by Lacy Danes
The smell of her juice tickled his nose, and he pressed his erection against the crack of her bum. “Ah, are you sure you don’t want to make the next move?”
Her hips rocked, picking up the gauntlet he’d thrown down. The velvet flesh of her crevice slid along his shaft, expending a pearl of wetness, drizzling his want onto her skin. Her breath whooshed out and her shoulders jerked. “You know best, sir.”
“So true.” He leaned in and pinched her rigid nipples. She cried out. A sound so enticing his body caught fire. Her head tilted back to lean on his shoulder. His lungs locked. He flirted with a siren. A siren who no doubt would be the death to life as he knew it. But he didn’t care. He wanted her in his bed, in his life, like no other woman before her.
He ran his tongue along her jaw, reveling in the salty aroused taste of her skin. “So lovely,” he whispered, and dropped his hands from her. Finish the game, then you can have her.
He studied the board. Would she enjoy this command? “Go all the way across the board and stand by the king.”
Nodding her head, she turned her face to the side to glance at him.
“Slide the phallus into your bum as slow as you can.” The muscles of his arse clenched. He couldn’t wait to see her face. “Move the stone prick back and forth but don’t let the cock slide out; frig yourself with your other hand.”
Her smile told him she had no problem obeying the command; she nodded and moved back across the board. The devil. She could match him. He strode back to the side of the board, penis bobbling as he walked.
The next moves went swift, and none of them penetrated the fog in his brain. His mind was bumblebroth, twisted with foreign thoughts. Why did Cora stir him so?
He played to his plan; his brother would lose, and Cora would be the one to initiate the checkmate. His cock swelled at the thought of seeing her and the rest of his pieces as they took his brother’s. Yet his chest tightened.
Why was part of him not engaged? He hadn’t mated with her. The idea that a piece from his brother’s board would have that pleasure heretofore set his hair standing. Indeed.
Or was his distress because a piece, possibly still standing on his brother’s board, upset her? He glanced at her as she stood next to his king. No worry shone in her eyes. She was aroused but well. His muscles tightened and his teeth clenched.
He behaved irrationally. His fists clenched. He never acted such.
He couldn’t back out without ridicule. He ran a shaking hand through his hair. He had played the game too well and was now required to play to the end. Cora would be the piece to initiate checkmate, and he had no choice but to stand and watch her fuck another.
Rupert didn’t see his brother take the queen he sacrificed. He strode halfway across the board to Cora before they began to futter. He wanted this game to end with haste. Sweat pierced his brow, and his stomach twisted in knots. Would he be able to watch this? Her eyes, blue smoke, flashed as she saw him approach.
His teeth clenched as he inhaled her spicy sweet scent. Stepping behind her, he slid an arm possessively about her stomach. Her body quivered and her head tipped back to him. Why did she have to respond as a wanton to his touch? Damn it. He couldn’t resist her. His fingers trailed the silk flesh of her thigh and around the curve of her bum. Her skin dewed with arousal, tightening his chest.
He clasped her hand that held the dildo in her bum and eased the prick into her. She pressed her body down against the phallus and moaned. The devil…his heart raced. Slowly, he pulled the stone cock out, watching her body quiver with each bit that slipped from her. His sex could enter in the stone prick’s wake. Stop! His fingers released and the phallus dropped to the floor.
Taking a damp cloth from the servant behind him, he rubbed the soothing coolness down the crack of her bum, then dropped the used rag to the tiles. Take a big breath, chap, and start. The sooner you end the game the better.
“You have done well, Cora.” His fingers found the slick entrance to her cunt and slid in. She tightened the spongy walls about him. His staff strained, imagining those strong muscles doing thus to his cock. Fire raced through his core and burned his lungs. Bit by bit he slid his thumb into her arse and pinched the flesh between. Her bottom arched back and she whimpered.
“You will be the piece to force checkmate.” His fingers slid in and out of her. Peering over her shoulder, he watched her nipples strain and stomach muscles quiver. He squeezed his eyes shut. Get this done. “Do you know what that is?”
