Oh, Cherry Ripe

by Claudy Conn

  He took her down an aisle between two tents and turned her, pulling her close to him. “Tell me, beauty … clear up the mystery.”

  “No. I don’t think so, my lord. You have been curt to me—that is when you are not ignoring me as you did last night at dinner. All that should matter to you is that I have already grown very fond of the twins, and they are responding to me and my teaching methods. If I had been old, dowdy, and with less youth and more experience, you might have been kinder to me, for I do see the way you behave with your servants. You are not judging me on my merits, my lord, but on my looks. Tell me …” Cherry decided to continue berating him and get it out of her system, for it had occurred to her that life could be very difficult for a penniless young woman endowed with good looks. “Yes, tell me, what a young woman with some countenance is to do in this world? Must she always sell herself because men like you think she isn’t fit for anything but a bed? That is unfair and cruel. Why should I confide anything about myself to you?”

  He was taken aback. He took her arm and brought her into himself. “Miss Sarah, you are forgetting our first meeting and what influence that had over me!”

  “I am not forgetting that. I am not forgetting your delightful kisses that night, and I am not forgetting your willingness to deliver me to my … to Polly.” She hurried on. “You were—even in your state of fuzziness—most gallant, for you did manage to leave me nearly untouched. I trusted you then and thought you kind … now I am not so certain.”

  Why her words inspired him to take her in his arms and repeat his performance of that night, she didn’t know and didn’t care. She felt herself melt against him as he murmured, “Beauty … sweet delicious beauty …” when he came away from that kiss and then took another.

  When his hand traveled beneath her cloak and cupped her breast, she knew she was in trouble. She wanted this outrageous man who dared touch her so intimately. Why wasn’t she stopping him? She should stop him …

  “Sarah … can’t you see? You must know how I feel. Forgotten the other night? It is all I have been thinking about. I am nearly mad with thinking about it. You are on my thoughts constantly … and perhaps I have been regretting leaving you … untouched.”

  For once, Cherry was at a loss for words. She was in trouble, because the thought of him making love to her even there behind the tent was sweetly, devilishly enticing.

  What was wrong with her? Her heart was in control of her mind, and he seemed to be in control of her body. She didn’t want him to leave her untouched. She wanted him in every imaginable way. She remembered her talks with the girls at school when some would sneak out at night to meet the local boys and how they had described their experience. Faith—she was one and twenty and wanted that experience!

  Perhaps it was in that moment that she made up her mind. She was going to do whatever it took to make him feel about her the way she felt about him. She pressed herself up against him while his tongue withdrew and he nibbled at her lips and then her neck. She tried to get control of herself and said, “This is wrong … I am governess to the twins …”

  He stopped immediately and whispered, “Of course … someone might witness … forgive me, beauty.”

  “Witness us …” What was it in his tone that so annoyed her—his fear of being caught with his governess? She eyed him coldly and continued, “doing what, my lord … what you do so well? Seducing whom you choose …?” She felt a biting anger take hold of her.

  “Sarah …” he reproved and then offered her his arm. “Shall we look for the twins, then, Miss Sarah?” And his entire demeanor changed as he led her along and she seethed in silence.

  * * *

  His lordship looked out his library window to the rose garden where the new governess sat on the stone bench with his brother Freddy, and he frowned. They seemed deep in conversation. Sky lusted for her, he knew, but something else was behind it all, something he couldn’t name. He liked her … a great deal. In fact, he had a difficult time not smiling every time she came into a room or he heard her laughing with the children. He was going to get married. Yes, to someone he had never even seen. What was he doing? This was no way to embark on marriage—attracted to another, and his siblings governess to boot.

