by LeFey, Liana
As expected, Ravenwood claimed her for the final dance of the evening. It was difficult not to betray her nervous state, but she did her best, determined not to let him know anything was amiss. To her relief, he mentioned nothing of Percy’s being present as he attempted to make small talk. God willing, he wouldn’t know until morning, by which time it would be too late.
She knew what she wanted, and nothing was going to stand in her way.
Once safely free of him and in her chamber, Eden was spared the burden of conversation by Genevieve, who talked incessantly. Her friend had managed to win the favor of Dunsany’s second son and was ecstatic over his attentions tonight.
“I anticipate a proposal before a month has passed,” boasted Genevieve. “His uncle has given him a parish, and he is to take charge of it just before Michaelmas.” She flashed a wicked grin at her. “He’ll not wish to arrive without a wife. I’ll see to that.”
Eden couldn’t help but smile back. “I saw you dancing with him.”
“He is handsome, is he not?”
“He is. And you seem fond of each other’s company.”
A blush rose to stain Genevieve’s cheeks as she removed her earrings. “I daresay we are.”
“Is it to be a love match, then?”
Her friend’s color deepened another shade. “He has made no declaration as of yet, but I feel he will very soon. He is to call next week.”
It was hard not to be jealous. “I pray all goes according to your desire.” She turned to face the opposite direction as she divested herself of her skirt and petticoat. Unable to prevent them, tears formed in her eyes.
A gentle hand settled on her shoulder. “I am truly sorry, Eden,” whispered Genevieve. “That was thoughtless of me.”
“Please don’t trouble yourself, darling.” She forced a smile. “I’m so happy for you—truly I am. My own disappointment cannot overshadow my joy over you finding love.” She placed her hand atop her friend’s. “Hold on to it and treasure it, Genevieve. It is far more precious than you can possibly imagine. Having lost it myself, I know.”
“Now I fear I must cry, too,” said Genevieve, her eyes glistening.
The two embraced, and for an insane instant Eden contemplated asking her for help. But no, she’d been caught last time. Even if she managed to get away with it tonight, she didn’t feel right asking her friend to aid in her ruination. For ruination was what she had in mind.
If I cannot have Percy as my husband, I will have him as my lover…
That she could think such a thought with utter calm was a measure of how much she’d changed. Being sold to Ravenwood for fifty thousand pounds by her own family had robbed her of her innocence in all but one area. Tonight would see that gone, too—but it wouldn’t be Ravenwood who took it from her.
It was nearly the second hour before Genevieve’s breathing finally settled into a steady rhythm that didn’t alter when there was movement in the bed they shared. Easing off, Eden slid her feet into her bed slippers and drew on her wrapper. An ear to the door confirmed there was no one about outside in the hallway. Careful not to make a noise, she opened it and slipped out into the darkness. Heart racing, she shut it behind her and turned to face the shadowy hall.
Her soft kid slippers made no sound as she padded down the corridor, keeping to the thick runner in the center. A door latch rattled, and she hastened past before it could open. She all but flew to the stairs at the end of the hall, whipping around the corner to press herself against the wall.
As she listened, a door quietly opened and then closed down the hall. She wasn’t the only one sneaking about in the night. Please don’t come this way! She shrank into the deeper shadows and waited, but no one came. Farther down the hall, she heard another door open and close.
The only sound she could detect now was the whoosh of her own blood in her ears as she released the breath she’d been holding. Turning, she began to mount the steps to the third floor of the west wing. One by one they took her closer to her heart’s desire.
When she’d counted four doors along the right hand side, she stopped. Sudden fear paralyzed her as she lifted her hand to knock. What am I doing? Have I gone completely mad?
Before she could question herself any further, the door before her opened a crack.
“Thank God,” muttered the silhouette beyond. “I feared you caught or unable to get away.”
