“I’ve noticed it,” Yuri said shortly, “but Cort would never jeopardize our plans by—”
“Why should he consider it jeopardizing your plans?” Babette asked with a mocking quirk of her lips. “He could hurt the Reniers even more by making Aria his lover.”
“Are you saying that they—”
Yuri struck the bedpost with his fist. Cort would not have made such a decision on his own. He and Yuri were partners. They were…
Friends?
But are you not ready to betray him? he asked himself. Why should he not do the same to you if his self-interest demands it?
“Could he have made the girl pregnant?” he demanded.
“I do not think it has gone quite that far,” she said.
“I will speak to Cort,” Yuri said. “I’ll make him tell me—”
“You are too angry,” Babette said. “You will not improve the situation by attacking him.”
Yuri had to admit that she was right. Oh, di Reinardus would be furious if Cort had taken Aria’s virginity, but there was no reason Yuri had to tell him, or confront Cort about it. Even if the girl was pregnant, Yuri had no intention of being anywhere on this continent by the time it became obvious. The whole matter would soon be out of his hands.
“I will wait,” Yuri said.
“There are some things that cannot wait,” she said. “I would not have become a part of this if I had known that Aria was to become a tool for vengeance. I am not proud that I was prepared to take money to teach her so that you could sell her back to the Reniers. But I thought then that she was Lucienne Renier. Nothing is as I believed it to be.” She met his gaze. “It has gone too far, Yuri. We must tell them.”
Yuri got up, strode across the room and seized Babette by the shoulders once again.
“It’s too late to back out now,” he said, giving her a hard shake. “Do you understand me, Babette? Say nothing to Cort or Aria, not a single hint of anything we have discussed.”
She blinked, and he knew she understood how very serious he was. “I will say nothing,” she whispered.
Yuri let her go. “Good. Now you are being sensible. You must give me time to consider all you have told me.” He tucked his chin into his chest. “Perhaps there is a way.”
It was hardly a promise, but Babette offered no further argument and left the room without a backward glance.
He was glad of that. He had not controlled her nearly as well as he had hoped, expecting that her love for him would be enough. He should have remembered how incredibly stubborn she could be.
Still, she would not betray him. However strong her feelings for Aria, she was not prepared to abandon him. No matter what he decided to do next.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE NEW LESSONS began the next evening.
Babette had considered the situation long and hard, but in the end there had been only one possible decision.
In spite of her promise to Aria, she had felt compelled to reveal some of the other woman’s secrets to Yuri in hopes that he could be persuaded to turn against di Reinardus. Now she was glad she had. Yuri had said he would reconsider his plans, and she had learned a few essential facts that gave her a new and very vital perspective on the entire situation.
The entirely unexpected information about Cort’s desire for revenge had altered everything. In spite of his cold behavior, Babette was no longer in any doubt that he felt far more for Aria than he was willing to reveal, and she was equally sure that it was not merely a question of lust. Whatever he and Aria had done together in the past, Cort had chosen to reject her rather than use her as he so easily could have done.
Gentleman or no, he was not without honor. And that gave Babette hope. If there was any way out of this grotesque mélange of greed, competing schemes, revenge and hidden identities, there was one emotion that made life worth living.
Love.
People in love made sacrifices for their loved ones. A man in love would protect his lady against anyone who would harm or use her for any purpose. He would do whatever was necessary to see to her happiness.
Cort might not be an aristocrat. He was certainly not without his own considerable flaws of character. But he could save Aria from Yuri and di Reinardus or anyone else who sought to use her. Once he understood who and what she was, he alone might give Aria the chance to choose her own future.
And Aria would have to make such a choice, a choice that would define her life forever, once she learned the truth.
Babette knew in her heart that Aria would be better off if she were never to meet the Reniers or these mysterious Carantians—if di Reinardus were to vanish, and she never had to deal with the ambitions and desires of those involved in the politics of a country divided. Aria clearly had no knowledge of royalty, nor could she possibly conceive of what the life of a princess might be like. She hated the bonds of formality and ceremony, and loved her freedom almost too dearly—freedom she would surely lose if she ever became a princess in truth.
Yes. It would be better for Aria, far better, if she rejected such a future. And if she were willing to forgo the dubious privileges of royalty—if Cort loved her enough—he would also be free to forget old wounds and become who he was meant to be. Not a man desperate to assume the very image of his enemy, but one at peace with himself, his past and his future.
But first Cort had to recognize the depth of his feelings for Aria. If desire was the only way to make him acknowledge such feelings, then Aria’s own plan for revenge could become a means of reconciliation.
And so, after the next day’s regular lessons were finished, Babette began to teach Aria the ways of seduction.
“YOU ARE READY,” Babette said at the end of the seventh day. “We might refine technique, of course, but there is no more I can teach you. Your instincts will do the rest.”
Aria closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out again. It had been a strange and exhilarating week. Neither Cort nor Yuri was aware of what went on when the women retired to Babette’s room. Cort stayed away except when Babette expressly asked for his assistance, and Yuri continued to drink. If they saw any change in Aria, it was only because she put extra effort into her “lady lessons.”