  Still, she tickled his sense of who he was and what he owed his family name, but for a moment at the fair the previous day when he had her in his arms he wondered why he had proposed to a stranger and wished he had not. He sighed heavily over the problem; that way of thinking would lead to trouble, and he had to be strong and shut it down. Yet—everything about her made him wild with emotions he hadn’t felt since he was a pup in school. It wasn’t fair to Sarah either. He had to get himself under control. He had never thought he would be the kind of man to seduce an innocent, and yet, when he was with her…it wasn’t seduction, it was natural, so very natural to reach out and take her into his arms.

  Last year, when he had thought himself really taken with Olivia, he soon learned that she had duped him with false attentions. She had wanted him all right—she wanted his status and his wealth—and then when she chose someone else, he realized she hadn’t cared for him. It had hurt, and he had sworn off falling in love.

  However, what he felt for her couldn’t have been real; he had certainly never experienced what coursed through him now. He simply was out of control. When Sarah wasn’t in his sight, he was thinking about her. When she was in his sight, he had a hard-on that called her name and made him want to lay her down and …

  He was fevered for the aqua-eyed beauty. She was a minx. She was wild to a fault, totally unsuitable as a governess: her gowns, unsuitable; her quixotic behavior, unsuitable. And damn, when he had kissed her and found the fullness of her breast, he almost taken her there … and then.

  He had a vision of her lying back against the green grass, naked … and his manhood had screamed for her. He had been so hard he felt like he could have put it through a brick wall.

  What was happening to him? All he could think about was shoving his hard-on deep inside her and making her his. She was his! It suddenly occurred to him that he couldn’t allow any other man to have her. What was wrong with him? Where had that come from?

  Her every movement caught his eyes. Her voice traveled through his mind, sweetly obliterating all other thoughts. Her figure tantalized him. He had never encountered such a beauty … a beauty in all things.

  He had to find a way to control himself, and hell and brimstone, Freddy was touching her hand, and he would not have it!

  He went out into the hall and took up his cloak, throwing it around his shoulders as he stomped out of the house, wondering where the twins had gotten off to.

  * * *

  “Right then, Freddy.” Cherry patted his hand as she withdrew hers from his as gently as she could. The wild roses were in full bloom at her back and giving off a delicious scent. “Tell me. You have been somber all afternoon. What has happened—has someone annoyed you?”

  “Why do you say that?” he asked sharply.

  “Because I noticed your change of mood as soon as you returned from your friends yesterday, and then on the ride home.” She peeped a look at him in her style and saw him soften at once. “So then, confess it all, for I shan’t stop till I know.”

  He gave her a wry smile and said gravely, “And that is what would be—a confession.” Then, bracing himself, he said, “Gentlemen don’t burden ladies with their problems.”

  “Well, there is no doubt in my mind that you stand very much a gentleman, sir … but I—” Her hand went to her chest as she inclined her head. “—am more than a lady.”

  He colored up and stammered, “What … what can you mean?”

  “I mean that I am your senior by several years. I am your brother and sister’s governess and therefore hold some position of experience that you might find … er … helpful.”

  He reached out and grabbed hold of her hand. “Thank you, Miss Sarah, but … this is something I must work out for myself.”
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  She didn’t wish to press him just at that moment. Gently she once more withdrew the hand he was squeezing and said, “Well then, onward. It is nearly the moment of high tea, young man, and I for one stand in need of it.”

  He laughed, stood up, and waited for her to rise and move forward. However, he stopped short when he came upon his older brother, who had been standing stock still on the garden path, partially hidden by the curve in the walkway between the large evergreens.

  “Sky!” he said in some surprise. “I didn’t see you there.”

  “Obviously,” said his lordship dryly.

  “We were just going in for tea …” Freddy said on a somewhat nervous note. He had his own reasons to be anxious about his brother’s hovering presence.

  His lordship witnessed his brother’s anxious expression, and a frown descended as he seemed to vanish into thought. “Good … go along then. I will bring Miss Sarah in with me, as I wish to have a few words with her regarding the twins.” Clearly he had dismissed Freddy, and the young man could do naught but retreat, which he did with more haste than the occasion called for.

