“Oh Griffin, I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “I can’t imagine how awful this has been for you… for both of you.”
“Mrs. Webster found my uncle and my cousins in the dining room,” he continued. “She and I concealed the nature of their deaths as well as possible, laying the blame on a mysterious drifter who broke into the house intent on robbery.”
“And people believed that? A drifter here in the middle of nowhere?”
He shook his head. “No. And that is why the people in the village are so reluctant to welcome you or anyone else from this house… they suspect that I am responsible. They believe that I killed my uncle and my cousins to gain the title. You are married to a man who could possibly go mad at any day and is already suspected of being a murderer.”
“I know the truth… and even if you hadn’t told me, I would never have believed that you were a murderer, Griffin,” Olympia said firmly. “I cannot fathom the suffering you have known, that you have both endured and witnessed. But I am sorry for it.”
At that moment, the girl began to shriek louder. She clawed at the restraints she wore, trying to reach them. Her teeth were bared and the violence of her actions was something that Olympia had never witnessed in her life. It was both terrifying and piteous. She was wounded and animalistic, broken inside in a way that can never be fixed.
“Our presence here distresses, her,” Olympia said.
“At times. And at times she howls and rails whether she is alone or if I am present,” he said. “But she may calm if we leave.”
“Does Lady Florence know of her presence here?” Olympia asked as they moved toward the stairs.
“She does,” Griffin replied, as he led her back to the main corridor. “But she cannot be bothered with Cassandra. She finds her presence here to be a nuisance when it disturbs her, but otherwise she never asks after her or even acknowledges her existence.”
“She would use her to hurt you,” Olympia stated firmly. “The woman is not to be trusted.”
“No,” he agreed. “She isn’t. But at the same time, Florence will do nothing to harm me so long as she continues to have a generous allowance and the freedom to behave as scandalously as she chooses.”
They left the tower room, heading down the stairs and back to his chamber. Olympia said nothing further until they were once again behind closed doors. Questions remained that had to be asked.
“Is she your lover?” she blurted out.
“What?” he demanded.
“Lady Florence… are you lovers?” she repeated.
“Where would you get such an idea?” His voice was heavy with suspicion.
Olympia noted that it was not an immediate denial but a misdirection. Pain stabbed at her and she recognized it for what it was. Jealousy.
“She’s very beautiful. A woman such as her would be difficult to resist, I imagine,” she said softly.
“Not so difficult,” he said. “A lioness is beautiful, but I would not bed down with one. Florence is a beautiful facade hiding a rotting core. No, Olympia, she is not my lover.”
Why would Lady Florence claim such a thing if there were no truth to it? Olympia understood that she saw her as a threat, as an obstacle to what she wanted which was to remain in a position of power at Darkwood Hall. But such a thing could be easily verified or denied. Whether Griffin recognized it or not, Lady Florence was a force to be reckoned with. But then she examined his words carefully.
“Has she ever been your lover?” she asked.
His gaze grew shuttered, his expression hardening. “Olympia…,” he paused then, sighed heavily. His head dropped to his chest and the offered up the dreaded words. “Yes. She was my lover.”
“You engaged in an affair with your uncle’s wife?”
He shook his head. “No. I brought my lover—my betrothed—here to meet my family before our wedding. And she became my uncle’s lover and his wife instead of my own. Florence was my lover, but it was years ago… before she and my uncle married, before the depths of his illness became evident and long before I realized what fate likely lay in store for me.”
She needed to sit, she realized. Her knees, already trembling, were about to fail her entirely. Relief, intense and overwhelming, assailed her. “I see,” she finally managed. “I am sorry to have pressed you.”
He paced the room, walking to the fireplace and back to the basin. Anger emanated from him and yet she did not feel threatened.
“I had warned Florence not to say anything to you of this… I did not wish it known because I wanted to avoid any additional unpleasantness in this house. We’ve enough to contend with already!”
