Persuading Prudence

by Liz Cole

  Prudence was unprepared for the warmth of affection that filled her chest. She moved away from him and lay on her back. She couldn’t fall in love with him any more than she could marry him. To do so would bring her nothing but heartache. He didn’t love her, he probably never would. No, probably made it sound like there was hope for a life to which she was never destined to have. She didn’t understand why Kolton was pursuing her like he was. She doubted their first time in Bath had created a child. So why wasn’t he relieved when she turned down his proposal? Why did he insist on trapping himself in a loveless marriage when she had given him a perfectly good plan of escape? And why did the fact that he was so determined to marry her make her heart flutter despite knowing marriage between them could be disastrous?

  Her eyelids grew heavy as she pondered the situation. As sleep wove its silky web around her, one thought drifted through her mind: all that had occurred tonight, the passion, the pleasure, stemmed from the night before and the one and only wantonly reckless act she had ever committed – tossing caution, and her nightgown, aside and deciding to sleep naked in her bed.

  Prudence lay in a lush, green field. A hot breeze tickled her neck and brushed lightly over her naked body.

  Naked?

  Since when did she loll about in the grass, much less unclothed? Prudence lifted her lids and attempted to focus her bleary eyes to study her surroundings. A lamp burned softly beside the bed in a room that in no way resembled her bedroom in London. From what she could tell, the room was much bigger, but that was about all she could make out with the heavy drapes blocking the morning light.

  Warm breath caressed her neck and she turned her head to stare into a set of rich brown eyes framed by the kind of dark, thick lashes most women would sell their sweet old, grey-haired granny to possess.

  “Hello there, my sleeping beauty,” said the deep masculine voice belonging to owner of those wickedly handsome eyes.

  “Kolton?” she whispered, her voice still raspy from sleep.

  Kolton propped himself on his elbow next to her. “Yes, love. Did you know you look like an angel when you sleep?” Prudence pulled a face and he chuckled. “Yes, it sounds cliché, but it is true. It is almost impossible to believe you are the same passionate creature I held in my arms but a few hours ago.”

  “You are trying to seduce me with words again to sweet-talk me into marrying you,” she stated flatly.

  “Ah, if it were only that easy, my dear Pru; but, alas, it is not, and I will not even try. Unless, that is, it’s working; in which case, I might reconsider.” He waggled his brows at her, his eyes twinkled, his lips parted in one of his well practiced, heart melting smiles.

  Oooh! He didn’t play fair. “No, I agree. It would be too easy for you if I did, and I wouldn’t believe you in any case.”

  His eyes rounded in mock horror and he placed a hand over his heart. “You wound me, my lady.” His face took on a more serious, dissecting expression. “You really don’t realize how beautiful you are, do you, Pru?”

  Prudence gave an unladylike snort. “If that were truly the case, I would not have remained a wallflower my entire season and the seven years since. Why do you insist that I am attractive when we both know I am not?”

  “And why do you insist on hiding your beauty behind drab dresses, a hideous hairstyle, and spectacles?”

  “I don’t hide,” she sputtered. “Loose dresses hide my less than favorable curves, my hairstyle is easy to care for, and if I do not wear my spectacles I can never remember where I left them last.” Well it was mostly true, but she didn’t want to dig deeper into the implications of the thought.

  “Your dresses only serve to make you appear fat, your serviceable hairstyle makes your features look harsh, and you could find a way to keep track of your spectacles if you truly desired. No,” he said, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, “you are hiding from something. It makes me curious to know why.”

  “I believe, my lord, that curiosity is known to have killed the cat,” she quipped primly. “I have nothing to hide, or to hide from.”

  “Yes, and cats have nine lives. Satisfying their curiosity always brings them back. The fact is, whether intentional or not, you have been doing your best to play down how attractive you are and I, for one, believe you should stop.”

  “Another dictate for me to follow blindly, my lord?” she challenged.

