Trinidad West

by Cecily’s Secret

  Perry felt a little less like an imbecile. “The love letter wasn’t a love letter.” Then he began to feel like a fool. “Are you part of this, Cecily?”

  She spun around to face him.

  “No! At least I don’t think so. I don’t even understand what’s going on that you think I might be part of. The prince asked me to deliver a letter to the head cook. That’s who the other man was, by the way. The prince said it was an offer of employment from a friend of his.”

  She paused and Perry could see her thinking as her mind ran over some memory.

  “No, he didn’t tell me that at all. People are always trying to steal Aunt Bea’s cook away from her, so that’s what I assumed the letter was about. He just let me believe that. What is going on here, Mr. Munk?”

  “Perry,” he corrected her. “I think once a fellow has seen and touched—well, it seems a bit silly for you to be calling me Mr. Munk, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right. What’s going on, Perry?”

  “You must promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

  “I’m very good at keeping secrets.”

  “Even the life-and-death kind?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had to,” she said with a little less confidence. “But you can trust me. I promise not to tell.”

  Perry stepped closer and whispered, “I’m not an ordinary house guest.”

  “I’ll say,” Cecily agreed.

  Perry tried not to smile. Cecily didn’t seem to realize what serious business was at hand.

  “I mean to say, I’m here under false pretenses. I was sent by the government to discover a spy.”

  “How thrilling! That means you’re a spy too.”

  “No,” Perry said, more loudly than he meant to. “At least not professionally. I’m just doing it this once.”

  “That still makes you a spy, even if only temporarily,” Cecily insisted. “And it’s still thrilling.”

  She stepped so close to him that Perry thought she was going to kiss him, but instead she whispered, “So is the Prince of Persepoli the spy you were sent to expose?”

  “No, the cook is the spy. The prince is his contact, come to collect information from him under cover of the party.”

  Perry’s lips almost made contact with Cecily’s ear as he spoke. She leaned closer to him and her skirt brushed against his hand. Would an hour really make all that much difference if the prince wasn’t leaving right away?

  Cecily turned abruptly away and began to pace between the fireplace and the window.

  “I feel so stupid. I can’t believe I let him use me that way. I wish I’d known when I still had the letter.” She turned slowly toward Perry and smiled. “Maybe we can get it back for evidence.”

  “Oh I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He’d done enough sneaking to last a lifetime. He didn’t see how real spies did it day in and day out. “Besides, I’m sure the cook destroyed it as soon as he read it.”

  “But what if he didn’t? What if he kept it to use against the prince if things go badly for him? What if he plans to blackmail the prince?”

  She had moved in close again and Perry was finding it difficult to think clearly.

  “We should try to find it,” she went on. “The cook will probably still be busy in the kitchen getting things ready for tomorrow. All the servants will be busy until everybody’s gone to bed.”

  Perry looked straight over Cecily’s head to avoid the sight off her pleading eyes and her pleading lips and all the rest of her.

  “Too dangerous,” he managed to say, but Cecily was already heading out of the room.

  “You’ll never find the cook’s rooms on your own,” she said over her shoulder.

  She’s right about that much, at least, Perry admitted to himself as he followed her to the newer portion of the house. He also would never have thought to attempt it on his own. He would have gone to his host and sent a letter to his father’s friend and turned the matter over to people with more experience. People who knew what they were doing. Unlike himself.

  There had to be some way short of physical force to stop her, he thought as she led him down the servants’ stairway. He could refuse to go with her but then she’d continue on her own and he couldn’t allow that. He could threaten to tell her father she was behaving foolishly and dangerously but then she might never speak to him again.

  “This is it,” she said when they came to a nondescript corridor in which Perry could hear the commotion and smell the fragrances coming from the kitchen.

  Cecily knocked on a door and waited. After a moment she opened the door and beckoned him to follow.

  Perry closed the door behind them and looked around the sparsely furnished room. There weren’t a lot of places here to hide a letter but all you needed was one good place.

  “I slipped the letter under the door,” Cecily said.

  Perry stepped past her and looked into the bedroom to make sure nobody was hiding around the corner. Cecily was already lifting the edges of the rug to look underneath.

  “Don’t move anything,” Perry said. “Even if there’s nothing to find, we don’t want him to know we’ve been here.”

  Cecily picked up a book and began to riffle through the pages.

  “I hope you made note of exactly where that was,” Perry hissed.

  “You worry too much.”

  A door slammed somewhere along the corridor and hurried footsteps echoed off the bare walls. Suddenly Cecily looked worried too.

  The footsteps stopped just outside the door and Perry did the first thing he could think of. It didn’t hurt that it was what he’d been wanting to do since he’d started following Cecily on this fool’s errand.

  Chapter Fourteen

  A dozen excuses raced through Cecily’s mind, each less convincing than the last. She was about to resort to claiming that they were looking for the ubiquitous lost kitten when Perry grabbed her arms and pushed her hard against a low chest of drawers. He tugged her gown down off her shoulder and planted a hand firmly on her bottom.

