Midnight Masquerade

by Shirlee Busbee

  She wasn't the only one who was remembering that she had banished him from her room. His eyes darkening, Dominic suddenly swung her up in his arms. "Tonight," he growled softly, "you share my bed, sweet witch, and I doubt that even you would have the audacity to order me from my own bed."

  Melissa had pushed aside all the old reasons for her mistrust of him and, generous in her defeat, she reached up and pulled his dark head down to hers. Her mouth sliding with exquisite tenderness across his surprised lips, she murmured, "But why should I? It's where we both want to be."

  Dominic was so stunned by her unexpected capitulation that he never remembered moving away from her bed, never remembered their entering his own room, never even remembered laying her down on his huge mahogany bed; and it was only when he noticed the striking contrast of her ivory gown against the midnight blue of his velvet coverlet that he became aware of their surroundings. And by then it didn't really matter to him where they were....

  Groaning his delight, he kissed her, all the hunger and desire of these past days unleashed within him. With equal fervor Melissa returned his kisses, her tongue seeking his, twining and teasing, driving him half mad with longing.

  It was heaven to have her in his arms again, to feel again the warmth of her body pressing against his, to feel her long legs entwined around his as they lay side by side, their hands roaming feverishly over the other's body. The smoothness of her fine silk garment rubbed erotically against his naked flesh, but he could not bear even that frail barrier between them, and almost savagely he ripped it from her body, sighing with pleasure when his seeking fingers found her bare skin. He had wanted to be gentle with her, to make slow, tender love to her, but he could not; all the nights of denial, all the sleepless hours he had spent reliving their wedding night, had built within him such a passionate need that he was shaking from the force of it. Leaving a trail of fiery kisses in its wake, his mouth slowly slid to her neck, his tongue and teeth gently biting and tasting as his hands cupped her breasts. Burying his mouth against her throat where the pulse beat frantically, he muttered, "I've missed you so... I've thought of nothing but this for days, wondering if I had imagined how soft your flesh is, how sweet your mouth, how easily you make me burn to have you..."

  The nights of denial had taken their toll on Melissa also, and although the desires that drove Dominic were new to her, they were no less powerful. She was already boneless with wanting, the fierce passion that only Dominic aroused within her blotting out everything but the joy of being held in his arms, of knowing again the wonder of his kiss, of once more losing herself in the magic which Dominic wove so skillfully, so effortlessly, around them. His words were erotic, the naked hunger in his voice as arousing as his touch, and her arms wrapped around his shoulders, cradling his head nearer to her. Her lips caressing the dark hair of his head, she admitted shyly, "I've... I've missed you too. I—I never meant to drive you away...." With so much unknown between them, it was as close to an apology for her actions on their wedding night as she could come, as close to admitting that she loved him.

  "Oh, Jesus!" Dominic groaned against her throat. "What am I going to do with you? You've turned my world upside down, and just when I'm convinced that you're a heartless jade, you say something that completely alters my conception of you." His head still bent, in between sharp little kisses, he asked with an odd note of pleading in his voice, "Have you really missed me? Really wanted me in your bed again?"

  It was a most promising conversation. Unfortunately, with Dominic's fingers insistently pulling on her throbbing nipples and his mouth slowly moving upward, Melissa couldn't think straight. She could only feel, feel the demanding ache that was spreading throughout her body, her skin tingling wherever Dominic touched her, and helplessly she groaned, "Oh, yes! I never wanted you to leave me."

  Her admission shattered the last of his control and he caught her lips with his, kissing her fiercely, almost savagely, as his hands slid around her slim body to lock her in a powerful embrace. With a hunger that seemed endless he kissed her, his tongue filling her mouth, probing with devastating thoroughness the sweetness he found there.

  Crushed next to him, her breasts flattened against his hard chest, her mouth accepting his ravenous invasion, Melissa reveled in the knowledge that, for tonight at least, it was her body that he wanted, her kisses that he demanded. Her arms tightened around him, her warm body moving with explicit need against his, wanting his possession with every fiber of her being.

