His Wicked Seduction (The League of Rogues Book 2)

by Lauren Smith

  “Oh Lucien, it is so beautiful!” She gave a bright and honest smile as she dropped her cloak on the floor, causing petals to ripple outward. She tiptoed her way across to him, gently put a hand on his chest and shoved him back down into his chair. His breath quickened when she slid onto his lap and wrapped her arms about his neck. Lucien waited as she leaned into him, rewarding him with a kiss. He growled in soft pleasure as her lips met his, but he ended the kiss too quickly.

  “I have a present for you.” He gestured towards the bed. It was only then that Horatia spied the large box sitting in the center of it.

  “But we are to open our presents tonight,” she reminded him in what she hoped was an admonishing tone. He merely dropped his head and nibbled her throat until she was ready to agree to anything he might ask.

  “This gift is one I cannot give to you in front of others. Go ahead, my love. Open it now.”

  He gently set her on her feet and propelled her towards the bed. Horatia lifted the top off the cream box and peeled back the thin paper to reveal the most beautiful gown she’d ever seen. It was then that she remembered what he’d told her before—that he’d bought her a gown to replace the one that had been ruined.

  The idea of the gown, which she’d once believed Lucien had bought to strike back at Waverly’s attack, had a vastly different meaning now. She pulled out the gown and held it up to see it in its full glory. A melody of red and green silk with Belgian lace and delicate embroidery unfolded before her. A sprig of faux mistletoe decorated the décolletage in an almost scandalous manner. Lucien certainly had a hand in creating this, that was certain.

  “Well?” Lucien asked, standing behind her. Heat emanated off him in intoxicating waves. Horatia briefly shut her eyes, savoring this private moment of paradise.

  “It is too expensive. You ought not to have spent so much on me.” Despite her chastising she clutched the gown to her chest and turned to face him, making it clear she would not willingly give back the gift.

  Lucien’s lips slid into a crooked smile. “If you believe it too valuable…I can always allow you to repay me in favors.”

  “Hmm…and what would these favors be, exactly?” Horatia wanted to sound like a cool and confident woman bargaining her charms, but she was unable to hide her desire.

  “For one gown, I will charge you this morning and afternoon between the sheets. I demand tangled limbs, moans of pleasure and wild abandon.” He plucked the dress from her hands, folded it and nestled it back into the box with a tenderness that had Horatia’s body weak-kneed with pleasure, then set it on the floor out of the way.

  “You wish to be paid now?” Horatia half-giggled until she saw the predatory look on his face. The savage lust in his eyes knocked the air from her lungs.

  “Surrender to me now, Horatia. Let me have you a thousand ways, a thousand times.” It was as close to pleading as Lucien had ever come and it aroused her in a way she had not expected.

  She craved the power to make him plead, not from pain, but from desire and the need to control this passion, allowing it to slip only when she chose to. It was how he’d made her feel that night at the Midnight Garden and she wanted to experience it herself, before giving in to him again. When he looked at her like that it was like she was the last woman he would ever kiss, the only woman who would ever light the fire in his eyes and perhaps one day his heart…

  “If you want me, it is you who will surrender to me, I think. I will have control.” Suddenly she was holding out a hand and demanding the red silk she knew he kept on him. In a wordless look of surprise he turned the ribbons over to her. She pointed to his shirt and vest.

  “Remove them,” she commanded.

  Lucien did so, but Horatia raised a hand. “Not too quickly now.” Lucien’s expression was dark and unreadable as she slowed down his movements. “Your boots next.” Again he obeyed without a word, careful to take his time. Once he was clad only in his trousers, which hugged his muscled thighs like lovers, Horatia pointed to the bed.

  “Lie on your back. Spread your arms.”

  He did as she commanded, and Horatia bit her lip as she watched the muscles of his back ripple like the sleek coat of a panther. He laid back and waited for her to come to him. With surprisingly steady hands she took one of his wrists and secured it to one bedpost. She brushed a few fingertips along his bicep, and his muscles twitched beneath her as she moved around to secure his other wrist. She left his legs free so he might have some mobility but no chance of flipping them over to be on top. He tested the bonds experimentally, his eyes still inscrutable.

