Every pass of his tongue over her clit made her buck and cry out, so Phillip slowed down the game, teasing her lips, kissing and suckling her until she was so ready he feared he’d held off too long. Feather light flicks of his tongue met the taut little pearl, steady and insistent, until the rhythm of his mouth against her sensitive nub caught up to her desires and overtook her senses completely. He mastered her with the barest contact, working her flesh until she was enslaved to it, until every nerve ending in her body was thrumming with the connection to this tiny place and the slick caresses of his tongue.
She came in a beautiful trembling cascade that he drank in, refusing to slow down or yield until he had had his fill of the intoxicating musk of her body. He lifted his mouth only to slip one of his fingers inside of the molten channel, gasping as her muscles tightened and gripped him, pushing into her release and extending the pleasure until she had to cover her own mouth to keep from screaming with it.
You are mine, Serena.
You are mine, Raven.
You are mine, woman.
He relented and withdrew his hand but kissed her gently as he did. He raised himself up on his elbows to assess how she was faring. Serena raised herself up on her elbows as well, blinking as if she had just woken up. Her color was high, staining her cheeks pink and she gifted him with an astonished smile.
“That was…lovely.”
“Was it?” he asked softly. “Well, let us see how we can improve the experience.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t—think improvements are necessary!”
He replied silently by continuing the explorations he’d begun from her feet, bending over to kiss the rise of her belly, trailing his tongue around the miniature well of her belly button. He kissed it reverently before moving on to nip at the lines of her waist and then her ribs, tracing each one until she was once again a writhing siren beneath him.
He slowly admired every inch, every change that time had wrought, ignoring the impatient demands of his own body.
Now there was only Serena.
And his determination to take the slow road.
“I read once that some women can climax just from a man’s attention to their breasts.”
“How…brazen of them!”
“Hmm.” He eyed her breasts like a man contemplating a new approach to paradise.
“Phillip!” Serena covered her breasts defensively with her hands. “I see no need to prove every sexual theory that comes into your head.”
He smiled. “No? I am surprised at you, Lady Wellcott. Where is your adventurous spirit? Unless of course, you’ve shriveled up into some kind of prim version of—“
She punched him in the shoulder. “Quiet yourself, Warrick, or I’ll show you what a woman pushed to adventure is capable of!”
“God, yes!” he sighed. He kissed her so that she could taste herself on his lips, his hands replacing hers to cover her breasts, mapping her body to claim once and for all. His thigh slid between hers and he deliberately shifted up until her wet folds were riding the ridge of his upper leg. He kissed her deeper, the friction of his hand against her nipples and against her slick soft flesh, played out in a concert of worship and sensation.
She came again, this time in a ragged primal dance that inspired him to push her even further. He parted her thighs easily, lining up his body before she was aware of him, and buried himself inside of her, gritting his teeth to fight a quick finish. He moved only enough to draw out her release, only enough to change the rhythm of her body’s demands, slowing the waves only to build them one on top of another until she was mindless with it.
She bit his shoulder and he smiled at the pain as she inadvertently helped him to maintain control. My poor darling!
He relented slightly, easing up on the pace to let her catch her breath, but Phillip wasn’t about to stop. They’d both waited too long to be cheated.
She caressed his back with her hands then shifted them to trail over his chest, gently pinching his nipples and playfully exploring his body even as he continued to drive slowly inside of her.
She eyed with a sly smile. “You were skinnier then, sir.”
He groaned and rolled his eyes. “God, you know how to flatter a man, Lady Wellcott!”
“You weren’t as muscular and fit then and—Phillip Warrick! You know very well that you have a very handsome physique and are a breathtaking example of male prowess! There. Does that soothe?”
His cock hardened even more at the compliments despite his intent to pretend he was unmoved and try to get her to keep going. Apparently hearing Serena praise his body was no small pleasure without impact. Her smile evaporated with a gasp as the change in his physique registered on her own.
“Did you want to say anything else, Serena?”
“You mean, besides making the gentle observation that you mysteriously smell like jasmine bath oil? A very intriguing change, do you not agree?”
“Oh, you’ll pay for that jest, woman.”
He withdrew quickly and flipped her over onto her belly. She squeaked in mild protest as he pushed a pillow under her hips to raise them for his pleasure. Phillip allowed himself a second or two to admire the view of her bottom in the air like a ripe peach with the inviting seam of her sex; but a second or two was all he allowed.
“Phillip!”
He notched the plum-sized head of his cock against her, closing his eyes at the shiver of lust that seized him as her molten flesh stretched to encase him. He knew she was almost too sensitive for more, but Phillip couldn’t show her mercy.
She was teetering on the edge. Phillip took one deep breath and plunged ahead, pushing them both on until there was nothing in their way. He came into her slowly, with small measured thrusts that gave her no time to settle before he withdrew and then pressed a little deeper. She writhed at the sweet torment until he was finally buried inside of her completely. She wriggled her hips and lifted them higher only to cry out at the tight spasm of pleasure that seized her when the searing hot head of his cock came in contact with her inner core and a surprising hidden trigger that promised nothing but ecstasy. Serena’s eyes widened at shock. She’d long considered herself a woman entirely aware of her own anatomy but here was something new.
