The Tycoon's Marriage Deal

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  But when he walked over to the window and looked at the view, he was thrown back in time to that last day when he’d stood in this exact spot, his heart a bruising weight in his chest. From this window he could see the old elm tree with its limbs spread like the wings of a broody hen sheltering her chicks. He had carved his name where no one could see on that ancient elm tree that had watched over so many generations of McClellands.

  His name written there was a secret promise to his ancestors that one day he would be back to claim the only true home he had ever known.

  * * *

  Tillie came up the stairs a while later to tell Blake dinner would be in ten minutes. She couldn’t find him at first. He wasn’t in the room she’d prepared for him, although his bags were. She walked further down the corridor and came to a smaller bedroom where she found him standing in front of the window with his hands in his trouser pockets, staring at the view of the lush green rolling fields and acres of woodland beyond.

  He must have sensed her watching him for he turned and gave her a vague-looking smile as if he was lost in his thoughts. ‘Sorry, did you say something?’

  Tillie came further into the room, stopping when she got to just in front of him. It was hard to read his expression but she sensed he was struggling to keep his emotions locked away. ‘Was this your bedroom when you were a boy?’

  His eyes moved away from hers to gaze out of the window again. ‘See that old elm tree in the distance?’ He pointed to a gnarled tree Tillie had sat under many times playing with Truffles. She’d always thought it a magical sort of place, the kind of tree she had read about as a child in her favourite Enid Blyton books.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, acutely aware of the way his shirtsleeve brushed the bare skin of her arm as he pointed.

  He dropped his hand, his gaze still on the elm. ‘I broke my arm when I fell out of that tree when I was nine years old. I got the plaster taken off just before my tenth birthday.’ He paused for a nanosecond. ‘If only I had known that was the last birthday I would ever spend here with my mother.’

  Tillie slipped her arm through his to offer what comfort she could. ‘I’m sure your mother would be very proud of the man you’ve become, especially as you’re doing all you can to help your dad.’

  He made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a grunt. ‘It would’ve broken her heart to know we had to leave this place.’

  ‘It’s an easy place to fall in love with.’

  He turned and gave her one of his half-smiles. ‘Where did you grow up?’

  ‘Not in a place as nice as this,’ Tillie said, slipping her arm out of his. ‘We only ever lived in vicarages attached to parishes so I never knew any place as home in that sense. The longest we lived any place was right here in this village but that was only for four years before dad was transferred to another parish in Newcastle. That’s why I stayed with Simon’s parents because I didn’t want to interrupt my final year of school. I secretly hoped my dad and stepmother would change their mind about going but they didn’t seem too worried about leaving me behind. They aren’t really interested in First World problems. They live by faith.’

  His grey-blue eyes held hers. ‘Did your father have to accept the transfer or could he have asked for an extension?’

  Tillie had always struggled with her father’s decision to move but, being an obedient daughter, had never said anything. It felt a little strange to be confessing what she felt about that time to someone as worldly as Blake. ‘He would never have questioned the decision because he believed it was a calling. I had to accept it but I can’t say it was easy.’

  ‘Do you live by faith too?’

  Tillie’s look was sheepish. ‘Please don’t tell my father and stepmother but I’m not very good at it. I like to know there is plenty of money in the bank and that all the bills will be paid on time.’

  ‘Seems fair enough to me.’

  There was a little pause.

  ‘What about you?’ Tillie asked. ‘Do you believe in a higher power who is watching over you all the time?’

  His eyes suddenly darkened and one of his hands went to her face and trailed a nerve-tingling pathway down the slope of her cheek. ‘If there is, then what I’m about to do is going to send me straight to hell.’

  Tillie disguised a gulping swallow. ‘Wh-what are you going to do?’

  ‘Guess,’ he said and brought his mouth down to hers.

