by Wells, Nancy
He had expected the same tirade of questions regarding his job, but her mother surprised him by offering a smile, understanding his reluctance to discuss the details of his livelihood. He had no intention of remaining in the same line of work when he married Isabella because he did not want to put his family in harm’s way. He had made many enemies while apprehending dangerous criminals. He had a mind to walk away from everything, to a place away from everyone who ever knew him, along with his wife and brother. He did not want his dangerous enemies to follow him into his future.
When he was gone, Isabella’s mother cleared her throat. She looked at her mother’s face, shrieked in happiness and embraced her. Her mother did not scold her for this behavior because she was aware of her reason for her happiness. Her mother patted her head, smiling from ear to ear, overjoyed at her daughter’s happiness.
“Does that mean I should deny Lord Harley’s requests to court you?” her mother asked, already aware of her answer.
“Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes.”
* * *
When the night came, she unlocked the window. He did not promise a visit, but she was hoping he would come. He had given her love and passion, but she wanted more. She was craving the feel of his skin against her hands.
She was under the sheets when she heard the thumping of feet jumping on the roof. She smiled, feeling victorious for making him come tonight. She feigned being asleep when the window creaked open and he came near her bed. He stood beside her bed for a few moments and then pulled the sheets away from her.
“I know you are awake – holy Jesus!” his words were cut mid-sentence when he saw what was under the sheets. “What are you trying to accomplish, woman?”
She was naked under the sheets. Not a stitch of clothing was on her body because she had every intention of taking their relationship to the next level, without letting him overthink and talk her out of it. She knew he could never resist her like this.
“Do you like it?”
She cupped her breasts in her palms, tormenting him some more. She was already aware of her body’s effect on him. His member was tenting his breeches, ready to burst out any moment. He had refused her request, so she had taken matters into her own hands. She was not giving him a chance to deny her again.
“I told you we would wait until our wedding night,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
He might be strong enough to wait until their wedding, but she was desperate to have him. Her need to claim him fully was stronger than the urge to take her next breath.
She kneeled on all fours, presenting her bottom to him. She wiggled her bottom and he groaned at the display. She knew she had won when the bed dipped with his weight.
“What will you do, Mr. Simon?” she asked seductively. “Will you smack my bottom for not listening to you?”
All was quiet for some time. She looked back towards him when she felt his absence behind her. He picked up something from her dresser and held it out to her. Her eyes got wide when she saw her hairbrush in his hand.
“I have never done this before,” he said distractedly. “Though I am sure some people might find it enjoyable, I have personally never felt any pleasure in hitting a woman’s bottom.”
She did not know what made her ask for a smacking to her bottom. Maybe it was him mentioning it before that made her curious about the experience, or maybe it was the pleasurable moans of the woman in the alleyway that compelled her to experience it for herself. She wanted to feel the sting on her bottom, but only at his hands. No one else stirred her desires as he did.
She gulped and looked ahead when he checked the strength of the brush against his thighs. The thwacking sound it made was proof that it would sting considerably. He smacked his thighs a few more times, each time checking the intensity of the blow on his skin. When he was satisfied, he kneeled behind her once again.
“Are you ready to sing, my Siren?” he asked. “You are welcome to hum any melody you want.”
She wiggled her bottom in response and he chuckled. With his hand, he gave her a few warm-up pats followed by the rubbing of her entire bottom with his hands. She sighed happily, trying to keep her voice in check. She wanted to moan in pleasure at the feel of his hands on her nude buttocks but did not want the whole household to come running to her room due to her loud moaning noises.
When the first strike of the brush came, it was not painful at all. In fact, it hurt less than his hand. She arched her back involuntarily and presented her bottom to him as an offering. She wanted more.
The second strike was harder than the first one, yet there was still no sting. The third hurt more than the second, which she already knew and was not disappointed when the brush came down on the left side of her buttocks. She was expecting a steady increase in the rhythm of the blows, so it came as an unwelcome surprise when he brought the brush down hard on the right side of her buttocks.
“Ow, that hurt,” she yelped.
She reached behind and rubbed her bottom. She was starting to regret putting the idea of smacking her bottom in his head. The woman in the alleyway had screeched in pleasure, yelling for more. She had imagined the experience to be pleasurable for herself too, but she was gravely mistaken.
“I was not the one who suggested it,” he said amusedly. “It was your idea of punishment for defying me.”
She whimpered in disappointment when her request was denied. It was her own doing that he was holding an implement of torture to her defenseless bottom. She had asked for this and now she was rethinking her decision.
He reached for her hands and held them at her back, making her helpless against him and her own cursed hairbrush. Raising the brush, he spanked her three times on one cheek, each one harder than the previous. She started kicking and shedding tears as three more volleys came to the other cheek. There was a break of a few seconds and then he rained five stinging volleys to her bottom, alternating between the globes of her buttocks.
“Stop it, please. This does not feel good. I am rescinding my own request.”
