Fallen Angel

by Rose, D. L.

  He was not the same man anymore. He was not the Lord Black who looked over the inanity of society with a practiced expression of boredom and annoyance. It was like a fever coming on slowly, a flushing of the cheeks, sweaty palms, and flashes of heat down his back. When he thought of her, the way she tasted, the feel of her body beneath his, he became the devil again: careless, desire driven, a seducer of angels with no remorse. And now he had found her, under this very roof, under his own finger tips. She was no passive miss this one. She did not succumb to vapors or an attack of the nerves. This was Eloise, and she had come to him with bold notions of dominance and, like him, succumbed to the irresistible desire. What would happen now?

  There were codes of honor Ben lived by, the rules dictated necessary action but this was Eloise. She was not some innocent nobleman’s daughter; there was no father with which to privately speak to. Instead there was his uncle who, let’s face it, was oblivious to any--if all--happenings around him. He could escape his duty to Eloise, escape unscathed from a decadent evening of wickedness and she would probably thank him for it. In fact she would probably love nothing more than for him to turn a blind eye to her and leave Pommoroy place all together. To leave her as she wishes, to run wild, act as Uncle Malcolm’s secretary, and be unfettered by social dictates.

  So that was her aim, to drive him away. He should let her do it but the idea of it … it made him sick. Like a punch to the gut on a full stomach. His pride, his honor, demanded satisfaction. She would be unprotected if left alone; she would be vulnerable to all manner of schemers and con artists. Uncle Malcolm, despite his guardianship and emotional ties to the girls, was no real barrier to the harsher unpleasantness of life. It wouldn’t be difficult for some smooth talking scoundrel to weasel his way in and take advantage of them all. No, Ben couldn’t leave; he couldn’t stand by and wait for the inevitable unraveling of Eloise’s plans. She needed a protector, she needed a guiding hand, she needed someone to save her from herself and assure her that yes, she could still read beneath the willows, wander the meadows barefoot, and tweak his nose. Ben did need a wife and it wasn’t as if he needed one of any real status or worth. He had little care for town life. He relished the thought of a quiet future as a country lord when he inherited his uncle’s land. With Eloise as lady of the house the quietness of that future was no longer certain, but at least she was already here. Everyone knew and liked her--hell she practically ran the place already. It actually made a lot of sense now that he thought about it, with the exception that Eloise is not the eldest but that couldn’t be helped now. He had taken her virtue, her last vestige of innocence, and the wrong must be put right. He would ask for her hand, and in true Eloise fashion she would probably say no … vehemently. But Ben had a wild card up his sleeve. He knew things about her now, intimate things, and he was not above using them. A wicked smile curved his lips. She was not immune to his advances; she could be easily, thoroughly, and enjoyably seduced into agreeing to marry him. They may not suit in every other regard but at least in bed, Ben knew, they suited perfectly. Ben warmed to the idea considerably. Being in bed with Eloise every night, morning, and sometimes afternoon would be heaven on earth. Maybe even in the garden, in the meadow in full bloom, or the library… Ben looked around. He saw the clock on the mantel and cursed. That blasted girl was late! Wrenching himself from the chair he strode angrily to the door and jerked it open.

  Eloise jumped in alarm and froze—hand raised to knock-- when the door was yanked open to reveal Ben scowling fiercely. He was clearly surprised too but recovered quickly and pulled her into the room shutting the door behind her.

  “I do not think we should have the door closed,” she stammered as she eyed him warily. He let go of her and walked over to the decanter to pour another drink.

  “What does propriety matter after word spreads that you attended the Sinners’ Masquerade?” He responded sarcastically without looking at her. In fact he was still reeling from seeing her, still recovering from the fact that Eloise was his angel and now she was here before him and completely at his mercy.

  “Are you going to tell on me? Spread stories around the tap room of the village inn?” She glared at his back. He was acting very strange and had yet to face her. She was prepared for animosity but he was behaving like a caged animal who hadn’t decided if he was going to eat his meal or play with it.