“I know what checkmate is.” She squirmed.
His eyes snapped open. “In sexual chess, the remaining pieces on the winning team pick pieces on the losing team to futter. A mass fuck of sorts.” Bloody hell, he didn’t want to do this.
She nodded her head.
“Once you make the checkmate, you will futter the king as my pieces make selection. I will come for you once the game is done.” His muscles shook with the force of this strange emotion.
Cora stood motionless, but her inner muscles clenched about his fingers.
“Cora?”
Blue eyes, wild and passion-filled, stared back at him. “I will think of none but you.”
I will think of none but you. The words slammed into his chest, locking his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. No one had ever said that to him, and he had never expected such. His throat constricted and he coughed to clear it. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the balmy skin of her shoulder and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he breathed in a whisper.
He wanted to take her from here. To wash her body of the sticky arousal this game created and bring her skin to dew again as he fucked her.
A finger traced his shoulder, then down his side. His eyes shot open. Mary stood beside him, staring at him with pale green eyes and black hair flowing to her waist. At the age of two and fifty, she still brought men to their knees.
She gazed at the floor as a blush crept up her face. She knelt, trailing her hand down his and Cora’s legs to grip their feet. Damn it all, what was she about?
“Mary?”
“Master Rupert.” She stayed in her position on the floor and lightly stroked their legs and feet. “I have been watching Timothy this night, the king on your brother’s board. A woman as old as I would never pique his interest off this board. I desire to fuck him.”
A swap. Oh sweet devil. Mary was his savior. She would swap with Cora. He fought his lip’s making them twitch so not to grin like a buffoon. All tension left his body, and he stared at her, unsure whether to cry or laugh.
Mary’s eyes lit, a wicked smile on her lips; then she winked up at him. She knew. Any man, including Timothy, would bed her. Of course she knew…he wanted Cora.
“Stand, Mary.”
She unfolded herself.
“Cora, Mary is to take your place for the rest of the game. Step from the board.” Sweet devil. A smile that he just couldn’t suppress tugged his lips. His heart raced. He would have Cora for himself. Now end this quickly so you can leave.
“Cross the board and stand next to the black king. Suck him until he shudders, then push him to the floor and mount him.”
Mary nodded and strode off.
He turned, his gaze darting around the room. Where was Cora? He sighted her as she stepped into the retiring room.
Cheers rang out all around him. His pieces strode forth for selection, and he inclined his head to his brother.
His brother inclined his head back and mouthed, “Well done,” from across the mass unfolding orgy. He could leave now.
He gazed at Mary once more, her head tossed back as she rode Timothy, clutching at his chest. She enjoyed her act. And Timothy, well…judging by the strain of his muscles, he was about to spend. Rupert made a mental note to send her a big arrangement of flowers and just maybe have Timothy deliver them.
Striding purposely down the wall, he stared at the large wood door to the hall and retiring room that Cora disappeared through. His blood rushed so fast through his veins he could concentra
te on little else but possessing Cora. Members called after him to offer congratulations or favors he didn’t want. He held up his hand and strode past to push through the door.
Cora stood leaning against the wall, grinning at him. Her strawberry-colored hair set off by the sapphire walls. Her blue eyes sultry. His siren.
“Well.” Her head tilted to the side.
He grinned, his throat tightening as prickles raced across his skin. “Well indeed.”
In two strides he pressed to her, their lips grabbed urgently for the intimacy they craved. Her hands wrapped up about his shoulders. The balmy touch tingling his skin as her naked body pressed to his.
Hard nipples pressed and rubbed the hair on his chest, sending molten fire pounding though him. He swept his tongue over hers, tangling, stroking, drinking in every moan and gasp she made. She tasted like good scotch, smooth with heat. His hands, wanting to know every bit of her, slid grazing the side of her silken breasts and down her curves to her hips.