But apparently not an unknown thing to her lover.
Phillip moved quickly to take advantage of her reaction, unable to hold back any longer. The coil of tension between his hip bones exploded in an orgasm that robbed him of breath. He climaxed in a jet of a white hot release that ripped a primal growl from his throat. Phillip shuddered at the waves, marveling that intensity of his pleasure bordered on pain.
Damn it. If I come to my senses and realize I’m crying, I swear I won’t be surprised…
Thankfully, he wasn’t unmanned with tears, but it was several long minutes before he could remember how to talk.
“Holy…dear god…that was…” Phillip struggled to catch his breath.
“Phillip?” she said softly, as they gently disengaged to collapse in each other’s arms.
“Yes?”
“I am becoming convinced that…slow is…a feast I shall have to grow accustomed to…” She kissed his shoulder. “I shall never tease you about rushing again.”
“Ah, then it was worth it!” he said with a proud smile. “Although, we can make a rushed attempt if you need to make another objective comparison. Just…give me a few minutes to recover.”
She sat up in astonishment drawing the sheet up around her. “You cannot be serious!”
“You are as addictive as opium, Lady Wellcott. But, alas…no. I may need more than a few minutes before I can forever impress you with my prowess and staying powers.”
She laughed. “Thank God!” She was quiet for a few seconds and then looked at him flirtatiously through the veil of her lashes. “I’d forgotten how transformative the act is. It is a wonder that anyone bothers to do anything else!”
He shook his head with a smile. “What a wicked thing you
are!”
“To your benefit apparently.” She tipped her head to one side. “Is it not strange that you say it like a compliment when I am naked but as an insult when I have my clothes on?”
“You mystify, Lady Wellcott. One moment I think I know you, then the next…”
“Blame my upbringing. Lord Trent civilized me just enough, didn’t he? He refined my manners so that I could blend into any good salon or charm at the dinner table but not so much that I wouldn’t remain a wild creature inside. I was hungry for affection and pleasure and he never dissuaded me. There were no moral lessons in my schoolroom and no boundaries between my desires and my actions.”
He shook his head. “You—were not unaware of right and wrong, Serena.”
She laughed. “Perhaps. I was a child then. Trent made sure I was ripe for the taking and I still marvel at fate. For if not you, it could have been any man if Trent had been diverted from his path, his hunger for vengeance. I wanted love like a flower craves the sun. Trent saw to all of it. He put me in your path. He’d trained me like an animal to never say no to a man’s wishes and my own whims and impulses were fuel to the fire.” She shrugged her pale shoulders. “I was a virgin but I was far from innocent. I was like a feral creature in the guise of a porcelain doll and I’m wise enough to see how appealing that is to a man.”
A shiver tripped down his spine. “Not just a simple twist of fate, Serena. Not just any man. Me. You were meant for me and I don’t care how casually you wish to belittle it. This fire between us is far more than the work of fate’s clock.”
She touched his face, cooling the heat of anger there but also subtly reigniting the embers of his desire. “You are right. It could not have been any man. I don’t think even in Trent’s wildest dreams he accounted for how completely I would fall for you or how it would change me.”
She stood and turned, retrieving her robe from the floor to shake it out and pull it back on. She tied the sash firmly around her waist and raked her fingers through her hair to magically tame it back into a single twist that fell down her back. “There, I am restored.”
“Stay.”
She shook her head. “I dare not. For whatever would the servants think, sir? I am a respected woman and must do all I can to protect my good name.” Her smile was bewitching as she resumed the illusions of social order. “As you must recall that you are a guest in your cousin’s home and bound to not dishonor your family with scandal.”
He sighed. “What would it be like to love you openly? How is it that I am always trapped in a strange web of deception when it comes to you? If James is eager to play the matchmaker and Delilah is a dear friend and sure to approve, why are we lurking about in darkened hallways again?”
The playfulness in her eyes evaporated. “If you wish to earn my trust and affection, you will do as I bid. You may be ready to play out some public show of…” Her lip curled in disgust. “I am not so inclined. I am not ready to risk humiliation and destruction at your hands, Sir Warrick. You and I are not…” She crossed her arms defensively. “The risk would once again be entirely mine. You think a tumble or two means that I am at your feet, sir? I may crave you but that is a condition you can either continue to enjoy, or we can end it now.”
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Whoa! No need to hiss and spit! I will keep your secrets for as long as you wish. Though truthfully, I intend to outlast your fears, Lady Wellcott. I will prove that the last things I would ever bring to you are humiliation or destruction. There will be no repetition of the mistakes of the past, Serena. How could there be?”
She pressed her lips together into a tight line of unhappiness, her eyes clouding with wary distrust and frustration. “How? How could there be?” She sighed. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
She slipped out the door and shut it behind her before he could think of an answer to soothe the storm in her eyes.
She wants me but she doesn’t trust me.
He couldn’t blame her for it. His own wounds were troublesome enough but they surely paled in comparison to all that she had suffered. Phillip couldn’t retrace his steps. All he could do was pray that there was still a path ahead to let him prove to her that the future they’d lost was still within reach.