  When Horatia was satisfied that he could not get free, she positioned herself at the end of the bed and began to undress herself. Thankfully the gown she wore buttoned down the front. Lucien’s tongue slipped out to wet his lips and Horatia imagined that tongue licking her but only if she allowed herself to be within reach. She had never felt so powerful, so aware of her hold over a man before.

  With Lucien this felt right; she could do no wrong with him and he would never judge her again for sins not of her making. It was a freeing thought, to know that he was here with her and they were unburdened by the darkness of their past.

  Once the gown was unbuttoned, she peeled it off her shoulders and slid it down off her hips in a teasingly slow move that had Lucien testing the strength of his bonds and bucking against the mattress. She dropped the gown to the floor and started to remove her stays and petticoats. Lucien’s face flushed as she stood there, wearing nothing more than her chemise. Her breasts felt heavy and the nipples budded against the sheer fabric. Horatia caressed herself, enjoying the feel of her own hands along her body as much as the way it tortured Lucien.

  She’d learned much about lovemaking in the few hours he’d had to teach her. They’d talked late into the night about the things a man and woman could do together. Horatia was intent on exploring some of those things now.

  “Let me touch you, love,” he begged. “Let me cup those perfect breasts.”

  “Silence, my lord.”

  She walked to the edge of the bed and climbed up between his spread legs. Horatia crawled over his body until she reached his mouth and she kissed him, thrusting her tongue deep, but withdrawing before he could catch it with his lips. Then she moved to his left ear, sucking on his lobe. Lucien groaned and writhed beneath her. She could feel the tension in his body, the need to capture her with his arms, but he was unable to do so. Lucien, the Marquess of Rochester, was at her mercy and it was good, so good.

  “Be still, my lord, or you will be punished.” She bit his neck playfully.

  “Oh God!” he hissed. His erection strained between their bodies, even contained as it was by his trousers. Horatia eased a palm over the bulge, a slow exploring stroke that sent Lucien into a string of muttered curses. Horatia grinned and pressed another heated kiss to his lips. Then, inspired, she tweaked one of his nipples. He jolted up off the bed in response.

  “Christ, woman! I’ll be done if you do that again!”

  “No, you won’t. If you come before I say, then I’ll stop and leave you here until you are ready to obey me.” Horatia repeated the action on his other nipple, but this time with her teeth. He endured silently, tensing beneath her. She was satisfied that he kept his control, but her real satisfaction lay in torturing him. This was for every dark mocking smile he’d sent her way, for every punishing kiss, every rough caress meant to frighten her away from him. She wasn’t afraid anymore. She would be his master.

  Kissing her way down his chest, licking the taut planes of his grooved abdomen, she reached his trousers and began to unfasten them. When she freed him, his length sprang to full attention before her. She took the rigid organ in her hands, and with a chuckle she licked the hard length of him and circled her tongue around his tip. Lucien threw his head back, eyes shut, gasping as he sought to fight his body’s response. The bed creaked as he tugged at
his restraints.

  “You may accept your pleasure now, my lord. I will allow it,” she said before she took him fully in her mouth. She’d never done such a thing before, but she’d heard the upstairs maids talking about it and she decided it was worth taking a chance. He certainly seemed to enjoy it. He murmured encouragement and was barely able to breathe as he raised his hips towards her mouth.

  “Yes, there, God yes! Don’t stop. Please my love, don’t stop…” Lucien’s head thrashed back against the pillow as she sucked and licked him.

  Shaking violently, he came in her mouth with a desperate shout. Surprise rippled through her as she tasted him. He was hers and she took a deeply carnal pleasure from that. Lucien’s breath was fast as he slowly regained his composure, but Horatia was nowhere near done with him. She moved back up his body and claimed his mouth while her hands moved to his wrists and held them down tight.

