She couldn’t help it. She had lived her whole life confused and lost, denied even from knowing who and what she really was—though discovering the truth now would only hurt her more. If he had his way, she would never have to know. Never have to bear the pain of the truth. And the past didn’t matter now. She was simply his lost little girl and he must protect her against everything—including herself.
He tightened his hand on hers and she turned to him. Her eyes, large and blue, softened with unmistakable adoration. As if he could do no wrong, could never fail in her eyes. When she looked at him like that, he wanted only to bask in her adoration and let the world go hang.
She’d looked at him the same way after he had first made love to her in his carriage. She had promised to meet with him again, then she’d placed her hand over his heart and stolen it while lying to him with both her voice and her kiss.
And everything in his world had turned to ashes, become dingy and grey. He had been unable to concentrate on his work. He had lain awake at nights and ached for her. Even when she had shown up that day at City Tavern, such an unexpected and welcome sight, their connection had been temporary—she had run from him at every chance. At the memory of those moments when he was sure he’d lost her forever, dull hollowness centred in his guts. Now he finally had her.
It’s a façade. She’s a wild, uncontrollable creature. Like sea and rain and wind. She’ll eventually want her freedom, no matter what.
No. Over his cold, dead body could Beth McConnell have her freedom. Ever.
He released her hand and grasped her by the shoulders, pulling her to his body, her soft breasts crushed to his chest. Her eyes were wide, her mouth falling open. He swept down and covered her lips with his, devouring them. He felt and heard her gasp, muffled in her throat, but he couldn’t stop. He was driven to possess her. To claim her. Own her.
His hands sought the laces at the back of her gown and untied them then tugged until the garment came loose. He pulled it down her shoulders, breaking the kiss to bend and put his lips to the swelling softness above her stays. He hooked his thumbs into the cloth, easing it down until her breast popped out, white as porcelain with a bright pink tip that was already pebbled. His cock hardened and lengthened, twitching impatiently within his pantaloons. He groaned, then bent to capture that enticing nipple between his lips. She tasted so sweet, like strawberries and cream.
Her laughter sounded, throaty and sensual, and her hands twined in his hair. “Grey, I hate to spoil your fun, but someone will see. From one of the windows.”
“We’re officially engaged now.” He breathed the words against her warm flesh. “It’s no great matter.”
“I think that’s just your heated blood speaking.”
He paused, looked up at her and grinned. “You did your damnedest to heat it, didn’t you, you vixen?”
Her eyes went all soft and smoky, with the lids at half-mast. She laughed softly and ruffled his hair.
He swept her up into his arms and hoisted her over his shoulder.
She squealed, a girlish sound that was wholly satisfying to his masculine ears. He applied a smack to her ass. “Be quiet, vixen—you were so worried about the neighbours.”
He carried her to the door, then set her on her feet.
She hugged him from behind, pressing her softness against his back and thighs, burning him as he fished in his pocket for the key. He aimed for the keyhole but her little seeking hand gripped his erection and the key missed, slid and scraped away some of the red paint.
Gaining a tighter grip on him, she laughed again. “Can’t you even unlock your own door? Just how much punch did you drink? Or was it brandy in the card room?”
“And just how much punch did you have, mistress?”
Her laughter teased his ears and his cock throbbed within her grasp. God, he wanted her body bared and beneath his. Right this instant. With determination he put the key into the lock then turned the knob. He kicked the door open and pulled her inside.
Behind the closed door, he worked to rid her of her two petticoats. She kept kissing him, the temptation of her sweet mouth making it hard to focus on his systematic stripping of her.
Somehow he’d also worked free of his coat. Her nimble fingers had his cock freed. He unbuttoned his waistcoat and yanked his cravat open, then pulled back for just a moment to pull his shirt over his head. The time it took to divest himself of his boots wore his patience thin. He went down on one knee and planted a passionate kiss on her silver-gilt mons.
