She knew this part. It had happened before. But for what he’d just brought her she’d give him all he wanted. It was his turn now.
When he kissed her she opened her mouth for him and tasted his tongue in sheer delight as he worked his way inside her, mouth and—that part she had no name for apart from the vague ‘erection’ or ‘shaft.’ He lodged the tip inside her then pushed further.
That was different. He waited for her to open for him instead of forging straight in and pumping away like an automaton. She opened her thighs wider to give him better access and her hands glided down his back to rest on his beautifully rounded backside.
He moaned into her mouth and pushed in further. He wasn’t backward in expressing the pleasure she was giving to him and that warmed her almost as much as his heated body. He’d responded to something she’d done.
Gripping his buttocks, she felt the strong muscles clench as he thrust in and out of her, small movements at first, getting stronger as his passage became easier, as she opened more to him and her body became wetter.
He tore his mouth from hers and gazed down at her as he worked. Flecks of lighter brown, almost gold, lightened the dark brown of his eyes. There was a ring around his iris, a black one, defining the circle and adding stark contrast between it and the white. “Beautiful,” she gasped, unable to censor the journey between mind and mouth.
“Just what I was thinking. You feel so good, you define the word. But if you need me to stop, I think I can. Just ask me.”
He moved with more purpose, drove in deeper and she gasped as sensation began anew.
Different from the last time, deeper, more pervasive. “Don’t—stop.”
“As you wish.” Gritting his fine, white teeth, he lifted his head, driving harder and faster, increasing the pace of his strokes. She’d felt that heat before but it had faded before it had come to anything, leaving her to assume that was all there was.
This time it didn’t fade. At this angle, every thrust grazed that knot of flesh and increased the heat. Tingles crept along her spine, up to her head and to the ends of her fingers. She arched under his weight. He gave a strangled laugh and lifted off her. Cool air swept between them, hardening her nipples even more, making her aware that he was watching her, as she responded to him.
Momentary embarrassment swept over her but he forced it away as he pounded inside her harder, faster. A long, strangled moan came from between his teeth. Their flesh pounded together and she pushed her lower body up to meet his every stroke.
Something caught inside her and the warmth flowing out to encompass every part of her. She cried out, cried his name as her world coalesced, heated and blossomed.
In one powerful movement, he plunged deep. Warmth pumped into her, as he held his body rigid above her and moaned his pleasure.
He dropped to lay beside her again. They lay next to each other, panting as if they’d run a mile. Connie tried to come to terms with the sense of wonder suffusing her.
She didn’t realize he’d found a damp cloth until he swept it between her legs. Yet another new experience, having a man care for her afterwards.
She turned towards him, half expecting him to roll over and leave her now he’d had his way but he didn’t. He folded his arms around her and took her mouth in a long, drugging kiss.
For a few minutes, they lay in contented silence then she found her voice. “Thank you.”
“Entirely mutual I assure you, dear lady.”
He kissed her again, the warmth in his gaze belying his cool tones, which she recognized as ironic. He didn’t want to reveal how much what they’d just done had affected him. “Now we may make our plans. Work out what we do next.”
Our plans? She caught her breath then remembered to let it out. It appeared as if he wanted this to continue, that they had some kind of future. That was impossible. Everything had changed. “You mustn’t do too much. I appreciate what you’re trying to do but Jasper is my problem. Once I’ve returned home and established myself there I will approach my godfather and have the contract canceled.”
He held her close as if he hadn’t heard her words. “I thought Dankworth wanted to kill you when Saxton first came to me but I refused to believe that you were dead. If he had done away with you, he wouldn’t have gone unpunished.”
He breathed a little deeper and took a moment before he spoke again. “But he knew your disappearance wouldn’t go unnoticed, and the murderer go unpunished. What’s more, if you’d disappeared, he’d have had to wait seven years before the authorities would declare you dead and he could hope to inherit your estate.”
He growled low and she recognized his anger. “You’re not an unknown. You have friends and he knows that. Lord Downholland, me, your friends at home. We wouldn’t have rested until we brought him to justice. The way he planned, he’d have it all.”
He murmured when she shivered and stroked her back, slowly, up and down in a soothing rhythm. “He has debts, sweetheart, not just from the tables, although he’s been running with the crowd that plays deep. He’s also been making unwise speculations on risky investments. By my reckoning, he has little left.”
“He wants my money.” Not her. Jasper had never wanted her. “Why wouldn’t he just go with the original plan and marry me?”
He kissed her forehead. “Because you don’t have enough for what he needs. So he wants what you have and then some more.”
A question remained. “Why didn’t he marry me and then kill me? He’d be able to marry someone else then.”
His strokes stopped then restarted. “Because he needs the money quickly. And there’s a bigger risk with that scheme. Your death would be a threat to him for the rest of his miserable life.” His mouth flattened. “That will not happen, sweetheart. I will not allow it.”
“Who is the heiress he’s set his sights on?”
“He plans to marry Miss Stobart.”
She hadn’t liked Louisa Stobart but nobody deserved that fate. “Poor lady!”
He snorted. “Poor lady, my eye. She’s showing every sign of welcoming his courtship. They’re speaking of themselves as engaged.”