Sometimes Aria was astonished by what she learned about sex. Nothing really upset her, though she was sometimes puzzled by the various things a woman did to arouse a man.
But was it so different from what Cort had done to her? She could still recall every moment of their time together in exquisite detail. He had made her feel very, very good. And she quickly decided that the “tricks” Babette taught her would be pleasurable for her as well as for Cort. After the first few days she had found herself squirming from the constant ache between her legs and envisioning everything Babette described with eager anticipation.
It made less sense to her than ever that any woman would be ashamed to do these things, as Babette had suggested more than once. But she took Babette’s word that she must always be cautious about whom she spoke to about her newfound skills. Her “family” would certainly never know.
Now, as Aria contemplated the night to come and the sweetness of revenge, Babette stood by the window, very quiet and oddly subdued.
“You must understand,” the other woman said, “that there is no guarantee of success. It may be that Cort will not respond.”
Aria pulled her hair forward over her face and looked through the golden veil. “You said that no man would be able to resist me.”
“What you are about to do may hurt you as well as Cort.”
But Aria had already faced the worst that could happen. “Once it is over,” she said, “he can never hurt me again.”
“Very well.” Babette sighed. “You will borrow my nightdress. It is far more…provocative than yours. It will certainly catch Cort’s attention. After that…”
It would be up to Aria.
That night at dinner Aria was far too excited to eat. Once or twice Cort glanced across the table with a slight f
rown, as if he wondered what was going through her mind. She had been very careful with her table manners and everything else Babette had taught her. She wanted Cort to see her as composed and elegant and flawlessly correct.
She wanted Cort to be surprised when he found her in his room.
As usual, Cort went out into the woods after dinner. Aria had often wondered what he did when he wasn’t hunting for fresh meat, but she knew better than to follow him. He would not welcome her company.
Tonight, that would change.
Near midnight, at the time when Aria usually heard Cort return to the lodge, she bathed and put on Babette’s sleeveless nightgown. The sheer silk and lace flowed over her body like a second skin, a single layer that was as soft and light as her own nightgown was thick and heavy. It made her feel daring. And irresistible.
Careful to make sure that Yuri didn’t see her—though she doubted he could see anything, since he had drunk too much again—Aria crept down the hall and into Cort’s room. His scent was everywhere. She wandered around the dark room, touching the few objects that belonged to him: the two good suits he wore when he was indoors, his shaving kit, his traveling bag. Then she lay facedown on his bed and drank in the smell of the sheets, burrowing as deep as she could and squeezing the pillow against her chest.
Her nipples grew hard, and she moaned. The sound of the front door brought her out of her wonderful dream. Her heart began to race like a wolf on a rabbit’s tail. Taking a deep breath, she got off the bed, smoothed her gown and listened as Cort climbed the stairs.
She heard him pause outside the bedroom door. He could smell her now; perhaps he thought it was only the scent drifting from her room or lingering in the hallway. She held her breath. The door handle turned.
Cort took a step into the room, saw her and froze. Aria tried to smile seductively, but all she could do was look at his face, at the way it changed from shock to uncertainty to something she had wanted very badly to see.
But he didn’t come to her. He didn’t open his arms and embrace her and kiss her. His expression closed, and he backed away, bumping hard into the door frame as he fumbled his way out of the room.
No. Aria stared at the empty doorway, sick inside. It couldn’t end this way. She wouldn’t let it.
Clenching her fists, she started toward the door. She was nearly there when Cort strode back into the room. Without a word he seized her and kissed her with bruising force. She laced her hands in his hair and answered with a kiss fully as ferocious as his own.
HE SHOULD HAVE seen it coming.
Cort drew back, licking Aria’s sweet taste from his lips. His mind was in a daze, his body entirely out of his control. Only a small part of him was sane enough to realize how stupid he had been.
All his efforts to escape his desire had failed. There was no way to outrun it. There was no forgetting that day on the way to the lodge, even if he’d really wanted to.
Aria was far more than merely beautiful now. He had seen her naked, but in the sheer nightdress she was a wanton goddess, blond hair sweeping over her bare arms, brown nipples pushing against the silk like emerging buds in spring. She was every man’s dream of the perfect lover, eager to give him all he could possibly desire.
“Cort,” she murmured.
His name was an invitation, a whisper of seduction. He had known for weeks that she was no longer the girl he’d once thought her, but in his mind he had refused to let her become fully a woman.
Now there was no doubt. She was a woman, and she had become a lady. A lady she had left behind in the drawing room, as she had discarded her ladylike garments for the wisp of fabric that left almost nothing to the imagination.
Cort took a step back. Aria murmured a protest.
“Let me look at you,” he said, hardly aware of the growl in his voice.
Aria blushed a little, but her bold gaze never left his. He let himself look his fill, taking in the lush fullness of her lips, the column of her graceful neck and the pulse beating so fast under her velvet skin, the strong but unmistakably feminine slope of her shoulders.