  “Why don’t you have a seat Eloise? We have much to discuss,” Ben turned to her finally. He waved to the small settee and took the chair across from it.

  Eloise hesitated before moving cautiously to sit. She folded her hands primly in her lap and met him with a straight spine and a level gaze. “What would you like to discuss my lord?”

  Ben eyed her from head to toe. She had not changed from her smoky clothes or tidied her hair. Wisps of golden hair curled around her face at will, giving her a tousled just-risen-from-bed look that frankly, Ben found … arousing. He propped his ankle on his knee and studied the amber liquid swirling in his glass. It was all an act of course. He was on edge. Every hair on his body, every sensitive nerve ending was aware of her and the many possibilities. When he closed the door behind her he had taken the liberty of locking it and slipping the key in his pocket. She was caged with him and would remain so until he deemed her allowed to leave. She wanted control of him last night, to leave him begging on his knees, well now … she would have to do some begging of her own.

  “What do you see in your future Eloise?” He casually met her gaze and took a sip.

  Her eyebrows popped up in twin wings of confusion, “I don’t believe anyone can see their future Lord Black. I would hope to remain here as I am … a ward to your uncle and perhaps acting as his secretary as we discussed before.”

  “I do not think that is possible now,” Ben said idly, “You see, after our actions last night I just don’t think that would work.”

  Eloise waited for him to elaborate. She did not buy his calm demeanor for one second. He was a cat and she the mouse being toyed with. He would gain as much pleasure as he could batting her back and forth, tossing her in the air to catch her in his teeth, before putting her out of her misery. “Why not?” She asked.

  “Well for starters you could be with child,” he said nonchalantly. He eyed her carefully and was rewarded with a whitening of her pallor. Good, she should be shocked.

  “No,” she shook her head, “That can’t be possible … not after one time?” She bit her lip anxiously and her hands clasped together tightly until her knuckles where white.

  “Stranger things have happened Eloise. Did you think there were no consequences to the act of lovemaking? Even should you prove not to be, I am a gentleman, and you are a young lady. Honor dictates we marry.

  “Bollocks!” Eloise stood and shouted. She was surprised as much as he was by her outburst but recovered quickly. Ben glared angrily at her but she did not cower. “There is absolutely no reason for us to marry, what happened last night … well it happened and nothing more need be said about it. We can both go on as we were and just forget about it. You can spout honor all you want but we both know there is no way I will marry you or that you would want to marry me.”

  Ben’s glass shattered against the wall and in the blink of an eye he was standing before her. His eyes where the ominous grey of a thunderstorm that terrified her and before she could move he leaned over her forcing her to back into, and then collapse, onto the settee. He didn’t stop until he towered over encompassing her whole vision--effectively caging her with his body. He planted a hand on each side of her head removing all avenues of escape.

  “Are you insulting my honor?” His voice was low and hard as steel. His eyes trapped hers unforgivingly and pinned her. “You went to the ball with one purpose last evening, you sought me out. You stumbled Eloise, and fell into the sea of desire—same as I—and now we are tied to one another. There is no going back, there is no pretending otherwise. You can grow up and face what we did--what we enjoyed doing--and marry
me or you can act like a coward. Either way you are still going to be my wife.”

  Eloise was trembling inside. She wanted to be scared, in fact she was aware that she should be, but instead she was mesmerized. The sight of him--unyielding and powerful--before her was titillating. She felt hot and surrounded by his energy, caged by his body. Her senses were overwhelmed by him but reveled in him. She could smell the tang of smoke on his clothes, the sweet spice of brandy on his breath, and the salty musk of his skin. Her breathing quickened, she took more of him in, and like a drug she began to feel light headed and giddy.

  “You don’t want to marry me Ben, we hate each other,” she whispered.

  His eyes softened a degree but his intensity remained. He brought one knee beside her on the settee and placed one hand on her face, stroking her cheek like soft velvet. “I feel many great things for you Eloise, but none of them are hate, that I assure you.”

