“Come,” he said with something approaching urgency.
He led her to the bed and they sat side by side on its edge. Only then did Alicia realise that Nick held the sash from her night-rail in his hand.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he reached behind her.
“You must be taught to trust me.”
“But I already do.”
“Not entirely, but all that’s about to change. I’m going to take you on a journey of discovery, Alicia, and teach you to trust your senses. They’re so much a part of what we’re about to do. If you can rely on them to guide you, then the pleasure you receive will be greatly enhanced.”
Alicia gulped. As far as she was concerned her senses were on high alert already. She didn’t want to wait any longer to find out what came next. “I’m acutely aware of you already, Nicholas.”
“Are you? Let’s put that theory to the test.” Before she could protest he tied the sash round her eyes and helped her to lie down, her head cushioned by several pillows. “Now, my love, you’ll receive no advance warning from your eyes of my intentions. You must rely on your sense of feel alone to guide you. You’re completely at my mercy and must place your entire trust in me. Will you do that?”
“Yes, oh, yes.”
“Good girl. You’ll have no idea where I intend to touch you, or with what. Does that not excite you, Alicia?”
“Yes, sir.” She could hear the anticipatory tremble in her voice. “Very much indeed.”
Something gently tickled a spot just beneath her left ear and she squirmed.
“Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“It’s most extraordinary. You’re touching my ear and yet I feel the reaction somewhere else altogether.”
“Where do you feel it, sweetheart?”
“Well…I feel it…” Her words faltered and she felt herself blushing.
“Didn’t I mention that there’s to be no embarrassment between us?”
She shook her head.
“Well, there shouldn’t be. Just remember that whatever we choose to do has been done by thousands of people before us. It’s the most natural thing in the world.”
She was reassured by the smile she could hear in his voice.
“Now, Alicia, try again and tell me where you feel it.”
“I feel it in my tummy and…and in my spine, my arms, my legs—”
“That’s good.” He sounded like a teacher heaping praise on a recalcitrant student, which in a way she supposed he was. “Anywhere else?”
“Yes, I feel it between my legs. I feel moist,” she said, emboldened by the fact that she was blindfolded and didn’t have to look at him as she made the admission.
“That’s also a very encouraging sign, Alicia. I can see that you’re going to be a responsive pupil.”
Whatever he was using to tickle her with—she thought it might be a feather—had now moved to her neck. It tantalised and teased until she shed the remnants of her embarrassment and squirmed impatiently. Desperate for that which she didn’t yet understand.
“Patience,” he said with a throaty chuckle. “I’m in command here and you will wait upon my pleasure. I intend to torture your glorious body for a lot longer yet before I satisfy your needs.”
Alicia felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. He thought her body was glorious. No one had ever described her in such a fashion before. That sort of praise was always reserved for Maria.
But thoughts of Maria, and any thoughts at all for that matter, soon left her head when the instrument he was tantalising her with moved to her breasts. So delicately that the touch was almost nonexistent, it circled a nipple. Prurient noises spilled from her lips as she lifted her body toward him, anxious to experience the ambiguous pleasure at closer quarters.
“No, Alicia, you’re not to move.” He tapped her lightly on the thigh. “Keep still and let me do my work.”
“But you are doing your work, Nicholas. A little too well. I feel the overwhelming need to…” She paused. What did she feel the overwhelming need to do?
“Yes, my love.” There was laughter in his voice. Presumably she was behaving in a very provincial manner. The ladies he usually dallied would be far more sophisticated. But she was too distracted to care if she didn’t measure up to their standards. “Perhaps it’s this that you require.”
She gasped. Something was tugging and sucking at her nipple. The pleasure she’d received from the feather was nothing in comparison to this. It was his lips, she realised with a jolt. It must be because she could feel his hair flopping onto the upper side of her breasts as he suckled. Was it seemly for a man to behave thus? She didn’t think so. Presumably that’s why he’d blindfolded her. She’d received no advance warning of his intentions and couldn’t object until she was too caught up with her reaction to care.
She ought to ask him to stop, really she ought. But then she became aware of his fingers caressing her other breast, and she forgot all about objecting. The sensations he was engendering were beyond anything she could ever have imagined. She cried out as a fire lanced through her body, fuelling a desperate need.
Nick’s teeth closed about her nipple and very gently nipped at it. She groaned as desire overwhelmed caution. Shivers of liquid excitement cascaded through her at a rate that made her head spin. Her fingers clawed at his back. Her head thrashed from side to side as he ruthlessly aroused her. So much pleasure rioted on the edge of such a deep, acute longing. Alicia truly thought she must be going out of her mind.
“Please, Nicholas!”
“Not yet. You’re not ready.”
“Oh, but I am.”
He’d withdrawn his lips from her nipple and the disappointment was intense. Until she felt the return of the feather. This time it was trailing delicately down her stomach in tight, taunting circles that brutally fired her nerve ends.
“Does that pleasure you, Alicia?” asked her tormentor.
“Oh, yes!”
“And this?”