In the meantime, he would close his eyes and try to enjoy the dictations of Lady Serena Wellcott as she engineered a dizzying game of sexual cat and mouse in a physical contest of catch and release. For Phillip, he accepted that he would dare anything to achieve her. No woman had stirred his heart since the nightmare of Trent’s making and he was hungry to finally repair his life and move forward.
I’ll hold steady and she’ll abandon her need for secrecy.
In time, she’ll see that secrets serve neither of us in the end.
Serena made it to her room before her composure began to crumble. She stumbled with a surprised cry into a small table by the door and swallowed the bitter bile that rose in her throat. Every bittersweet exchange with him was costing her too much. Serena had put her heel on the neck of more men than she could call to memory, but Phillip eluded her control. Worse, he brought back memories she’d long banished and provoked her raw emotions to such an extent she was sure to say too much and stumble against him.
To stumble against him and never let go.
He sought to heal the rift between them unaware of how wide the chasm stood. Whatever part of her hungered for him, needed him, there was a deadly streak of awareness that there would never be a happy ending for the woman that she had become.
Serena took in a few slow breaths and waited for her heart to accept what her mind knew as true. She waited until the echoes of pleasure inside of her faded and there was nothing left but the beating of her own heart.
Whatever it is between us, it is fleeting.
It is a simple distraction that will have to be managed.
And when my business with Mrs. Osborne is finished, it will end.
Once and for all.
Chapter Eleven
“Did you find Dell last night?” Serena asked and began to pour the tea.
“Yes. It was a—foolish impulse to bolt like that but James was so…” Delilah let out a shaky breath. “I suddenly couldn’t breathe and the thought that instead of going to the library he might have gone upstairs to ring the bell in my bedroom. She’d have answered it believing it to be me and…”
“Is that how he tricked her when it happened?”
“Yes. Just that easily.”
Serena held out a teacup. “Here. To settle your nerves.” Delilah took it and Serena stirred her own. “I said nothing but your claim to be unwell will only provide more credence to what you’ve told James. That is, if it is reported to him that you left the table abruptly last night.”
“I’ve done as you asked, Lady Wellcott. I’ve…hinted to James that I suspect I may be pregnant at last.” Delilah fanned herself slowly. “He was not as joyously cheered as I’d hoped but he has been sleeping in his dressing room.”
Serena smiled. “And taking his sour mood out on Sir Warrick.”
“I think he is quite fond of you, Lady Wellcott. Truly and genuinely fond.”
“Hardly but I think Sir Warrick and I have reached a détente.” Serena sighed. “But back to James. If he has shifted his sleeping arrangements, then he is giving credence to your claim.”
“For a time,” Delilah said. “But what will I do when he discovers my deception?”
Serena nodded. “What deception? There is a baby coming, is there not, Mrs. Osborne?”
Delilah quietly worked through the implications of it all and Serena marveled at how beautiful her expression became when the revelation settled against her heart. “Oh, yes! Yes, there is!”
“I think it might be a fitting addition to our scheme if your husband’s child could be acknowledged as such and if you can summon the generosity it would require to give it your family’s name…” Serena knew that there was no debate to be had but it was important that Delila
h see all the pieces fall into place.
“Dell! What a relief to my Dell! If together we could raise this child!” Delilah pressed her hands against her chest. “It would be more than fitting. It would be a blessing I cannot give credence!”
“Depending on how things play out in the next week, we will protect the child at all costs. Sit with this for a time, Mrs. Osborne. As you love Dell, I think you can love this baby and steal the future away from James. For you are now the architect of the years to come, not your husband, and if you have room for his baby, then I think it will be a very beautiful life ahead.”
“But James would never allow—“
“James will have no say in the matter. None. And if he is wise, he’ll simply be grateful to see his family name carried on and his line continue.” Serena shrugged her shoulders. “Or I’ll make sure he is.”
“What a tangle! However do you keep all the threads set in your mind, Lady Wellcott?” Delilah took a sip of her tea. “You are a marvel to me!”
“I do what I must. It isn’t much of a parlor trick at the end of the day.”
“Do you mind if I ask…”
“You may ask me anything, Mrs. Osborne.”
“What is the worst revenge you have ever meted out, Lady Wellcott?”
“Why do you ask that question?”
“I think I want to take courage but also to brace myself for whatever is to come.”
Serena smiled. “Wise. Very well, but please keep in mind that every plan unfolds differently and no one’s revenge is a match to another’s.”
“Understood.”
“There once was a Lord L, let us call him. His wife reached out to the Black Rose and it was a meeting I have never forgotten. For her husband’s cruelty was so horrifying and so all encompassing, it stole my breath.”
“Did he…beat her?” Delilah asked softly, her eyes already wide.
Serena nodded. “No but his cruelty had no bounds. His every word to her was barbed, his every action aimed at hurting her, frightening her, and tormenting her. Even so, she’d have dutifully endured if he hadn’t finally gone too far for her soul to absorb.” Serena sighed. “She had a little dog, a black-faced pug who was her dear companion and her one solace in this world.”
Lady Rises (The Black Rose Trilogy Book 2) Page 9
