Love Charms
Page 148
When the servants left, she asked. “You’ve said you cannot mesmerize me?” She’d said the word “mesmerize” slowly as though tasting it.
Trinity looked sideways as if in thought, then after moments, he spoke quietly. “I do not tell you about us to frighten you. However, I’ve taken your world away and given you this one.”
“Taken one I was completely ruined in,” she interrupted him. “And saved me twice now.”
That elusive smile of his, tugged at the side of his lips. “Granted,” he said with a nod. “Vampires have the ability to put humans, their prey, and their food, into subservient trances without the victim …” He paused, and then said pointedly, “You or said victim, knowing they’ve been mesmerized.”
Startled by the implications of Trinity’s words, Beth dropped the cup of hot tea she was bringing to her lips. She cried out at the hot liquid damaging her dress as she scooted away from it. The teacup broke and liquid poured across the table.
“Beth,” Trinity uttered. “Have you burned yourself?”
“N-No,” she stuttered looking down at the mess on the table as her thoughts raced frantically over events from her past. Memory loss episodes, sleep walking, and awaking in strange places … “Oh God,” she gasped. Awaking in different manners of undress. She stood, shaking, and clutching her skirts. “I need to catch this dress from staining,” She turned to hurry from the room with one name mocking her thoughts in horror. Fanton. Fanton!
Trinity quelled the urge to rush after Beth. Intuitively, without even being near her, he knew when she was very afraid. This time he had the evidence of her features to confirm what his connection to her was telling him. Beth was in danger from some direction he had yet to fully grasp, but he knew he was on the cusp of understanding. Still, he would give her a little time to compose herself. It looked to him as if some revelation had occurred to her when he’d been explaining about the mesmerizing.
He stood, not caring if he ate or not, he’d only been doing it for Beth’s benefit. Nevertheless, he would take some blood; he’d found it better to be well-fed due to his particular inclinations regarding Beth. Since he would find no blood from well-funded doctors out on the moors, nor any new corpses, he was left to animal blood such as Baptiste and Christian preferred. He didn’t care to hunt in the wild because it would raise his primal instinct. Luckily, for him, his staff had chosen to slaughter a pig on his arrival.
“That will do for a bit,” he muttered, and then he proceeded to find the pig’s blood he’d set aside. If his staff wondered at such strange requests, it never showed. They were well paid, in an area that didn’t have an abundance of work, however, he also knew they were loyal beyond that. One thing he and his brothers had learned intimately was to treat with respect if deserved.
Trinity gave Beth the morning, mildly hoping she might come to him. However, his disappointment was not great. They were newly married and had much to learn about each other. If anything, he was surprised by how quickly she was fitting into his life. He’d denied that he wanted a wife for so long, because he thought it impossible, he’d obviously forgotten he really did desire a woman of his own. Somehow, he was going to make the impossible into the possible.
He found her in the gardens sitting on a bench, thankfully under a large oak tree that shaded the sun. He could appear fairly normal under such conditions. Although his wife didn’t look particularly happy to see him, he thought, as he looked down at her luxurious long black hair framing her pretty face and multicolored eyes.
Trinity stopped short before reaching Beth. That was something he should have noticed before … one blue eye and one green eye. He speculated that he’d been too interested in her generous curves to notice.
Beth watched him take a seat beside her. “I need to return to London,” she informed him in a soft voice, the moment he settled. “I’ve, um …” she continued. “I need to speak in person to my brother. You see I just sent him this erratic letter and he won’t accept it. I-I’m certain he will try to find me.” Her voice trailed off and stalled.
It was Beth’s first lie to him. Oh, he believed the erratic letter, erratic circumstances, and that her brother would be very concerned, but what his expanded instincts told him was Beth used this as an excuse to hurry back to London for another reason … Stepbrother?
“You are that close then?” Trinity asked, also thinking about the fact of how many of Beth’s relations were going to have to be privy to the fact that the Lords of Blacknall were vampires.
“We are,” she said. “Adam and I are all each other had after our mother died.”
“And your father?” he asked as a natural progression.
Her petite hands smoothed the skirts of her dress, while he glanced at her slender fingers carrying the chunky Blacknall signet ring. He ended his survey on her extraordinary eyes, as she answered. “Our father died when we were very young of small pox.”
Trinity grasped her hand and he brought her fingertips to his lips, momentarily. He asked, while he kept a hold of her hand, “And your stepbrother, you do not speak about him?” Instantly, he knew her previous lie was used to cover this unknown quantity called stepbrother.
“We are not very close,” she replied, looking down.
Very well then … He realized his wife wasn’t going to tell him. She would evade or lie to cover up something greatly disturbing her. His first protective instinct was to force it from her and he might have grown quite fierce looking, because her features grew concerned, but he realized gazing down at her … wanting her and needing to build a life with her, that he wasn’t going to be able to force her. That left him piqued.
“I apologize for having to ask you to take me back,” she said softly, looking forlorn.
He let go of her hand, and said quietly, “We shall leave in the morning.”