She waited patiently for his decision. She wished he would put down the brush and make her feel good. That woman in the alleyway was out of her mind for enjoying this torture.
She heard him throwing the brush to one side and sighed in relief. She had every intention of throwing her hairbrush out of the window as soon as he was out of sight. She was never going near the hairbrush, which brought moisture to her eyes.
“You are right. This does not make me feel good either,” he said. “Lie on your back. I want to see your face when I bring you pleasure.”
She lay on her back all too happily. He was looking down at her with a look of adoration. There was no doubt left in her mind that he desired her as much as she desired him, though she would have felt happier if he had confessed to loving her because she was in love with him.
He leaned down towards her and kissed her on her lips. As soon as her hands rose to touch him, he jerked back from her. For a moment, she thought she saw a look of fright on his face, but it was soon replaced with a mischievous smile on his face. She assumed it was the darkness that was making her see things.
“Where do you keep your ribbons and laces?” he asked.
She gawked at him, waiting for him to start laughing and declare that he was teasing her, but he kept looking with a smile full of mischief. She would never understand him. He was an enigma to her.
“Why?” she asked.
“I want to tie you to the bed,” he said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.
She wanted to feel his skin with her hands. She wished to brush his golden-skin hands with her own. If he tied her to her bed, she would not be able to fulfill what her heart desired.
“But I want to touch you,” she said in bewilderment.
She saw a number of reactions on his face. It seemed like he wanted to let her touch him too but was afraid of something. He was quick to hide his emotions behind a veil of a smile though. His smile was so radiant, it made he
r ignore all the other things. To see him smiling down at her like this, she would go to any lengths.
“And I want to put you at my mercy,” he drawled. “Imagine, I can do anything to you, and you will be helpless to stop me.”
She moaned impulsively at the image of her lying helpless beneath him while he took her body for his own pleasure. She loved the idea of being at his mercy. She could touch him at any other time. They had a lifetime to share with each other. At the moment, she wanted to be restrained for him.
“In the chest of drawers near the dresser,” she said hurriedly.
He chuckled at her enthusiasm and descended from the bed. She saw him rummaging through the drawers until he found the laces that were used to tie her corsets. Picking up two pieces of strings, he came near her head. He smiled down at her and pointed to her hand with his eyes. She held out her hand to him and he looped the string around her wrist and tied it to the bedpost.
“Check the flow of blood in your hands,” he said. “If it is too tight, I will adjust it to your comfort.”
She moved her hand in the restraints, checking for any sign of discomfort. He had tied the knot pretty well. She did not feel any abrasions on her wrists but could not untie herself from the bedpost either.
“I am comfortable,” she said.
At her assurance, he nodded his head and leaned over her to tie her other hand to the bedpost. When he had secured her to the bed, he straddled her knees and kissed her deeply. His tongue went inside her mouth and she moaned at the feel of their joined tongues.
When his mouth went away, her head came up from the pillow of its own accord, pursuing his mouth.
“Show some restraint, my Siren,” he chuckled.
She glared at him for using the word ‘restraint’ in dual meaning. She was aware by now that his mind worked in a dubious manner. He was teasing her for being restrained to the bed.
“I am not happy about this,” she said, pulling the restraints to emphasize her point.
He wet his fingers with his saliva and pinched the buds of her breasts. She arched her back impulsively when a spark of pleasure and pain made her gasp and rendered her speechless.
“What about now?” he asked amusedly. “Does that make you happy?”
“Keep that up and everything else will be forgiven,” she said, matching his devious smile with one of her own.
Cupping both of her breasts in his hands, he bent his head. He took one in his mouth and sucked deeply which made a current of delicious pleasure course through her body. He blew on the tip and it became solid as a rock while she tried to suppress the sounds that were bubbling out of her throat, but it was not an easy task. Paying the same attention to her other nipple, he sat straight, meeting her eyes.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked. “I can wait until we are man and wife.”
He might be strong enough to show restraint, but she would go mad if he made her wait for another second. She did not know what made her feel so wanton whenever he was around. She had been a proper lady all her life, following all the rules of society, but in his presence, all the rules were tossed out the window.
“You cannot ruin me,” she said. “You have already promised marriage to me.”
He smiled at her cleverness. She was using his words in her favor, forcing him to give her what she desired. If his brother got wind of it, he would never hear the end of it. Shane would mock him for the rest of his life for being taken advantage of by a woman. Shane needed an excuse to call him a whore, a word his brother fancied, though he suspected Shane would come up with something more colorful than that term.
“I am here to serve you, my Siren.”
He saluted her with two fingers in mockery. She narrowed her eyes, thrashing in her bonds, showing her displeasure at his behavior. She did not have to speak up for him to receive her message. Her impatience for him spoke volumes.