  He robbed her of words with that sentence. She didn’t know what to say or how to respond or even how to feel about it. Her brow creased in question.

  “Don’t ask me to explain it, I couldn’t if I tried.” He leaned lower and traced her lips with his thumb. “All I know is I can’t stop thinking of you since last night. You bewitched me, you unmade the man that I was and left me bare. You showed me something I didn’t know I needed to see and now I don’t want to live without it. I can’t promise we will get along Eloise but I know that when it comes to the intimate moments between husband and wife we will suit very well.” He was rewarded with an infusion of pink to her cheeks. She looked lovely when she blushed, like a flower blooming. It washed all the way down to the tops of her breasts. Ben drank in the sight before lifting his gaze to her lips. He dipped and claimed them. Holding her jaw, he held her steady as he ravaged her mouth. She didn’t fight him at all or deny him anything; in fact, she seemed surprised but then accepting of his kiss. Accepting was not enough for him. He wanted her to participate, to hunger for him as much as he hungered for her--his angel--his wild woman who walked barefoot through meadows and kept feral dogs by the creek.

  He broke the kiss. He needed her agreement to marriage before this could go any further. “What is your answer Eloise?”

  “This isn’t where I thought this would go,” she admitted.

  Ben eyed her curiously, “What do you mean, what did you think I would do?”

  “I don’t know …” her eyes dropped in embarrassment, “Roar and rage at me, make threats about convents and cruel nuns to reform me.”

  Ben smiled; he wanted to laugh but didn’t want to startle her. Eloise at a convent? God would smite him from the earth. “I do not think a convent could hold you for long.”

  “That is true,” she smiled timidly, she began to relax a little but still, his notion of marriage was preposterous. “Then what shall we do?”

  “I told you, we shall be married, banns and everything, small church wedding, breakfast, all of it.”

  Eloise frowned and shook her head. “You must be out of your mind,” she tried to push him away but he was all lean solid muscle and stood rooted like a tree before her. “I wish to leave,” she scowled at him.

  “You will marry me Eloise; you cannot leave this room until you agree. I will have your word and you will keep it.”

  “Your brain is addled, you cannot keep me here.”

  “Both doors are locked and I have the only key. Escape is futile,” he grinned devilishly.”

  “You are mad. Malcolm will not stand for this kind of treatment of me.”

  “I agree, he will also insist we be married once he finds out about the ball.”

  “How dare you threaten me!” Eloise tried to stand but that only brought her body up against his and he as yet, still refused to move. She settled for crossing her arms obstinately over her chest and glaring at him.

  “I wouldn’t tell him all the details of course, just the fact that I compromised you, unknowingly albeit, but all the same.”

  “No, it’s not all the same, you are you and I am me. We will kill each other within a week. You will run ram shod all over my freedom and I will embarrass you. I won’t go to town and you won’t want to have any of your gentlemen friends here for the same reason. The idea is completely absurd.” She nodded her head once as if that was the end of discussion.

  “Eloise …” He pinched his nose in annoyance. “I do not entirely disagree with everything you stated but one thing remains the same. “We were intimate and now we will marry, everything else is just details and we can deal with those things as they come.”

  “A marriage cannot be based on something as insignificant as being intimate,” Eloise argued, “How can we find even the littlest measure of happiness based on physical intimacy?”

  “Well if our one night has anything to show for it I think we can be quite happy in that area of our marriage and I think it will do a great deal to smooth over the rougher areas.”

  “I don’t believe you. You think because we both enjoyed … that, then it will somehow help the rest of it? That’s preposterous! My answer is firm.”

  “Eloise I can prove just how much that really means. I will seduce you into agreeing to marry me and if not, you will win your freedom.”

  “You want me to be intimate with you—here—in the library—in exchange for my freedom?”

