Bought: His Temporary Fiancée

by Lindsay, Yvonne

  He sucked in a breath as she straddled his legs—the smooth skin of her inner thighs like silk against him. The heat of her core, calling to him. When her fingers closed around his aching shaft he caught hold of the bedcovers, his hands twisting in the finely woven fabric as tight as they could in an effort to resist the urge to thrust within the gentle sheath of her fist.

  She was driving him out of his mind with her touch and as she bent forward, her hair drifted over him, as gossamer soft and fine as a breath. He could have lost it right there and then, her effect upon him was so intense. But instant gratification had never been his thing. No, far, far better to prolong the ecstasy. To draw pleasure out for as long as humanly possible before giving in to the inevitable.

  Will had cause to question his resolve as in the next breath he felt her lush mouth close over his tip. Felt the swirl of her tongue over the ultra-sensitive surface. Again and again. She took him deeper in the heated cavern of her mouth, her hand working firmly on his shaft and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he’d lost all semblance of being in charge of himself. He’d never submitted as completely as this to anyone. He’d always held back a level of control, choosing when he’d let go. But this was completely different. Margaret held his pleasure in her power. It was thrilling and daunting at the same time.

  As she increased the pressure of her hand and her mouth, he felt his climax build inside him, out of control, banishing thought and replacing it with the sure knowledge that what would come next would be bigger, brighter and better than anything he’d ever known before. Every nerve in his body was poised for the intensity of the pleasure escalating through his body. Pleasure she gave him.

  And then it burst through him, pulse after pulse of rapture, each one stronger than the one before. A raw cry of completion ripped from his throat as bliss invaded his every cell, suffusing him with a boneless sense of well-being. He reached for Margaret and drew her into his arms, her body aligning with his, her hair a swath of black-velvet softness across his chest and shoulders.

  Words couldn’t adequately describe how she’d made him feel or the depth of his confusion when it related to her. Outside of the bedroom she was Miss Prim. Carrying herself with poise and an air of quiet efficiency, as if she moved in a sea of calm. Yet, in the bedroom she was something else altogether. And that lingerie. He was tempted to ask her to put it back on, just so he could peel it off her all over again.

  He stroked a hand down her long smooth spine, over the curve of her rounded buttocks. Despite the intensity of his climax, he could feel his body begin to stir to life again, and this time he relished the fact that he’d be the one bringing her pleasure.

  He rolled them both onto their sides and continued his slow lazy exploration of her body.

  “You have the softest skin,” he murmured. “Makes me want to kiss you all over.”

  “So what’s stopping you?” she answered, a slow smile curving her mouth.

  “Absolutely nothing,” he answered and leaned forward to capture that smile with his lips before he nuzzled her neck, inhaling the sweet, intoxicating scent of her skin.

  Nothing else in the world came close to it, he decided. Once you got past the “touch me not” signals that she sent out, you discovered the many layers that made her who she was and the treats she had in store for a man like him. A man who was prepared to bring her the world of delight. Who could worship her as she deserved to be worshipped.

  He traced the cord of her neck with his tongue, smiling to himself as she let out a soft moan, and committing the erogenous zone to memory. Next he followed the line of her collarbone, from just below her shoulder until he found the hollow at the base of her throat. A tiny kiss there to punctuate his journey and he continued across her collarbone to the other side. Beneath him, Margaret squirmed and pressed her shoulders back hard into the bedcovers, thrusting her breasts proudly forward. Never a man to waste an opportunity, Will trailed his tongue over one creamy swell—working in an ever-decreasing spiral that led to her tightly budded nipple.

  Her breath came in shallow gasps as he drew closer to his ultimate goal, and halted for several excruciatingly long seconds as his mouth hovered over the distended tip.

  “Please?” she begged, her voice no more than a tortured whisper.

  “Your wish is my command,” he answered.