  The thrust of her body against his was torment and he was painfully aware of everything about her, from the honeyed warmth of her mouth to the provocative thrashings of her hips and legs as she sought a closer intimacy. A growl of frankly carnal pleasure broke from his throat as he caught her slender hips in both his hands and held her firmly against his swollen, aching member, his own hips moving in a lazy rhythm that gave them both a hint of the ecstasy that would come.

  Melissa writhed in his embrace, frantic for him to take her and equally frantic to touch him, to caress him, to let him know just how powerfully he affected her, just how deeply stirring she found his lovemaking. Her entire body was on fire, her breasts full and aching to feel his mouth upon them, her nipples hard and throbbing, her breath coming in little gasps when his head dropped and began to slide openmouthed down her chest.

  Mindlessly she arched upward, offering herself to him, sighing when his lips at last closed over a coral nipple, sharp pleasure shooting through her body as he suckled hungrily on the rigid tip. Intensifying the sweet sensation, his teeth rubbed against the sensitive nipple of one breast, then the other, sending waves of delight coursing through Melissa.

  His hold on her hips had loosened, and freeing her arms, she caressed him, her hands moving in ever-widening circles down his back until she reached his muscular buttocks. Almost wonderingly, she ran her hands over the smooth flesh, kneading and exploring the warm firmness.

  Her tender ministrations only made Dominic more aware of how her slightest touch enthralled him, his already painfully erect manhood swelling to impressive proportions as her exploring fingers traveled from his buttocks up his spine and around to his chest. When her searching hands finally found his own hard little nipples, he could not suppress a groan, her movements copying his, her slim fingers tugging and pulling on the responsive nubs.

  Blindly he caught her lips with his, kissing her urgently, revealing plainly the depth of his arousal, his tongue plunging hotly into her welcoming mouth. Wild with passion, he slid his fingers down her flat belly, lingering for a teasing moment in the tangle of tight, soft curls between her legs before he reached the area he sought.

  The intimacy between them was still too fragile, too bewilderingly new for Melissa not to react to his probing fingers, and instinctively she stiffened. It was almost as if she feared the pleasure she knew he would bring her, and her thighs closed around his hand. Her action didn't seem to perturb Dominic; if anything, he found it moving. His lips against hers, he commanded huskily, "Don't. Open your legs to me, let me give you pleasure... let me give us both pleasure."

  The blood pounding dizzyingly in her brain, her body consumed by desire's fever, wordlessly she obeyed him, her pale thighs parting. A muffled sigh of satisfaction broke from him and his fingers knowingly sought entrance to her body, sending pleasure spiraling wildly through her. He caressed her gently at first, slowly building the hungry need inside her, and then, as Melissa began to thrash even more violently, her hips rising up against his tormenting fingers, his movements became less controlled, more urgent, and she shivered with near ecstasy. Racked by the compelling need to have him give her the release she sought, she writhed with carnal abandonment beneath his touch, her fingers digging into his shoulders. "Oh, please!" she gasped. "Please, take me, let me feel you inside me. I want... I want you...."

  Shaking from the force of the powerful desire that was surging through his veins, his face hard and set with a passion too-long denied, Dominic gave them both wh
at they yearned for, his bulging shaft thrusting into her with a nearly frenzied motion. Bodies fused together, they lay oddly, staring at each other, savoring the sensations that were rippling through each other's body.

  Still not moving, his big body braced not to lie heavily on hers, Dominic kissed her with great tenderness, and then rhythmically he began to move within her, sharpening the keen edge of passion that pierced their bodies. Wanting desperately to prolong the sweetness of their mating, Dominic tried frantically to refuse the demands of his body, his features twisted by the effort it took not to seek that final pinnacle of pleasure.