“I think you probably have the most beautiful cunt in the whole world.”
She laughed and caressed his head. “Given this a lot of thought, have you?”
He gave her plump lips a gentle squeeze. “During the past week, I spent more sleepless hours thinking about this sweet part of you than I care to admit.”
“After that many sleepless nights, I’d think you’d be dead.”
“Damned near, Beth, damned near.” He pressed his face into her cunt and licked the wet, tender flesh. Her nub rose erect to meet his tongue and her pelvis arched in to him. He redoubled his efforts, working her sensitive points with single-minded determination until she began to tremble. He slid his hand up between her parted legs and entered her with two fingers and she cried out, her walls spasming around him.
God, she was a hot little piece. The hottest he’d ever known, anywhere in the world. He bolted to his feet and caught her limp form up in his arms and cradled her for a moment. Then he took her into the parlour, to the first piece of furniture he came to.
Beth supported herself with her hands, palms down and flat, behind her on the settee, her bottom resting on the edge of the seat and her gauzy chemise bunched around her waist. Grey bent over her and his heated breath blew against her neck.
Her cunt, well warmed by a climax, was more than ready to be filled by him.
“Lift your hips, Beth.” His voice, urgent and testy at the same time, made her laugh. The settee was narrow and hard, obviously designed for style and not function—at least not this function. She suspected he hadn’t chosen it himself but that it had filled some other, feminine notion of fashion.
Something bitter and yellow-green wormed through her heart, threatening to spoil her pleasure.
Grey’s other women. The thought burnt into her mind, unbidden and unwelcome. He’d kept mistresses aplenty, here and in New York. In England and France on visits, and even a so-called Russian princess.
Ruth shared her mariner husband with his English wife and God knew how many others. Beth could never be like that.
“Lift your hips,” he repeated, a more urgent edge to his voice.
Hunger surged. Her inner muscles clenched repeatedly and wetness gushed from her core. Oh, hell’s bells. What did the past matter? So what if he’d paid women to fill his lonely hours? She would be his wife. She would imprint herself so indelibly upon him that he’d not be able to look at another woman without seeing her in that woman’s face.
She would own him body and soul.
She lifted her pelvis as high as she could and wrapped her legs about his waist. He thrust forcefully and his hardness filled her, stretched her. She gasped and her cunt contracted around his cock. Sweet heaven, he fitted her so damned well.
He drew his breath in sharply and held himself still in her. He moved his lips over her neck in a series of heated, frantic kisses. “Beth, oh God, Beth, how I adore you.”
Warmth flooded her heart at his soft words. She pressed her lips to his stubble-roughened cheek and blazed a trail of frenzied kisses along his jaw. She couldn’t get enough of his scent or the salty taste of his skin. She hugged his waist with her legs and writhed her hips against his.
“Fuck me—fuck me hard, Grey.”
He moved within her, each stroke of his erection creating intense friction against the sensitive place deep inside her. It was the most marvellous sensation. She pressed her pelvis forward, squeezing him tighter with her legs. “Harder, harder!”
He thrust into her with force—once, twice, thrice.
She moaned with each thrust. The sound echoed loudly in the dim room.
“Is that what you want?” He thrust again, hard and deep, banging against the entrance to her womb.
Bliss rocked her through. “Grey!”
“Is that what you need?”
“Oh God, Grey—” He drove into her again, filling her, stretching her, driving her insane with delight. She tossed her head. “Oh God!”
He bent down to her, his rugged profile edged in a beam of moonlight from the crack in the curtain. “You vixen.” He touched his mouth to her neck, open and hungry, kissing, sucking and nibbling. “You incredible, maddening vixen.”
Her inner walls squeezed him over and over, spasming with hunger.
“Shut up.” She took a panting breath. “Shut up and fuck me, damn you.”
He laughed, the sound deep and unbearably sensual. “All right, all right, my insatiable little virago.”