By God, he’d gone mad. Mad for her. The need for her coursed through him. With each touch he needed more and more of her. He had lost control. Chills raced up his spine. Damn it. He pulled back and glanced down at her lips swollen from the force of their burning kiss. Beautiful.
“Mmmmm. Cora, Cora.” His thumb pulled her lower lip, and he leaned in to trace the plump surface with his tongue. Heady. His head swam. He wanted to savor her alone.
“I want to take you home, lovely. Will you?” And what if she says no? Control…take her, you half-wit.
She tilted her head up, eyes flashing blue. “Now? No, my flesh throbs for you to fill me this instant.”
Cora screeched as Rupert’s fingers wrapped about her wrists. He hefted her up and onto his shoulder as if she were his right prize.
A huge grin crossed her face. He was anything but the ape she first thought. Not only were his motions smooth and graceful like a deer bounding through a field, his heart, his emotions held true and strong, though hidden. A silly thought, truly, since she had spent such a short time about him. But she would bet her toes on the emotion, and she adored her toes.
He set her down in the empty gaming room and bowed. “Go through that door.” His hand motioned behind her. “Your clothing will be brought in. I will see you in the entry in a moment.” He backed away from her, grinning.
Rupert Roland. Never in her maddest dreams had she envisioned taking him to bed. She shook her head. How did she have him so wrong?
Turning, she stepped with wobbling knees through the door he indicated and paced the coarse-tiled floor. Two candelabra cast a low glow in the sparsely furnished room.
She would dress and he would take her to his home and love her all night. Chills of excitement raced across her skin. Tonight had changed her life. She faced Matthew, regaining her pride, and she had taken control of her desire to be with a potent man.
A servant came forth in the dimly lit room and handed her a sack filled with her neatly folded clothes.
“Thank you.”
She placed the cloth bag on a small table at the side of the room, opened the flap, and dumped the contents on the wood surface. Raising her shift, she pulled the soft garment over her head, letting the silky material tickle down her body. Did Rupert like frilly garments on his women? On her? Maybe only nudity aroused him. He didn’t seem to care about her fading looks. She couldn’t wait to find out. She absently clutched her petticoats.
A warm finger traced up her spine and she shivered, closing her eyes. Rupert. “Mmm, I thought you were to meet me in the entry.”
“Heading out, were you?”
Damn and blast. She spun around and tilted her head back to meet Matthew’s eyes.
“Come back for more, pet?”
Comprehension dawned and her eyes widened. He meant to have her. “Matthew.” Her body tensed and she stepped back, sidestepping the table as he came forward and caged her against the wall. She braced herself against the barrier of human flesh and tried to slip under his arm. He was too large, too big, and he smothered her. She choked, gasping for air.
Relax, Cora. You stood your ground earlier. Use your strength again.
Sweat burned down her back, and she shook uncontrollably. Sweltering fingers wrapped about her arm, and with a quick jerk, he turned her face against the wall, pressing his body to hers. She shrieked as memories and emotions locked for years in her mind struggled to break free. She wouldn’t let them.
The feel of his erection against the small of her back sent pricks of fear into her lungs. “Matthew, stop!”
“As soon as I sighted you, I knew you were ready for me again. Why else would you venture into my world?” Matthew cooed. Fluid from his erection seeped through her shift, sticking the fabric to her lower back and to him. The heat of his prick burned her skin, bonding the spot together.
Cora gritted her teeth. “Take your hands off me.” Her heart closed off her throat. He would not let her be.
“Now, pet, why would I do that? You are displayed perfectly this way.” His hand wrapped about her neck and pinned her to the wall.
She whimpered, struggling to breathe. If she could just kick him. Her lower leg thrust out trying to reach his knee, his leg, his ballock. Anything. Please don’t let this happen. Tears sprang to her eyes and stilled. He would not force her to cry. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought down her fear and anger.
He chuckled. “You never could resist me.” Touches slid down the curve of her waist to the swell of her bottom, and she squirmed to get away from him.