“I’m glad she said it… and I’m glad, though it pained you, that I asked you,” Olympia confessed breathlessly. “If we are to be together, if this is to be a true marriage as you said, I would not have this secret between us.”
“And what of your secrets, Olympia?” he asked. “What are you so very afraid of?”
“I don’t understand what you mean,” she lied.
Griffin approached her, kneeling before her where she sat. They were still not eye to eye, as he towered over her. She was forced to look up to meet his gaze, but they were so close she could see the tiny flecks of gold in the dark depths of his eyes and the faint glint of the few silver strands that shot through his black hair. His nearness made her heart race. It raised goose bumps on her flesh and caused a rush of liquid heat to pool between her thighs. Olympia blushed fiercely.
“You fear something. I can sense it in you. Is it me? Darkwood Hall? What do you fear, Olympia?
“Nothing. I fear nothing, my lord—Griffin. It’s simply that much has changed in my life and I am still growing accustomed to it all.” It was a paltry excuse and she knew it.
He looked away from her, his expression pained. “If you wish to return to London—.”
“No!” she said quickly, forcefully. There was nothing for her to go back to except pain and ruin. And while she’d only known him for a matter of days, she couldn’t fathom letting go of the connection she felt with him. For the first time, in a very long time, she wanted something. It wasn’t about survival or getting by or avoiding another’s plans for her. She wanted him, whether it was for a night or forever.
“I want to be here with you,” she said softly. “I want to be with you, Griffin.” She wanted to say more, to explain in the plain words that he seemed to prefer that she wanted to be his wife in every way. But she lacked the courage to voice it. So instead, she leaned forward, so close that he could not mistake her invitation, and placed her hand on his cheek. The rasp of his whiskers against her palm made her shiver.
He clasped his hand over hers and brought it down, pressing it to his bare chest until she could feel his heartbeat thumping heavily beneath firm muscle and heated skin. Touching him so intimately, when she knew even greater intimacies were to come, had her swaying on her feet, unsteady and drunk with anticipation.
“There’s no going back, Olympia. I need you to be very, very sure,” he warned softly, his voice pitched so low that it rumbled over her skin. “Once you’re mine, it’s forever.”
With a boldness that stunned them both, Olympia met his gaze and uttered the words that would alter everything in their relationship. “Then make me yours. Because it’s all I can think about and I don’t ever want to be anyone else’s.”
***
Griffin stared down at her upturned face and allowed the reality of the moment to sink in, to fully grasp the fact that he wasn’t simply entertaining an elaborate fantasy. When she didn’t draw away from him or shrink back, he clasped his arms about her and tugged her against him. Feeling the weight of her crushed against him, he reveled in it.
It was a dream, surely. Nothing so perfect had occurred in his life in such a long time that he feared it wasn’t real. Was it madness? Had it finally taken him and this sweet vision before him was just a cruel twist of his own mind? Ultimately, it was of no matter. She felt real in his arms, a
nd when he bent his head to take her lips, they tasted sweet beneath his own. If it wasn’t reality, but some mad and fevered fantasy, he no longer cared.
He kissed her intently, desperately—plying her lips with his. Each contour and curve was mapped beneath his lips, tested by his tongue. He nipped at her lips and felt her shiver in his arms. It was glorious.
He rose, pulling her up with him, his lips never leaving hers. Testing their pillowy softness between his teeth, he nipped at them slightly less than gently. A part of him was appalled, reminding himself that she was a virgin and completely untutored in such things. But she didn’t appear frightened.
A soft sigh escaped her parted lips and he could feel the hardened peaks of her breasts pressed against him through the layers of her clothing. He wanted to strip away every one of them, to reveal the lush curves and soft skin beneath.
With that thought, that temptation, spurring his actions, he reached for the laces of her gown and began to tug them free. When the fabric had loosened enough, he pushed it down her arms, to her waist, baring the chemise and stays beneath. If he’d been capable of thought, he might have taken note of how worn her garments were, but his sole preoccupation was with what lay beneath. The mounds of her breasts were pushed up by her stays and he wanted nothing more than to taste that tender flesh.
