Chapter 68

Eleanor arched her spine, lips seeking Nathaniel's in desperate entreaty.

The heir shifted his face away, leaving her trembling mouth hovering in empty air. Her frame froze momentarily before she ducked her head, tracing the angular contours of his throat with a fevered tongue.

Nathaniel's muscles coiled like springs beneath tailored fabric. Steel fingers gripped her chin, forcing her storm-cloud gaze upward. Damp tendrils of chestnut hair framed features flushed with unnatural heat - a drenched stray kitten pleading shelter from monsoon rains.

His aristocratic brow furrowed.

Undeterred, Eleanor's shaking hands fumbled at his leather belt. The sudden shrill of her mobile intervened, Julian Whitaker's name flashing like accusation across the darkened screen.

The electronic trill sliced through her chemical haze. She stiffened, fingers rising to dislodge Nathaniel's grip. But his palm cradled her skull with unexpected tenderness, crashing their mouths together in a collision of teeth and pent-up fury.

His kiss became both torment and salvation - icy springwater meeting forest fire. The insistent phone faded as partition glass ascended, sealing them in their humid cocoon. World dissolved into shared breath and thunderous pulse, her editor's warnings about "professional boundaries" evaporating like morning mist.

Yet the pharmaceutical flames raged higher. Eleanor guided Nathaniel's hand beneath silk blouse, craving the glacier cool of his signet ring against burning flesh. Two years of matrimony had schooled him in her body's secret language, yet tonight he played dissonant chords.

"Na-than-iel..." His name fractured into breathless syllables as tears carved paths through her rouge. The broken cadence echoed memories of stolen nights, when whispered confessions still held meaning.

The Amity heir remained marble-carved observer, pupils dilated yet demeanor detached - gallery patron studying erotic fresco. Only the telltale flush creeping past his collar betrayed humanity.

Her final gambit found purchase as she straddled power-woven thighs. "Please... beloved..." The forbidden endearment hung between them like shattered crystal.

Darkness ignited in Nathaniel's gaze. "Clarify your address," he demanded, silk tie unspooling as he anchored her hips. "Who claims your delirium?"

"Only you..." Her throat convulsed around the half-truth.

"Liar." The accusation melted into renewed onslaught, a conqueror breaching castle walls.

When Nathaniel finally surrendered restraint, Eleanor's cry mingled anguish and euphoria - parched wanderer stumbling upon poisoned oasis. Each touch both quenched and inflamed, ice transforming to steam in their combustible alchemy.

The limousine became tempest-tossed vessel, carrying them far from corporate dynasties and arranged obligations into primal seas where only skin whispers held meaning.