Quite without warning the feather appeared to have slipped between her legs. Its sudden appearance there made it feel as though her world was about to shatter. Nothing could have prepared her for such a moment. Her body reacted with a vigorous enthusiasm that ought to have been shocking. She could hear the blood pounding in her ears. Incandescent desire dispelled all other thoughts from her head as she rode a wave of timeless pleasure of Nick’s creation. Regardless of his earlier dictate to remain passive, she couldn’t help lifting her hips to meet the feather. Immediately it was withdrawn.
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly. ‘I’ll try to be more obedient if only you’ll continue with what you were doing.”
“You must learn to be submissive, Alicia, and allow me to give you pleasure. Ordinarily I would punish any lady who thought to take matters into her own hands. Still, this is the first time you’ve played this game so I’ll overlook your wilfulness.”
“Thank you.”
She hoped that her meek response would disguise the excitement, and curiosity, his threat engendered deep within her core. When he chuckled, she knew he wasn’t deceived. He followed his laughter with a searing kiss of such molten tenderness that her resolve to remain passive was immediately put to the test.
Nick broke the kiss and Alicia was left wondering what would happen next. Surely the time had come? When she felt something gently nudging her legs apart she dared to believe that it had. Not knowing quite what to expect, she was unprepared to feel something wet and warm lapping at her entrance. She gasped, dizzy with shock. Each action of Nick’s roused her passions to a higher level. They were now stirred to the point of madness as one piquant thrill after another threatened to destroy her.
“What?”
When Nick made no response to her rather inane question it dawned on her that his tongue was responsible for the exquisite sensations that continued to cascade through her. Beyond feeling shocked, she plunged her fingers into the thickness of his hair, which was now sprea
d across her stomach. She surrendered to his touch without reservation as he stoked an inexorable need within her.
Just yesterday she’d gone about her business, comfortable in her ignorance. But now? Well, she already knew that something inside her had changed, and she’d never be that person again.
Nick raised his head and brought damp lips to rest upon hers.
“Tell me,” he commanded.
“Some things are impossible to explain.” Her voice sounded dreamy and most unlike her own.
“Nevertheless, I require you to tell me how that made you feel.”
She stretched and smiled simultaneously. “If you want the truth—”
“I expect nothing less.”
“All right. The truth is that you make me feel like a desirable woman, Nicholas. No one’s ever done that before.”
He chortled. “I should hope not…well, not in the same fashion, anyway. But you are desirable, Alicia, never doubt it. Desirable, and lovely, and spirited and brave.”
“I don’t see how you can say…oh!”
Nick’s fingers were now exploring the place where his lips had so recently feasted. Instinctively Alicia opened her legs to give him easier access and suddenly she could see again. Nick had unfastened the sash.
“Is it time?” she asked him.
“Yes, you’re ready and I’m rampant. I want you to see what happens next. And I want to gauge the expression in your eyes when I enter you.”
She twined her arms round his neck. His body swamped hers as he adopted a position above her, resting his weight on his elbows. With a tender smile that made her gasp, he gently guided his shaft to her entrance.
“Sweet Alicia,” he said in a faraway voice.
He eased into her, stroking her body the whole while. Her shoulder, her breast, her thigh. She let out a sigh of deep contentment as the connection was made with smooth fluidity. He spoke tender words of comfort, much as she’d seek to soothe one of her injured animals. But Alicia wasn’t injured. She was strong. Robust. Eager to welcome him inside. She lifted her hips, too aroused to care about passivity, and cried out as a sharp pain gripped her.
Nick stroked her hair and she felt him sliding further inside her.
“No more pain, sweetheart. Only pleasure from now on, I promise you.”
Nick was a man of his word. What followed was indescribably beautiful. Alicia was glad she’d allowed him to tutor her on this one and only occasion when she’d experience sexual fulfilment. She’d have been hard-pressed to find a more patient, more experienced, unselfish tutor. He worked his way into her with steady thrusts and didn’t admonish her when she pushed her body up to meet him halfway. She knew when she’d taken him all and looked up at him with a triumphant smile. It was just as he’d predicted. She’d accommodated his huge girth with ease. She felt empowered at that moment. Proud to have lived up to his expectations and capable of achieving anything she set her heart upon.
“I did warn you,” he said, smiling.
“So you did.” She lifted a hand to trace the contour of his cheek, committing each endearing feature to memory.
Nick gradually increased the pace of his thrusts. Alicia experienced no alarm, only a growing sense that she was on the brink of something earth-shatteringly beautiful. He brought her to a pinnacle of need, only to hold back when she felt a different sensation building deep within her core. It took her a while to realise he was teasing her.
“Nick, please!”
He groaned and quickened his movements. It was almost as though his groin was responding to her challenge in spite of his desire to hold back. This time there appeared to be an urgency on his part too. His eyes darkened, his breathing quickened, and suddenly her body was rocked by the sensation that had been eluding her. It exploded quite without warning, a feeling of soaring excitement which fizzed through her bloodstream, sending liquid heat to the outermost parts of her body in wave after dizzying wave. She was aware of Nick watching her closely as she threw back her head and screamed. She simply couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t have cared at that precise moment if her cries had woken the entire house.