  He blew a cool breath over the taut bead, then outlined it carefully with the firm tip of his tongue. She arched even more, thrusting upward in complete supplication and he finally gave her what she wanted. He closed his lips around her, drawing the peak into his mouth and suckling hard.

  She cried out his name, her fingers suddenly tunneling through his hair and holding his head to her. Her extreme sensitivity drove his body to even greater demands but he held himself in check. This time, it was all about her.

  He eased off the pressure of his tongue, his lips, then built them once more before transferring his attention to her other breast. Again he followed the painstaking path of the decreasing spiral. Again he felt her body grow taut, her back arch, until he at last gave in and lavished his mouth upon her.

  She was on the edge of orgasm, he realized with a sense of wonder. Purely from his ministrations to her nipples. He’d heard of it, but never before experienced it with a lover. Her very responsiveness and abandon made his control stretch tight, but he renewed his attention to her, his hands gently molding the shape of her breasts with a reverence he’d never experienced before.

  Her release, when it came, sent her entire body rigid, before she collapsed back onto the bed. Will rested his head a moment on her breasts, feeling her rapid breathing as it slowly returned to normal.

  “I’ve never done that before,” she said from beneath him, her voice filled with wonder.

  Her hands came to rest on his shoulders, her fingertips drawing tiny circles on his skin. Even the lightest touch from her drove him crazy. He shifted, pulling himself higher over her body so they were face to face. Her hands coasted down his back, past his waist to his buttocks. The feather-light touch had him totally wired on top of having just brought her to orgasm.

  “You okay with it?” he asked.

  She seemed to think about it for a few seconds before a beatific smile spread across her face. “Oh, yes. Most definitely.”

  “Good, then let’s not stop there.”

  Will reached for the box of condoms he’d shoved under his pillow before they went sightseeing and ripped it open, scattering the foil packets on the covers beside them.

  “So many?” Margaret commented.

  “So few,” he laughed in return.

  He grabbed one of the condoms and ripped away the foil before sheathing himself and returning to the warmth of Margaret’s embrace. Positioning himself with his knees spread wide on the bed, he dragged her hips toward him, and pulled her legs over his thighs.

  His blunt head probed at the moist entrance to her body. He tore his gaze away from the compelling view of their bodies joining together and watched her face instead as he eased his length inside her. Her inner muscles clenched tight around him, and he hesitated a moment, allowing her to ease and accept him. The control he had to employ made sweat break out on his back. A trickle of moisture ran down his spine to the cleft of his buttocks, the sensation it evoked driving his hips forward until he was buried within her.

  A flush of color spread over her chest and she moved beneath him, silently encouraging him to continue. Her lips parted on an indrawn breath as he withdrew then drove into her again slowly.

  “More,” she whispered. “Don’t stop.”

  Determined to give her pleasure before he lost all semblance of command, he began to thrust deep within her—at first slow and then with increasing pressure until he felt as if he was going to shatter. Margaret’s hands gripped his forearms, her fingernails digging into his skin as he increased momentum, her breath coming in short, sharp cries of pleasure until her entire body spasmed and she let go with a gut-deep groan of s
atisfaction. The sound of her, the feel of her, the pulsating strength of her orgasm, drove him over the edge and beyond. His hips jerked against her as ecstasy flooded through him and he gave himself over to the sensation.

  Over to her.

  Ten

  They were on the ferry coming back from the Statue of Liberty and Margaret still felt as if she was lost in the haze of the rapture they’d explored together. If Will had suggested they forego her continued introduction to his home city and stay in their suite for the rest of the day she would have happily agreed.

  Sleep had been snatched in small increments during the night and through part of this morning, and in between they’d indulged in one another virtually every way she could have imagined. She would have thought that her desire for him would have diminished, but she only wanted him more. Even now, tucked against his side, his arm around her shoulders, her body hummed with suppressed energy. Energy she knew exactly how to expend.