He checked her passage for moisture with his hand and then pushed a finger inside her, stretching her to accommodate his member. Her eyes rolled back in her head as his finger went in and out of her channel. He pulled out his member from the confines of his breeches and added another finger in her cunny, making her moan louder and louder. He put a hand over her mouth to muffle her screams. If she kept that up, the whole house would come running towards the room.
The moment she started trembling from pleasure, he pulled out his fingers, replacing them with his hardened member in a single thrust. Her face contorted in pain for a moment, but the pain was not excruciating enough to break the spell of his passion. His large member felt amazing to her already out of control senses. He was making her feel full. His hard and slow thrusts made her feel the same pleasure once again and her eyes rolled back in her head when the feelings become too much to bear.
He kissed her hard, absorbing her loud moans into his mouth. He had intended to pull out, not filling her with his seed, but her cunny squeezed him with such delicious strength that he could not pull out at the last minute. She milked him dry until he lay atop her, exhausted and breathing hard.
“That was amazing,” she said.
He laughed silently at her enthusiasm and lay to her side. He had feared that she would suspect something was wrong when he did not allow her to touch his face, but it was his good fortune that she got distracted very easily. Ever since the man had molested him when he was a child, he did not like being touched anywhere the man had put his hands on his skin. His face and chest were off limits to all except his brother. Shane’s hands were the only ones that did not make him cringe. He knew he should share his story with her before he married her, but he was waiting for the right moment. He was hoping that with time he would start feeling comfortable with her and she would never know about his weakness.
“Yes, it was,” he said.
He wanted to untie her from her bonds but was afraid she would try to reach out for him again. He would have preferred to stay with her for the rest of the night, but he could not keep her restrained. He had no other choice but to leave her room this instant. He bent over her, kissing her deeply and untied her hands while she remained distracted. He jumped down from the bed, bowed at his waist and winked at her. She was looking at him, shocked at the speed with which he went from the bed to the other end of the room.
“I am looking forward to meeting you again, my Siren,” he said, going near the window. “Meet me in the park tomorrow. I believe we need to know each other before we embark on our journey to matrimony, which would be impossible to achieve if I visit your room alone in the night.”
She blushed at the insinuation in his words. She had not given him a chance to talk about anything else except give her what she wanted. She had pushed him towards taking her virginity. She had no regrets about giving away her virtue to him and the reason was not his promise of marriage. She would have done the same even if he had not shown his interest in tying the knot. The reason was her ever-increasing love for him.
She called after him, but he was gone in an instant through the window. He was a strange person. She looked down at the trail of blood on her thighs and smiled at the memory of his member inside her body, stretching her and putting pressure in all the right places.
She already had everything ready for getting rid of the evidence of her lovemaking with him. She wiped herself clean with a washcloth and went to her closet to fetch a fresh linen sheet and burned the old one in the hearth. She watched the burning sheet until it was reduced to ash and then went to her bed, sighing in relief and contentment. She did not have to toss and turn in the bed, waiting for sleep to come as had become her norm for the last few days. She went to a peaceful slumber as soon as she closed her eyes.
* * *
Russell went straight to his room as soon as the footman allowed him inside Elliot’s house. He was smiling from ear to ear, thinking about all the future nights once he had made her his wife. Once was not enough for him. He wanted to take her again and again, making her scream his name without the fea
r of being discovered.
He was deep in thought when he unlatched the door to his room. It took him a while to see his brother, reclining on the chair with a glass of ale in his hand. Shane was staring at him, his usual amused look absent from his face.
“You are walking a very dangerous path, Brother,” Shane said. “Bedding a whore is one thing but sleeping with a fine lady could complicate things for you.”
He knew his brother was right, yet he felt irritated at his interference in his matters. Even though his brother was looking out for his welfare. Shane was his twin and had been with him since before they were born, standing by his side through thick and thin. He was aware of his good intentions, but the love he felt for Isabella overwhelmed his other senses.
“I am fine,” he said with irritation. “Nothing is complicated about my situation. In fact, I feel more alive than before. I am happy for the first time in my life. You should be rejoicing in my happiness rather than making me feel guilty.”
Shane was not making him feel guilty, it was his own conscience that was calling him a cheat for hiding the truth from her, but his need for an outlet pushed him towards directing his anger at his brother. Shane would want nothing better in life than to see him happy, but he was aware of his shortcomings. Shane had seen him at his worst. Shane would never harm him intentionally.
Shane did not respond for a long time, staring at the ale in his glass. He did not express his feelings, but anyone could tell that he was hurt by Russell’s words.
Shane stood up from the chair and went towards the door. At the threshold, he hesitated for a moment, then turned around and looked him in the eyes.
“When you feel alone and in need of a shoulder, know that I will always be there for you, Brother. I am your other half. We need one another whether you acknowledge it or not.”
Russell knew that his brother would go to any lengths to protect him. He appreciated his concern and all he had done for him in his life, but the time had come for them to find the true meaning of life. He would never dream of being separated from his brother, but they needed to give each other some space. They needed to find love in their lives.