As she slowly came down to earth she was ashamed of the deep oneness she felt with Nick at that precise moment. It shouldn’t be so. He’d said they’d engage their emotions during the coupling, but she doubted whether he’d intended for her to become quite so comprehensively involved. She also doubted whether she’d be able to turn her feelings off again as quickly as him.
She looked up at him with a question in her eyes, wondering what happened next. But it appeared not to be over. Nick picked up the rhythm again and Alicia realised that so far he’d unselfishly foregone his own pleasure in order to give her satisfaction. She felt heat already building inside her again. Just the sight of Nick’s face, contorted with passion as he finally sought release, was enough to set her back on the path of erotic satiation.
Eyes locked together, she joined him as he reached his own pinnacle. The hands clutching at her breasts were harsh, and he cried her name almost as though he was in pain, thrusting and throbbing deep inside her until he was spent.
Nick gathered her in his arms afterward, careful to avoid her injured shoulder. She rested her head on his glorious chest as she waited for her breathing to return to normal.
“Thank you,” she said in a tiny voice that sounded ridiculously formal. “Now I know what I’ll be missing.”
Nick chuckled. “You imagine you can live the rest of your life without experiencing anything like it again.”
“There’s no need for such scepticism.” She lifted her head from his chest and tossed it to emphasise her point. “Unlike the male of the species, we females have control over our desires.”
Nick laughed. “So you just demonstrated.”
“It’s most ungentlemanly of you to remind me of my temporary lapse.”
“Ah, but then I never did claim to be a gentleman. I’m an aristocrat. There’s a vast difference between the two species.”
“A lack of humility, perhaps,” she suggested sweetly.
Nick was chuckling as he levered himself from the bed and reached for his clothes.
“You’re going already?”
“It’ll soon be light. It wouldn’t do for the servants to discover me here.”
“No, I suppose not.” Alicia found it hard to disguise her disappointment at his haste to leave her.
“Just remember what I said. You’d be better advised to remain in your chamber tomorrow.”
“Certainly not! I won’t be intimidated into changing my routine. People, not to mention my animals, are depending upon me. I won’t let them down.”
Nick paused in the fastening of his breeches and sighed. “That’s what I thought you’d say. At least promise me that you’ll never let yourself be alone. Don’t put yourself in a position where someone might easily be able to attack you. I can’t watch you myself every second of the day,” he added, bending to kiss the tip of her nose and then her lips, “however much I might wish to.”
Alicia’s heart soared. He wished to protect her and she felt the full force of the compliment. But at the same time she barely heard it. Her head was too full of what they’d just done and the indescribable pleasure she’d received at the hands of such an accomplished lover. From the snippets she’d overheard in the servants’ hall, spoken of in scandalised whispers, such enjoyment was a rarity indeed. And she was quite certain that being blindfolded and tormented with a feather wasn’t an everyday occurrence.
She ought to feel ashamed of her lack of restraint. Instead she felt fulfilled, radiant and entirely feminine.
“I promise to take great care, if that will set your mind at rest,” she said, when she realised that he was watching her expectantly, awaiting an answer.
“Hardly but I suppose it must suffice for the time being.”
She stood and wrapped herself in her robe. “Good night,” she whispered.
“Take very great care, my love,” he s
aid, slipping quietly from the room.
Chapter Eleven
Nick paused outside Alicia’s door, waiting for his breathing to return to normal. He was already filled with remorse, bitterly regretting giving way to temptation, even if he couldn’t regret the act itself. The way she’d given herself to him with such sweetly trusting innocence tore at his heartstrings. He felt himself hardening at just the recollection, which only served to heighten his remorse. His behaviour had been unpardonable. Alicia wasn’t some scullery maid but a well-connected lady, and he’d taken shameful advantage of her vulnerable state. He was wondering what he could possibly do to make amends when a heavy hand came to rest on his shoulder.
“Gotcha!”
He turned, instinctively clenching his fists, ready to strike out in his own defence, only to find himself looking straight into the face of his henchman.
“Gibson, what the devil are you doing skulking about here?”
“I might ask you the same question.” He ran his eyes over Nick and grinned. “But the answer’s bloody obvious.”
Nick let out a long breath, in no mood to endure Gibson’s ribald comments. “I was concluding my conversation with Miss Woodley,” he said tersely.
Gibson guffawed. “And winning our bet too, judging by that look in yer eye.” He sighed. “I oughta know better than to strike wagers with you when a wench is involved. Ah, well, I’ll pay you later. Worth it, was she?”
“Actually, Gibson,” Nick said, astounding himself with his next words, “Miss Woodley and I were only talking.”
Gibson stared at him in bald disbelief. “You never were! You’d never pass up such an opportunity.”
Nick began walking, glad that Gibson couldn’t see his features in the gloomy passageway. “Well, there you are.”
Of Dukes and Deceptions Page 14