  CHAPTER SIX

  BLAKE’S LIPS WERE strong, determined—hard, almost. As if he resented the attraction he felt for her and was fighting it to the last. Tillie didn’t want him to fight it, she wanted him to embrace it the way she was embracing the fiery attraction she felt for him. The heat in his mouth spread to hers like combustible fuel, sending tingling sparks of feeling from the nerves of her lips that travelled through her body like flicking, licking flames. His tongue found hers in a single thrust, curling, duelling, teasing it into intimate play.

  She pressed her body into his tall, hard frame, opening her mouth to his exploration, her tongue becoming bolder with every heart-stopping second. He tasted of mint and coffee and desperation, his lips moving on hers with exquisite expertise until her senses were singing like a symphony choir. How could a kiss stir her into such raptures of feeling? The sensations travelled in a hot rush from her mouth to her core as if his kiss had programmed a secret pathway through her body.

  His hands went to her hips, holding her against the surge of his male flesh, leaving her in no doubt the desire she was experiencing was in no way one-sided. His body was as turned on as hers.

  He lifted his mouth off hers to blaze a trail of kisses down the side of her neck. ‘You have to tell me to stop.’ There was almost a pleading note to his tone but there was no way she was going to do any such thing.

  Tillie traced the dip in his chin below his mouth where his stubble was rich and dense and arrantly male. ‘What if I don’t want you to stop?’

  His hands tightened on her hips, his eyes pools of smouldering smoky grey. ‘You’re not making this easy for me.’

  She lifted up on tiptoe to press her mouth to his in a series of feather-light touchdowns. ‘I want you to make love to me.’

  His mouth responded by kissing her with the same hot pressure, making every nerve in her lips tingle. ‘I’ve wanted you since the first day you served me in the shop.’

  Tillie pressed another kiss to his mouth. ‘Why? Because of my chocolate éclairs?’

  He smiled against her mouth. ‘That and other things.’

  She eased back to look up at him. ‘What other things?’

  He sent a lazy fingertip over the shape of her eyebrows. ‘When you handed me my change, I knew we would be dynamite together.’

  So he’d felt that zapping tingle, too? Tillie had tried not to touch him all the times she’d served him since but he always made sure their hands came into contact. Was that why he always insisted on being served by her and not Joanne? ‘Did you eat all those éclairs or were they just a ruse to get my attention?’

  He gave her a crooked smile. ‘Of course I ate them. There’s only so much temptation a man can stand.’ He brushed a strand of hair off her face. ‘Are you sure about this? Really sure?’

  Tillie slid her hands up his chest to link her arms around his neck. ‘Absolutely.’ She leaned closer, pressing her breasts into the wall of his chest, her mouth connecting with his in an explosive kiss as if the final bolt on his restraint had popped.

  His hands cupped her bottom to hold her to his hard heat, his tongue tangling with hers in a sexy dance that made her insides shudder in delight. This was how a kiss was meant to be: passionate, unstoppable. Irresistible.

  Tillie sucked in a breath when one of his hands moved from her bottom to slide up to just below her breast. It was as thrilling as if he had cupped it naked in his hand. But he seemed to be taking care not to rush her and instead kept kissing her slowly in a way that made her senses swoon as if she’d been given a powerful drug.
She made little noises under the sensual play of his mouth, greedy, needy noises that signalled her desire for him as blatantly as the surge of his body against hers. Never had she felt anything like this tumultuous fever in her flesh. Every nerve of her body was activated, on high alert, anticipating the next brush of his mouth, the next glide of his hand, the ultimate possession of his body moving with heat and urgency within hers.

  Blake walked her backwards to the bed, his mouth still locked on hers in a blistering kiss that made the base of her belly quiver like an unset jelly. His tongue was moving in and out of her mouth in an erotic mimic of his carnal intent.

  Tillie began to work on his clothes, keen to get her hands on his naked flesh. She undid a couple of buttons on his shirt but her fingers were all but useless. He undid the rest and hauled it over his head and tossed it to the floor beside the bed. She planted her hands on his chest, running her palms over his toned muscles, wondering again where he’d stored all those calories she’d sold him.

  Sudden shyness gripped her.