  “Who do you belong to, Lucien?” she asked between hot, drugging kisses.

  “You my love. Only you.” He answered without hesitation, his body relaxed beneath hers. His hazel eyes were still unfathomably dark but they held an unyielding truth behind them.

  “Never forget that in this moment you were mine.” She brushed her lips along his before she untied the silk and freed him. He lay beneath her for a time, unmoving as he recovered from his release.

  “I’ve never trusted a woman to do what you’ve just done to me before,” he said at last.

  “Really?” Horatia, body still sprawled across his, looked down at him in surprise.

  “I’ve never been able to relinquish control before. I never thought it possible. You’re the first.” There was an importance to this, but the full depth of it was beyond her at the moment. Her mind was too foggy with the passion they’d shared.

  “And now, it is my turn.” With a seductive smile, he rolled her beneath him, pulled her chemise over her head and tossed it away. Lucien captured her hands and tied her wrists together above her head, securing them to one bedpost. This position forced her breasts to rise up and her back to arch beneath him. He drew his fingertip along the seam of her lips and then down her throat to her breasts. That same fingertip teased circles around her nipple before he dropped his mouth to its peak. He bit the bud and Horatia gasped in both pain and pleasure.

  “See how hard it is to control yourself when someone does that? I ought to punish you, my love, for being so bloody innocent that you nearly killed me with want.” His warm breath fanned her skin before he dropped his head to her other breast, suckling and biting until Horatia was trembling.

  Lucien parted her thighs and inserted a finger to find the wetness that awaited him there. He praised her readiness for him with soft words and caressed her inner folds tenderly before dipping deeper into her. After he tortured her for what seemed like an age, he spread her legs wider and moved back to set himself at her entrance. He did not even remove his trousers; the rough cloth slid against the silky skin of her inner thighs and she gasped helplessly at the sensation. When he thrust himself deep into her, Horatia cried out at the soreness mixed with the pleasure of him, the hard invasion that drove her mad with ecstasy.

  Lucien moved to sit back on his heels, still deep inside her as he gazed at the point where their bodies united. He withdrew and thrust so hard that she arched off the bed, offering herself up. Lucien reached forward and clasped her throat with his hand, then slid that hand down between her breasts and over her smooth and slightly rounded belly to the apex of her thighs. That same wandering hand now circled the bundle of nerves he’d only teased before. He pinched and Horatia screamed at the responding climax that shook her to her very core. She felt like a shattered mirror, pieces of herself scattered in a thousand tiny reflections.

  “Oh my God,” she moaned as he pinched her again and she felt herself unraveling from the inside out.

  “I prefer to be called Lucien.”

  Horatia was too lost in the thrill of being connected to him to share in his joke as he continued to pump deep into her. It was a savage claiming of her as his woman and she reveled in the ferocity as he held her captive to the hammer of his hips against hers.

  He was close to coming, she could see it in his eyes. But suddenly Lucien pulled out and was turning her over onto her stomach. He reached over her and took two extra pillows and lifted her hips up to slide the pillows underneath them. Her bottom was up in the air and she felt terribly exposed.

  “So beautiful, my lovely, sinful Horatia.” His voice was low as he caressed her from the back of her neck down along her spine before reaching her bottom. He swatted her rump and she jerked in response. A tingle of fire shot up her body and a painful throbbing welled up between her thighs all over again.

  “That is for torturing me. Consider yourself punished, love.” He kissed each cheek, the sting of his blow turning into delicious warmth. Horatia was shocked how arousing this was. She could not see him, not unless she craned her head over her neck. She had to trust him completely from here.

  “Lucien…please…” She shifted her bottom, desperate to entice him to enter her again. He moved over her, his chest sliding along her back as he kissed her neck. Then she felt one of his hands parting her folds, allowing him to push his way inside.