  “Ah, am I to be pinked for dallying with young Frederick in the garden?” Cherry teased at her naughtiest, stealing his lordship’s thunder.

  “Then you are aware of the impropriety of your conduct,” his lordship said. It was obvious that it had not been a question and that he expected no reply. He looked as though he had a ready lecture to read, but Cherry was up to his game and not playing.

  A gurgle of laughter escaped her lips before she waved the whole thing off and exclaimed, “Nonsense! Impropriety, indeed.” With her chin, she indicated the house. “Look there, we sat in full view of the garden windows … unlike when you lured me behind the tent at the fair …” She hurried on as she witnessed a storm gathering in his dark blue eyes. “We simply had a conversation, older woman with a troubled young man. Tell me, where is the impropriety?”

  He shook his head, and his brows were drawn. It was obvious he was suffering mixed emotions. “You have a habit of turning things about, but it won’t do, Miss Sarah. Can’t you see the lad is in love with you?”

  “Absurd, my lord,” she answered softly. “Freddy is infatuated with me for the moment. All he needs is direction.”

  “Which he should be getting from me,” his lordship returned testily.

  “True, but it seems his scrapes have brought him under your censure. It is difficult to confide in someone you love and admire, and whose respect you honestly wish to obtain, when you are forever in the suds.” She reached over and touched his lordship’s arm. A spark shot through her fingers, but she managed to say, “How can he confess to you when he finds himself in yet another scrape?”

  “Another scrape? Has he fallen into yet another scrape?” His lordship sounded disgusted.

  “Stop that,” she returned. “That awful tone of yours … so arrogant and superior. ’Tis why he can’t go to you with his problems. He fears censure.”

  He stood erect, obviously momentarily taken aback by both her audacity and her words. His dark blue eyes narrowed, and he said, “Who are you really, Miss Sarah Parker? For I tell you now, you are not who you say.”

  She waved that off. “We are speaking of Freddy.”

  They were almost at the house. The front doors stood only a few feet from them, and she knew an urge to run. If she didn’t run, she was going to be breaking one more rule, because she was falling in love for this big, strong, rogue of a man, and then … and then she would be in trouble.

  “Yes, and one has to wonder how we ever managed to get on without you,” he said dryly as he reached for and opened the door.

  “Hmmm,” Cherry brightly agreed. “One wonders, indeed my lord.” As she giggled and brushed by him, she felt a delicious tingle as their bodies touched in the frame of the open doorway.

  * * *

  She knew he wanted to be alone with her.

  She had seen something in his eyes during dinner and then afterwards just before she took the twins to bed. After Freddy left for a night on the town, she found herself anticipating his every move.

  His lordship arrived at the twins’ chambers to help tuck them in. When he turned to her and invited her to join him by the fire in the library for a glass of sherry, she felt her heart quicken. She knew the safe thing to do was to decline, but Cherry rarely took the safe road …

  He looked sensual as he loosened his intricate neckcloth, removed his cutaway superfine and then his waistcoat, and dropped them negligently on the floor. He stood in his white shirtsleeves. It was open at the neckline in a long V, and the material clung to his broad, firm chest. As Cheryl eyed him she felt the need for air. She licked her lips as she watched him pour her a glass of the sweet brew. She noted that his eyes were on her lips, and she shivered as she took a sip.

  “Are you cold, Miss Sarah?”

  “No, the fire is lovely,” she said, moving closer to it.

  He was behind her, and his finger ran over her bare arm as he whispered, “You need to go to town and find some appropriate gowns … something … less …” His voice was a caress. “…revealing.”

  “Yes, so I shall … also, if I may purchase a simple riding habit. You can deduct it from my remuneration.”

  “Nonsense—you may purchase anything you need. Deduct it from your remuneration, indeed,” he objected out loud. His voice was a low, charged sound of primal need, “Don’t you see how much I want you, beauty? When you are mine … I will take care of you—”

  “Stop!” Cherry was horrified. He was propositioning her! “I have not asked you to set me up as your mistress, nor would I ask such a thing.”