  “No, just common sense, m’dear. After all, how many sane people take a rose and bury it in the sand? An intelligent person would put it on display for all to admire.” He cupped her chin, brushing her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.

  “Hmph. More pretty words,” she grumbled.

  He sighed. “I see it is going to be my job to convince you of the truth. I believe,” he continued, flashing another devastating smile, the mischievous twinkle back in his eye, “I will start with showing you how desirable you are.” He lowered his head and claimed her lips with his.

  Prudence wanted to push him away – she really did – but, as she seemed to do every time he kissed her, she melted into a puddle of liquid desire the moment his lips touched hers. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his, drinking in the sensation of his naked flesh against hers.

  Kolton slid his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss while pressing his stiff erection against her belly.

  “Can you deny I want you?” he demanded softly, moving his hips against her suggestively as his mouth left hers to nibble at her neck.

  “Well, it would be difficult to deny you obviously want sex,” she stated dryly.

  “Damn it, Pru,” he ground out, looking her in the eye with an annoyed expression. “I want you. Do you think I could be this hard with so little effort if I were not attracted to you?”

  Prudence looked at him and blinked. “I don’t know. Could you?”

  ***

  The woman was going to drive him to an early grave! “No, I couldn’t. Well,” he amended rolling his eyes skyward, “I might be able to force some kind of response if I really worked at it, but I don’t imagine it would be easy.”

  “Oh.”

  “And I wouldn’t wake you up to initiate an intimate encounter, that’s for certain.”

  “Oh,” she repeated apparently at a loss for words for once.

  “Now, where was I? Oh, yes, right here.” He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to her neck once again, licking and nibbling at her flesh.

  “Oh my. That feels nice, Kolton,” she gasped.

  “Mmm, yes, it does,” he drawled, grinding his erection against her soft belly. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, and situated her so her legs straddled his hips.

  Sweet Lord, she is magnificent!

  With her hair in rioting waves cascading over her shoulders and down her back, her face languid and flushed with desire, Prudence was sex personified. Kolton’s eyes devoured the picture she presented; her breasts heavy and full, nipples boldly peeking through her magnificent mane, her legs parted, giving a tantalizing glimpse of her moist center as her beautiful bottom rested on his upper thighs.

  The situation felt unreal, as if this woman atop him were not really Prudence, but a goddess who had taken her place. How could he have known her, lived in the same house with her for so many years, and never caught the faintest glimpse of the vivacious creature living beneath the drab façade she’d erected?

  Perhaps he sensed it the other night when he’d stumbled into her room and climbed into her bed. Maybe fate decided he should discover, not just her beauty, but the other qualities he found so attractive: such as her humor, her sometimes sarcastic wit, her poise, and intelligence, only when he was ready to appreciate them.

  Her first season, he had been six-and-twenty, reckless and selfish as hell. There was no way he could have valued more than her beauty. But now, at four-and-thirty, as a more mature, discerning, and knowledgeable man of society and what
it had to offer, he knew Prudence was a rare find. She knew how to speak her mind, and she was creative and smart. She would make a perfect match for him, a continued source of challenge that would keep him on his toes.

  She ran a soft hand down his smooth chest, tracing the hills and valleys of muscle she found there. “You have a strange look on your face, my lord. What is brewing in that wicked mind of yours?”

  “Strange look?” he said lifting a brow. “What kind of strange look?”

  “The same look you wear when cook serves your favorite desert: dreamy and excited at the same time,” she replied tracing his navel with her fingertip.

  “I was just imagining waking every morning with you beside me, having your body near me.”

  Prudence gave a weary sigh. “Kolton, I have told you—”

  “Atop me, beneath me, on your knees in front of me, bent over the bed as I take you from behind,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

  “Lord Ravensbrook!” she all but shouted in indignant surprise.

  “What? You don’t like the idea? How disappointing.”

