Seduced by a Marquis (Regency Unlaced 8)

by Carole Mortimer

  He felt a burning need to dissolve the ice which now surrounded Bella, to see her sobbing with pleasure instead. Pleasure he and he alone had given to her.

  Chapter 8

  There were a dozen reasons Bella should not allow Lysander to lay her down on top of the bedcovers before quickly joining her.

  Fortunately, she could not think of a single one of them at this moment.

  She was aware only of Lysander. The heavy delight of his muscular body and arousal as he lay half across her. The heat of his lips as they explored the tops of her breasts. The warmth of his hand upon her thigh as he pushed her gown out of the way so that he might caress her.

  The arching of her body as Lysander’s fingers breached the slit in her drawers. The pleasure as he caressed and stroked the aroused and wet flesh beneath. The swelling, flowering of her nether lips. The ache of the engorged nubbin above.

  Lysander raised his head so that their faces were now only inches apart, his breath a warm caress across her parted lips. “I wish to kiss you here.” His fingers lightly caressed the inflamed sensitivity between her thighs.

  Her eyes widened. “There…?”

  Was it wrong of Lysander to feel a warmth of pleasure in knowing, from Bella’s startled and breathy reaction, his would be the first lips to kiss and taste her pussy? If it was then he offered no apology for it. For better or worse, Bella was his, damn it, and he wanted to possess her in every way possible. For his to be the only hands and lips she responded to in future.

  He nodded. “Will you allow it?”

  Her expression warmed. “I will allow you anything, Lysander.” She raised her arms to brush her fingertips lightly over the rigid muscles in his back, causing Lysander to shudder and shake before those hands moved higher so she could thread her fingers into the hair at his nape.

  “Anything?” He heard the hoarseness in his own voice as his head was filled with vivid images of the ways in which he might make love to Bella.

  “Anything,” she confirmed, her lashes lowered so he couldn’t see the expression in her eyes.

  He drew in a ragged breath. “Then I would like for you to remove your clothes and let me look at you. All of you.”

  “You only want to look?” She sounded disappointed.

  “God, no.” His groan was rueful. “But I would like you to allow me to look at you first. Not because you have to,” he added with a scowl. “But because you want to.”

  Bella gazed up at him, drinking in those admiring blue eyes, taut cheeks, and sensually curving lips. Feeling the throb of his arousal against her thigh. She felt closer to him now than she had for days, and she wanted that closeness to continue. “I want to.” She nodded. “Although I fear I might be somewhat bruised—more bruised—after my tumble from Giselle earlier.”

  “Then I will kiss them all better.” Lysander’s lips claimed hers, velvet soft as they coaxing her to part her own lips and allow his tongue to flick lightly against hers. The moment she did so, he intensified the kiss, thrusting his tongue deeper, filling her with his heat even as his fingers stroked and coaxed the pleasure between her thighs.

  The dual assault on her senses had Bella pliant and boneless within seconds, her hips undulating upward to meet those caressing fingers. The pressure built inside her, sweet and consuming. Claiming her. Possessing her. Binding her to him as the pleasure she had only known once before rose higher and higher.

  It crested in a wave of rippling, cascading ecstasy that caused her whole body to quiver and quake. Their kiss broke as Bella gasped and Lysander continued to stroke her folds and nubbin until he had given and she had taken every last vestige of that release.

  Bella remained boneless, lost in a euphoric haze as Lysander turned her gently onto her side so that he could unfasten the buttons of her gown down the length of her spine.

  “Will you undress for me now?” he encouraged gruffly.

  Bella gave her answer by swinging her feet to the floor before standing and stepping away from the bed. She allowed her gown to slip down her arms and down to her ankles. She wore only her chemise and drawers beneath, along with her stockings and garters.

  Lysander sat up slightly and made himself comfortable against the pillows. “Take it all off.”

  Bella had never been particularly self-conscious about her body, but she had never been naked before a man until today either. Her cheeks felt warm as Lysander watched her every move. She slowly slipped down the straps of her chemise and allowed the bodice to fall to the floor with her gown, baring her to the waist.

