Wicked Sinner

by Carole Mortimer

  The doctor had visited and was now gone again after declaring Angelique’s ankle to be bruised but no bones were broken. As expected, he had applied a bandage, as well as giving her something for the pain.

  Nik remained unmoving in the chair. “And I would prefer to have you exactly where I can ensure you do not attempt to run away again.”

  “I doubt that is even possible at the moment,” she declared not quite truthfully. She might not be able to run, but she could certainly hobble with the support of the bandage about her wrenched joint.

  “Nevertheless, you will remain where you are,” Nik stated in a voice that brooked no argument.

  Angelique bristled. “There is no reason for you to give up your own bed for me when my own room adjoins this one.”

  “I have no intention of giving up my bed for you,” he taunted.

  Her eyes widened. “You intend to share it with me?”

  He shrugged. “You are my wife. That is my bed.”

  Exactly the answer Angelique might have expected. “And if I do not wish to share a bed with you?” Her eyes widened, and she pushed back against the pillows as Nik rose to his feet to cross the room in predatory strides.

  He came to a halt beside the bed, his eyes glittering as they moved slowly over her, from the top of her head to the tips of her bare toes.

  Angelique felt her cheeks warm as that gaze lingered on the swell of her breasts above the fashionably low neckline of her bronze-colored traveling gown, before moving down to the bareness of her legs where the doctor had raised her gown to just below the knee during his examination and she hadn’t thought to adjust it. To do so now would give too much credence to how uncomfortable having Nik’s hooded gaze on her made her feel.

  His mouth twisted as he looked at her reddened face. “I very much doubt I shall be so consumed with lust for you during the night I will feel the need to take advantage of your…defenseless condition.”

  “I am not defenseless,” she snapped.

  “No?” Nik sat on the side of the bed.

  He was so close—deliberately so?—that the warmth of his thigh was pressing against Angelique’s as his weight caused her to roll slightly toward him. Totally disconcerting her. As did the heady aroma of his cologne and that earthy male musk that was uniquely Nik’s own.

  Angelique felt suddenly overwhelmed with the knowledge that all of this, all of Nik, would be denied to her now that their marriage was over. It was totally devastating to realize the two of them would never share a closeness again.

  She had been heartbroken when she left Stonewell Park during the night, but had believed at the time she had no choice. She had certainly not given herself time to fully consider the consequences, only knowing that she had to escape suffering any more of Nik’s cruel torment. In the back of her mind, she had perhaps hoped that her leaving might shock Nik into the two of them somehow being able to salvage their marriage. Nik’s continuing coldness toward her no longer gave her any such hope.

  She turned her face away so that he should not see the pain of that knowledge in her eyes. “I believe I should like to be left alone to rest now.”

  Nik’s gaze narrowed as he studied Angelique’s profile. Her cheeks had gone pale, even those plump and sensual lips were less rosy, and he could see tears glistening on her long lashes.

  Because her ankle was paining her?

  Or something else?

  Whatever the reason, Nik could not allow himself to be swayed into relaxing his determination to force Angelique to confess her treason.

  Not only because of his duty to the Crown, but also his loyalty to the other Sinners. Worthington had died. The other six Sinners had all of them suffered these past months as they hunted for the traitor. Admittedly, those gentlemen were now married to or about to marry the woman they had investigated, but they had none of them done so without the anguish of initially believing in that lady’s guilt, as Nik now did in regard to Angelique.

  As their friend and spymaster for the Sinners, Nik had always been the one the other gentlemen came to for advice. There was no one to whom Nik could go and ask for that same advice where Angelique was concerned.

  Even if Nik wanted to believe in Angelique’s innocence, he could not do so.

  Did he want to?

  Of course he did!

  He was not a monster, and no matter what Angelique believed to the contrary, he was not enjoying any of this. Angelique was the woman he had chosen to make his wife, damn it, and for three years, he had lived in the fool’s paradise of believing their marriage gave her the same contentment and satisfaction as it did him. To now know that it had all been a lie was beyond even his endurance.

  He rose abruptly to his feet. “I will send a maid up with a tray of tea and toast for you, after which, I suggest you try to get some sleep.”

  “Before you begin torturing me again?”

  Nik’s shoulders and back stiffened, but he continued moving forward. “Before I torture you again,” he confirmed in a flat voice as he opened and then closed the door behind him as he left. All without looking at Angelique again.

  Once outside in the hallway, he leaned his hand against the wall and drew in a several shaky breaths.

  Several years ago, Maximillian Smythe, the Earl of Carlton, another of the Sinners and one of Nik’s closest friends, had suffered through almost a year of physical torture in a French prison before the other Sinners had managed to free him. Maxim had numerous scars on his body as a result of that torture.

  But Nik knew from hours of talking with the other man that it was the inner, unseen wounds which had caused Maxim the most pain. The worst one being that Maxim had returned home after his captivity to find the woman he loved, believing him dead, had married another man.