  “It is not that I…that is, the idea has its…Oh, bother! I still have not agreed to marry you and you insist on planning our future together,” she huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Oh, now, don’t hide those beautiful breasts of yours,” he insisted tugging her arms away and eliciting an unladylike grunt of disgust from the woman destined to be his future wife.

  He hissed in a breath as her arms fell away and her hand brushed his arousal.

  “Did I hurt you?” Her disgruntled expression gave way immediately to concern.

  “Oh no, love, just the opposite, in fact.” To prove his point, he took her hand and groaned as he placed it on his cock and encouraged her to caress him.

  Her eyes grew wide as she stared down at his member. “My goodness,” she breathed tracing the head and trailing her fingers over the now throbbing length. “I have never felt skin so soft.” She wrapped her fingers around him, not quite able to touch her middle finger to her thumb. “I cannot think how this was able to fit inside me without splitting me in two.”

  “Nature provides for a great many things. Ah, yes, that’s good. Keep stroking it just like that.” He closed his eyes and ran his hands up and down her thighs with appreciation.

  “You like it when I touch you with my hand?” she asked coyly.

  He cracked open one eye and studied her a moment before closing it again. “With your hand, your mouth, your cun—”

  “My mouth?” she exclaimed in shock. “Women do that?”

  He lifted his head and looked at her. He crossed his eyes briefly then grinned devilishly. She giggled, a sound he’d never heard from her before. It was soft and feminine and wave of tenderness swelled in his chest, catching him off guard.

  “Did you not enjoy it yourself when I used my mouth between your legs?” he reminded her. “Or was it so unexceptional that you have forgotten?”

  Prudence’s face flushed crimson. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”

  “Shocking perhaps, but pleasurable all the same?” he teased.

  “I believe you know the answer to that, so I will not encourage your vanity.”

  “You do not have to pleasure me in that manner, if the idea displeases you.” He fervently hoped it did not.

  “But, you would enjoy it if I did?” she asked uncertainly.

  His cock leapt with hope. “I believe I would enjoy having you explore that avenue of lovemaking, yes.” He crossed his hands behind his head casually and studied her reaction.

  A curious frown puckered her brows as she shifted down so she could better access him. She cradled his arousal in both hands and, oh so slowly, lowered her head. Kolton closed his eyes as her hot breath tickled his cock, his balls tightening in anticipation.

  ***

  Prudence took the time to study the part of the earl’s body that had brought her so much pleasure. She thought it odd looking if she were to be completely honest. It was long, thick, and hard with a curiously spongy, mushroom shaped tip. She lowered her head and ran her tongue along the pronounced veins rippling its length and heard Kolton give a sharp intake of breath. Emboldened, she ran the flat of her tongue up his staff. He tasted different than she expected, both salty and musky. She lapped at him, covering the entirety of his organ, leaving only his tip unexplored, before she placed a wet kiss at the top.

  He groaned loudly. She looked up to see him watching her, his eyes fiery with lust, his expression tight as his jaw clenched repeatedly. She pulled back, embarrassment burning her cheeks. Did the fact she enjoyed exploring him with her hands and mouth make her a shameless wanton? Perhaps, but he had seemed to be enjoying her ministrations. Had she done something wrong or did his expression mean he liked what she was doing?

  “Am I doing it correctly?”

  Kolton let out a gust of air and laughed breathlessly. “You certainly are not doing anything wrong,” he replied hoarsely.

  “Perhaps you could tell me what you would like that I might please you further?” she asked hesitantly.

  He propped himself up on his elbows, his eyes glowing with desire. “You could take it into your mouth,” he suggested, his voice far from steady.

  “Then what should I do?” The thought was exciting, but she didn’t want to do anything wrong and spoil what he was obviously enjoying.

  “Do anything you want,” he replied quickly, nearly tripping over his words. “I only ask that you be careful with your teeth. That is a very sensitive part of a man’s body.”

  “O-Oh, of course,” she stammered and felt heat suffuse her face.

