Brand stepped out of them, toeing off his stockings as he did so until he was completely naked. Kate pressed herself to him, feeling the scorching length of him pressed against her. Her hands ran up his back and down again then clenched his tight buttocks in her hands and pulled him against her. For a moment, they stood locked in their embrace, their flesh merging like hot lava, becoming one.
Brand urged her back toward the bed, but Kate shook her head and turned him about. “My turn, she whispered, urging him down with a hand on his chest.
Brand raised an arrogant brow but acquiesced, lying back on the bed, raising his arms behind his head, accentuating the strength of his biceps and chest. For a moment Kate merely stood looking down at him, her eyes caressing every dip and hollow of his long body. His naked body was glorious, but then, she had known it would be. Huge and powerfully built. Every muscle was defined, the ridges of his hard stomach clenched tightly, his thighs bulged. His arousal was magnificent, lying hard and thick against his belly.
Reaching out, Kate ran a finger down the rampant length, feeling it jump and twitch beneath her caress.
“Kate,” Brand moaned reaching out to her, urging her to join him. He couldn’t believe the enjoyment it was giving him to merely have her gaze upon him, to see the pleasure she took from looking at him. Though he had found satisfaction with her the previous evening, he had been focused on pleasuring her, on seeking her fulfillment. Tonight he wanted to share that with her, to climb together to the peaks of ecstasy.
Kate took his hand but instead of lying down beside him, she startled Brand by straddling his hips. Her wet, scalding core pressed against his erection as she rubbed against him drawing a simultaneous groan from them both. He wrapped his hands about her waist with the intent of rolling her beneath him, but as if she read his mind, Kate shook her head with a wicked smile.
“My turn,” she repeated in a breathless whisper, taking his hands one by one and returning them to a position tucked beneath his head before commanding, “Stay.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Fascinated, Brand let her have her way wondering what she was about. He should have known that when Kate surprised him at every turn, their experiences in the bedchamber would be no different. She met him as an equal, giving as good as she got. She didn’t lie supplicant yet didn’t proceed with the intent of a paid courtesan. She bent to kiss him, her soft lips leisurely exploring his, her tongue probing briefly before retreating to allow her lips to nudge and savor.
Kate gave to share the power of their mutual desire, received to revel in the same. Never had he known a woman like her. One who wanted nothing more than to share in the wonder of their lovemaking, who wanted to be an active participant.
Brand lifted his head to kiss her back and Kate drew away with a grin before running her lips across his jaw and down his neck. Brand huffed, well, perhaps not an equal participant just yet. Bracing her weight against his biceps, Kate raked her teeth over the hard muscles of his shoulder there, driving logical thought from his mind, before her tongue darted out into the hollow of his throat.
She must have heard the low grumble that rose within him because Brand could feel her smile against his flesh before her kisses trailed lower over his chest, his nipples. His body was already shaking with need. He wanted to throw her beneath him and plunge into the very core of her, drown himself in her luscious body. Her hair caressed his shoulder, her breasts brushed against his abdomen. Her hard nipples rasped across him sending a shudder of want through him.
Still she denied him, pushing him back against the pillows when he made to rise.
It wasn’t until her teeth dragged across the lower edge of his hips and Kate shifted her body downward until she was sitting across his thighs that Brand had any inkling of what Kate intended. Her lips moved slowly downward, hands pressed against his chest as if she could hold him there. He felt her fingers curl against him, heard her hum of pleasure and inhaled in expectation.
He wasn’t disappointed when a moment later, her soft lips brushed over his hard member. Like a whisper, they traveled the turgid length, the breath of a caress stringing his body taut. Slowly then, her tongue dragged lightly back up the length and Brand couldn’t control the harsh moan that escaped him. Her tongue circled the broad head slowly, and again once more. Unable to help himself, Brand reached down to caress her hair. He was strung tight, hard and throbbing. If she ceased her ministrations at that moment, he would have been happy to release her and possess her body with his own. But she did not.
