She glanced up at him with a wicked smile. “You know me too well.” She slipped the tips of her fingers inside his loosened trousers and drew them down his hips. She caught his underpants in her hands on the way and drew them both down to the top of his boots, freeing his manhood so it could spring properly upright, almost aching with the need to be touched.
Susanna crouched, the blue satin pooling around her and removed his boots one at a time, along with his pants and underwear, leaving him deliciously naked.
“My turn,” he told her, pulling her back onto her feet and drawing the lace away from her neck. It was a simple length of wide lace tied to cascade over the opening of the jacket. It also disguised that she was wearing nothing beneath the jacket.
Raymond’s breath caught. His manhood—his cock, as she had taught him to think of it—pulsed at the glimpse of her softly rounded breasts beneath the jacket. Susanna always surprised him in some way. Sometimes the surprise came from her inventiveness in bed. Sometimes, from her wicked anticipation of carnal delights, as she had done tonight.
Susanna loosened the many buttons on the jacket, so the front of it separated. Beneath was her creamy flesh and the skirt, fastened about her pleasingly small waist.
“Take it off,” Raymond told her, his voice hoarse.
She removed the jacket. Her high, small breasts gleamed. The tips were sharply erect. Susanna circled one of them with her fingertip, watching his face as she moved.
With her other hand, she reached for his shaft and gripped it.
Raymond groaned, as the hunger leapt in his belly. He pushed her hands aside, grasped her waist and pulled her over to the high end of the big bed. She kicked the blue satin skirt out of the way of her feet as she went. He moved around her so that he was standing behind her. “Hold the bed,” he told her.
She reached for the bars with her small hands and looked over her shoulder at him.
“Lower.”
She bent, her rear pushing out the satin in a rounded curve. Raymond ran his hands over it. The need to bury himself in her was pounding in his mind, taking over all other thought. He picked up the hem of the skirt and flipped it over her back, exposing her pale backside. She wore her black stockings, held up by high garters, boots and that was all. Everything else, all the layers a lady wore to maintain respectability, were back in the carriage that waited for her.
Raymond gripped her hips. She did not protest that he was moving too fast, which was as well. He didn’t know if he could stop, now. It was as if he had been hungry for years, the hunger building and building, until she had been put before him and he suddenly understood how he had been deprived. He trembled with it.
His cock found her opening and he thrust into her in a single, deep, hard jerk of his hips. It pulled a groan out of him and Susanna sighed. “Harder,” she told him. Her flesh around him squeezed, signalling her pleasure.
The same pleasure gripped him. It crawled from the pit of his belly, stirred in his testicles, made his cock swell even harder. He thrust again, the deep satisfaction at being inside her supplanted by rising excitement.
His thrusts were so strong, the bed shuddered with each stroke. Susanna just clung harder to the frame, her hips moving as she encouraged him.
His rhythm hastened. His climax was tearing its way up from the sub terrain where it slept, ready to spring roaring to life. He dug his fingers into her flesh as the power of it stole his breath and his hearing. He spilled into her, shuddering, then grew still.
His heart, though, thundered on. Every extremity tingled.
The hunger was still there. It moved restlessly in him, still not satisfied.
Raymond pulled out of her and stood her up again. He fumbled with the fastening on her skirt, until she smiled and undid the buttons and stays. The satin dropped around her boots and she stepped out of it.
Raymond scooped her off her feet and dropped her on the bed. She gave a breathless, small laugh as he reared over her, her pale thighs shifting restlessly, giving him a glimpse of pink flesh between.
He drew her hands up to the rails at the top of the bed. “Hold them again,” he told her. “Don’t let go.”
She spread her arms and held onto the brass. “Oooh,” she breathed, her eyes narrowing and growing hot. “Something drives you tonight and it’s not me.”
“Shh.” He picked up her knee and spread it, shoved the other out of the way with his knee and buried himself to the hilt inside her again. She was hot and slippery and rippled around him.
Raymond rode her hard and Susanna merely panted and coaxed him, bringing her knee over his hip and pressing him harder against him. It was a goad. He groaned and grabbed the bedrail himself, using it as leverage to drive himself even harder and deeper.
Perspiration built at his temples. His heart strained with the need to empty himself of the writhing, coiling emotions that had laid restlessly in his heart for too long now.
He came with a cry, straining so hard he could feel the pressure in his neck and shoulders and the small of his back.
He held his weight off her with one arm and hung his head, recovering his breath.
Susanna rested her hand against his cheek. “It’s fine,” she whispered. “Everything is good.”
Raymond pulled out of her and lay on his back next to her, breathing hard.
Susanna lifted herself on to one arm and studied him. She brushed the hair out of his eyes with a gentle movement. “That was a long time coming, wasn’t it?”
Raymond sighed. “Yes,” he admitted. Years, in fact.
Her smile was knowing. “There is more to go, isn’t there?”
He considered the state of his body. The roil of his thoughts and his heart. “Yes,” he admitted.
“Hmm…” She bent and pressed her mouth against his chest, then trailed lower, licking his flesh and stirring his need. By the time she reached his cock, he was completely erect again, eager for her touch.