  Her breasts were firm and sloping and tipped by nipples she could feel engorging as Lysander looked at her with such hungry intensity. Almost as if he were devouring her with his eyes.

  “All, please, Bella,” he repeated softly.

  The heat seemed to spread through her whole body as she unfastened and then hooked her thumbs into the sides of her drawers, giving a wiggle of her hips as she pushed the garment down and then off completely.

  Lysander’s breath lodged in his throat as he drank his fill of Bella naked. Creamy shoulders. Full upsloping breasts tipped with dusky pink and engorged nipples. She had a slender waist and delectably curvaceous hips. Between her thighs, a cluster of gold curls covered her mound.

  He frowned slightly as he saw the obvious signs of those fresh bruises on her creamy white skin. “Come here to me.” He held out his hand.

  Her breasts jiggled enticingly as she walked toward him, her nipples seeming to darken in color and grow bigger as she took hold of his hand and climbed onto the bed beside him.

  Lysander rolled over and took Bella with him before he began to kiss and explore her body from neck to pussy, lingering to press his lips against each of those scratches and bruises from the accident. “You might have been killed,” he repeated hoarsely.

  “But I wasn’t,” she assured him, her fingers once again entangled in his hair.

  Lysander sucked each protruding nipple into his mouth, drawing on them deeply in turn before nudging her legs apart and then sliding his body down hers until he knelt between her thighs. He lifted and then bent her legs at the knees, fully exposing the glistening lips of her pussy.

  “No.” He clasped her wrist as she lowered a hand to cover herself. “This is mine now.” He continued to hold her captive with one hand as he stroked and parted those wet folds with the other, baring her slit to his heated gaze. “You are beautiful here, Bella. A feast for me to gorge myself on.” He released her wrist, grasping her hips with both hands as he lay down between her parted thighs and his mouth took possession where his fingers had so recently stroked.

  The juices from her release tasted as sweet and intoxicating as its perfume. Creamy. Addictive. He could drink from her like this all day long and never tire of it.

  Bella became lost in a euphoria of pleasure the moment Lysander put his mouth on her mound. She arched and groaned at the depth of sensations created by his lips and tongue stroking and laving every inch of her sensitized flesh. Learning every fold of her intimately as he licked and sucked, swirled and claimed, pushing her relentlessly toward that plateau a second time.

  It felt stronger this time, like a storm approaching and threatening to sweep all before it. Threatening to sweep Bella to a place from which there was no return.

  Glancing down at Lysander was her undoing.

  His eyes were open and hot with desire as he looked up and held her gaze captive. His tongue swirled and pressed against her nubbin, causing it to throb and pulse in response to every rasping caress.

  The intimacy was too intense.

  Too much.

  The pleasure possessed her as Lysander possessed her. Claimed her as surely as Lysander claimed her.

  “Come against my mouth, Bella,” he encouraged huskily. “Let me feel each pulse of your release. Let me taste it. Taste you.”

  She barely recognized the strangled cry coming from her own lips, her release ripping through her so strongly, she felt as if her body sh
attered into pieces. The pleasure was deeper, so much more than before.

  There was no sound now. No sight. All of Bella’s senses were consumed in a white light of pure sensations that crashed over her again and again in a never-ending tidal wave. It was so overwhelming, Bella knew she had no defenses left, that she was wide open and completely vulnerable.

  And through it all, those sky-blue eyes watched her. Devoured her. Urged her on to an even deeper pleasure.

  She felt as limp as a rag doll by the time those sensations abated, arms lying at her sides, breasts heaving as she fought to breathe, her legs splayed wide apart, leaving her exposed to the slow sweep of Lysander’s tongue as he still drank from her greedily.

  Each rasp of that tongue against her swollen nether lips and the raw and exposed nubbin above made Bella groan anew as ripples of sensation, less strong now, more like the gentle swell of the water against the seashore, caused her body to shudder and tremble in the aftershocks.