The gravelly quality of his voice touched Eden in secret places, caressing her like a callused hand. She waited, shivering with anticipation, trembling in terror as he backed up and held open the door. Entering on wobbly legs, she at once made for the warmth of the fire, cloaking herself in the security of its meager orange light. The door closed, and she heard the latch slide into place, shutting out the rest of the world.
“What of your fiancé?” asked Percy, coming up behind her. “Do you not fear discovery?”
Turning to face him, she stared at the patch of bare chest peeking out from the open neck of his linen nightshirt. Her mouth went bone dry. “He is not my fiancé by choice. I must wed him in two weeks, but this night is mine to do with as I please…and it pleases me to spend it with you.”
“Why?” He crossed his arms.
She blinked in confusion. “Why? What do you mean, why?”
“I would know the reason you risk ruination to be with me here tonight.” He made no move toward her. “Have you changed your mind about Ravenwood? Will you elope with me to Scotland?”
“No,” she said, hating the word. “He will destroy my family if I don’t marry him. But I won’t allow him to take everything from me—he may have purchased me, but I’ll never belong to him.”
“The law says differently.”
“The law knows nothing of my heart.” Something flared in his eyes at these words, and she rushed on, hoping. “I desire you, Percy, and I know you desire me.” Lifting her hands, she untied the sash of her wrapper and shrugged off the garment. She stood before him clad in naught but thin muslin made almost transparent by the firelight.
“I don’t deny it.” His voice had grown even rougher. “But there is more than desire between us, and you are to be another man’s wife.”
A frisson of fear crept up her spine. Fear he would now reject her. “It is nothing you have not done before.” The knot in her throat ached, and she swallowed to ease it. “After I am wed, should you wish to make of me your mistress I will welcome you, for I can assure you there will be no warmth in my marriage bed. I offer myself to you free of obligation.”
“Obligation.” He gave a little laugh. The twisting of his lips made something in her midsection coil a little tighter. “Do you truly comprehend what it is you ask of me?”
Her heart galloped like a mad thing as he took a step toward her.
“In the past, I would have taken what you offer without question or care. But I am no longer that man, Eden. I’m a better man, partly because of you.”
“Partly,” she echoed with a grimace. “It was not I who began your reformation.”
“No, but you’ve had a hand in its progress, such that I wish to be all that is admirable and honorable in your eyes. Your high regard is precious to me, for it has been hard won. Yet now you wish to tear down what you’ve helped build. Why? Because you’re angry at being made a pawn? Because you wish quiet revenge against those who would use you to further their ambitions without regard for your wants?”
He reached out and traced the neckline of her nightgown just above where the traitorous drum pounded away inside her, relentlessly counting out each stolen second. “Such is life for many. None of those reasons could persuade me to do what you ask, to ruin you utterly. The only thing that can sway me is the truth. I want to know what really brought you here tonight. I want to know what is in your heart.”
A shaky breath shuddered in her breast as she stared, mesmerized by the naked hunger in his sin-black eyes. She wanted this man more than anything she’d ever wanted in her whole life. Every action she
’d taken up to this point led to the answer she’d tried so hard not to acknowledge.
She could no longer deny it. She loved him. With acceptance came release. Release of fear, release of care for the possible consequences. Taking the final step that would bring her within inches of her desire, she tilted her face up, letting her tears fall without shame. “My heart is yours and yours alone. It has always been, and it will always be. I fear nothing in life save being forced to live without you.”
With fingers that shook, she pulled loose the ribbons holding her nightgown closed and tugged it down, baring her flesh to his heated gaze. “I give myself to you without reserve or regret. Touch me, Percy. Make me your own. Let me be yours at least once. Otherwise, I will be unable to abide what is to come.” She closed her eyes against the thought. “But if I bear your imprint on my body as well as my heart, nothing he does will ever be able to touch me.”
She heard the sharp intake of his breath just before his arms drew her close and crushed her against the unyielding wall of his chest. Joy surged through her as his hands tangled in her hair and splayed across her back, as his mouth covered hers in a drugging kiss. Only when she was breathless did he break away to bury his face in the curve of her neck.