  “No, I will prove that you will enjoy our intimacy so much—here—in the library—that you will agree to marry me and if you don’t, which you will, then I will give you the key. There is one exception,” he trapped her gaze in his and held it. “If you find you are with child at any time after this, you will marry me. No excuses, no arguing. Do I have your word?”

  Eloise tried to think about her options. She tried to look for any out she could find but there was one problem. The mere idea of being intimate with him again was making it difficult to concentrate. She remembered every second of last night, every minute detail, and now she had the opportunity to relive it. Her body wanted to, her heart wanted to, even her head was not against the idea. She could be with him one more time and then escape with her freedom. Surely the mere act would not sway her to want to marry him? How could it? She nodded her agreement and then looked at him expectantly.

  Chapter Nine

  Ben returned to the winged chair and sat. He looked at her carefully before crooking his finger in a come-hither gesture. Eloise complied both curious and wary. She stepped before him, hands at her sides, and waited for him to make the first move. His eyes took in every detail of her from the crown of radiant gold atop her head to the plain day dress she wore. It was a demure blue, an honest blue, that didn’t do anything to enhance her beauty or figure. It was a shame for such a beautiful young woman to be dressed in such a bland fashion. He would have to rectify that.

  He spied her fingers resting at her sides and decided to start there. If he wanted to seduce her into to marriage, to convince her that she never wanted to live another day without his touch, he would have to show how much she needed it. Even the most common place, the most innocent parts of her body, would need him when he was through with her and he would start with her fingers, perhaps the most benign part of the female body. He didn’t meet her eyes as he took her hand in his own and examined it. He lifted each delicate digit up for his inspection and gently slid his fingers over hers. He analyzed the pattern of creases across her palm and traced them with his index finger. She shivered. He could feel her tense her arm to pull away but didn’t.

  “Does this tickle?” He looked up and smiled as he brushed his fingers over her palm. She nodded and tentatively smiled back. He ran his hand up her forearm to her elbow and pulled her closer until she stepped forward between his legs. He repeated the same inspection of her other hand and then pulled her into his lab.

  Eloise hesitantly curled into him. She was unsure of what to do with herself while he seemed entirely absorbed with exploring her. His fingers trailed over her hair, pulling at curls, wrapping them around his finger
s, and then letting them spring away. He traced the whirls of her ears, the line of her jaw, and the smooth skin over her collar bone. He stopped with a finger over the pulse in her neck and met her gaze.

  It was beating rapidly.

  “Kiss me Eloise,” he said softly.

  Eloise leaned forward slowly and set her lips to his. It was a light caress, a sedate pressing of her lips to his until he threaded his fingers through her hair and pressed her head more firmly against his. His lips moved beneath hers in a warm slide. He opened slightly and his tongue licked the seam of her lips lazily. She opened in response, remembering the exotic feel of his tongue dueling with hers the evening before. She had enjoyed kissing him very much. He took immediate advantage to conquer her mouth but Eloise was never one to be passive. She mimicked his every move, toyed with her own imagination, and what started as light licking and savoring was now a battle of wills. Her hands had come up to his shoulders and gripped his coat. Both of his hands cradled her skull with intent skill, moving her head side to side to delve into the honey of her mouth and explore.

  They broke apart to breathe and were both panting heavily. They both watched each other silently as arousal and desire filled the air around them like a miasma. Ben untangled his hands from her hair and slid nimble fingers down her back to unbutton her gown. Eloise waited patiently while he worked, unabashed that he would see her again. She may be a novice in the act of lovemaking but she knew what was coming and she knew the heady pleasure it would bring. Her bodice and chemise loosened and he pulled them down revealing her soft pale breasts. He touched her with reverence, weighing them in his hands, rubbing a thumb over her nipple and watching it tighten into a pink bud. Eloise closed her eyes and accepted his ministrations with delight. She gasped softly when a warm mouth pulled at one peak, the wetness, the brush of his tongue, all sensations that were still new and shocking. Tingling awareness pooled low in her belly as her body remembered his and the satiation it would bring. She wanted this again, she was going to enjoy every second of it.