And below, where her breasts swelled and peaked, revealing her own desire just as her shining eyes did. Her slender waist, which had never needed a corset. The shadow between her thighs, as pale as her hair.
Aria ran her hands over her body, molding the silk to her belly and hips and thighs. “Do you like it?” she asked.
“What?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.
“The nightgown,” she said.
“It’s…lovely,” he said hoarsely.
“I thought you’d think so,” she said.
Laughter lodged in his throat. Was that what concerned her? Whether or not he liked her nightgown?
He closed his eyes. He had one more chance to walk away. A thread of discipline, more fragile than a spider’s web, still stretched behind him through the open doorway.
Why was she doing this? Had she abandoned pride entirely? Was she trying to trap him into something they would both regret?
Even if she was, he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He heard Aria move, felt her hands brush his chest. He never wore a collar, tie, vest or coat when he went out to the woods; there was no one there for whom to play the gentleman. Aria’s small fingers began to work at the buttons of his shirt, undoing the uppermost and tracing the exposed skin with her fingernail.
Cort ground his teeth as she replaced her fingers with her mouth, kissing his skin as she worked at the second button. As she undid each one she left a trail of little kisses, and when the placket was open she reached inside and cupped his pectorals, rubbing her thumbs over his nipples in slow, deliberate circles.
Cort swallowed, not daring to watch what she was doing. Where in hell had she learned all this? The first time they’d been together, he’d taken charge, and she had accepted what he had to give without trying to return the favor. Her few attempts had been tentative and awkward, though she had enjoyed his attentions with shameless abandon.
There was nothing awkward about her now. She tugged the tail of his shirt from the waistband of his trousers, pushed it up and kissed him again, first under the arch of his ribs and then lower, stroking her hands up and down his back.
He had been at full attention the instant he’d seen her in his room, but the pain became more acute with every caress. When she began to unbutton his trousers, he was too stunned to stop her. There were no undergarments to contain him, and in a blistering moment of shock he felt her hands on him, closing around him, working up and down with exquisite gentleness.
The thread of discipline snapped as she took him into her mouth, enfolding him in warmth and wetness. She knew exactly what to do, though he had been certain she’d never been with another man. Her tongue danced, and he could feel himself edging closer and closer to completion.
But he refused to let himself go. Instead, he stepped back, though it nearly killed him to do it, and swept Aria up in his arms. She clung to him, burying her face in his neck, licking the perspiration from the hollow of his throat. He could smell her arousal, an aphrodisiac as potent as her mouth on his cock.
It would have been the work of seconds to part her thighs and take her. But the instant he had her on her back she slipped away, supple as a mink, and somehow ended up on top of him.
“There’s no hurry,” she purred into his ear, her hair sweeping over him. “I am not finished.”
No words from any woman’s lips had ever seemed so exciting. She quickly followed promise with action, beginning with a deep, lingering kiss and an eager welcoming of his tongue into her mouth.
But she didn’t let him get any further. Her small, strong hands pressed down on his shoulders as she proceeded to caress him with her lips and tongue in a manner almost identical to the way he had pleasured her in the woods.
It was quite a different experience, however, to be on the receiving end. Women had done such things to him before, but not with such complete devotion. Aria treated every inch of his
flesh as if it were the rarest delicacy. She found his nipples, teasing them with her teeth, and then continued to the hollow beneath his ribs and the ridges of his stomach. Each little bite left a delicious sting in its wake.
Again he tried to roll her over, very much afraid that he wouldn’t be able to control his body much longer. Aria proved just how well she could resist him when she’d set her mind on it. Lower and lower with lips and tongue and teeth until she sucked him in again.
Aria didn’t need anyone to tell her that Babette’s training had succeeded. Cort groaned as she took him deep into her mouth and did what she had done before, this time kneeling over him with her hair tumbling over his stomach and her breasts stroking his thighs.
Babette had told her what might happen if she moved too quickly or Cort became too excited, but he stayed very still and hard while she explored the part of him Babette had called a “cock.” It didn’t remind her of a rooster at all, except perhaps in its pride. It felt very smooth and pleasant in her mouth, and she liked even better how helpless Cort was to resist. He didn’t even try. Not until he reached up to spear his fingers through her hair.
“Aria,” he gasped, “if you don’t stop now…”
So she stopped. She slid up his body, propped herself up on her arms and offered her breasts to his mouth.
It was as wonderful now as it had been in the forest, but once again she was in control. She moved up and down, stroking her nipples over his lips, pinning his arms with her thighs so that he couldn’t pull her closer. He strained to devour her, and she doled his sweets out to him as her own body protested her restraint.
There were many other things she could have done after that to please him and herself, but she had nearly run out of her own patience. The joining she had wanted so badly before was so close now. All she had to do was…
Cort freed his hands and locked them around her waist, and she realized he was going to do it before she could.
“No,” she said, staring into his eyes. “Let me.”
Rising up, she straddled him, moving down until she was positioned right over his cock. She eased down with a sigh until she felt his hardness inside her, pushed lower until he filled her completely.
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