Her lips closed around his shaft, hot and skilled and Raymond closed his eyes, letting the pleasure take him.
It was always better when he kept his eyes closed.
* * * * *
It was close to two in the morning when Susanna got to her feet and dressed once more in slow movements. She didn’t ask for his help. Without a corset and linens, she did not need a second person to tie or button or fasten where she could not reach.
When she was dressed once more, she sat on the long bench in front of the dressing table and worked on piling her hair upon her head once more. With the disguising lace and her hair pinned in place, she was a model of decorum.
Raymond was physically drained, but forced himself from the bed. The staff had unpacked his trunks and his dressing gown hung inside the wardrobe. He put it on, padded barefoot over to the velvet chair and picked up the frock coat and pulled his wallet out from the inner pocket.
He sat on the other end of the long bench and placed a sheaf of the big notes on the dresser in front of her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for this. It was most unexpected and most appreciated.”
She picked up the money and pushed it inside her jacket. “You’ve been my favourite customer for thirteen years, Raymond. Only the news that you have returned to Cornwall would draw me out of retirement.”
He smiled. “It is of little wonder you were such a successful business woman. Your empathy must have drawn men from across England, Susanna. I mean Annie. I do apologize.” He grimaced.
Annie cupped his jaw. “Susanna is fine, if you still want me to be her.” She shifted on the bench, so she was looking at him more directly. “I admit I wasn’t sure tonight that you’d want me. I thought, when you married, that your wife…” She hesitated.
“That she was Susanna?” Raymond asked. He shook his head. “Rose was the woman the relatives of my father—my real father—insisted I marry in order to supply an heir for the title. She had suitable antecedents.”
Annie considered him. “Then it was not a love match? I wonder
ed…” She bit her bottom lip again. “Then who is Susanna?” she asked.
Raymond’s chest tightened. “No one you know,” he lied.
Annie got to her feet and looked down at him. She patted his cheek with her little hand. “For thirteen years the woman has driven you into my arms. Whoever she is, she is also a blind fool.”
Raymond could feel the need to protest, to argue, rising up.
Annie touched his lips. “Shh…” she said. “I retract that. It is not my place to pass judgement.” She dropped her hand. “I’m so glad I could help, Raymond. If you wish, I would be happy to help again. You know how to let me know.”
Raymond stood, too. “That won’t be necessary,” he said, more roughly than he intended.
Annie picked up a fold of her skirt and looped it over her arm and looked at him with a wise expression. “Whatever you say, my lord. I’ll see myself out.”
* * * * *
Raymond was late to the breakfast table the next morning. There was no sausage left and only a few strips of bacon. He piled them on a plate, beside a big mound of scrabbled eggs and a huge stack of toast and sat at the table, while Corcoran poured tea for him, before drawing back to the spot by the door where he oversaw every meal and gave orders to the footmen in a soft voice.
There was no one else left at the long table. Raymond suspected he was the last to rise this morning. It suited him to be alone. He wolfed down his breakfast, his hunger ferocious.
He had nearly finished the meal and had begun to think he would be able to get clear of the dining room, when Lilly walked in, pushing her pince-nez back into place with one hand while tucking a stray light brown lock of hair behind her ear with the other.
She saw him and paused.
Raymond’s heart sank. Lilly had not been satisfied with his evasions last night. She would most certainly pick up the threads of the conversation again this morning, now they had the room to themselves.
She poured tea and brought the cup and saucer over to the chair next to Raymond and sat down. “You look tired,” she said softly.
“I could say the same about you,” Raymond observed. “It’s not like you to rise so late.”
Lilly rolled her eyes. “I have been up and broke my fast two hours ago. I have been organizing the children…” She shrugged. “The theatre is tonight. They needed a small amount of direction.”
“Of course.” He had forgotten about the theatre. The children would entertain the adults for the evening, with all manner of little acts and songs. The adults had always seemed to enjoy it. The servants, who were allowed to sit at the back of the drawing room to watch, certainly did enjoy it, although Raymond had often wondered if they enjoyed it so much because they were sitting down.
“Maze running this afternoon, then?” he asked.
“Of course.” Lilly smiled and sipped her tea.
Raymond pushed back on the chair. “Do you like being a governess, Lilly?”
She looked startled. “Why would you ask that? It is a respectable occupation and perfectly sensible for someone like me.”
“Someone like you? You used to stay up all night dancing at balls and giggling in corners with friends. I don’t think you’ve been to a ball in three years.” He touched the frame of the pince-nez. “You would have died of shame than be seen wearing these, back then.”
Lilly frowned down at the cup. “I’ve put all that behind me,” she said firmly. Then she leaned back to look behind Raymond. “Corcoran, would you mind terribly much giving us the room for a moment?”
“Of course not, Miss Williams.” Corcoran gathered up the two footmen and moved out of the dining room. He shut the doors discreetly behind him and Raymond suspected he was probably standing guard in front of them, too.