“God, Eden. I have longed for you so.” His muffled voice trembled almost as much as her knees. “Tell me this is no dream. I need you to be real.”
She clung to him, pressing kiss after kiss against his neck, his cheek, his lips. “I’m real,” she breathed. “This is real, and I am yours.”
With a shudder he bent, and lightning tore through her as his hot mouth closed over the taut nipple of one aching breast. He drew upon it gently, and she gasped. Delightful tension coiled inside her belly, tighter and tighter. His tongue flicked out to tease the hardened pebble, and it built until it became almost unbearable. Grasping his head between her palms, she pulled back and nudged him toward the other one.
Tremors wracked her as he treated it to the same delicious torment. Merciful heaven, if this is what sin feels like, what more is to come? Even as she thought it, he withdrew to slowly sink to his knees before her. His hands skimmed down her flanks until his broad, warm palms cupped her backside. Dropping kisses all the way down, he stopped before her most private place.
Flushing, she reached down to haul him back up, but before she could do so, he tugged her closer, unbalancing her so she stumbled forward into him. Embarrassment turned into incoherent ecstasy as his tongue darted out to thrust up between the curls at the juncture of her legs.
Though modesty demanded she close herself off at once, lust screamed otherwise, overriding all decency to make her widen her stance and grant him better access. Her fingers dove into his hair, holding him to her as his hot, wet tongue caressed her sensitive flesh, licking, lapping, teasing until she thought she would go insane.
He shuffled forward on his knees and nudged her backward until she felt the upholstered arm of a chair bump against the backs of her thighs. Leaning against this support, she succumbed to the raging fire of her need, opening wide for him. His hands shifted, caressing her thighs and moving down to grasp her calves. When he pushed them up onto his shoulders, changing her position, she thought she would die from pleasure as his tongue plunged into her.
The tension within her drew tauter still as he kissed her most intimate place in the most shocking way. The brush of his breath against her as he whispered how beautiful she was made her gasp and squirm. That a man could do such a thing to a woman’s body was something she’d never even imagined.
Then his tongue dipped into her well once more, and the coil inside her snapped, sending a wave of pleasure rippling through her. On its heels came another, and another. A ragged cry rose in her throat as sudden heat flooded her, as he drank from her fountain with delicate strokes.
“Tell me again your heart is mine,” he rasped, rising to stand between her knees. Reaching down, he took her hand and hauled her to her feet. “Tell me you belong only to me,” he murmured at her ear even as his fingers slid into her nether curls to tease the swollen bud nestled there.
“I’m yours,” she whispered, the words ending on a quiet sob of ecstasy. “Only yours…”
Just as she thought she might come apart, he stopped and bent, scooping her up into his arms. Moving to the bed, he deposited her on it and then tore off his nightshirt to stand before her clothed only in firelight.
His form was lean, but power was etched into every line and curve of muscle. He was, to her, beautiful in a way nothing else had ever before been, and her eyes devoured him, learning him. Her gaze traveled slowly down until she beheld his arousal, silhouetted against the hearth’s flames.
She’d known losing her virginity would hurt, but…
“Eden, if this is not what you truly want, you’d better tell me right now.”
Looking into his eyes, she saw a curious mixture of tenderness, hope, and fear. “I want you, Percy,” she said, her voice surprisingly firm. “I’ve never wanted anyone else. I never will.”
It was enough for him. The next instant, Eden lay against the pillows, her body trapped beneath his. She didn’t expect to find the taste of herself on his mouth so incredibly erotic when he kissed her—but it was. Insanity pulsed its heavy way through her veins as she released her final inhibitions and kissed him back in full measure.
He leaned to the side and she rolled with him, clasping his strong shoulders to keep him close. His skin was like velvet over sun-warmed rock. Succumbing to temptation, she tentatively ran the tip of her tongue along the curve of his collarbone. The unique, faintly salty taste of his flesh seared her senses, further inflaming her desire.