  There had been no such painful misunderstanding in Nik’s life, nor had he ever suffered the physical tortures Maxim had undergone. Nevertheless, Nik now felt as if he was being flayed alive, his emotions so raw he was inwardly bleeding, and there was no one for him to talk to or tell of his inner suffering.

  Nik had been emotionally self-contained all his life. His parents had both died when he was young, and he did not really remember them that well in any case. His appointed guardian, an elderly uncle, had sent him to boarding school at the age of eight, and they had never been close. Nik had rarely seen the man, even during the holidays.

  When Nik married Angelique, he had believed making her his wife and duchess, and mother of his future children, was commitment enough. There had been no reason for the sentimentality of emotions. Nor had he seen any reason to bore Angelique with discussions about business or his estates. He had been unable to confide any of his work for the Crown with her.

  The Sinners had been his friends since they all met at boarding school. But Nik had always been their leader, and then their spymaster, the one all the other Sinners could rely on to be strong and in command.

  But right now, Nik knew he would give anything to be able to talk to someone, anyone, concerning his conflicting emotions in regard to Angelique.

  She was a named traitor to her country, responsible for many deaths, including Worthington’s, and yet he knew a part of him still saw her as that innocent and beautiful woman he had so desired three years ago, he had instantly decided to make her his wife.

  A wife who had now betrayed him as much as her country.

  The room was in darkness when Angelique woke with a start, and it took her several long seconds more to remember where she was and what she was doing here.

  She was in Nik’s bedchamber, because after she had run away, he no longer trusted her to be away from him.

  It took several seconds more for Angelique to realize that Nik was lying beside her in the bed, and that was the reason she had woken so suddenly.

  Nik wasn’t just lying beside her but curled against her, his front against her back. His face was pressed against her nape, one of his arms about her waist, his bare chest against her spine, long legs entangled
with her own. Even more surprising, the long and aroused length of his cock throbbed and pulsed against the crease of her bottom. The even tenor of his warm breath against her bare skin told her that he was asleep and, in all probability, had no idea he was cuddled up to her in such an intimate fashion.

  For her comfort, Angelique had earlier taken the pins from her hair and removed her dusty gown and drawers, and used the water in the ewer to wash the dust from her body. She now wore only her chemise as a nightgown, and so was able to fully discern the muscular contours of Nik naked body against hers.

  She took a few moments to enjoy, to revel in the unexpected possessiveness of his embrace.

  For months, she had longed to feel this closeness with him again, rather than the chilling politeness that had existed between them. She had literally ached to feel Nik’s arms about her again and hungered for a return of their intimacy together.

  Only to suffer months of his coldness, followed by his anger and torment after he’d arrived at Stonewell Park yesterday.

  Earlier today, she had believed her flight from the house and Nik meant there would never be this closeness between them again.

  Some people believed that one’s behavior when asleep was a truer indication of their feelings. If that was the case, then Nik, no matter what he might say to the contrary in the cold light of day, still desired that same closeness with her.

  Unless he was under the misapprehension Angelique was someone else. A mistress, perhaps?

  She gave a pained groan as she felt an actual physical ache in her chest merely thinking that might be the case.

  “Angelique…?”

  She was afraid to move, unsure if Nik was fully awake, and if not, then she had no wish to disturb him any more than she already had. If she kept completely still, then perhaps he would drift off into a deep sleep again—

  “Is your ankle paining you?”

  Not only did Nik know exactly who it was he held in his arms, but he remembered Angelique had bruised her ankle earlier today.

  “Angel?”

  Dear God, Nik hadn’t called her by that affectionate name in such a long time!

  She moistened her lips before answering him. “I am not in any pain.” The ache in her heart was her own to bear, for falling in love with a man who was incapable of feeling that emotion.

  Angelique gave another involuntary groan at the sudden chill she felt at having Nik’s warmth removed from her back. Only to give a startled gasp as he rolled her onto her back.

  He loomed over her in the darkness as he leaned on his elbow beside her. “Would you like something to eat or drink?”

  “No.”

  “Are you cold?”

  “God, no.” Nik’s body always felt as hot as a furnace when he lay naked beside her.

  “There must be something I can do for you?” he prompted softly.

  Angelique was unable to see his expression in the darkness, only a shadowed outline of his face in the light of the moon as it shone into the room through the window. That his voice no longer sounded angry or cold gave her the courage to speak. “What I should really like is for you to stop hating me.”

  Nik closed his eyes briefly. Angelique could have no idea how many times these past few months he had wished that he could hate her. God knows he had tried hard enough by emotionally distancing himself from her and no longer sharing her bed once he knew she was one of the women under investigation.

  But hate Angelique?

  No, he found it impossible to make himself do that, no matter what she might be guilty of. Keeping his distance and the coldness he showed toward her when they were together were the only weapons he had to withstand the pain he felt at her treachery.

  “I will not fight you if your decision is to end our marriage,” she continued when he made no answer. “Nor will I cause you any embarrassment in the future regarding that decision. Only please…I do not think I can bear it if you continue to hate me,” she added with entreaty.

  It felt as if an avalanche of emotions was tumbling over itself inside Nik.