Raymond sat back, abruptly losing interest in his buttered toast. “I am not at all in the mood for inappropriate conversations, Lilly,” he warned her. “I might have indulged you when you were younger, but they no longer strike me as charming.”
“I might be younger than you, Raymond, yet I know you better than anyone in this house. You liked those conversations. You could speak your mind to me and know I would not judge you for it. I rather thought you were in need of such a conversation now. More than ever before, in fact.”
She had always seemed older than God to him. For a moment he had forgotten that. Despite the differences in their ages, Lilly was closer to being his contemporary and his friend than any of the other siblings and cousins.
Lilly tapped the edge of her saucer. “Who is it?” she asked. “I thought perhaps, it might be Sadie who you are waiting for. Waiting for her to grow up, despite how tall she is already. I even thought it might be me for a while.”
Raymond’s heart gave a little flutter. “For heaven’s sake, Lilly,” he said roughly. “I just buried my wife.”
Lilly nodded. “The wife you didn’t love, whom you married because that odious family of yours insisted you must. That’s what started me thinking, you see.”
Raymond stared at her, his throat closing up. She was speaking things that no eighteen year old should know or speak of, or even understand.
“You didn’t marry for such a long time,” Lilly went on. “Bachelors often don’t, I know, only you were the heir to your father’s title and that changes things for a man. The need to get an heir and all that. Yet you resisted for years and years. It made me wonder who it was you were waiting for.”
Raymond pushed his plate aside. He couldn’t even bother to pretend he was still interested in the stack of cold toast. “Lilly…if you care at all, leave this alone.”
Lilly turned on the chair, her sensible black mourning dress sweeping against his boots, to face him. “You can tell me,” she said urgently. “That’s what I wanted to say, only there was always someone listening until now. Whoever it is, for whatever reason you can’t have her…you can speak of it to me. I thought perhaps Rose would be able to move you past her, yet I could tell yesterday that she failed even at that. Now you need someone you can tell.” Her fine green eyes flared with sudden, hot emotion. “I know about keeping secrets,” she said softly. “They tear at you from the inside, if you keep them there.”
Raymond kept his hand fisted where it lay on the table. Lilly had neatly skewered the truth, though she could never be allowed to know how right she was. He shook his head. “You have my thanks, Lilly, but this…I cannot tell you. Especially you.”
Lilly swallowed, her throat working. Two high spots of colour appeared on her cheeks. She nodded stiffly. “Very well then,” she said stiffly. “I must return to my duties.” She got to her feet.
“Lilly…” She thought he was being condescending. Yet if he tried to correct that impression, he would be exposed. It reminded him of something. “Was it you who sent me the black roses?”
She kept her back to him. “I have no idea what you are referring to. Good day, my lord.” She left the room by the small door that was closest to the back stairs, that the children used to reach their upper floor.
Raymond stared after her helplessly.
How right she was! It did eat away at him. It was tearing strips from his soul.
* * * * *
Raymond made sure no one was using the library. He borrowed Natasha’s stationery and desk and paused with the nib hovering over the blank page.
Then, before he changed his mind, he wrote quickly.
Dearest Susanna:
It seems I am in need of your services at least one more time. Could you come tonight? There is something I must tell you.
Marblethorpe.
SOUL OF SIN
About Soul of Sin
Two broken hearts.
Lady Natasha Innesford, four years a widow, still cannot stir herself to live. Her life died with Seth.
Lord Raymond Marblethorpe, oldest son of Lady Elisa Farleigh, has loved the mysterious Susanna forever, but she can never be his.
Can they learn to let go of the past and love again?
/> Soul of Sin is the first book in the spin-off series following the historical romances of Scandalous Sirens. Scandalous Scions brings together the members of three great families, to love and play under the gaze of the Victorian era’s moralistic, straight-laced society.
Praise for Soul of Sin
I do not know how this woman does it! I absolutely loved this book.
What a wonderful story! The mystery that began in Rose of Ebony is solved in the romance of Natasha and Raymond. These are terrific characters. It's easy to believe that they could walk out of the pages and into your living room.
Thanks once again, Tracy Cooper-Posey for giving us another great story and for giving me back my love of historical romances.
I was waiting for the continuing story of Lord Raymond and when I read this book I knew the wait was worth it.
This was an awesome book and answered the question, "Who is Susanna?".
I love historical romances and this one filled all my likes, from a dashing, wonderful hero, a beautiful strong heroine, a love story to sigh over, side characters that are interesting, and funny, and move the story along, and in this one a mystery that is solved.
This story was so beautiful and I can't wait for the next in this wonderful new series.
When the mystery of Susanna is unexpectedly solved...it's a moment of crackling tension.
I don't often give books five stars, but I really enjoyed the mystery that puzzled all of the characters in this story.
Tracy Cooper-Posey did it again in my book. I fell in love with "Soul of Sin". After reading "Rose of Ebony" I couldn't stop asking who is Susanna that I couldn't wait for "Soul of Sin".
I never would have guessed who "Susanna" was!
The Great Families
Elisa and Vaughn Wardell
Marquess of Fairleigh, Viscount Rothmere
Scandalous Scions One Page 3