Chapter Twenty Four
Trinity felt anything but quiet as he left Beth, not having as much luck containing his temper as he was also containing his bloodlust and physical arousal. He wondered about her capability to keep important issues from him, when he’d dauntlessly saved her.
“She should trust me like no other,” he muttered to himself, while his irritation moved in and out of anger, until late that evening. He’d not gone to dinner with her and he was certain she’d gone to bed. If he could get drunk, he might have … because he was indignant that his new wife would treat him so.
He might have noticed his emotions were out of proportion if his brothers had been present. As it was, he’d decided that wives must need firm handling and he was being much too lenient with his. He went upstairs with the intention of demanding she tell him everything about why she was afraid of this stepbrother of hers.
Upon entering the bedchamber, he was immediately staggered by the vision on his bed. Sound asleep, Beth lay on her side, obviously having waited for him. Completely nude. She lay wholly and lustfully naked on top of the covers of his bed. A possessive growl rolled from his chest at the offering.
His wife had to break down many of her maidenly barriers to do such a thing, he thought, with heat thrashing through him at seeing the puffy lips of her slit caught between her turned thighs. Arousal beat hard in his shaft. Her bare bottom was so full and alluring that his fingers twitched to grab both cheeks.
A word he’d never used much in his life beat repeatedly through his mind. “Mine.” Most of the control he’d managed up to that point … broke. The onslaught was too quick. He’d not been prepared to stand against it. He was beside the bed, not knowing how he’d moved there.
He would see her naked curves beneath him. She must have sensed his presence because she startled awake, turning her head and body to gaze up at him. His fangs grew sharp past his bottom lip, while his gaze stalked down her nude body. Beth gasped, lifting her hands as though she would cover herself. The command that growled from his throat stopped her as her nipples hardened and her thighs quivered. His gaze riveted on the pulse beating on her pale throat.
A part of him was bellowing to hold himself back, but then his breath was against her slender throat as she yelped, arching her nude body beneath him.
Beth clutched the fabric of Trinity’s shirt as he lifted her neck to his mouth, while forcing her chin aside. He was going to bite her. She knew it. Her naked body arched, anticipation making her quiver. Would it hurt? Would she scream?
She would try not to. She felt pricks on her throat and she mewled, quaking harder. Yet, nothing penetrated her flesh. Then the pricks grazed down the length of her throat.
“I can feel your fear,” Trinity’s voice rumbled as she trembled, feeling his lips, not his fangs, on her tender throat.
“I don’t wish to be afraid,” she moaned, realizing more than fear was inflaming her body. She’d been so bold, lying naked … waiting for her husband. Now she would pay the price.
“You are so warm,” he murmured through his lips pressed to her throat.
She was surprised as he continued to place kisses over her neck, yielded to his mouth. The bareness of one of her breasts pressed to the solid weight of his chest, where his shirt fell opened. She’d never felt flesh to flesh like it before.
“Are you offering yourself to me, maiden?” he asked. His voice was gruff with the possessive-sounding growl gone. She could tell he’d regained his control.
“Yes.” Her voice sounded foreign to her, heavier and lower. “I am your wife now.” She emphasized the word, “wife.”
“Yes, you are mine now.” As he murmured, she felt him slowly release control of her neck, until she turned her head and gazed into his yellow eyes. “So brave,” he whispered and his fingers caressed her collarbone. He was above her this time, but pressed into the length of her body. “We can take a human’s blood without harming them.” He looked over her face. “If we feed and don’t take too much. If we stop before killing them.”
His determination to share his existence greatly impressed her. She unclenched her fingers from his shirt, lifting them to his lips. “Perhaps a man and wife are supposed to.” Her fingertips touched one of his fangs.
His entire body tensed against the length of her. “You will unleash my beast one day with all your temptations, maiden.”
She felt a small smile reach her lips as the tenseness in her body softened into him. She was absolutely certain he would never willingly harm her. “I’m not so schooled on these things, my lord. But I will guess it is a wife’s employ to tempt her husband.”
“Beth,” Trinity managed, then his hands clasped the side of Beth’s face and his mouth covered her lips as he kissed her with fierce intent … until she was moaning and her body rolled with need beneath him.
He knew then, with certainty, why he could feel Beth’s fear as if it were a tangible thing crawling up his spine. It was to protect her when she was in danger, yes. He felt more deeply that it was to keep his beast from harming her. And it freed him. To dare what he’d been tempting himself with.
He molded Beth’s mouth beneath his lips and her small moans attracted him. Her body undulated against his and he groaned, reflecting back the feel of her lush curves pressing into him. He knew he must use his willpower to hold back for her virginity. It would prove equally as hard as holding back from feeding on her blood. Blood he knew would be more luscious than any he’d ever tasted.
He moved his weight to one side, while heatedly plying Beth’s mouth with kisses as he balanced on one knee. One handed, he tugged his shirt over his head tossing it aside. Their lips broke the kiss shortly, before meshing again passionately, while his hand covered the creamy pillow of her ample breast. Her taut nipple poked the middle of his palm and his body flushed with heavy beats of desire. She moaned as he kneaded the tempting mound and he slipped his tongue into the soft, melting haven of her mouth.
Christ.
