips, adding a pressure of her own that caused the throb of pleasure in his cock to sharpen to something urgent and hot. 
     His tongue surged between her lips to tangle with hers. He couldn’t savor her as he wanted, for the long months of celibacy had taken its toll. Too long denied, he ravaged the sweetness of her mouth. But she wasn’t put off by his demand for she met him thrust for delicious thrust. Mouths locked and her hands anchored about his neck, he began leading her toward the nearest piece of furniture—a large mahogany desk—when a knock sounded on the door. 
    “Katie, Lucas, is everything all right?” 
    Lucas let out a string of invectives that would have gotten him tossed from church by his ear if he dared speak them aloud. Lifting his mouth a bare inch from hers, he said hoarsely, “Perhaps she will go away if we don’t respond.” His friendship with Charlotte preceded his introduction to Catherine by five years, but she strained those bonds right now. 
    “I hardly think that likely,” Catherine replied, her tone filled with amusement and regret. 
    The brush of her lips against the side of his jaw when she spoke suspended all coherent thought. He took her lips in another drugging kiss. He palmed her breasts over the snug-fitting silk of her gown. Firm, soft, glorious but the fabric between his hands and her flesh was an unwanted barrier. When he moved to slip his hand under the square embroidered neckline, the knock sounded again, followed by a more urgent, “Katie. Catherine. Open the door.” 
    Catherine was the first to draw away, her hand trembling as she attempted to smooth the dishevelment of her hair. “One moment,” she called out, staring at him with wide eyes. Her gaze drifted downward until it met the erection he couldn’t hide. 
    “Oh dear,” she said, touching the tip of her tongue to her upper lip. He was certain she wasn’t being deliberately provocative. Still, he grew harder. 
    “You must do something about that before I can permit her to come in.” 
    His throat rebelled and the intended laugh came out a groan. “If you want the thing to subside, then you do something about it.” 
    She blushed a crimson red but her eyes hadn’t strayed from the bulge pressing against the front of his trousers. 
    Lucas stifled another groan. “Must I remind you that before today, you are the last woman I’ve so much as kissed in over a year? So unless you want me to take you on the sofa or bend you over your brother-in-law’s desk, I suggest you direct your attention elsewhere.” 
    Catherine gave a guilty start before turning away and heading toward the door. “Then for heaven’s sake, sit down—hide it.” 
    He damn well knew where he wanted to hide it, as did she. Turning, he made it to the armchair closest to the desk just as Catherine opened the door. 
     
    S ome believed that a strange telepathy existed between twins. Some twins ended sentences for each other and some experienced their twin’s pain. She and Charlotte were not that way.
    But then, one didn’t have to have telepathy to know what had been going on behind the closed library door, Catherine surmised as she took in the expression on her sister’s face. 
    Charlotte knew. The knowledge was there in her eyes as she appraised her from head to toe in one glance and then peered over her shoulder to spy Lucas lounging in the winged-back chair. He hadn’t risen when she’d entered the room. Her sister would take note of this breach in protocol. But it couldn’t be helped in this instance.
    “What on earth took you so long to unlock the door? And why was it locked in any case?”
    If her sister saw fit to test her comic abilities, it would behoove Catherine to play along with the farce. “It was locked? I had no idea.” Unfortunately, she