Seduced

by Jess Michaels

  He drew back from her at last, looking at her almost nudity, and smiled. “Better than I pictured. And I have a vivid imagination, Letitia.”

  “Will you do the same?” she asked.

  His eyebrows lifted. “Take off my clothing?”

  She jerked out a nod. She had seen his member a while ago, big and intimidating, but now she wanted it all.

  “If you remove those stockings and slippers, I shall be your slave,” he said, folding his arms.

  She swallowed hard as she pushed her slippers off, then bent to roll her stocking away. The final vestiges of her modesty were now gone and she stood before him naked.

  He muttered a curse salty enough that she blushed hot, but then he shrugged out of his jacket and went to work on the rest of his clothing. She stared unabashedly as he loosened his cravat then went to work on his buttons, revealing inch after inch of the toned flesh of his chest. When he tugged the shirt away, she caught her breath.

  He was hard as marble, with cut muscles all along his stomach that she longed to trace with her fingers or her mouth. A dusting of chest hair curled down his body, disappearing into the low-slung waist of his trousers.

  Already she could see the outline of his member beneath the flap, and recalled how it felt when he slid into her. There had been pain yes, but also a fullness, a completeness she had yearned for ever since her failed wedding night.

  Now she wanted that again. She would endure the unpleasantness for all the rest, for the connection this act would bring.

  He toed his boots off, loosened the trousers and pushed them down over his toned hips. When he straightened, he was now as naked as she was. She stared at the thrusting muscle of his member, jutting against his stomach like a weapon. She recalled The Ladies Book of Pleasures, which described it as a cock. That naughty book had also described many ways to please a man by touching it…or even sucking it.

  But at this moment, Letitia was too overwhelmed to do such a thing. Too frozen in her place by the heated tension in the room between them.

  "You look frightened,” Jack said, stepping toward her. He took her in his arms, pressing her close to him so that his cock nudged her naked belly.

  She nodded, unable to pretend when everything felt so raw and real. “I am afraid.”

  His expression softened before he kissed her gently. “I’ll be careful, Letitia,” he whispered. “I promise.”

  There was little choice but to believe him now. She was past the point of no return. And she was glad of it.

  He gathered her up, carrying her back to the bed where he laid her down. He covered her body with his, placing himself between her legs as he had in the parlor a short time ago. She tensed as he nudged her entrance with his cock, readying herself for the invasion and the pain that would accompany it.

  He didn’t push forward immediately, as she had expected him to do. He stared down at her, his face lined with tension.

  “It’s not going to hurt as much,” he said, cupping her cheek and smoothing his fingers there. “Though there may be some residual tenderness.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

  “God, I hope so, because my control is at its end and all I want to do is be inside of you, Letitia. To finish what I started.”

  She stared in wonder. She’d never thought waiting could be a chore for him. But then again, this was so very different from her limited experiences of the past. Being wanted, especially by a man like this who could have any woman he desired, it was a heady experience.

  One she intended to savor even if the best part was likely over.

  “Breathe,” he encouraged her as he positioned himself carefully and began to breech her.

  She tried to do as he asked, but as her body opened to accept him, she couldn’t help but tense against the pain surely about to come. But as he pressed forward, filling her to what felt like capacity and beyond, her eyes widened. He was correct that though there was some tenderness in this second claiming, the stinging pain of the first time he entered her was gone. He seated himself fully and then held still.

  “Better?” he asked, his tone broken.

  “Oh yes,” she murmured. “Just full, so very full.”

  He growled low in his throat at that answer. “I want to take you so badly, to claim you hard and fast. And I will, Letitia. At some point you will be taken so that you know you are mine. But right now I am fighting to be gentle, fighting to give you even more pleasure.”

  “A lady can feel pleasure even during this part?” she asked.

  He nodded. “So much. Let me show you.”

  He ground his hips down, circling them as he withdrew a fraction and then pushed forward. She jolted at the press of their pelvises, the way that action stimulated her just as his tongue had earlier.

  “Oh,” she gasped, lifting up toward him.

  “Just like that,” he encouraged, his voice strained. “Meet me halfway. Reach for what you want.”

  He moved again and she did as she had been told, only to be greeted by more fiery pleasure. She smiled up at him and he returned the grin. Then he began to move in earnest. His thrusts were steady and strong and she leapt to keep pace, pressing her hips in time to his, panting as the sensations deep within her began to grow for a second time that night. This time she knew what the reward would be, though. This time she ached for that sweet, explosive release that she could feel building in her womb, spreading through her body, cresting until she cried out, her hips jolting wildly as pleasure rocked her.

  He grunted as his thrusts increased, dragging her faster and harder through that release until she flopped back, panting with the exertion, shaking out of control. Only then did he withdraw, and she watched in fascination as his neck strained, his face twisted and his essence burst free.

  He collapsed down next to her on the bed, his face buried in the pillows, his bare, muscular arm flopped over her belly with a casual intimacy that warmed her as much as their writhing bodies had. She placed one hand on that arm and let out a heavy sigh as her boneless body came down from the natural thrill of making love to this man.

