by Kate Monroe
Amelia sobbed out her pleasure, overcome by the force of all she felt. Her body jerked from head to toe as wave after wave of physical ecstasy crashed through her exhausted body, sending the fire that burned inside her hurtling through every last inch of her and bringing with it a heady rush far more extreme than anything she had ever felt before. The sight of the professor beneath her so clearly gripped by the same delirious bliss only intensified the euphoria that soared through her veins.
Overcome when her orgasm finally receded she collapsed onto him, deeply thrilled when instead of moving away the professor wrapped his arms around her fevered body and rolled onto his side to pull her close as they both fought for breath. He buried his head in her now loose and tousled hair and inhaled deeply, a pained groan escaping his lips when she sought out his hand with hers and allowed their fingers to entwine as she pulled back to gaze up at him in awe.
Amelia was convinced that she would be content to remain in that moment forever, but it seemed that he had other ideas. Just as she found herself drifting off to sleep, secure and content in his arms, an odd, closed expression settled upon his face. He bit his lip and finally moved away from her in order to sit up. With his head in his hands he shuddered afresh, but this time it was not because of the strength of his desire for her – that much was apparent in the way that his neatly-manicured nails were digging into the palms of his hands.
She sat up next to him on the bed and touched his arm to draw back his attention. “Something is clearly troubling you, professor. Please tell me what it is.”
Amelia could not resist the temptation to rest her head on his shoulder as she spoke. It was the guiltiest of pleasures, for the stark scientific experiment invited no such intimacy now that the task was complete. His face contorted, but to her thrilled surprise he then slipped an arm around her to hold her in place against him again as he gazed down at her. “There is something I cannot forget, yes. Very well, Amelia, I shall do you the courtesy after all we have shared of speaking my mind. I saw you and George conversing in the parlour earlier –“
“Lord Byron?”
“Indeed.” He nodded stiffly. “There seemed to be some manner of intimacy between the two of you, Amelia. May I be so bold as to ask whether you have a history with him?”
“Do you mean to enquire if I have shared his bed, professor? It is no business of yours if I have, surely,” she replied cautiously.
The professor grimaced, but he tenaciously refused to drop the subject. “The venerable Keats made whisper once that the lord uses you as a muse, Amelia. Is that so?”
Amelia had the grace to blush. “He tells me that it is so, professor, but I have no doubt that I am simply one among many. There is an affection and friendship between us, certainly – but no more.”
“No more?”
“No more,” she confirmed softly. “But sir, I find it strange that not only you have asked, but that you have noticed. I had thought that such trivial matters were beneath you – that the intrigues of society hold no interest for you.”
“Society in general? No. You, though, are another matter entirely. I am a man of science, Amelia. It is my very nature to study and observe – and, of late, the only subject I have found myself interested in is you.”
Her eyes widened in undisguised astonishment. “Me?”
“Yes, you, you intriguing and glorious little creature! You are truly one of a kind, Amelia; I was convinced of that even before you proved it to me in so spectacular a fashion tonight.”
Amazed by both his words and the uncharacteristic emotion in his voice, her lips parted as she studied his flushed face. No trace of a lie was written upon it, and she impulsively twisted her body to press her bare breasts up against his chest as he continued.
“You captivate everyone you encounter, Amelia. I knew that I was far from alone in my fascination with the beautiful and witty young widow who has charmed the ton – indeed, the attention that George paid to you tonight was the perfect illustration of that frustrating fact!”
A strange, giddying lightness was beginning to spread through her body. “George and his company delight me, professor, but I have long held a secret interest in the wonderful advances our society has made of late – embodied by you and your marvellous inventions. I have admired you from afar for so long, but I never had the courage to put voice to my thoughts until tonight.”
He tilted his head to the side as he studied her intently. “But you exclusively move in and are admired by the literary community, Amelia – I had no idea that you had such an interest in the sciences...in me.”
She threw all caution to the wind, emboldened by the undoubted jealousy in the way that he had quizzed her about Lord Byron. “Professor, you see, I too am captivated by you. The sciences have always intrigued me, but I have never wanted anything – anyone – as much as I want you.”