  “But you do want me—I see it, feel it. You can’t hide it from me, as I can’t hide it from you. When we kiss … when we look at one another—”

  “You are very sure of yourself,” she cut in hurriedly, threw down the sherry, and stepped away. “Good night, my lord.” Her entire body had been on fire because she did want him. She wanted all of him, and it was more than her body wanting his. It was her heart that called his name, whispered longings in her brain. It was her heart that wanted him to take her into his arms and make wild, passionate love to her—damn the consequences.

  Sky had her then in his all-consuming embrace, and it appeared he was determined to exhibit just how much they wanted each other as his lips parted hers. His magical tongue moved inside her sweet mouth and promised pleasures to the delicious mate it discovered there. His tongue lingered with hers gently, tutoring her on what was to come as it tangoed with her tongue and made her knees melt.

  His hand moved down her back and pulled her in by her rump hard against him, and she felt his rod throb against her belly while her loins beat out a rhythm that would not be denied.

  He was so right—she wanted him, all of him—and still she managed the strength to break away from his burning kiss and to say in a hushed, barely audible sound, “Good night, my lord.”

  It had taken everything she had not to run, because she was sure if she didn’t run she would turn, dive into his embrace, and beg him to rip off her clothes and take her right there, right then. She surprised herself and maintained her composure as she left the room and the man of her dreams at her back.

  However, she had not locked her bedroom door, and she did not lie to herself. She wanted him to come for her.

  And he did.

  It was dark in her bedroom with only a dim light from the crescent moon glowing at her small window. He didn’t speak as he stepped towards her bed and bent to hold her face and place a gentle kiss on her lips. Then all at once he was scooping her up cradle-like into his arms.

  “What?” she whispered. “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you to my bed, where you belong.”

  * * *

  Was it possible—her mind wondered as he pulled off her nightdress and his fingers burned her while they made a path over her body—was it possible for a woman to lose herself in a man?
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  She had never wanted to lose herself to a man, not so completely that she wouldn’t know where she began and ended. Yet here she was, not giving a fig for anything but his touch, his kiss … and that huge thing pressed up against her side as his hands made their hungry path over her breasts. He bent his head and began to suckle at her nipples hard with arousal, and she groaned with pleasure. He said her name … Sarah. Her mind bucked, and she wanted to tell him, No! Not Sarah, but then his lips were on hers and thought was gone.

  He took her into a cloud of fantasy where his touch ruled and elicited the erotic sensations that stripped her of everything she had once been. Gone was the girl as the woman entered and took control.

  “Beauty … ah … beauty,” he whispered at her ear as he kissed her throat and made a line down her body, spread her thighs and raised her rump with his hands, and then …

  His tongue lapped at her hot wetness and nibbled there until she was pushing into him and moving in a way she had never known possible. Talk with friends was one thing; this … this was …

  He was driving her mad with desire as he pushed in his finger and worked her until she wanted to scream, More … please, more … and then finally she uttered his name. Even to herself she sounded desperate. “Sky … oh …”

  “Yes, love … tell me what you want, what you need—do you need more …?” His voice was a soft, joyous sound as he held his huge rod, and she watched him stroke it and then lay it first on her belly.

  He moved it up towards her breasts, dripping a path on its journey. He held her breasts together as he bent his head to take her mouth with his, softly whispering as he nibbled at her lips, “Do you want me—all of me?” He placed his dick at her mouth, and she had no idea what exactly she was supposed to do.

  But then he told her, “Brush your tongue over it, that’s right, oh yes, like that, sweetheart,” and as she discovered a primal need to do just as he said, he moaned and encouraged her, saying, “Oh my beauty, yes…”

  Instinct, desire, hunger made her lick it with a passion she had never known she could feel, and then he gently worked it into her mouth and said, “Suck it, sweet girl … yes … oh love … yes …”