  Would the little bulge of her tummy that no amount of sit-ups had ever been able to shift put him off? Her dimpled thighs? What if he was completely turned off by her body? She wasn’t anything like the svelte model types he dated.

  He must have sensed her change of mood for he stilled his movements and searched her gaze. ‘It’s not too late to change your mind.’

  Tillie lowered her eyes and snagged her lower lip with her teeth. ‘It’s not that...’

  He cupped her cheek in one warm dry hand, holding her gaze steady. ‘Are you nervous?’

  ‘A little...’

  His thumb began a slow stroking motion across her cheek. ‘You’re a beautiful, sexy woman, Tillie. You have no need to doubt yourself.’

  Was he a mind-reader or what?

  ‘I’ve always been a bit self-conscious about my body,’ Tillie said. ‘Simon made it worse by insisting I cover it up all the time. I started to see it as problematic, something to be ashamed of, to hide away instead of being proud of my curves.’

  Blake’s hand gently cupped her breast through her clothes. ‘I’ve been having fantasies about your curves since the first day I met you.’

  ‘You have?’

  His eyes gave a sexy twinkle and he started to undo the buttons on her top. Her skin tingled when his fingers brushed against her and her inner core clenched with a spasm of desire so strong it threatened to take her legs out from under her. He peeled away her dress and let it fall to the floor next to his shirt. His fingertip skated over the twin upper curves of her breasts still encased in her bra. The sensation of his finger grazing her was electrifying, making her nipples stand up and cry, Touch me!

  ‘So beautiful.’ His voice was a low deep murmur that made her skin break out in goose bumps. Then he bent his head and sent his tongue over each of her breasts in a slow lick that made her spine feel as if someone had undone each and every one of her vertebrae. Who knew there were so many nerves in her breasts? That the lazy stroke of his tongue would make her tingle from the top of her head to the balls of her feet?

  Tillie heard a pleading sound and then realised it had come from her. His teeth grazed her nipple in a gentle bite that made her hair lift away from her scalp. His tongue circled, tracing the darker skin of her areole and then moving to the sensitive underside of her breast. He did the same to her other breast, pushing it up to meet his mouth with one of his hands, the sensations so powerful, so entrancing her whole body quivered. Need clawed at her insides, clenching, aching need that was being fuelled by every touch and press of his mouth and hands.

  He moved down her body, kissing her sternum, her belly button, gently peeling away her knickers so he could access her most intimate flesh. She automatically tensed, but he calmed her by placing his hand on her stomach just above her mound, soothing her as a trainer did a flighty horse. ‘Relax, sweetheart. I won’t hurt you.’

  Tillie slowly let out the breath she was holding, forcing her spine to ease back against the mattress. He began to stroke her with his fingertips, gauging her response, encouraging her to tell him what worked and what didn’t. And she would have told him if she’d been capable of speech. All she could manage was a breathless gasp as her sensitive nerves flickered like a struck match. He brought his mouth to her and began a slow exploration of her, soft little licks and nudges opening her like a flower, allowing her time to get used to his touch, to the feel of his breath moving over her.

  The sensations were building in a powerful wave, pulling all her flesh to one single delicious point at the swollen heart of her body. She could even feel the tension in the arches of her feet. It was like a terrifyingly savage storm approaching. She felt it coming but pulled back from it, afraid of its impact on her, of what it would do and how, or even whether, she could control it.

  ‘Go with it, Tillie,’ Blake said. ‘Don’t be frightened of it.’

  ‘I—I can’t.’ She put a hand up to cover her face, suddenly embarrassed at how gauche she must seem to him.

  He gently brought her hand away and gave it a soft squeeze. ‘You’re doing fine. It’s hard to orgasm with a partner for the first time. But I’ve got you. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Roll with it. Let it take you.’