He drove hard and deep and fast. Slick, sliding strokes of pure ecstasy. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth—constant moans issued from her throat, growing louder by the moment. Unbearable tension seized her belly, thighs and cunt.
She thrashed her head and clung to him with her whole body.
Tremors shook her. God, it was too much. Just too much. She was either going to come or combust.
His cock began to jerk within her and he groaned. His seed surged inside her. The fierce and hot flood triggered the spastic contraction of her inner walls. They squeezed his thick hardness over and over. She screamed with the pleasure, digging her fingers into his back, raking her nails down his sweat-dampened flesh.
For several moments, he lay panting against her ear. He pulled away and stood, then reached for her and lifted her up into his arms. With faint moonlight guiding the way, he carried her upstairs. She curled against his bare chest, her hand pressed against the sure, steady beat of his heart.
Here she was safe. Safe from all the demons of her past.
* * * *
In the bed, Grey ran a caressing hand over Beth’s flat stomach, delighting in the silken contours. “I should have taken care.”
“I told you before, I prefer you to come inside me.”
“Yes, but do you really want children so soon? Fair warning, Beth—once you’re in my house, I am going to fuck you every night.” He bent and placed his lips to her belly. “If I don’t take care, you’ll quickly get with child. I don’t know how wise it would be.”
She laughed softly, caressing his head as it lay against her belly. “I am soon to be twenty-four; I am more than ready to be a mother.”
He looked up at her. With her eyes large and luminous in the candlelight and her hair in disarray about her shoulders, she looked so girlish and vulnerable. She attempted to hide behind a façade of worldly wickedness but he had become increasingly aware of how soft-hearted and vulnerable she was underneath. It made him want to protect her, even against himself. He should be tenderer with her.
“Maybe we should wait a while before starting a family. For your sake. You’ll have so many things to become accustomed to,” he said.
“You don’t want children with me?” Her voice was softer now, unsure.
With his tongue, he traced circular patterns over her satiny flesh. “I want at least one. A daughter.” Pleasure at the thought made him smile. “But I don’t want you pregnant year after year, wrecking your health and losing all your teeth.”
She laughed again. “But that’s an old wives’ tale. Women don’t lose more of their teeth for having been pregnant.” Her look turned thoughtful. “We should have four. Two boys, two girls. One child would be too lonely.”
His smile had frozen so hard his face ached. He wasn’t sure he wanted to share her just yet, with anyone. One child would seal their bond but a whole houseful of them? God… Yet he was fast becoming addicted to the sensation of coming deep inside her, so unless she proved barren it seemed a foregone conclusion that they would have several.
“A houseful of children? You’ve set me quite a task.” He lightened his tone to hide his inner doubts.
She smiled tremulously and her eyes shone like bright blue stars. The sight of so much feminine hope made his stomach tighten, made him too aware of how her future happiness rested on him. The way of life for a wife. He’d already failed one wife—he had no business taking another. Especially not one so young and full of idealism and dreams.
But what the hell was she expecting from her life with him? He’d tried to explain how it would be. He suspected she listened emotionally, filtering his words until they suited her vision of married life. Damn it, when they had started he’d thought her as hardened as he was. The first clue she wasn’t had been when she’d refused his carte blanche. When she had mentioned marriage. He ought never to have come back to her. Now it was all too late.
He broke their eye contact and moved up to kiss the soft crest of her left breast. At her little gasp of pleasure, he lingered, letting his tongue slide along her satiny flesh, taking a lazy, circular route to her nipple. When he reached his goal, the tip was pebble-like and sweet against his tongue. She clutched his head and moaned her approval. He wasn’t at all sure he knew how to love her, at least not without losing his focus, but he certainly knew how to make love to her.
She twined her fingers in his hair and moaned. He spent a long time worshipping her breasts until she began to wriggle. He kissed his way down her twitching stomach. Her scent—tangy-sweet like fresh tangerines and gardenias—reminded him sharply of his travels in Asia as a young man.