  She closed her eyes and instantly felt as if she were poised on the edge of a cliff before she began to fall as another, gentler release quivered through her.

  “I did not hurt you?”

  She opened heavy lids seconds later to look at Lysander. He now lay on the bed beside her. A frown of concern creased his brow. “Hurt me?” she repeated dazedly. “No, not at all.” She attempted to lift her arms and failed. “I am simply too satiated to move,” she admitted ruefully.

  Lysander’s hand gently cupped the side of her face. “There is no need for you to do so.”

  “I have to dress and go to Esther.” She attempted to rouse herself but failed again, her limbs feeling too heavy to lift.

  He shook his head. “I believe Esther will sleep the afternoon away now. You should get some rest too while you can.” He reached to pull the bedcover over her nakedness. “I will check on Esther on my way out.”

  “But we have not… You have not…” Embarrassed color burned her cheeks.

  He shook his head. “I will receive my pleasure tomorrow night. Today, I only wanted to give you pleasure. To taste you. Something I have long wanted to do and very much enjoyed. Lick my lips and see for yourself how good you taste.” He leaned down so that his parted lips almost touched hers. “Lick, Bella.”

  Bella felt another flare of desire course through her as she stroked her tongue along his lips, her cheeks becoming flushed as she tasted herself there. Sweet and spicy. Heady.

  For some reason, this felt almost as intimate as having Lysander’s mouth on her there. Almost. For there could surely be nothing quite as intimate as what they had just shared. Could there…?

  Her knowledge of intimacy between a man and a woman was limited to a man’s pleasure rather than her own. And even then she only knew a man’s hard cock went inside a woman’s sheath, where he would thrust in and out a few times, then spend himself before rolling off her.

  The way Lysander had focused all his attention on giving her pleasure today came as something of a surprise. A pleasant one. Pleasant? What they had just shared went far beyond pleasant. Bella thought she might even have been rendered unconscious for several seconds from the intensity of the pleasure Lysander had given her so unselfishly. It was—

  “Lysander!”

  Bella turned to see a scandalized Angelique standing in the doorway.

  Lysander registered that Bella’s eyes were wide with embarrassment and shock even as an amused smile curved his lips. “Mother?” He quirked a brow at her and made himself comfortable against the pillows.

  For once, Angelique did not look her usual poised self, her expression reflecting how flustered she felt as she glanced at Bella’s clothes scattered across the carpet. Nor did she make any move to step farther into the bedchamber. “Well. I… Obviously, I was completely wrong about…about the closeness of your relationship.”

  Lysander’s smile widened. “Obviously you were.”

  Angelique frowned at his facetiousness. “There is no need to sound so smug.”

  “I am in bed with my betrothed. How else should I sound?” he dismissed lightly.

  His mother’s eyes narrowed. “You are on the bed, not in it. Nor should you be doing either of those things.”

  He shrugged. “It may have escaped your notice, but I am fully dressed.”

  “Bella is not.”

  “No,” he conceded with satisfaction. “That is because I was endeavoring to comfort and distract her from dwelling on thoughts of the accident.”

  Bella looked at him beneath her lashes. Lysander had made love to her to comfort and distract her? The realization was as effective as a bucket of icy-cold water being thrown over her. Her previous euphoria instantly disappeared.

  “Very noble of you, I am sure.” Angelique eyed her younger son derisively. “Perhaps the two of us should withdraw to the hallway to allow Bella the time to dress before discussing this any further.”

  “That will not be necessary,” Bella assured with dignity. She could see little point in it when Angelique had already guessed their intimacy.

  “In that case, Lysander and I will leave you so that the seamstress may come and fit your gown.” Angelique nodded. “There will be plenty of time for the two of you to continue this tomorrow, after you are married.”

  Lysander swung his feet to the carpeted floor before standing.