  “Yes, yes, there!” The animal in her took over as she rejoiced when he thrust home. She met him with a push of her own hips. He was in to the hilt, his hands now braced on either side of her shoulders as each thrust struck some point deep in her that robbed her of all thought. She cried out as he ravished her, their skin slick with sweat and the aroma of their lovemaking clouding their senses.

  That moment nearly robbed Horatia of her soul. When she came it was hard, earth shattering and primitive. She forgot who she was, who he was. There was only this moment, this explosion of the greatest pleasure she’d ever known. Vaguely she was aware of Lucien driving into her at a pace and harshness that would have shamed a stallion and even this thought sent her careening into another wild orgasm.

  Lucien shouted incoherently and collapsed on top of her, their bodies still fused together. After a moment, he moved off her and she turned to face him. Limbs tangled and souls locked, they shared breaths and smiles. Words were unnecessary. The look of desire was etched so deeply into Lucien’s face that Horatia felt her eyes burn with tears.

  “I’ve been a fool to wait as long as I have.” He gently untied her wrists and rolled her onto her back beneath him. She savored his warmth, enjoying the rapid beat of his heart against her cheek. “Please say you’ll always belong to me.” He kissed her mouth, her cheeks, her nose, her forehead.

  “I always have.” Her hands glided over his shoulders and down his arms in soothing strokes.

  “I want to be able to do this to you every night and every morning. I want to share my life, my name and my soul with you, Horatia.”

  “I’ve only ever wanted your heart,” she replied. Lucien smiled tenderly and feathered kisses along her jaw. But now she was shy and unsure. “All these years, when you’ve been with other women? Could you ever be satisfied with just me? How can I be enough?” She was terrified of how he might answer.

  “I can’t rid myself of my past, love, but know this—you’ve never been far from my heart or mind. Even when I was determined to be cold to you, you made it hard to do. It is impossible to be without you now. When I’m with you I cannot be sated, when you leave me I want you back at my side. I miss the scent of your skin, the silky texture of your hair against my lips, the blinding smile you hide from the world so often with your shyness. I crave your stories of the stars and your loyalty to those you love. I’m not sure the poets agree what love is, but I think I may have, somehow along the way, fallen in love with you. And I fear I’ve fallen hard. Can I trust you with my heart, Horatia?” Lucien’s voice was shaky and had nothing to do with their recent explosion of passion.

  “Oh Lucien…” She kissed
him deeply. “Consider your heart safe in my hands.” He slanted his mouth over hers, tongue delving between her lips. When Horatia was finally able to breathe again she remembered that not all was well.

  “Cedric knows that we are involved. He gave me an ultimatum. It was to choose between you or my family. I cannot have both. He will never welcome me home again if I choose you.” She tried to explain as calmly as possible but her throat constricted with sadness. What sense did it make for her brother to deny her this? She knew life was not fair, far better than most, but shouldn’t her brother try and even the unfairness out with goodness in her life? Or at the least he should not deny her the right to make herself happy.

  Lucien frowned. “I will speak to him. It isn’t fair for you to choose. Neither of us should have to choose between our love for each other and him.” Lucien pulled back the covers for them to slide underneath so that they could be warmer. Once she was tucked against his side, warm and drowsy in his embrace, he buried his lips in her hair, breathing in her scent.

  “If we have to choose,” said Horatia, “I choose you, Lucien. I will always choose you.” She nuzzled his neck before sleep claimed her. She did not hear Lucien’s quiet reply.

  “And I you, my little stargazer. But I will do everything within my power to see you won’t have to.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Half an hour before Christmas Eve dinner, Lucien paced nervously inside the vast Russell library, waiting for Cedric to arrive. Gone were the last remnants of his misplaced coldness towards Horatia. All that was left was a deep seed of love. He’d spent years salting his soul trying to prevent that seed from taking root. But Horatia had become his sun, his water, and fed that deep seed. Petals were unfurling, roots coiling deep in his heart. He was going to have a long talk with his friend and Cedric would see the light and let Horatia be with him and that was that. There was no going back; he’d crossed the final bridge and burned it to ashes.