Her bold touch had much the same effect on him. “Eden,” he gasped, coming up to again seal their mouths in a molten kiss.
Caressing the lean length of his leg with one of her own, she reveled in the brute strength of him. Where she was soft and yielding, he was hard. His head dipped, and again her breasts were subjected to sweet torment. Gently, his fingers brushed their sides as he suckled, intensifying the sensation until she groaned and clutched at him.
“Percy,” she whispered, unable to stand any more. “Please!”
Laughing softly, he reared up until he knelt between her thighs. “There are many paths to paradise, Eden. I’ll show you them all if you will trust me. But it takes time. Do you trust me?”
Breathless, she nodded. Disappointment pricked her as he stood and went to where her wrapper had fallen to the floor, and reached down to pick it up. Returning, he removed the sash from the garment and held it up.
“Give me your hands, my darling. I cannot have them wandering over me lest I lose control,” he said with the lopsided smile she so adored. “I do so wish to take my time with you.”
Despite her trepidation, she did as he bade, holding her hands out before her. There was nothing she wouldn’t do when he asked her thus. A thrill ran through her as he bound her wrists together.
It wasn’t at all tight, but it nevertheless felt…restrictive. She shivered as he raised her hands above her head and held them there while gazing down at her. Embarrassment mingled with an adrenaline rush. She was utterly vulnerable, completely at his mercy.
“Oh, Eden. You should see yourself,” he breathed, his eyes glowing with lustful approval. “You are so beautiful. Your name is true to your nature, for you are indeed a garden of delight. Drop your knees, my sweet, and let me show you how good a gardener I am.”
With a violent tremor of want, she again opened herself to him. Keeping her wrists imprisoned above her head with one hand, he lifted her pelvis with the other, resting her buttocks atop his thighs. Then he trailed the fingers of his free hand lightly across her aching womanhood.
The tickling of his swirling fingertips made her feel as though she were drowning. So sensitive was her flesh after what he’d already done to it that the slightest feather brushing elicited a whimper. She bucked against his hand, letting out a low, shameless moan as he
slid a digit into her slick depths.
If this is sin, then let me burn! Moan after moan escaped her, and she didn’t care. She didn’t care if the whole bloody house heard her. The tension began to coil within her yet again, mounting slowly until she ached and her skin felt fired as by a fever. When he stopped, she let out a small, feral noise of frustration. She could do nothing, however, for he still held her bound wrists. The pressure of his hand atop them was an exciting irritant.
A chuckle of appreciation parted his lips as he gazed down at her. “Oh, my darling, this is but a foretaste of what I have in store for you.” Lifting his hand, he sampled again the glistening evidence of her desire, his lashes drifting down to veil his eyes as he savored it, savored her. “Yours is a sweetness unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. I want more. And I want to watch you come again.”
Desire stabbed through her like a white-hot lance at his bold admission. Again, she attempted to free herself, so as to rise up and urge him to finish what he’d started.
Shaking his head, he shot her a wicked grin. “No, my dear. We are nowhere near the end.” He inched closer, hovering over her, and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I will make you come for me again and again until your fountain runs dry, until you forget all but my name.” Leaning down, he nuzzled a breast, drawing in a nipple and suckling it hard for a moment before releasing it with a gentle pop.
Eden squirmed as a rush of renewed heat flooded her and her breathing grew uneven. He eased upward, wedging himself against her so temptingly close, the few inches separating them frustrating her almost to the point of tears.
A whimper slipped out before she could stop it, and she felt his muscles tense. He was just as desirous as she, yet he held back, restrained himself. For a moment, she was envious. She didn’t know how to stem the tide of her want.
“You wished me to make you my own, did you not?” he asked, kissing her jaw and trailing his lips across her cheek. The pressure of his weight upon her wrists above as he moved sent another bolt of pleasure through her. She nodded, reduced to speechlessness.