  Her wonder in the incredible monument she’d just visited paled in comparison to the wonder she felt every time he touched her. Whether it was as intimate as his caress across her clitoris as a precursor to bringing her to yet another amazing peak of pleasure, or whether it was something as simple as brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, when Will touched her she was instantly and irrevocably on fire for him.

  Will bent his head and pressed a kiss against her temple. “Enjoying today?”

  “Very much,” she said with a smile.

  “I have something else planned for you.”

  “Oh, something that involves you, too, I hope.”

  “Later tonight, yes. But when we get back to the hotel I need to leave you for a couple of hours.”

  “Could I come with you?” Margaret asked, sensing his response in the way he pulled away from her.

  “Not this time. It’s just some business. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.”

  “Business? On a Saturday.”

  “It can’t be avoided.”

  She studied his face. It was as if he’d become someone else. The corporate Will Tanner, not the lover who’d painstakingly brought her to a state of frenzy so many times last night.

  “If it’s business, why can’t I come with you?” she pressed.

  “Because of the special treat I’ve arranged for you. Besides, I don’t want you to be bored and I do want you looking your best for tonight. Don’t worry about anything except for being the perfect fiancée,” he said, lifting her left hand to his mouth and pressing his lips to her ring finger.

  By looking her best, he obviously meant looking polished within an inch of her life, she decided when he left her in the entrance of the beauty spa at the hotel with four hours to spare before they were due to leave for his parents’ apartment. Did he not trust her to be able to present herself well to his family? The thought tarnished the cloud of joy she’d been enveloped in for the past day and a half.

  The irrefutable reminder that their entire relationship was a sham, despite their physical affinity, was a much needed wake-up call. She was playing a part and would do well to hold on to that truth. Already she risked far more hurt than she’d ever counted on by falling in love with him.

  Well, if he wanted polished and perfect, that’s exactly what he’d get. Margaret tried to tuck away her disappointment but it was easier said than done. By the time she’d been waxed, massaged, tinted and made up she felt even more tense, if that was possible.

  Despite Will’s assurances last night that they’d be able to carry off their elaborate web of deception in front of his family, she was feeling almost sick to her stomach. Even the exceptional glass of French champagne she’d been given during her pedicure failed to quell the nerves that held her muscles hostage.

  What if his family hated her on sight? He’d be no nearer to a resolution to his quest. Worse, what if his family adored her? Would she and Will then be expected to maintain their deception even longer? Already her heart was fully engaged. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to walk away from this, from him, without pain. But she knew without fail that staying with him for very much longer would be equally, if not more, damaging. And yet, even at her most pragmatic, she had to admit that there’d always be a part of her that clung to the distant hope that they could make this real. That the fairy tale could come true.

  By the time Will rushed into their suite a bare ten minutes before they were due to leave, she still felt no more confident about her ability to carry this off tonight. While he grabbed a quick shower she set out the clothes he’d told her he wanted to wear. He came through from the en-suite bathroom, followed by a cloud of steam and the inimitable scent that she would forever associate with him.

  As she sat on the bed and watched him finish getting ready it struck her as ironic that he’d given her four hours to prepare for tonight while only leaving himself ten minutes.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, catching her eye in the mirror while he adjusted his tie.

  “Oh, just that you seemed to think I needed so much time to be ready for tonight.”

  “Didn’t you enjoy your time in the spa? I thought all women loved to be pampered.”

  “Oh, I enjoyed the pampering but I did start to wonder just how much work you thought I’d need.”

  He reached out and caught her arm, pulling her up to him. “You’re really worried about that?”

  “Not worried, exactly. Not about that, anyway.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need all that primping, ever. You’re beautiful. I knew you were anxious about tonight and I thought it would be a nice relaxing way for you to spend the rest of the afternoon.”

  “I’d rather have been with you,” Margaret said.

  “You’d have been crazy with boredom. Believe me. Now,” he flicked a look at his watch, “we’d better get going or my mother will skin me alive.”