  She moved her fingers against his flesh and frowned. There was a scar, deep and wide, along the back of his upper arm. When he felt her toying with the mark, he rolled over on his side, pulling her against him as he kissed her deeply and her mind emptied.

  When he withdrew from the kiss, she looked up into his face, close to hers now. The severe angle of his jaw, the darkness of his eyes, they made him beautiful, for sure. But it was the flicker of emotion in his stare that drew her in. There was pain in Jack Blackwood, that much was clear. Pain that had cut him as deeply as whatever left that scar he didn’t want her to explore.

  “Now it is done,” he said, flipping a piece of her tangled hair away from her shoulder and leaning down to kiss the flesh he had revealed. “You are truly no longer a virgin by any definition.”

  She should have smiled at that triumph. After all, she had gotten what she’d longed for and now she was free of the lingering, damning evidence of Noah’s secret. But in that moment, she didn’t feel quite victorious. In that moment, she wanted something…more.

  “Thank you,” she said cautiously.

  “The pleasure was all mine, I assure you,” he said.

  She shook her head. “Not all. I had more than my share. But…but does that mean you are finished with me?”

  He examined her face closely. “Why, Lady Seagate, I thought you only needed a man for deflowering you. Are you asking for more?”

  “You inferred I only wanted deflowering,” she corrected him. “I never said that. Jack, I want…I want…”

  She struggled. Book or not, deflowered or not, she still felt very innocent when she discussed this topic.

  “What do you want, Letitia?” he asked, his tone low and dangerous. “You will have to say it out loud.”

  “I want to do what we just did again,” she whispered. “And with
you, Jack. I want to do this with you. I want an affair. A scandalous, passionate, ill-advised affair.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, it would be ill-advised, for certain. But very scandalous and—” He reached out to trace the curve of her breast with the edge of his fingernail, flicking her hard nipple until she gasped with renewed pleasure. “—passionate.”

  “Then will you meet with me again?” she asked. “Here?”

  He seemed to ponder that question for a moment, like he was arguing in his head against the prudence of such a thing. She knew she should hope he would refuse her. Put her back on the right path. But when he nodded, relief flooded her.

  “Meet me here again in two nights. The same time,” he said as he pushed from the bed. He gathered his trousers and slung them on, covering the body that had worshipped her and pleased her so completely. “And Letitia?”

  She nodded as she sat up. “Yes?”

  “Bring that book,” he said with a grin. “I want to see it.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Jack was whistling as he strode down the steps into the lair he called home. The cooler air from the tunnels hit his hot face and made him feel alive.

  But tonight it wasn’t just the air. No, he knew that wasn’t true. Letitia made him feel alive in a way he never had. Taking her, feeling her orgasm beneath his tongue, around his cock…it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. It was heaven.

  “Where have you been?” Hoffman asked, barreling up the hall as Jack turned into his office.

  Jack sighed. Back to reality.

  “I wasn’t aware I needed to hand over my schedule to you, Hoffman.”

  “Might not be a bad idea, that,” Hoffman said, his normally stoic face lined with worry. “Or take a guard with you when you go out?”

  “What are you on about?” Jack asked, taking a seat at his desk and looking up at the older man.

  “While you were out, Higgins and Perdie were badly injured,” Hoffman said. “And when I couldn’t find you, I honestly thought you might be dead.”

  Shock hit Jack, followed swiftly by intense, stabbing guilt. This was not the first time his men had been brutally attacked in the past six months.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to keep his tone calm. “Will they live?”

  “Doctor’s been struggling with them for hours,” Hoffman said, his face draining of color. “Thinks Higgins might lose a leg.”

  “Shit,” Jack said, jumping to his feet. “Where are they?”

  “In the infirmary, but no one can go in. Doctor’s got enough help. Jack, this is getting more and more serious. The others after your crown are fools enough and will fade off in time. But this fifth one, the one I don’t know…he’s not interested in taking prisoners, just territory. And he doesn’t seem to be willing to stop.”

  “All resources go to finding out just who the hell he is,” Jack said, flexing and unflexing his hands. All the relaxation, all the pleasure in his body from his night with Letitia was gone now. “I’ll join the search myself.”

  “It would help,” Hoffman said, and the relief on his face was plain.

  Jack frowned. “Have I been neglecting my duties so much?”

  Hoffman put his hands behind his back and spread his legs apart slightly, another reminder that once his right hand had lived an entirely straight-laced life.

  “Do you want the truth or to be reassured?” Hoffman asked.

  Jack lifted his brows. “I think you know me well enough to know that the truth is always what I want.”

  “The last couple of weeks you’ve seemed distracted,” Hoffman admitted.

  Jack frowned. Letitia was the cause for that. And yet the thought of letting her go right now was painful. He would just have to focus more, make sure he was present when he was here and paying attention to—

  “But it’s more than that,” Hoffman continued. “Since War showed back up on your doorstep, you haven’t seemed to have…have…”

  When Hoffman trailed off, Jack’s eyes went wide. “The balls?” he suggested, his hands twitching for a fight if only to make him forget the other, awful feelings boiling in his stomach.

  “I was gonna say the heart,” his right hand said with a shrug. “You’ve always had the balls, Jack, but you used to have fun doing this. Now you send out the troops more often than you go yourself.”