  “Don’t let him see your face,” he whispered as he bent his head to run his tongue along her collarbone.

  Cecily turned her face away from the door and tried to think but it was impossible with Perry’s mouth hot on her skin and his hand squeezing her and pulling her up tight against him. He might as well have been wringing the ability to think rationally out of her head.

  The door opened and Cecily held her breath while the silence drew out.

  Then Perry turned his head lazily toward the intruder and drawled, “Sorry to trespass but I had a devil of a time finding a bit of privacy.”

  He went back to kissing Cecily’s neck, the very picture of arrogant certainty that everyone he encountered would go out of their way to accommodate him.

  Cecily closed her eyes. What would they do if the cook didn’t leave? Would she be able to salvage her reputation if he insisted that they leave his room?

  Perry’s hand moved to her leg. He began walking his fingers in place, pulling the light fabric of her dress up her leg. Cecily wondered how far he intended to go to convince the cook. She felt air against her ankle and halfway up to her knee.

  The cook made a disgusted sound, followed by a string of muttered curses that were cut off by the door slamming behind him. Cecily imagined him grumbling all the way back to the kitchen.

  “That was close,” she whispered.

  “Close,” Perry repeated.

  His hand had found its way under her skirt and her chemise and he was stroking her bare leg.

  “Do you think he might come back?” Cecily asked, wondering if Perry was keeping up the pretense in case the cook tried to trick them by making a sudden return.

  She couldn’t say she was unhappy about the direction things were taking but lingering in a spy’s rooms hardly seemed wise.

  “Don’t care,” Perry said as his mouth found hers.

  He leaned against her a
nd she realized this was no pretense. The erection she felt pressing against her wasn’t conjured up to fool the cook.

  “Cecily.”

  “Yes?”

  “No, not yes. You should tell me to stop.”

  Cecily didn’t get the impression that he wanted to stop. He’d pushed her skirt up nearly to her hips and was squeezing the backs of her legs, putting her off balance so that she had to lean back against the dresser and hold on to Perry to keep from toppling over.

  She tried to remember if she had just been about to say something. Had Perry asked her a question?

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” Perry said as he moved one hand to her breast.

  “You started it.”

  “Shouldn’t have.”

  Cecily took a deep breath and braced her hands against Perry’s shoulders. She pushed him away just enough to see his face.

  “Pericles Munk, look at me,” she said firmly.

  He obeyed but his eyes were so unfocussed, she wasn’t sure he was really seeing her.

  “I’ve been thinking about this for years. Every day. For years. All the time. Do you understand? If you try to stop now, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

  “You’re threatening me?”

  “Yes, I suppose I am.”

  “You intend to have your way with me and there’s nothing I can do to stop you?”

  “Not a thing.”

  Perry grinned. “Then I don’t have any choice, do I?”

  “None at all,” Cecily said, struggling to keep her face serious. “If you value your life, you’ll, well, you’ll continue with what you were doing.”

  “You mean this?” He pressed his hand against her breast.

  “Oh yes, that.”

  “And this?”

  His other hand moved between her legs and she felt a finger slide over her moist skin and press up into her. The finger slipped out and then was joined by another. She had seen this in Great-Aunt Alice’s books. Sometimes, when she was feeling especially restless, she had tried it on herself but it had never been entirely satisfying—never anything like this. Nothing she had done to herself had made her feel like this, like she was a creature doing exactly what it was meant to be doing.

  Perry pulled his hand away. Cecily felt him doing something between them but she was beyond thinking a step ahead. All she knew was that he had stopped touching her and she was terrified that he had thought better of what they were doing, that he was going to walk away and leave her alone and unsatisfied.

  “Don’t leave yet,” she blurted out.

  “Leave? I’m hardly going to leave with my pants undone, am I?”

  Cecily looked down. There was no chance now of pretending to be the woman of the world she imagined herself in her fantasies. The sight of Perry’s erect cock dumbfounded her. She could not even begin to imagine what an experienced woman would say now. The books didn’t make any mention of what to say.

  “I thought you might like to try something more than fingers,” Perry said.

  His voice was husky and breathless and the sound of it made something deep inside Cecily quiver. She nodded mutely. Cecily could feel his eyes on her but didn’t look up. She couldn’t look away from his cock—and his hands, which were pulling her skirt up one slow handful at a time. In a few seconds there would be nothing between their two bodies, nothing to keep them from making contact.

  Perry bundled the fabric behind Cecily and pushed her back so that she was perched on the edge of the dresser. He pushed her knees apart. Cecily didn’t need much encouragement. She was ready to open herself up to him, desperate for him to touch her again.

  “I wish we didn’t have to do it like this,” Perry said, putting his hand on her face and leaning in to kiss her.

  “What’s wrong with this? Oh!”

  She felt his cock nudge between her legs, like a little greeting.

  “I wish we had all day,” he said. “I wish I could spend hours making love to you.”

  Another little nudge, just barely entering her and then retreating.

  “Next time. Ohh!”

  A bit more than a nudge. Perry’s cock pushed a little farther into her and stayed. He moved inside her, just a gentle back and forth motion. It almost made her heart stop.

