Excerpt: In the Moonlight

His tongue found hers and began to dance. Desperate, he kissed her more earnestly than in retrospect he would have liked this first time, almost as if he would devour her.

His face pressed against hers and his nostrils flared. His deep, heavy breaths were audible to both their ears.

Elizabeth felt one of Robert's hands slide down her back to cup and squeeze her buttocks, while the other hand too slid downward to her thigh, rough fingertips catching the fabric of her nightgown and beginning to slowly inch the hem upwards.

The woman's shawl fell away.

Caught off guard by his fervor, a sudden sound of longing passion mixed with surprise slipped from her lips, muffled by his kiss. She felt, rather than knew, this kiss was more genuine than the one he had shared with Miss Brookshire...but no less chaotic. Maybe even more so.

Tightening her fingers at his waist, she balled the exquisite fabric of the dressing gown in her fist, twisting it. His fevered hands set her body to trembling, pressing closer to him, if that was possible. She knew, now, what he had been holding back that night.