Instead, Kate parted her lips drawing the top of his member between them. Brand’s breath caught and held as her tongue circled once more before she drew him deeper and began to suckle. A harsh roar escaped him and Brand clutched her hair, not to encourage her further but to draw her away. But she shook her head and brushed his hands away, the motion rotating her mouth about him. Brand knew he could take no more. Her touch excited him too much, he wanted her too much.
“Enough, Kate. My turn now,” he whispered harshly.
Curiously, Kate lifted her head, licking her lips in a fashion that had Brand rolling his eyes and begging for mercy. “Vixen,” he growled, bringing a smile to her face.
“You like that?” she whispered as he lifted her and turned to put her under his heavy body.
“Too much.” He brushed her hair away from her face. Bending his head, he kissed her ravenously, plunging his tongue deeply into the recesses of her mouth before retreating to probe more tenderly. Resting his weight on one arm, Brand used his free hand to explore her body, caressing her breasts, rolling her nipple between his fingers. Even as she moaned excitedly, still she took part in their love play, caressing with her hands, running her legs over his.
He ran his hand over her firm stomach and down between her legs, urging her to part them for him. Skimming his fingers up her thigh, he sought the source of heat and moisture between them. He opened her, spreading her before sliding a finger into the torrid depths that wept so beautifully for him. Her hips lifted, begging him to come deeper and Brand obliged. Wedging another digit along with the first, he pushed into her feeling the soft walls clenched around him.
With a gasp and a whimper, Kate thrust up against his hand but Brand withdrew slowly before thrusting inward again. Curling his fingers inside her, Brand traced his thumb around the nub that held the key to her ultimate surrender, watching her face, gauging her feelings as he stroked and probed. He circled around the sensitive flesh lightly, wringing moans of excitement from Kate as she lifted her hips over and over urging him to hurry. Brand, however, had no intentions of doing so; he meant to savor every moment to the fullest.
Kate opened her eyes to meet his. Her green eyes were hazy and unfocused, urgent. “Brand, please,” she panted as if she had suddenly divined his intent. With a smile, Brand ducked his head and captured a nipple between his teeth, drawing it into his mouth. He welcomed her cry of rapture as she wrapped her arms around his head and cradled him to her.
Brand stroked and suckled, wringing cry after cry from Kate as he felt her body tense and arch against him. Her legs became restless then stiffened as her breathing turned from a deep pant to shallow gasps before she bit her lip, holding her breath.
Her body bowed beneath him with a strangled cry.
“Brand!”
Kate felt her release break and shatter sending waves of delight through every nerve ending. Sweet, aching pleasure throbbed at her core and Kate knew she should feel replete, but instead the aching was building, begging for more. She wanted Brand. She wanted that big, beautiful body over and within her. She wanted to feel that hard length that throbbed against her thigh pulsating inside her.
“Please, Brand,” she begged softly, her voice husky with need. “I want you so badly.”
A shudder ran through him at her words and Brand levered himself over her, pressing her down into the soft mattress before he swore and rolled to the side. Closing her eyes, Kate clenched the sheets in her fists,
imagining him rolling the condom over his extraordinary length. Imagining his hand running down over the top of it, she felt her belly quiver in anticipation.
Quickly Brand was back, nudging her thighs far apart so that he could settle his massive body between them. Cradling her head between his forearms, Brand bent his head kissing Kate tenderly but Kate would have none of it. Greedily, she grabbed his shoulders and drew him down to her, hearing his chuckle and giving him an impatient slap on the arm for his amusement. “Please, Brand. Don’t make me wait!”
“You think you’re the only one who wants this, my darling?” he whispered. “I have wanted this moment from the instant I saw you. I want your legs wrapped around me as your body welcomes me. I want your arms around me as I take you. I want your lips touching mine when you find paradise so that I might taste the moment in your kiss.”