  “Lots of next times,” Perry said.

  Cecily nodded. “Ohhhh!”

  He completely filled her. She gasped for air but her stays prevented her from taking a deep breath. She relaxed and let herself float on the pleasure that consumed her as Perry moved gently inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist. She’d always thought that had looked strange in the books but it made sense now.

  She felt like she could have gone on like that forever, with Perry’s cock filling her and moving languidly inside her. A little bubble of pleasure had formed deep inside her and she thought maybe they really could go on like this all day.

  “Unlock your legs so I can touch you.”

  Perry’s voice was so taut and breathless, Cecily wasn’t sure she heard him right.

  “I think you are touching me.”

  “With my hand.”

  Cecily had seen that in the books too but she never gave it much more than a glance after the first time she came across it and gave it a thorough study. She thought it looked awkward and uncomfortable. It hardly seemed likely that it was something people really did. Still, she was willing to give it a try. At that moment she knew that if Perry suggested it, she’d be willing to try just about anything.

  Then he touched her and she knew she’d be not just willing but eager do absolutely anything he suggested. She would get down on her hands and knees and let him take her from behind, if only he would touch her like this while he did it. His fingers stroked her on the outside and his cock stroked her on the inside. The slow rhythm Perry had set before was no longer enough. Cecily felt herself writhing and wriggling, trying to press herself more firmly against his hand.

  He stroked her faster, matching the movements of his hips to those of his hand. Each thrust seemed to drive deeper inside her. His fingers lost their rhythm but that didn’t matter, as long as they were still moving, still pressing against her. Cecily provided the rhythm with little movements of her hips. She knew she was close to climax. The sensation of being just about to brim over was familiar to her but it had never felt quite like this. She had never felt so full before, never lingered so close for so long.

  “Ohhhhh!”

  One word, but it drew out into half a dozen syllables. Cecily had just enough sense left to muffle her cry against Perry’s shoulder. Her arms were around his neck, holding on tightly as he pounded into her.

  His hands moved to grip the backs of her legs and he lifted her almost off the dresser. His fingers dug into her. It hurt but she liked it. Somehow it accentuated the pleasure, made her whole body more aware of everything it was experiencing. In the aftermath of her orgasm, with Perry still filling her, still possessing her, Cecily felt everything with unimaginable intensity. No wonder Great-Aunt Alice’s books only showed how to do it and didn’t try to explain what it felt like.

  Perry let out a moan to match her own. He held her so tightly that Cecily could hardly breathe but it didn’t matter. Breathing seemed the least important thing right now. What mattered were the little kisses Perry was raining down on her face and the way his whole body kept shuddering every few seconds.

  “We have to get you back up to your room before anybody misses you,” he said with a sigh.

  “Don’t care.”

  Cecily nestled contentedly against Perry and he shuddered again. Did she do that?

  “You’ll care if somebody sees you looking tousled and flushed and completely delicious.”

  Perry seemed to lose the thread of his thought when Cecily licked the corner of his mouth. He took a deep breath and disengaged himself from her.

  “You’ll care if people start whispering about you,” he said as he fastened his pants.

  Cecily knew he was
right but she didn’t want him to be. She felt like she’d just discovered paradise and now Perry was opening the gate to let in all the fussing and worrying from the rest of the world.

  She lowered herself shakily from the dresser and shook out her skirt. It was so rumpled, that anybody who saw her would know what she had been doing. And then her parents would know. Perry was right. She had to sneak back to her room before anybody started looking for her.

  She didn’t know what to say to Perry. She didn’t know how to act around him now. How did things stand between them? They hadn’t spoken words of love but Cecily felt certain that more than just physical desire had been involved. What would a woman of the world do?

  She turned and gave him what was supposed to be a dazzling smile but she suspected it probably looked nervous and uncertain.

  “Until next time?” she said, pleased that her voice didn’t crack.

  “Next time.”

  The words were so full of promise that they made Cecily’s body tingle. She turned toward the door to hide her smile. There was going to be a next time.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Lady Weldon will be crushed,” Lord Weldon mused after Perry had given his report. “She was so pleased when that underhanded man came to work for us. It’ll be a blow, that’s for certain.”

  “Perhaps you could soften the blow, sir. Tell her merely that he took advantage of the opportunity to spy once he was in your employ, not that he took the job only so he could spy on you.”

  “You’re a born diplomat, lad. Ever consider that line of work? I could pull a few strings for you.”

  “No, thank you, sir. I just want to raise sheep.”

  Lord Weldon frowned. Clearly, he didn’t approve of sheep.

  “Of course, we don’t dare trust this news to a letter,” he said with a pointed look at Perry.

  “A messenger?” Perry didn’t like the sudden turn in the conversation. He knew he would have to report to his employer eventually but he had been counting on Lord Weldon taking care of the more immediate communications. He needed at least another day or two to settle things with Cecily. It might take the whole day to get five minutes of privacy with her. He couldn’t expect a repeat of today’s happy confluence of events.