Amelia closed her eyes, deathly afraid of what his reaction would be to her heartfelt and impulsive confession. She did not know what had possessed her to be so brutally honest, but lying in the professor’s arms had consumed her with a need to have far more from him.
“Maxwell.”
His hoarse whisper made her warily open her eyes and stare up into his reddening face. “Professor?”
“My name is Maxwell, Amelia – my title is for those I work with, not the one woman I would choose to share my all with. If we are being honest, then will you allow me to confess something rather devilish to you?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Tell me...Maxwell.”
His soft, wondrous groan delighted her as he tightened his possessive hold on her. “Then I will tell you, Amelia, that I crafted this device with you and your pleasure in mind. I never dreamt that I would have the opportunity to display it to you, let alone what we have shared tonight; but you are the one who has consumed me. Indeed, each time that I worked on it, the imagining of you using it was always enough to have my cock painfully hard and fill my mind with desperately erotic and tortuous images of you. None of them, though, compared to the pleasure the reality has given me.”
“Truly?!”
Maxwell smiled. “Truly, Amelia. That does not offend you, then?”
“How could it possibly offend me to hear that you desire me as much as I do you, Maxwell?” She could barely even catch her breath under the weight of the dizzy thrills shooting through her exhausted body. “How...how long have you felt this way?”
“Since first we met, Amelia. And indeed, even now that I have had you, I find myself wanting you all the more. May I make one more confession?”
She nestled further into his arms. “Certainly.”
His eyes flickered furtively to the side. “Making love to you was never a planned part of the experiment, Amelia, merely a glorious stroke of inspiration that came upon me when you approached me in the gardens earlier. I have lusted after you for so very long that I could not possibly pass on the opportunity to have you, even if I had to resort to a shameful amount of subterfuge. If it makes you think badly of me, then I am remarkably sorry, but I could not have any dishonesty between us.”
“Think badly of you?!” Amelia tentatively laid her hand across his face to trace its contours as he shuddered. “Oh, Maxwell, I only wish you had told me of this before! I have wanted you for just as long, but I did not think that you even noticed me. I suffered my infatuation in silence in the belief that you would never be interested in me in that way.”
Without warning, he forced her back down onto the sheets and fisted his hands through her hair as she instinctively dug her heels into the small of his back to pull his cock down towards her. “Then Amelia, you were sorely mistaken. I have never wanted any woman as much as I want you – and I fear, now I have had you, I will be unable to relinquish the pleasure of having you in my arms.”
“Maxwell, I assure you that you will hear no protest from me if that is the case!”
A satisfied smile quirked back the corners of his thin lips. “Then in the spirit
of scientific investigation, Amelia, I think I ought to test your hypothesis.”
“Many, many times over, Maxwell, if you are to ensure an accurate conclusion. Do you not think?”
“Oh, I am entirely in agreement! In fact...” He broke off and lowered his head to deliver a line of fiery kisses down along the curve of her throat, not breaking away until his mouth reached the top of her breasts. “In fact, Amelia, I think we should put it to the test at least twice daily.”
The veiled promise sent sharp thrills of elation pulsing through Amelia’s body as she mutely pleaded with him to resume the attentions he had been paying to her. Maxwell laughed in delight as he obligingly drew each of her nipples in turn into his mouth, lathering his kisses upon them until he had driven her into such an agonised height of arousal that she could do nothing but whimper helplessly in a wordless entreaty for him to take her again.
As he slowly and torturously eased his cock into her, he lifted his head to stare directly into her eyes. “And when I say daily, my Amelia, I mean every day.”
She arched and wrapped her arms around his neck as he filled her completely. “Every day, Maxwell?” Amelia whispered, making no effort to conceal the tremulous joy in her voice.
“Every day for as long as we have left together, for now that I have you in my bed, Amelia, I intend never to relinquish you.”
And with that promise, he claimed her lips and her heart as one.
##
Kate Monroe’s full length steampunk romance, The Falcon’s Chase, will be released in July 2012 through Sirens Call Publications www.sirenscallpublications.com