  Arms wrapped around him, her tongue hungrily exploring his mouth, Melissa could feel his restraint, could hear his labored breathing, and it heightened her own arousal, her hips heaving upward to meet the downward plunge of his. He felt huge as he lanced into her and she took a lover's pride in his size and strength, her hands sliding to his driving buttocks to clench that firm flesh and spur him onward. With every stroke he took, delving deeper within her, the fiery, demanding ache that raged in her loins became more intense, more ravenous, until she was wantonly twisting beneath him, soft moans of pleasure and entreaty mingling together as her own passion-maddened movements brought them closer to that longed-for peak of fulfillment. This exquisite torture could not last, and suddenly, like the rush of a storm-swollen river, ecstasy burst through her straining body, making her cry out with the joy.

  Her cry shattered what little remained of his control and Dominic shuddered as his body was racked by the fierce momentum of his own release. With passion slaked, they clung to each other as contentment replaced the elemental forces that had driven them so mercilessly only moments before.

  For a long time they lay locked together, neither one wanting to break the contact between them, neither one wanting to face the difficulties that still confronted them. Though desire had been sated, the need to touch and caress still remained. Lazily, Dominic kissed her, inordinately grateful for whatever fate had brought her into his life. And when she would have moved, would have displaced his weight, he captured her arms above her head, and nuzzling her neck, muttered, "No. I want you again. Can't you feel me stirring inside you, feel me responding to your satin warmth?"

  Vibrantly aware of his hardening body, Melissa smiled languorously, her nipples tingling, her body surging to life once more. Her eyes bright with mischief and rising passion, she murmured, "You mean you aren't going to send me from your bed?"

  Already lost in the conflagration that was flaming through his body, Dominic thrust possessively into her and swore thickly, "Oh, Jesus! Never!"

  Chapter 22

  The sun was high in the sky when Melissa awoke the next morning, and as she glanced around her bedchamber, she wondered if she had imagined last night, if her fevered longings had taken the form of a particularly lifelike dream. Despairingly she buried her head in her pillow and instantly became aware of some things of vital interest: she was stark naked, and she was blushingly conscious of a faint soreness between her legs, of a tenderness in her breasts that could not have been brought on by a mere dream—no matter how real it might have seemed!

  An ecstatic smile spread across her face as she turned and stretched like a well-fed cat. For whatever reasons, Dominic had come to her last night and in the ensuing hours he had made it quite, quite clear that he was a man of astounding sensual appetite. Furthermore, during those long, exciting hours in his arms she had learned to her delight and a little embarrassment that she possessed a hunger as great as his own and that she was becoming more than addicted to his lovemaking.

  Dreamily she considered last night, remembering how fiercely he had claimed her body time and again, remembering how he had looked when he had first come naked into her room, recalling the width of his muscled chest, the narrowness of his waist and the swollen, upthrusting size of his...

  A hot blush burned in her cheeks, and deciding that she was turning into a most depraved, lascivious creature, she bounded from her bed, suddenly eager to see her husband.

  Ringing for her maid, she dragged on a lace-trimmed robe and waited impatiently for Anna's appearance, wondering where Dominic was, wondering why he had put her back into her own bed.

  Anna stuck her head inside the room and flashed Melissa a smile. "Good morning, madam. Your bath is almost ready; the master ordered it for you before he went for his ride. He said that he was certain that you would want one immediately upon waking."

  There was a knowing gleam in Anna's dark eyes that flustered Melissa, but nodding, she replied, "Thank you, Anna. I do want a bath, and could you have some chocolate and a hot bun brought up?"

  After last night, everything seemed mundane to Melissa, and though the bath was fragrant and refreshing, her thoughts kept straying to Dominic as she speculated on what it would be like to share a bath with him, to soap his wet body, to feel him come to life under her hands....

  If Anna noticed that her mistress seemed distracted this morning, she made no comment, cheerfully helping her to dress and arranging the thick, shiny hair into artless curls. Having finished her chocolate and eaten the freshly baked bun, Melissa fiddled in her room for a few moments, suddenly attacked by a bout of paralyzing shyness.