He devoured the salty taste of her flat belly with lips and tongue. A moving target proved far too exciting and he hastened his way down to the silver-gilt and pink shell of her cunt.
He separated the plump outer lips. Her inner lips glistened with moisture, swollen with her need. Her hips arched up. He touched his tongue to her. He cupped her ass, then he thrust his tongue deeply into her core. Honey surged from her, tasting of salt and sweetness. He thrust again and again, his grip on her fierce as he sought to bring her pelvis as close to his mouth as possible. God, he’d never be able to get enough of her.
Her inner walls contracted over and over.
“Grey, Grey… Oh God… I can’t, I can’t…can’t.” She gripped his head, bucked her hips. “Please, I need you inside, I need you so badly.”
Christ, she drove him insane with desire.
He jolted into a sitting position, took her by the shoulders, rolled her onto her side, lifted her leg and thrust into her.
She cried out and her cunt hugged him. He caught his breath. Christ, she was so tight, so unbearably tight. And wet. And hot.
With a gentle touch on her cheek, he turned her face back towards his.
Her eyes were closed and her lips slightly parted. He tasted her mouth hungrily for a moment, but he wanted more from her. A connection deeper than the physical. He lifted his head. “Open your eyes, my love.”
Her lashes fluttered open and her eyes met his, as wide and blue as the summer sky, sucking him in, and it was as if he was losing his own identity, merging totally with her. But he didn’t hold himself back, not one single degree. He just let himself enjoy being fully immersed in her. He slowly rolled his hips against hers, again and again, providing just enough sensation to keep both of them aroused. Oh Christ, it was too sweet. He took her mouth, tenderly, deeply. One long kiss and one long fuck blended together, both soul deep.
Beth savoured the taste of his tongue, even while she revelled in the exquisite tenderness with which he fucked her. Holy Christ. She had never experienced closeness like this. He lifted his head and his eyes held hers, telling her all the things she’d hungered for so long to hear.
Her inner walls drew tighter and tighter, the pressure increasing. Oh God, she was going to come. She didn’t want to. If she came with him, so close to him like this, she’d never be the same, ever again. He’d be t
oo deeply imprinted on the most vital parts of her.
She’d never be able to exist without him after this. But her heart swelled with love—overflowed with love. She couldn’t deny him, not when his loving demanded her response. Slow, strong contractions convulsed her cunt, rocking her to the depths of her soul with sweet, sensual satisfaction.
“I love you.” His words drifted to her as part of her dream. His hands smoothed her hair. He bit lightly at the side of her neck. “I do, Beth—I love you so ardently, I cannot bear it.”
Their panting breaths filled the silence.
He was waiting for her to answer him. She couldn’t say it.
She had yet to voice her love for him in overt words without it being phrased as teasing. Maybe she never would. Some things just carried too much risk. Not knowing what else to do, she put her lips to his and poured all her love into her kiss.
Chapter Five
Ruff, ruff, ruff.
The dog in the yard next door had been barking non-stop for over an hour. Loudly. Beth pressed the pillow more tightly to her ears. Why didn’t someone toss a bucket of water over the infernal mutt?
Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff.
She sighed. It was no good. She opened one eye. Pale grey light seeped in between the cracks of the curtains. Relief washed over her. She didn’t have to be back at Mrs Hazelwood’s until ten. She moved closer to Grey and pressed herself to his strong, warm body. She slid her hand down his bare, hard-muscled stomach.
He caught his breath.
So he wasn’t sleeping. She smiled and moved her hand lower until she captured something harder yet. She stroked him and he grew firmer and longer, his juices leaking profusely over her hand. Her breathing quickened and her nipples drew into tight points. Wetness surged from her core and a tingling need awakened. She squeezed her thighs tight and her internal muscles contracted spasmodically.
White Lace and Promises Page 7