It might have been the most romantic thing she’d ever heard a man say, but all Kate wanted was for Brand to get on with the taking. Spreading her thighs even wider, she wrapped her long legs around his hips and surged her hips upward even as she pulled him down. Brand found her entrance and nudged inside, even that nominal possession wrenching a deep moan from both of them. Withdrawing, Brand thrust more fully gaining deeper purchase, before repeating the process in slow steps that had Kate panting, tensing before the possession was even complete.
Backing away one last time, Brand drove forward, planting himself to the hilt within Kate’s scorching depths. So wondrous was that moment, that he held himself there for a moment savoring the feel of her quivering flesh surrounding him tightly. Feeling his control begin to slip, Brand wiped the sweat from his brow and began to move steadily within her haven of decadent pleasure. He plunged rhythmically into her as she locked her body around him, her breath panting in his ear with unconscious encouragement and endearments.
Her nails raked his back and Brand nearly lost himself not to his own pleasure but to hers. Her satisfaction in their lovemaking, her joy was almost enough to drive him over the edge, but Brand didn’t intend to go alone. Increasing his pace, Brand lifted Kate’s leg until it was pressed to her chest, the change of angle allowing him to drive more deeply inside her. Over and over he plunged into her welcoming body, feeling her body clench and contract around him until she threw back her head crying out his name.
He felt her release approaching and captured her lips, swallowing her throaty cry of surrender as it washed over her. She throbbed around him, pulling him deeper until Brand let go with a guttural cry of surrender and gave himself completely to her. He thrust again and again until every last ounce of ecstasy was wrung from them both.
The delirium of her thrilling orgasm was still thrumming in Kate when Brand lifted his heavy body off her and rolled to the side, drawing her with him until she was curled by his side. None of the adjectives she had used in anticipation of this moment had been enough to suffice for the sheer magnitude of the experience. She’d lost everything to him, her body, her mind, her heart.
Everything was his.
What she hadn’t understood was that in describing the physical between them, anticipating the invasion of his body, she hadn’t anticipated the emotional toll that possession would take on her. She’d never understood what making love when one was truly in love meant. It was as if she opened her soul to Brand and had gotten a glimpse at his in the process. It had been heavenly.
With a blissful smile, Kate snuggled into Brand’s arms. She’d done the right thing in refusing to leave with David. There was nothing in the world, past or present, that could provide all that Brand gave her. Nothing that could give her contentment not only of the body, but of the mind as well.
Brand wrapped his arms around Kate’s naked body as she nestled in his embrace. What he had just shared with her had been extraordinary. True sharing that left Brand feeling humble, yet powerful. Content and complete in a way he had never imagined.
In his lifetime, each sexual encounter he’d had with a woman had come with an expectation. Each had wanted something from him, be it coin or status. Kate wanted nothing from him beyond that moment. He couldn’t sense any devious intent from her. She didn’t even want his patronage.
She wanted him, Brandon Ryder. Desired him as the man he was and, perhaps, loved him for the man he was. He could think of nothing he’d longed for in his life more powerful than that.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Hyde Park
Near Belgrave Square
London, England
August 1876
The weeks that followed were a revelation to them both. The shackles that had long chained Harrowby into the staid proper earl he was, had suddenly been cut away, leaving behind a man with unbound enthusiasm for life and for Kate.
Where Kate had once been the aggressor in their particular chase, she found their positions reversed. Brand had become the hunter and she the prey. He stalked her through dark hallways drawing her into alcoves and closets for brief, passionate interludes that always left them hungry for more. They spent long nights in bed finding new pinnacles of ecstasy that neither of them had thought possible until daylight would threaten and Kate would tumble from his bed, rumpled and tousled, to catch a few hours of sleep before Nathan awoke.
As a pair, they whiled away the days with Nathan and, more often, Susan as the Ryder family grew together. Each day was filled with new activity, whether they punted the Thames, fished or picnicked. Both Nathan and Susan learned how to swim during those long, hot summer days.