  She had been without shame last night, had acted the part of a wanton in her husband's arms, but she had awakened alone in her own bed and she wondered with growing dismay if she had dissatisfied Dominic in some way. Had she disgusted him by her abandoned ways? Was that the reason he had returned her to her bed?

  Nibbling her lower lip, she paced the confines of her room, all the old mistrust and uncertainties rising up to dim her happy spirits. But though Melissa was conscious of the troubles that lay between them, she was no longer willing to blindly believe that Dominic was the philandering husband he appeared.

  She had experienced no great insight during the night, but there was the insistent notion in her brain that stubbornly refused to go away, no matter how silly it might seem to be. Dominic had been her only lover, and she had nothing else on which to base her belief, but she could not accept the idea that he could make such tender love to her, could hold her in his arms so tightly and kiss her so warmly, if he wwas having an affair with Deborah Bowden. If it was Deborah whom he wanted, why bother with her? Why seek her out and why deny that there was anything between Deborah and him? The law, Melissa acknowledged slowly, was all on his side—she was his wife, he legally had complete control of her life, was able to do as he pleased, so why the pretense of wanting her?

  It didn't make sense. She had told him that they would each seek their own pleasures, and he had been infuriated—was it because he was not guilty of the sins she had laid at his door?

  Of course, there were Uncle Josh's comments... and there was Latimer's letter to her.... And she couldn't forget the morning she had found Dominic with his arms about Deborah.... And then, she admitted with a sinking feeling, there had been his actions just the other night at their dinner party....

  Melissa shook her head angrily. No. She was not going to believe that he could be so dastardly as to make love to her when it was really another woman he wanted. Especially since he seemed so honorable and noble in all other aspects.

  A frown creasing her forehead, she stared off into space, common sense warring with the dictates of her heart. Was his lovemaking last night really proof of anything? Wouldn't a practiced womanizer act just as he had? Wasn't it true that men felt things differently than women? That a man could make love to many women, driven by nothing more than common lust? While a woman... A woman would give herself only to the man she loved.

  What a silly notion! If a man could make love to many women without love, why should it be any different for a woman? It was an intriguing thought, but it didn't help resolve the conflict in her mind.

  Despite the misgivings that raged in her breast, Melissa refused to return to her old belief that Dominic was a blackguard and a cheat. Except when it came to women, he had always acted in
a considerate and generous manner, and though there were incidents that gave Melissa pause, she examined the evidence against him.

  Josh. Her eyes narrowed, she thought about Uncle Josh's earlier statements about Dominic and dwelt quite a long time on the unsettling fact that Josh, who loved her and cared for her, had been perfectly happy, it seemed, to marry her off to a young man he had freely stigmatized as a rake. Somehow that idea didn't ring as true as it once had to Melissa. Could Josh have painted Dominic far darker than he was in the hopes that she would become interested in him? Now that was more than possible, Melissa thought with a snort, remembering how eager Josh had been to get her married.

  Latimer. Melissa shrugged. Latimer's letter could be dismissed; she had never placed much faith in his words anyway. He had proved himself everything that Dominic was not, and she was astute enough to realize that since he had failed in his objective to make her his mistress, spite alone might have motivated his ugly accusations. Might have.

  And as for Lady Bowden... Melissa scowled. As for the brazen Lady Bowden, she had always been of the opinion that the older woman was a forward piece. Hadn't Deborah been fawning over first one eligible man and then another since she had first arrived in the neighborhood? Why, she had even cast eyes at Zachary and Zachary didn't seem to mind in the least if the besotted looks he sent her way were any indication. Granted, her overtures had not been as flagrant as they had been with Dominic, but still—.

  Melissa smiled faintly. Of course, she hadn't proved anything conclusive; she had merely looked at things from a different perspective. And some things that should have occurred to her sooner slowly unraveled in her brain.