“But he can’t. He’s engaged to me.” A few facts settled in her mind, a fact that made sense of this plan. “Alex, we signed the marriage contract before I left Downholland Park. Lord Downholland offered to hold the marriage there but Jasper said no, he had business to conclude in London. He asked—he asked me privately if he could come to me that night.”
He swore inventively and she listened with admiration. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I enjoyed it. Genuine originality should be celebrated.”
He gave a reluctant smile. “I like you, Connie. Oh yes, I know”—he stroked her body, making her arch toward him—“but it’s more than that. You could twist me around your tiniest finger.”
His frown returned. “You will not, however, charm me out of remembering what you just told me. He’s worse than I thought and I didn’t believe that possible. He must have met Miss Stobart at Downholland and decided to make a play for her. He was probably courting her while we were amusing ourselves in the library.”
She snuggled closer. Whatever happened next she’d always remember that time fondly.
He continued his smoothing motion but the strokes didn’t soothe her. She enjoyed them too much for that. His hand shook a little but his anger with Jasper probably caused that.
With a swift movement, she buried her face against his shoulder. A vision returned in full force, flashing into her mind in full, vivid color. “I can see it now. See him. I was shamefully dressed and he was leering at me. Sitting in a chair with red leather upholstery, a bit worn—” She broke off abruptly, fighting tears.
His fingers eased under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
She flushed. He responded by delivering a slow, sweet kiss. “I believe I could get addicted to you, my lady. Your job is to get better, do you hear me?”
“I feel perfect
ly well.”
“Rest and I promise I’ll take care of your interests. Mother Dawkins will look after you for the next day or two, while I put plans into action.”
With an effort, she lifted up on one elbow. He stayed on his back and raised a brow. “Of course, if you’re feeling adventurous….”
But she didn’t smile. She had something important to say. “I won’t let anyone leave me out. This is my life, Alex. I want to know what’s going on. Don’t do anything without telling me first. Promise me.” Never again would she let someone else arrange her life for her.
He cupped her cheek. “You’re a strong woman but nobody has let you demonstrate it yet. Now say it again.”
“What?”
“Say my name.”
“Alex?” She laughed as the darkness of desire filled his eyes. That she could do this to him astounded her. “Alex, Alex, Alex…”
He hooked his hand around the back of her neck and drew her down, ravishing her mouth with a kiss that spoke only of his desire for her.
She wasn’t sure which amazed her the most—that he wanted her or she wanted him with a delicious hunger she’d never known before. And he took such care with her, too.
He explored her mouth with a gentle thoroughness that melted her. She moved closer, climbed over him and his erection pressed against the soft flesh of her stomach. Her nipples grazed his chest and she relished the soft hair rasping against her nipples. He finished the kiss only to return for more, taking her on a new journey, one where she knew what would happen. Taking his erection in hand, he guided it to her wet crease and she lifted her lower body. She wanted more and she wanted him now.
He chuckled into her mouth when he sensed her eagerness and finished the kiss. “Not so fast,” he murmured, soft and low against her lips. “Let it happen, sweetheart. Like a flower growing from bud to blossom. You feel so lovely. Your nipples are driving me crazy. Feed one to me.”
She could hardly believe what he’d just said, much less the rush of liquid desire that flooded her lower body when he said it. She lifted up on her hands, her breasts dangling before his face. Remembering what he’d said, she moved slowly and when he opened his mouth, she lowered one of her nipples into it. He closed his lips, feasting on her and she moaned, letting him hear her pleasure.
He rubbed the head of his shaft along her crease until her thighs were wet with her essence. She hadn’t believed she could dampen so much for a man, or how it eased his way into her, even a man as well endowed as Alex.
He released her nipple with a wet sucking noise, not quite a pop and kissed his way across one soft slope to the other, giving it the same treatment. He held her steady, his hands on her waist and urged her down, on to his hard and eager erection.
This time she felt him push her inner walls aside, fitting inside her as if made for her. Her and her alone. She loved that notion, savored it, rolled it around her head and tucked it away for another day.
She’d recall every second of this encounter and live and breathe it again and again. Alex filled her in a way she hadn’t believed possible and when she thought she was full, he proved her wrong, by sliding the last inch or two into her.
When she sank down on him, he breached her in the most delicious way imaginable. With his hands on her hips, he urged her up, let her nipple slowly slide out of his mouth as she obeyed his direction and sat. Sat on him.
She’d never seen anything so wonderful in her life. Smiling up at her, relaxed and happy, his eyes now filled with delight and a touch of wickedness, Alex glanced down to where their bodies joined. “Look. Me in you.”
“You in me,” she parroted and a modicum of sense back into her wayward head. Their lower hair meshed, his dark as sin, hers lighter, with a touch of pink between.
His hand left her hip and crept down, nudged the knot of flesh he’d caressed to such magnificent effect. “Clitoris,” he murmured. “Say it.”
“Clitoris.” At this rate, she’d lose her mind. He tweaked, stroked and then pinched, making her leap at the flash of sheer pleasure that arrowed deep into her body. That brought her partly off him and she lifted and plunged, curious to explore what he was giving her. With his support, she did it again and stared down into his eyes, warm and encouraging. He left his thumb resting against the crux of their joined bodies, so every time she came down, her clitoris grazed his thumb.