  She lowered her head and took the tip into her mouth, swirling her tongue over its surface. She traced the slit she found there and noticed a slightly bitter, salty taste. It wasn’t bad: as a matter of fact she liked it, and it made her wonder what she tasted like to him.

  Kolton let out another deep groan as she took more of him in her mouth and sucked lightly. She glanced up. His head was thrown back and his face was awash with an expression she could only classify as ecstasy. Prudence felt a sudden surge of excitement, which sent an instant spike of heat knifing through her belly to pool hotly between her legs. She was in control; she had the power to make his breathing come faster and it was she that made him groan with pleasure. The notion gave her a heady feeling and excited her beyond measure.

  She paused a moment, eliciting a disappointed sigh from him, and wrapped her hand around his length. She began to stroke him before she took the head back into her mouth and suckled strongly.

  ***

  Kolton gave a strangled moan and reached out, pulling her hair over one shoulder, enabling him to see her as she took more and more of him into her mouth while she continued the movement of her hand. Her inexperience only heightened his excitement. He placed his hand on her head and showed her how to move it up and down in time with her stroking. She picked up the rhythm quickly. He removed his hand and propped himself up again on his elbows.

  She continued suckling his staff, pausing now and then to run her tongue along the underside of the head. It didn’t take long for his heart to begin racing and his breathing to grow short and ragged.

  His balls drew close to his body, and he felt his approaching orgasm coming quickly. “You need to stop now, sweetheart,” he said, placing a staying hand on her head.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked timidly.

  When she looked up at him, her wide eyes both innocent and a bit fearful, her hand still clutching his cock, hair falling in tumbling disarray over one shoulder, Kolton thought he might disgrace himself right then.

  “No, love,” he reassured her. “It is just that I am close, and I do not wish to finish in your mouth. I would much rather be inside you.”

  “Oh,” she said, releasing him and moving to lie beside him.

  “No,” he said grabbing her around the waist before she could lie down, and moved her so she once again s
traddled his hips. “I want to watch you while we make love. I want to see your glorious body move against mine and perhaps suckle your breasts while you stroke me with your wonderfully tight passage.”

  Prudence’s eyes grew round, and for a moment he thought he might have said too much and frightened her. She was self-conscious about her body, he knew, but he was telling the truth when he told her over and over she was beautiful.

  He positioned her over his cock relieved, and exceedingly aroused, when she took hold of his member and guided it into her. She sank down, engulfing his shaft in her wet heat, and moaned with pleasure.

  “Yes.” Kolton’s eyes rolled back in his head. His lids drifted shut and he fell back against the pillows with a huge sigh.

  “Mmm. You feel so good, Kolton,” she said and began rolling her hips experimentally, her inner muscles rippling around his cock.

  His breathing increased with the pace of her undulating hips. He gripped her around the waist and guided her up and down on his shaft as she continued moving in little circles with each stroke. The sensation was exquisite.

  Suddenly she stopped and began grinding herself against him, whimpering as she rocked her hips faster and faster. Kolton lay still, pushing against her to increase the friction she was seeking.

  She threw back her head, hair flying about her shoulders like an ebony cloud, her whimpers giving way to sharp cries of abandonment and pleasure. He’d never seen a more wondrous sight – her face flushed with desire, lips swollen from sucking his cock, her full breasts jiggling with her movements, and the fiercely arousing view of their joined bodies.

  Lust gripped him tightly as he watched their coupling, his release threatening to overwhelm him. Kolton fought the urge to flip her over and slam into her with all his strength. He wanted to watch her as she climaxed.

  “Let go, Pru. Come for me. Come for me now!” he growled.

  She cried out and arched her back, her hips moving at a frantic pace. Her inner muscles rippled and spasmed as she lost herself in pleasure.

  “Yes! Oh, God, yes, Pru!” he bellowed as he held her still and pummeled her from below, his orgasm crashing over him with blinding force.