Puck and Prejudice

by Lia Riley

“All I do is want you. I’m your husband, Lizzy. And I’m at your mercy. So don’t tell me what you can’t do. Tell me what you want, right now, because I’ll give it to you.” “Release.” Where did that half sob tear from? “Don’t let me think anymore.” He hiked her skirts to her waist, nudged her legs apart. “Open for me,” he ordered. And God help her, she did. Was he going to make her his wife in truth here against a willow on the edge of an out-of-the-way Gretna Green sheep paddock?

“Look at this goddamn perfect pink. Fuck, I can see your slick right there in the slit. You’re so wet. Is that all for me?” Their gazes locked. Despite the cold rain, she burned.

“What do you want?” Her question was a half whisper, half plea. “To taste you.” He nodded at her exposed center that he still held open. “Can I?” “D-do people really do such things? It’s not just in books?” “If they see a pussy like yours? They’d beg to. Do you want me to beg, Lizzy?”

“Do it. Please.”

“How are you feeling?” “I’ll live to annoy you another day.” “You don’t annoy me. Even if you do, I like it, which defeats the purpose.”

“Mr. Alby. Mother. Hen . . . ry.” Lizzy stepped in. “You might have fallen asleep at night with dreams of little old me marrying into a great family in Grosvenor Square. Except no one ever wanted me there, and I didn’t want them. But I want this man. I need him and he needs me. We are married and it’s legal and binding and the best choice is the simplest—accept it.”

Nice is when you’re coming from a place that is all about pleasing others, trying to be likable, doing the crowd-pleaser thing. It’s self-centered, all about you. Now, kind is a different story altogether. It’s about putting others first. Nice is trying to act in a certain way to get something.

Nothing scares the mediocre like watching

someone step into their power. But to me? It’s sexy as hell.”

“I love the way you taste,” he grated. “Tuck,” she whimpered. “That’s right, darlin’. Moan my name,” he breathed into her mouth. “And while I love these lips, there’s somewhere else I can’t stop thinking about kissing, how you tasted against that tree. I want my mouth there again.”

“Because I’m so extraordinary. How are you meant to help yourself?”

“Mamma, come. Be reasonable. A ball at the Crawfords’? That’s the lion’s den for the ton.” “Then you better be ready to roar, my darling little lioness.”

“Don’t hide.” His voice was hoarse. “Remember how I kissed you in Scotland, slid my tongue across that sweet pussy?”

For now, though, I want you to hold still, keep every ounce of that busy brain focused on me.” “Why?” Her eyes were glazed. “Because you’re mine, and you’re never forgetting that.” And he sucked. Hard.

“Will you be able to remember that my heart will always hold on tight, even during moments when I can’t physically do the same?”

want nothing more than to be yours as long as time allows. It’s you and I, together, now and for all eternity. Even if not always in body, surely in soul.” “Eternity, huh? Is that all?” He touched his lips to hers, a sweet, soft kiss, one of many more that would come tonight. “Doesn’t seem long enough, but I guess it’s as good a place to start as any.”

“Fate may bring people into our lives, but we’re the ones who choose who we refuse to part with.”