  “You’re afraid of your mother?” she asked, one perfectly shaped brow raised in disbelief.

  “Let’s just say I respect her and her expectation of punctuality.”

  Despite her nervousness, Margaret soon relaxed once she was behind the doors of the Tanners’ brownstone in the Upper East Side. Will’s mother, Olivia, refused to stand on ceremony and enveloped Margaret in a giant hug the moment she’d shed her coat.

  “Welcome to the family, Margaret. We’ve all been dying to see you,” Olivia said warmly. “Come through and meet everyone. Better to get it over with quickly, that way you can relax and just enjoy yourself for the rest of the evening.”

  Margaret instantly warmed to the older woman, who tucked a hand in the crook of Margaret’s elbow and led her away from Will and through the immaculately furnished apartment to the main sitting room. Tastefully furnished in shades of green and cream, accented with black and white animal prints here and there, the room could have graced the cover of any of the glossy home magazines Margaret occasionally daydreamed over. The hardwood floors were polished to a mirror finish, yet still retained the well-used and homey feel of a home that was lived in and enjoyed, not just used as a showcase of wealth and position.

  “This is Michael, he’s Will’s eldest brother, and this is his wife, Jane.”

  Margaret was immediately struck by the likeness between Michael and Will. It was in the eyes, and the intensity in their gaze. She felt as if she was being analyzed on multiple levels before he smiled and thrust out his hand.

  “Call me Mike,” he insisted, his fingers enveloping hers and shaking her hand.

  “Mike, pleased to meet you.” Margaret smiled back. She turned to the petite blonde at his side, “And, Jane, lovely to meet you, too.”

  “Welcome to the clan,” Jane said with a quick smile. “Are you sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for?”

  “Not at all.” Margaret laughed.

  “Probably for the best,” said another man who joined them. “I’m Paul. Middle son, best-looking and by far the most popular family member.”

 
; “Oh, you are not,” interrupted the elegantly coiffed brunette who rose from the sofa where she’d been sitting.

  As the woman’s flowing outfit settled around her body, Margaret couldn’t help but notice she was heavily pregnant. It drove home to her what a close unit this family was—and what an imposter she was.

  The brunette sidled up next to her husband. “You’ll have to excuse Paul’s delusions of grandeur. I’m Kelly, and this,” she patted her belly proudly, “will be Quin.”

  “Congratulations to you both,” Margaret said, painting a smile on her face. “You must be very excited.”

  “Excited, scared, all the above,” Kelly responded with a laugh.

  “Who’s this, then? Why haven’t we been introduced yet?”

  An older man, tall and lean and with gray receding hair and wire-rimmed glasses, materialized through an arched doorway.

  “This is Margaret, Will’s fiancée,” Olivia said, drawing Margaret forward. “Margaret, this is Albert, Will’s dad and, for his sins, my husband.”

  Despite her words, it was obvious there was a deep love and respect between the two.

  “So this is the miracle woman who is going to take my boy down the aisle, hmm?”

  Albert Tanner scrutinized Margaret from behind the lenses of his glasses. As with his eldest son, Mike, Margaret felt as if she were under a microscope but she held his gaze, not backing down for a second.

  “I don’t know about miracle woman,” she said softly, “but yes, I’m Margaret Cole, and I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Tanner.”

  The man’s face wreathed in a wide smile. “Call me Al, we don’t stand on ceremony here. Besides, if I’m to be your father-in-law, you can hardly spend the rest of your days calling me Mr. Tanner, now, can you? So, what can I get you to drink?”

  Half an hour later, Margaret could feel herself begin to relax in increments. From across the room she saw Will, deep in conversation with Paul and Mike, while she sat talking to Jane and Kelly. Will chose that exact moment to look up, his eyes meeting hers. He gave her a small smile and lifted his glass toward her in a silent toast. The last vestiges of tension in her shoulders eased away. It was okay. She was doing okay.