He groaned as their long hair tangled, black against blond, light against dark, him against her. He withdrew his tongue, giving her a moment to see if she appreciated it as much as he did. A second later, her dainty tongue peeked forward, inviting him back. He followed.
Beth followed the feelings of desire heating her body as if she were a greedy beggar. It moved her hips, put aroused twinges between her thighs and made her sigh for more. Temptation skimmed her hands over her husband’s body, built like a warrior with sculpted muscle. Her palms glided over his shoulders and arms, then across the sinew on his chest and onto his back. Sounds purred from her throat for the strong feel of him.
And he kissed her as if she were his one desire, plucking her lips and stroking his tongue deep into her mouth, until she was lost in the sensations. She felt the coil of enticing aches from his fingers plucking the tip of her nipple as it raced into her core, making her body arch against him. Panting as his mouth left her lips, she felt his thick hair sliding over her face. His hands clasped both her breasts, kneading them as wetness from his mouth warmed the tips.
“Trinity.”
She gasped, clutching her fingers in his hair. Aches tightened and filled her with hot, syrupy feelings pooling in her loins with each nibble her husband took on the tips of her nipples. It was astounding and it built searing desire for more. Her hips moved with each spike that coursed from her nipples to her loins … and she gasped, moaning his name.
Trinity reveled in the feast presented to him so lavish with firm tits made for his mouth to worship. His Beth was passionate and he followed her mewls of pleasure, finding she liked his sucking mouth on the jutting points of her nipples as his hand smoothed over her full hip and cupped her rounded bottom.
Lord help him, she was heady. He wanted every inch of her and she seemed to appreciate him as well with her small hands stroking his shoulders and upper arms. His erection strained, wanting to be free and inside her, yet he refused to yield to its demand. He found his wife a treasure he wanted to stir wisely. A foolish man would plow his wife without regard. His sweet-sweet wife with a naked body made for his desire … and love.
His fingers stroked the satin of her belly. Then lower to the soft and rich curls between her thighs. Her legs were clamped together and his finger could barely touch her tender slit.
“Trinity,” she gasped with his touch.
He lifted his lips from her nipple to gaze down on her flush face with blazing eyes.
“You know this,” he told her. “I’ve touched you here before.” His finger petted the top of her slit and her gaze was wary, but banked with passions they’d been playing with. One day she would dance naked for him, his timid, pretty wife.
“Open for me,” he murmured the request, while burrowing his finger to a tender spot that made her exclaim his name with desirous affect.
Her eyes clenched with obvious jolts of pleasure, fanning her long, dark eyelashes against her alabaster cheeks, while her pouty mouth tempted him. He was a very lucky man and he fell into endless desire for his wife, until it filled his chest with completion.
He followed those uncontrolled reactions and twirled his finger more.
“Trinity,” she panted, grasping his wrist as though to stop him as her hips lifted for more.
“Open.” He tempted her, rubbing harder.
“Oh! Oh!” She finally succumbed to the sensations and her thighs parted as her heels dug into the mattress.
Triumph filled him as his erection beat with the motions of her undulating hips. His mouth returned to her jutting nipple and he worked his finger and mouth in tandem, until he had her cleft dripping and she was moaning uncontrollably. At the moment, she was entirely his and he thanked God for her passionate nature as he tempted one finger inside her.
“Christ,” he groaned as she piped repetitious yelps of pleasure, while he worked his finger in and out of her clenching sheath. On each withdrawal, he petted the bud that unfocused her eyes and made her hips surge with passion.
/> Dare he take her? Dare he sink his hard ram inside her? He wanted … he needed, and he hungered beyond respite to rise above her and thrust. Yet, he barely held back his ravenous lust for the blood he could feel pooling in her sex as she grew closer to release.
There were many levels of desire and temptation attacking him. One part of him was fully engaged as a man revels in his woman’s hot passion. Another part of him was the vampire becoming more primeval as lust and imminent sex stripped away control. Temptations haunted him … lick her slit and then bite. You can stop if you bite her. What would it feel like to have his shaft buried inside her and his fangs in her neck?
Beth clutched Trinity’s wrist as he did unthinkable things to her, while her body and mind reacted to each rub or inward thrust, until she felt the spiral she’d experienced before growing tighter and tighter. Her entire being yearned toward it as she felt Trinity’s hard muscular body shifting.
Then he was above her and his fingers stopped their desirous torment, while she mewled with loss and he nudged her legs open, and then settled between them. It felt wonderful, and then his mouth was over her breathless lips. She forgot to be disappointed as she lifted her hips, rubbing the achy spot in her core over a hard ridge perfect for it. Hot brands of heat from the smooth taut flesh added to the sensations, making her gasp.
“Beth,” Trinity’s voice groaned above her and she loved the affected sound she could hear in his voice as their lips meshed together.
Her hands found the bareness of his flanks and her fingers trembled over the fact she could feel such a thing as she caressed the lean hard sinew. The hard brand nudged between her legs … and she wanted it there, stroking her core. Trinity’s hand grabbed her outer thigh, lifting her leg over his flank, opening her center more. It felt as if the intense aching was released and it flowered open, begging.