That statement rang true once. But no more. She would not have this, not with him.
She needed the right moment; then she would escape him. His fingers slid around to her stomach and pulled her shift up. The branding touch traced her scar. Ice ran across her skin, and she shuddered, unable to stop the frost that slid into her veins.
“The tear healed nicely. You were so silly then. Just wait, you’ll see, Cora. Our life will continue from this point as if that night never happened. God I missed you.” He buried his face in her hair and tongued her neck.
Waves of disgust slashed up her spine and down her arms. “Don’t touch me. I will not have this.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes as memories of how he crushed her flooded back.
The pain in her heart and in her stomach returned as if that night happened yesterday.
The previous day her child had moved in her. She told Matthew, foolishly excited, and expected him to be happy. He was not.
“I will not take them. Matthew.”
“The herbs are safe. You know I would not harm you, but you will take them if I have to force you. I will not share you, Cora. You will bring on your courses.”
The scene played in fractured bits in her mind.
The air swirled as the stone-topped table flew across the room and hit the wall, shattering in his rage. His sticky hand hooked her arm, tears ran down her face, and she screamed as he hurled her naked body at that same wall.
She could feel the hard edge of the stone tabletop tearing the flesh of her slightly rounded stomach anew as the broken jagged edge dug into her flesh.
Tears gushed down her face, and she stifled a sob, choking as she lay on the floor. She clutched her stomach, and blood coated her fingers as he forced the drink down her throat.
In the end, the cut was mild; some would consider it a scratch. The drink had forced the cramps to come.
“I will not have you, Matthew.” She straightened her spine and locked her jaw. “I wanted that child and you took the babe from me.”
He pulled her away from the wall and slammed her back.
Her head hit hard and she whimpered, eyes fluttering as pain sparked her vision and blackness crowded in.
“There will be no more talk of something that never was.”
“Say here, Dranger, get your hands off my property.”
That deep animalistic rage in his voice reached through the spinning of her head. Rupert. He would stop this. Propert
y?
Why did men assume that by sharing yourself, they owned you?
Her teeth snagged her trembling lower lip. How would anything be different? She would be just that, a piece of property. An unnamed person Rupert came to when his need arose. She let her emotions, her dreams, get involved this night. What a cake she made. Even if Rupert was different than Matthew, she wanted so much more than to be owned by him. Love. Respect. Those feelings she craved.
“Your property? I beg to differ, Roland. She has always been mine.” Matthews’s voice vibrated through her.
“No matter, get your hands off her. She does not want your attentions.”
“You scoundrel, release me!” Cora inhaled deep and kicked back, landing a harsh kick to Matthew’s shin. Abruptly he spun her from the wall and wrapped his arms about her waist.
Rupert Roland, the man who piqued her hopes, her desires, stood glaring with rage at the brute who had been her first love and major folly. She would have neither of them. Tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision as her throat constricted. She wanted so much more than either could offer her.
“To the devil, Matthew. If you ever come near me again, you won’t live to see the next light.” Her whole body shook as anger and hurt poured out of her.
“And you…you, Mr. Roland…” Her lip trembled and tears rimmed her eyes. His eyes narrowed with concern, that same furrow between his beautiful green eyes. She couldn’t. She still wanted him so badly. Her heart would break if she hurt him with words. The sticky hot air smothered her.
She had to leave. This night needed to end. Turning, she ripped from Matthew’s grasp, clutched for the plush wool of her cloak on the side table, and ran for the entry.
7
“Cora! Cora, wait!” Rupert ran down the hall after her. She pushed out the front door before the greeter could open the heavy wood. A blast of the winter night air blew his hat from his head and burned his chest as he headed down the steps after her. Blister it, she had no shoes on. She would catch her death.
What just happened? Bugger Dranger. He would not let that bastard scare her off. He didn’t know what happened between the two of them, but from what he overheard, their encounter had involved a child. A child she wanted.