Lacing the fingers of one hand into the simple bun that she always seemed to wear, he titled her head back. Her neck arched gracefully and it was as necessary to him as breathing to kiss her there, to trace that pale column with his tongue and tease it with the sharp sting of his teeth. Her soft gasp ended on a sharper moan as he bent her back further and pressed a kiss between her breasts. A shiver followed and he smiled against her skin.
Griffin realized that he would never have to wonder with Olympia. Every thing she felt was written clearly upon her face, and very little of what was going on in her mind was hidden from him. She had her secrets, she’d said, but he couldn’t imagine anything in her past as dark as what he’d shared. Even if it were so, he couldn’t imagine that it would alter his feelings for her at all.
It was that which gave him pause. He did have feelings for Olympia. A strange mix of desire and protectiveness, but also an eager curiosity about her, to know what was in her mind, what her thoughts and opinions were. It would be easier if it were simply lust but even the fear sparked by the realization that his emotions were far more engaged than he wanted them to be was not enough to make him back away from her. There was no power on earth or possibly beyond that would make him give her up at that moment.
Unable to resist the lure of the plump mounds of her breasts for a moment longer, he tugged at her stays. The fabric shifted, freeing first one lush, rounded globe and then the other. The perfection of her pale, milky skin was only rivaled by the sweet temptation of her pert, rose colored nipples. So he didn’t resist. He allowed his lips to coast over her skin, down, trailing hot kisses that left her shuddering in his arms. But when his mouth closed over one taut peak, she let out a sharp cry and clutched at him desperately.
Savoring the taste of her skin, the velvety feel of it beneath his tongue, he wanted to drive her wild—to feel her coming apart for him. Griffin lifted her into his arms and crossed the room quickly. Laying her back on the bed, he tugged at her gown and her petticoat until they slipped over her hips. Her boots came next, tossed aside with her gown. Only then did he pause to drink in the sight of her.
Pale, creamy skin barely covered beneath the threadbare muslin of her chemise and her worn stays. He circled her ankle with one hand, lifting her foot to his chest, he trailed his hands along her calf, her knee and then over the silken skin of her thigh. As he reached her garter, he untied it and then rolled the stocking down her leg. He repeated the process until her legs were completely bared.
“I had intended a slow seduction… to set all your doubts and fears to rest first,” he said, even as he skimmed her chemise higher on her hips.
She didn’t reply immediately, just watched him, her gaze tracking the movements of his hands on her thighs. Their gazes met and then she simply reached up and tugged at the laces of her stays. It loosened, then parted entirely. He helped her to remove it completely and then her chemise as well.
His breath hitched in his lungs and his whole body burned with need—to claim, to conquer, to possess her entirely. Griffin moved over her, resting his weight on his elbows as he cupped her breasts in his hands. He moved his thumbs over the crests, teasing them until she cried out. She was restless beneath him, seeking an unknown relief.
One hand slid from her breast, over her ribs and down to the soft mound of her stomach. He moved lower and she instinctively clenched her thighs together.
Griffin kissed her again, his lips coasting from her lips, along her jaw line to the soft shell of her ear. He whispered, “Let me in, Olympia. Open for me, sweet.”
***
Olympia couldn’t breathe. Her whole body felt as if it were on fire. Deep within her, it raged, and every touch stoked it to new heights. It should have been shocking, to lie there naked in his embrace but she reveled in it. And at his whispered command, she fought against every instinct and parted her thighs for him.
As his hand delved between them, his fingers parted her slick flesh and stroked her in such a way that she could do nothing but cry out and cling to him. It robbed her of sense, of any reason and it sparked a new kind of desperation inside her. The need was insistent, driving, all consuming.
“Griffin, I can’t think. I don’t know what to do!”