  Tillie lay back and closed her eyes, letting him caress her with his lips and tongue. It was as if he was reading her body, letting it tell him what it needed. The pressure built again and this time there was no escaping the waves of pleasure, they seemed to crash into her and over her, spinning her into a vortex where she was beyond thought, her body so intensely captivated by feelings she had never experienced with such spectacular force before. Cascading, undulating waves moved through her body, leaving her limbless, boneless in the golden aftermath.

  Blake stroked the flank of her thigh. ‘See? I knew you could do it.’

  Tillie reached for him, drawing him closer so she could touch him. ‘That was...amazing. But you have too many clothes on.’

  ‘I got a little distracted there for a moment.’ He stood from the bed and slipped out of his trousers and undershorts, before reaching for a condom from his wallet.

  He came back to her on the bed, lying beside her so as not to overwhelm her. ‘We don’t have to do this if you don’t feel ready.’

  Tillie stroked his length. ‘I’m ready. More than ready.’

  I’ve been ready since the day I met you.

  His features flickered with pleasure as her hand began moving up and down his shaft. The erotic power of him thrilled her, making her inner core tighten in anticipation. ‘Am I doing it right?’ she asked.

  ‘You can do it harder. You won’t hurt me.’

  She squeezed her fingers around him and moved faster, delighting in the way his breathing changed. He brought his mouth down to hers, kissing her long and deep, his tongue mating with hers in a sexy mimic of what was to come.

  Tillie moved her pelvis against him, letting her body communicate its need. He positioned himself over her, taking his weight on his arms so as not to crush her, his legs angled around hers.

  He brushed her hair back from her face, his eyes dark with desire. ‘Still okay with this? It’s not too late to say no.’

  Tillie touched his face, the rasp of his stubble against her fingertips reminding her of how different his body was from hers. ‘I want you.’

  He dropped a soft kiss to her lips. ‘I want you, too.’ Then he slowly moved against her entrance, allowing her the feel of him without going any further. ‘Tell me if I’m hurting you.’

  Tillie brought her hand to him to guide him, not that he needed any directing. He was being so considerate but her body didn’t want his consideration. It wanted him. Now.

  He glided in a short distance, giving her time to get used to him. Then he moved deeper within her, a little bit at a time until she was comfortable with his presence. ‘Still okay?’ he asked.

  ‘More than okay,’ Tillie said, stroking her hands over his back and shoulders.
‘You feel amazing.’

  ‘You feel pretty damn amazing yourself.’ He brushed her lips with his, softly and then with firmer pressure as if the need pounding in him was urging him on.

  It was urging her, too. The primal power of it was surging through her body, making her gasp and groan and whimper as he began a slow rhythm of thrusting and retreating and then thrusting again.

  There was none of the awkwardness she’d been expecting. None of the shame about her not so perfect body. She was swept up in the magical momentum of discovering the pleasure spots and erogenous zones of her body and feeling proud of how it responded to him. Like how her breasts became super-sensitive when he swirled his tongue around and over her nipples. Like how her neck and underneath her earlobes had thousands of nerves that danced and leapt under the glide and stroke of his mouth and tongue.

  Tillie could feel her body swelling with need, a deep ache throbbing in her flesh, but she was unable to get to the final moment of lift off. She moved beneath him, searching for that little bit extra friction, finding it and then losing it just when she needed it most. ‘I can’t... I can’t...’

  ‘Yes, you can,’ he said and brought one of his hands down between their bodies and stroked her intimately. It was all she needed to fly. The shimmering, shuddering sensations ricocheting through her from head to toe, leaving no part of her unaffected. She clung to him while the tumult thrashed her about, digging her fingers into his buttocks, feeling a little shocked by the way her body was so out of her control. Making love with someone was so different from self-pleasure. The skin-on-skin contact, the scent of arousal, the giving and receiving of pleasure made the experience so much more satisfying.

  Blake waited until she was coming out of her orgasm before he took his own pleasure. She felt each of his shudders, heard his guttural groan that seemed to come from a deep dark cavern inside him. The power of it moving through him amazed her. Had he experienced the same earth-shattering sensations? Had she really done that to him?