  Desire.

  Want.

  Need.

  And another emotion he dare not look at too closely.

  Chapter 8

  He could barely breathe as Angelique’s closeness, her warmth, and the insidious perfume of her body caused his cock to throb. The silence in the rest of the house and the darkness that now surrounded them gave the impression they were the only two people in the world. The only two that mattered right now, at least. “I want to make love to you,” he admitted huskily.

  Angelique drew her breath in sharply as she seemed to hear the words one last time at the end of that sentence, even if Nik had not spoken those words out loud.

  Well, if this was to be the last time she shared this closeness with him, then she intended to make the most of it.

  In the past, their more sedate lovemaking had been reserved for Angelique’s bedchamber, their darker and more intense encounters always in Nik’s room. Having him now say he wished to make love to her here, in his room, caused hope to swell in her chest. No matter the words she had thought she heard on the end of his statement, surely Nik could not discard her after they had made love again.

  “Will your ankle stand it?” he added gruffly.

  “Yes,” she choked. “God, yes!” Her arms moved up to grasp Nik’s shoulders, her body arching up to meet his as he lowered his head and his lips claimed hers with an intensity she had never known from him before.

  Demand, yes.

  Desire, oh yes.

  Immeasurable and mindless pleasure under his physical dominance, most definitely.

  But this was something else, a different sort of intensity, and it emanated from so deep inside Nik that it seemed almost like desperation.

  And perhaps it was. Perhaps he had also heard those unspoken words.

  None of it mattered.

  Not her twisted ankle.

  Not the past.

  Nor the future.

  Only the here and now.

  The two of them entwined together in the darkness in a world of their own making and the inferno of desire that burst into flames the moment their lips touched.

  Angelique dismissed all further thought as she gave herself up to that tumult of raw and devouring passion.

  Nik had been right, she quickly realized. Deny one of the senses such as sight in a darkened room, and the other four, touch, taste, hearing, and smell, became more sharply focused.

  She could feel every inch of Nik’s flesh against her own.

  Taste his sweetness as his mouth possessed hers.

  Hear their mutual groans of pleasure.

  Inhale Nik’s heady spice with every breath she took.

  He deepened the kiss, lips devouring, teeth biting, Angelique groaning softly as his tongue plunged and conquered the heat of her mouth.

  His strong hands seemed to be everywhere at once, sliding down the curve of her back and the swell of her bottom, trailing lightly over her breasts and down her belly, before grasping her hips to hold her against him. Her aching breasts were crushed against the heat of his chest, the length of his cock pressing against the bareness of her mound.

  Angelique gave a murmur of protest as he broke the kiss to trail his lips down her throat. “Your skin is soft as silk,” he groaned as he slipped the straps of Angelique’s camisole far enough down her arms to bare her breasts to his caressing hands. “And these.” His fingers and thumbs rolled the turgid nipples. “These are delicious.” He sucked one of her nipples into the heat of his mouth, his tongue a moist rasp across that turgid tip before his body slid lower still.

  There was only Nik as he made love to her.

  His touch.

  His tongue licking and then piercing her channel, driving deep, and then deeper still.

  One of his hands remained on her breast, pulling and squeezing the nipple, the other moving down to caress and press against her swollen clit.

  Angelique’s re
lease rolled over her with the force of a stormy tidal wave, lifting her up and carrying her into its depths.

  “Again,” Nik demanded as he moved up her body, his lips once again claiming hers as he thrust two fingers inside her wet pussy, those fingers bending to stroke that cluster of spongy nerves inside her.

  Instantly sweeping Angelique into another climax, her back arching as the pleasure swept her higher still, her throat stretched as she gasped.

  “I need to be inside you,” Nik whispered urgently seconds before the velvet thickness of his cock breeched and then stretched her channel to accommodate that length and thickness.

  Nik took his weight on his elbows, his eyes glittering in the moonlight as he slowly pulled his cock out before pounding back inside her again. Those fierce thrusts pushed her up the bed as he plundered her depths, stretching her channel wider as his cock seemed to go deeper than ever before.

  Angelique could only cling to Nik’s shoulders as she became lost in the pleasure of that rhythmic pull and thrust. Feeling bereft when Nik withdrew his cock, and then so full, it felt as if her pussy might be split asunder when he thrust inside her again.

  Sudden emptiness followed by the exquisite pleasure of being stretched and completely filled.

  “Come with me,” he instructed roughly as his cock swelled and stroked inside her, the contracting of her pussy walls, as she came, taking Nik with her, hot jets of his cum filling and then overflowing her cunny.

  It was wild and joyful.

  And over far too soon.

  “The night is far from over, Angelique,” Nik assured in answer to the statement Angelique had no idea she had said out loud. “Turn over,” he encouraged gruffly as he withdrew his softening cock before lying beside her.

  “Turn over?” Angelique repeated uncertainly.

  He nodded. “I wish to make love to you all night, not a part of it.”

  She trembled at the dark promise she could hear in Nik’s voice. A promise of pain as well as pleasure.