“Do it yourself,” he said. “Take it. Take me.”
With newfound power, Connie did. She lifted up, found that spot inside her that delivered a shot of extra sensation and worked it, pushed in hard, ground down on him until he moaned and begged for mercy. She gave none, nor did she think he really wanted any.
Exhilarated by the control he was ceding to her, she worked him and at the same time, herself, watching his muscles stretch as he held her firmly. He only steadied her, didn’t urge her to do one thing or another. He left it entirely up to her.
And she loved it. This time she brought herself close, right to the precipice, but however hard she pounded, she couldn’t move over the top. Remaining hanging was sweet torture in itself, more than she’d ever experienced before but she yearned, ached and now she knew why, knew what was waiting for her.
The next time she descended, he caught her clitoris and pinched it hard, then pulled and pinched again. That knowing touch proved enough.
Connie threw back her head, opened her mouth and cried to the heavens, as every sensation built and exploded inside her, fireworks and waterfalls, starbursts and throbbing heat.
With a suddenness that shocked her, he pushed her hard on his shaft as he achieved his own climax, his essence jetting into her. His strong features convulsed in pleasure, pleasure that she’d given him and it brought her to climax again.
She stared down at him in complete delight, gasping for breath, feeling more alive than she could ever remember. He gazed up at her, smiling broadly. Neither of them spoke.
In a few moments, she came to herself.
When she looked for the cloth, she noticed lascivious design on the bedhead. It reminded her where they were but that couldn’t dampen the joy and wonder of what had just happened.
After grabbing the cloth, she wiped herself, then climbed off him and cleaned him. He took the cloth from her and laid it aside, then drew her down to lie next to him. “Witch,” he murmured, his voice seductively low. “I meant you to sleep.” He kissed her with that leisurely thoroughness she was coming to crave.
She lay on him then he rolled so they lay on their sides, with his arms wrapped possessively around her. He drew away, smiling then said something she’d never in a million years have imagined. “Connie, will you marry me?”
He’d startled her enough for her to sit bolt upright. “What?”
He reached up, touched the underside of her breast and drew her back down. “If you married me, nobody would dare traduce you. I have influence and so does my family. If you lose your fortune, no matter. I have enough for us both. Nobody will notice the omission.”
But what of love? She liked him, wanted his body with a desperation that shocked her but she didn’t know him well enough for anything else. After making one mistake, she had no intention of doing it again. The marriage to Jasper was to have been a business arrangement with a little liking on both sides but this… “It’s not an easy solution. We’d have many years to regret a rash decision.”
His expression hardened. “Are you saying no?”
She knew she was doing the right thing. “Yes, Alex, I am. I’ve had time to think today.” His eyes flashed but she continued, undaunted. “Are you in any mood to listen? I signed the contract, Alex. I’m officially betrothed to Jasper Dankworth.”
“Not for long,” he growled. “You’re not marrying that man. That is one thing I am totally certain of. Marry me, Connie. I’ll make a trip to Yorkshire to visit the Downhollands before they come to London and have that damned contract torn up. Then we may marry quickly, may we not?
“No, Alex.” S
he dropped her gaze, resting her forehead against his shoulder. There were so many reasons she wouldn’t marry him. Yet if she refused him now, he might not ask her again. “I will not let you risk everything you are. If you marry a woman society deems unsuitable, you won’t just lose the chance of attending parties, you’ll be shunned. You’re a wealthy man, from a powerful family and you could all be brought down if one link proves weak.”
Shock limned his face, in the lines at the corners of his mouth and the crease between his brows. Had he imagined she might not have understood what he could lose? She could never live with that.
“I will come to you with my name cleared, or not at all.” And that wasn’t going to happen. Society would condemn her. She remembered enough about that dreadful night to recall a large audience. They would know her, and reject her. And with her, him. Rather than that, she’d give him up.
“You are different, what you do matters. This is a difficult time for our country, isn’t it?”
He choked a laugh of disbelief. “You’ll refuse to marry me for the sake of the country? Connie, please.”
“But your fate is bound up with your family. What taints one taints them all. Weakens them all.”
“No. We may live quietly in the country. But I want to brazen them down. After I’ve made Jasper Dankworth pay.”
“I won’t be part of your revenge, Alex.” She traced a line along the center of his chest, savoring him while she still could. “Too many inequalities lie between us.”
He cinched her close while she continued to talk. Get it out now, while she could, before she collapsed in a self-pitying heap. “My standing, my influence—I have none outside a small area of Cumbria. None at all. I don’t have the social skills you need for a wife.” The word sounded so sweet on her tongue she nearly lingered on it, but aware of the trap, she hastened on. “So it’s not just Jasper and what he did to me. But that is the main thing. Half society has seen me naked, or near it, on a slave block in a whorehouse. Barefaced. They’ll know me. I can’t let you do that. The results would fester and worsen until it was all we had.” She knew about festering wounds in a marriage. Nobody better.
Rogue in Red Velvet Page 13