He smiled against her skin, pressed soft kisses to her neck, her collar bone, as his fingers moved over her with a skill that melted everything inside her. “You don’t have to do anything, Olympia. And you don’t have to think… you only have to feel.”
So she did. She gave herself up to the sensations he sparked inside her, her hips arching upward to meet his questing fingers. Tension coiled deep within her, building to something she didn’t understand but that she still strained toward. Reaching out, she clutched at him, her nails digging into his flesh as her body bowed beneath his.
It happened suddenly, every muscle drawing taut, her thighs quivering. Her whole body trembled as the release washed through her. Lights danced behind her eyes as she shuddered in his arms, his name falling from her lips on a desperate cry.
“That’s it, my sweet,” he murmured. “Let it take you.”
She had no choice in the matter. It was as if her mind and body were no longer connected, overwhelmed by the passion he’d stirred in her and the completion he’d brought her to. When he moved between her thighs completely, bringing her legs up to wrap around him, Olympia was almost ashamed of her eagerness. But she wanted to know what else would occur, and she desperately wanted to give him the same pleasure he’d brought her.
The sensation of him pressing into her, filling her was so very different from the tender stroking of his fingers. This was more primal, and while it wasn’t exactly pleasurable, she still felt compelled to urge him on, to take what he offered her greedily.
He moved deeper and she felt a tearing sensation followed by a burning pain. It dissipated quickly and only the strange sensation of fullness remained. When he thrust his hips again, driving deeper, Olympia felt that same burning need building again. But it was more insistent, more urgent. Every thrust drove her closer to that now familiar edge. Hitching her thighs higher on his firm hips, she savored each stroke and the climb. Her belly drew taut and quivered against him. Her thighs trembled as she rocked her hips against him, accepting each surge of him within her with an eagerness that should have shamed her. Her hands roamed his back, sliding lower to cup his firm buttocks as he drove into her again.
She shattered. The world fractured around her and nothing existed but the points of contact between their bodies. As she clenched around him, her muscles spasming with her release, he thrust again and then uttered her name on a harsh growl. Abruptly, he withdrew from her and she felt some
thing warm and wet on her thigh.
Griffin slumped against her, pressing his forehead to her shoulder as his ragged breath fanned over her skin. Olympia closed her arms about him, holding him close. It wasn’t romance. It certainly wasn’t love. It was something darker, deeper… even animalistic. And it made her feel alive in ways she’d never known existed.
Sixteen
Olympia awoke slowly and stretched. Her body ached, subtle reminders of all that she’d done with Griffin the night before. Recalling all that had transpired between them the day before, and again during the night, she could feel a heated blush creeping up her neck as Collins bustled into the room carrying a breakfast tray.
After a jaw cracking yawn, Olympia sat up in bed, clutching the covers to her chest to hide the fact that she wore nothing beneath the bedclothes. She’d donned a nightrail at some point, but Griffin had quickly disposed of it. The decadence of sleeping naked in his arms had been an eye opening experience for her. She’d realized that intimacy went far beyond just the act of lovemaking.
“You’ve slept very late, m’lady!” Collins said as she bustled about the room. “And that hair looks like a bird nested in it!”
“Collins,” Olympia said reprovingly.
The maid blushed, realizing she’d said something inappropriate. “My apologies, m’lady. I do forget myself at times. Tis an odd business being a lady’s maid!”
“I’m sure it is,” Olympia agreed. “Would you fetch my wrapper?”
Collins looked at her sharply. It wasn’t typical for Olympia to have her fetch and carry so much, but as she was completely nude beneath the covers, she could hardly cross the room and get it herself.
The maid returned to her side with it and gave her a questioning look. “We won’t be returning to London, will we, m’lady?”
Olympia blushed. “No, Collins, we will not. For better or worse, we are remaining here. Neither Lady Florence nor Mrs. Webster will be able to refute my right to be here now.”
A Love So Dark (The Dark Regency Series Book 4) Page 11