With Susan spending more and more time with her son, Kate found herself free to spend more time with Brand. Sometimes they might walk together in the woods behind Ramble House but often they might be found together in Brand’s study. Kate would often curl up on the couch reading or studying scientific journals regarding present day innovations in the treatment of disease while Brand worked or wrote, but sometimes she would help him with his business logs and accounting.
Often Kate was physically restless. It bothered Kate that, after years of activity, she felt sluggish and soft. She’d finally asked Brand to let her take his scull out to combat the laziness and had found a new love in the sport. In those quiet hours out on the river, however, Kate found time to reflect on her parents, her home. Often she would second-guess her choices, wondering if she had made the right decision. Each time, she would arrive back at the dock to find Brand waiting for her and it would all become clear.
Every day Kate fell more in love with Brand. Though he had always been a man to admire, his release from the boundaries that had ruled him had set free a man possessed of amazing wit, undeniable intelligence and a razor-sharp tongue when he chose to employ it in conversation that would be thoroughly unacceptable in London’s drawing rooms.
He spoke his thoughts against many of the policies the government enacted. No longer fearing a social backlash, Brand packed them all up to return to London with hopes of arguing for the passing of the Royal Commission on the Factory Acts. It was a bill that would make school attendance compulsory for children in the hopes of ending problems in child labor. Kate was proud of him for supporting the measure.
Freed from the expectations of his mother, Harrowby looked upon London with more interest, taking Kate and Nathan around to sites that weren’t considered quite ‘the thing’ but were of interest nonetheless. As for Susan, a return to Town gave her the opportunity to rekindle old friendships and to re-enter Society as she saw fit.
Kate couldn’t have been more impressed by Brand as he came into his own. They were a perfect complement for one another, she thought. Where her light-hearted approach to life helped soften Brand’s aristocratic starchiness, that quality in him went a long way in taming Kate’s moments of capriciousness, maturing her into a woman she thought her parents would be proud of.
She longed to be able to shout her love for him from the mountaintops. But of course, she could not. Though she was certain that everyone in the household from Susan down to the lowest scullery maid was awa
re of their affair, they did their best to temper their affections in Nathan’s presence. Brand didn’t want the boy to question the propriety of it, though sometimes Kate suspected that Brand was uncertain where their relationship might go and didn’t want Nathan offering solutions that Brand wasn’t prepared to fulfill.
He cared for her, Kate knew. His affection was boundless, his desire unmistakable. Brand appreciated her mind as well, asking her opinions on both his business and his writing. But when the words she had spoken so rashly were never repeated, Kate couldn’t help but wonder if the love she had for Brand was standing sadly alone.
“Isn’t it interesting that we haven’t gotten so much as one raised eyebrow from anyone in this house yet? I mean I can see why they wouldn’t try it with you, but I haven’t heard one thing about someone who had it from somebody about something they heard.” Kate said one afternoon as they were sitting on the bank of the Serpentine in Hyde Park while Nathan practiced casting with a new lure Brand had bought for him the previous day.
“Actually, I rather think it’s odd that that there’s been no gossip in the house,” Brand told her as he made some notes for his next story in a little notebook he’d taken to carrying around with him.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Kate responded with a frown. “Isn’t that what I just said?”
“You said ‘interesting’,” he corrected.
“Same thing,” Kate said then gave a little smile. “A Minnesota thing, I guess. I wish I could take you there someday, Brand.”
“Into the wilds of America?” he asked with a playful shudder. “Thank you but no.”
Kate shrugged. The way her home state was in 1876, she might not want to visit there either. Although she had a momentary Minnesota-girl thrill at the thought of running across Laura Ingalls and seeing how ‘Little House on the Prairie’ actually was, Kate also had vivid imaginings of rogue Indians and winter storms before the advent of central heat… or snowplows run through her mind. “Maybe you’re right.”
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