  Which was when Bella realized he was still wearing all his clothes, while she was so obviously completely naked beneath the thin bedcover. The only thing in the least ruffled about Lysander’s appearance was his disheveled hair from where Bella’s fingers had grasped it at the height of her release.

  Her first release of the day, for there had been two more after that one.

  And she now learned that Lysander had only been comforting and distracting her. How humiliating!

  Almost as humiliating as belatedly remembering Lysander was in love with another woman…

  Bella pulled herself farther up the bed, and the cover along with her. “Perhaps, in light of Esther’s injury, we should, as Lysander suggested earlier, postpone the wedding?”

  Mother and son turned toward her. Angelique appeared dismayed by the suggestion. Lysander was narrow-eyed after her earlier refusal of the suggestion.

  Bella averted her gaze to instead smile at Angelique. “Whatever your son may have implied or said to the contrary, I assure you there is no reason for urgency in our marriage, and I dearly wish for my sister to attend my wedding.”

  “Oh.” Angelique looked nonplussed. “Oh.” She eyed Lysander curiously. “That certainly is not the impression you gave your father and me.”

  “There is most definitely a need for haste.” Lysander frowned at Bella, more than a little annoyed with her for talking so frankly to his mother.

  Admittedly, he had allowed his parents to draw their own conclusions as to the reason the two of them wished to be married as quickly as possible. But he had done so because he did not wish to embarrass Bella further by fully revealing her unhappy family situation to the older couple.

  Why had she suddenly become averse to their marriage, even slightly belligerent toward the idea, after earlier claiming she was content with it?

  Had Bella not enjoyed their lovemaking as much as he had?

  All evidence to the contrary, he had believed at the time, but perhaps those orgasms had made her less eager for their marriage rather than more so. He was aware some women did not enjoy physical pleasure or the intimacy involved in achieving it. But again, he had not believed Bella to be one of those women. Her eager responses said she was not.

  “Mother, would you allow Bella and I to have some time alone together?” He spoke to Angelique, but his narrowed gaze remained fixed on Bella.

  “A few more minutes alone together,” his mother corrected. “Oh, very well, you may have two minutes,” she conceded impatiently. “But you are not to stay any longer than that, Lysander. As I said, the seamstress is waiting downstairs, and I will have a maid bring her up shortly. I will n
ot have Bella’s good name bandied about by servants and the like because you have been in her bedchamber all this time.”

  “What about my good name?” he taunted.

  “You no longer have a good name to worry about!” With a brisk swish of her skirts, Angelique vacated the bedchamber and closed the door behind her.

  Leaving a charged silence.

  A silence which made Bella uncomfortable. She could sense Lysander’s brooding and censorious gaze still upon her as she wrapped the cover more securely about her before she climbed off the bed and began gathering up her clothes.

  “Do you really wish to postpone the wedding?” Lysander demanded harshly.

  “Do you?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.”

  He sighed. “Bella, for us not to marry now would be even more scandalous than the assumptions Society have already made concerning the speed with which our nuptials are taking place. I do not want that for you or for Esther.”

  “You have been very kind to my sister this past week.”

  “Have I not also been kind to you?”

  “Of course.”

  Lysander barely held his impatience in check at her cool replies and the way she continued to stare down at his boots rather than at his face. “So you agree we will marry tomorrow?”

  “If that is what you wish.”

  “It is.”

  “Very well.”

  “Where are you going?” he demanded as Bella moved toward the adjoining door leading into her dressing room.

  She did glance at him then, and quickly lowered her lashes when she saw he was still scowling. “You heard Angelique. The seamstress is waiting downstairs to fit my wedding gown, and I need to wash and dress before she arrives.” Her cheeks warmed as she considered why she needed to wash again so quickly after her morning ablutions. “Did you not say when you arrived you had somewhere else you need to be?” she added pointedly.

  Yes, Lysander had said that, and he still needed to find and confront Arthur Reynolds regarding the accident in the park today. He would also have to return to Trent House before venturing out again. He reeked of sex and satisfaction.