  “Since Aston died and everyone in the underworld came looking for me, I guess it hasn’t been as fun,” Jack admitted.

  Even though Hoffman nodded, Jack knew it was more than that. His friend was right that he’d lost the heart for this world. Seeing War nearly die had started it, but also watching how his brother had made a new life for himself had hardened Jack to the criminal world he’d once loved. It made him believe, in a way he’d never let himself before, that maybe there was another life for him.

  “I’ll let you know when you can see Higgins and Perdie,” Hoffman said. “And I’ll put together some boys to go hard at this mystery bloke. But we have one other issue.”

  Jack hardly held back a sigh of displeasure. “And that is?”

  “That boy is back.”

  “Boy?” Jack repeated, gazing blankly at Hoffman. “What boy?”

  “The rich one who wants to slum for you,” Hoffman grunted with displeasure. “Wha’s his name? Gordon? Graydon?”

  “Griffin,” Jack sank into his chair and set his head down on the desk with a groan. “Goddamn it.”

  “What do you want me to do with him?” Hoffman asked.

  There was something about his friend’s tone that made Jack jerk his gaze up to him. “What have you done with him so far?”

  Hoffman grinned. “He tried to sneak in,” he said. “He got a solid pop to the eye and it’s all black now.”

  “She’s going to rip me apart,” Jack muttered, thinking of Letitia’s reaction when she saw that.

  “What?” Hoffman said, brow wrinkling.

  “Nothing, doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “Tell me he is otherwise unharmed.”

  “Yeah, just sitting around in one of the dirt rooms, probably pissing himself.”

  Jack sighed. The “dirt rooms” were the various hollowed out spaces in the underground hideout where they hid goods. They weren’t exactly pleasant places.

  “Get him,” he said through clenched teeth. “Bring him here.”

  Hoffman nodded, then left to do just that. As Jack waited, he got up and poured himself a stiff drink. For a moment, he pondered doing the same for Griffin, but decided against it. The last time the boy had been here, Jack had tried to be kind to him. He obviously needed to take another tactic this time and put an end to this foolishness once and for all.

  “Mr. Merrick,” Hoffman said, mimicking the announcing skills of a fine butler pretty well. Only most servants didn’t then shove their visitors into a room and slam the door behind them.

  Jack stared at Griffin as the boy caught his balance. He didn’t look as bad as he could have. His right eye was indeed swollen and a tinge of black had formed beneath. He was dirty and his hands were tied in front of him.

  “Shit,” Jack muttered as he pulled a blade from the desk and walked toward him.

  He saw Griffin tense, his eyes—so much like Letitia’s, minus the gold flecks—watching the knife. He was afraid. Good.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Jack asked as he sliced through the ropes in one slick movement and set Griffin free.

  “I told you last time,” Griffin said, rubbing the place where the ropes had bruised his tender gentleman’s skin. “I want to join you.”

  Jack shook his head. “Yes, you’ve told me,” he agreed. “You told me once, twice, this is now a third time. But I have no bloody idea why. You’ve got an easy life, lad. Money, position, and power if you can learn to leverage it. You have family who cares for you.”

  Griffin sniffed, his face twisting like Jack had just mentioned something distasteful.
>
  “Don’t do that,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “Don’t dismiss that like you know what it’s like to be without it. You should appreciate that they care. Your sister—”

  “Letty has no damned idea what I have to live with,” Griffin interrupted. “She wants me to stay a child forever and live the same empty life she has.”

  Jack’s jaw set, and a good portion of the sympathy he’d felt for this boy reaching for manhood fled. “I would highly suggest you stop talking about what you don’t know,” he said, his tone low but unmistakably dangerous. “You have no idea what your sister has endured over the years, nor how bravely she has faced it. But you would do very well to emulate her if you hope to have any life worth living.”

  Griffin stared at him, confusion plain on his face. “I—what would you know about it? About her?”

  Jack held back a curse. Defending Letitia had exposed something he hadn’t wanted revealed. Now he shrugged to dismiss it and hoped this spoiled young man would be too focused on himself to pursue it.

  “Lucky guess,” Jack said.

  “Please,” Griffin said, moving toward him. “Just listen to me.”

  “You have one minute,” Jack said. “Then I have other important things to do.”

  “I know I look like a fop to you, but it’s not what I want to be!” Griffin insisted. “I can’t live my life like my father, sitting around idly, discussing crops or politics, trying to save a farthing here or there, mindless and aimless. I want adventure, I want excitement. I’m strong and clever and I could be of use to you, Jack.”

  Jack stared at him. There was such a bright-eyed enthusiasm to Griffin. It was nothing like his own desperate pain that had driven him to this life. And perhaps a year or five years ago he would have taken the boy on.

  But now it seemed impossible, and not just because of Letitia.

  “I’m sure you are clever,” he began. “But right now, just a short distance from here, there is a man having his leg hacked off to save his life.”

  He stopped talking and faintly, from the direction of the infirmary, came the raw sound of screams. Jack’s stomach turned at the awful sound, but he forced himself to remain silent to let the full power of the wails sink in for Griffin.