How many glasses of wine had she drunk?
Trying to take count after the fact proved too difficult. She grew extremely drowsy, dizzy. The chamber seemed to be spinning.
She lay there, hovering between wakefulness and dreaming. It was like flying through the sky, floating above the clouds. How long had she been lying there? She wasn’t really sure of that either.
Euphoria spread through her, such joy, it was almost unbearable. She had never felt like this.
But she wanted more of it. More sensation, more freedom. Just more—
She want to be naked. To wallow in those fine-as-silk linen sheets.
She moved dizzily to a seated position and with clumsy effort stripped off her clothes. Then she dived with sky-clad abandon into the downy warmth of her large bed. Rolling her naked body against the fine linen, she laughed.
Well, while I am here, I may as well enjoy myself.
Her thoughts turned to sin and sensuality. She began to stroke herself—
“Emily.” The voice, masculine and urgent, pulled her rudely from her dreams.
Alex’s face came into focus as she tried to concentrate on his words.
She shouldn’t let him, though she couldn’t quite remember why. Thinking would have pulled her from the lingering, fuzzy haze of her dreams. But wait…she had been angry with him…He was trying to taint her artistic vision, to twist it into what he wanted.
But strangely, she couldn’t draw that anger back to herself.
Not with such elation still flowing in her blood. She wanted, instead, to cling to that elation and to share it with him. Nothing else seemed to matter.
She swallowed against a cotton-dry throat. Was there any more wine left?
Goodness, she had never felt like this. Was she drunk? Was this what it felt like to be intoxicated? No wonder people indulged. Why had she denied herself this pleasure up until now?
He continued talking. He wanted her company at some kind of rout.
Pfft! Chance would be a wondrous thing.
Nothing was going to draw her from this bed. Rolling to face down, she felt herself drifting back to sleep, slipping back into the vivid dream of flying through the sky. Flying, naked and free.
“Come along—else I’ll die of boredom.” The commanding edge in his voice cut into her dreams once more.
“If you’ll be bored, why go?”
“Because I have an obligation. It’s my yearly pilgrimage to see my cousins up in the Northern Liberties. Part of my noblesse oblige to my mother’s side.”
“Send James.”
His grip tightened on her shoulders. “God.”
He sounded so fearsome that she jumped. “What?!”
“You’re completely foxed, aren’t you?”
“So what if I am?”
“We’ll have to get you some coffee. I see that you did not even touch your dinner.” He sighed. Goodness, he sounded so exasperated with her. “You’ll need a little something to eat as well. We have to get you sober.”
“I don’t want to be sober.” She waved a hand airily in his direction. “I don’t think I want to be sober ever again.”
He gripped her shoulders. “Come on, up with you.”
She resisted. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I don’t need to go anywhere ever again, except this bed. Your brother will be happy to accompany you, I am certain.”
“James has an important prior engagement. He’s busy building his political career; he has such high hopes for himself. No, I am the only one who can go.”
“I am fairly sure you shouldn’t be in my chamber,” she said with exaggerated dignity.
“No, I definitely should not be.”
She broke into a giggle at that. A pure, girlish giggle that didn’t even sound like her. But she couldn’t stop, it was like being tickled from the inside out. She was completely seized and overwhelmed by the need to giggle.
She turned and his stern expression shocked her. How could he possibly be so stern? She wished she could share her bliss with him.
“However, everyone is gone for the evening,” he continued. “And the servants are in the kitchen, drinking my whiskey and celebrating a birthday. Don’t you hear the singing?”
She paused and listened for a moment. Laughter and music sounded distantly. Yes, she had heard it earlier, weaving in and out of her dreams. She had thought it a celestial chorus of the sky. The urge to giggle threatened to overtake her again but she resisted it. She wanted to know what consumed him this evening. Why was it so important to him that she accompany him out? Maybe if she knew why it was important, she could persuade him to forget about it. “Surely you’ve someone else to ask to accompany you?”
“Yes, I have others I could ask. But I want you.”
“I am tired. Go away.” She reached and pulled the covers over her head.
In one swift move, he flung them off completely. Cold air rushed over her bare skin and gooseflesh emerged in its wake.
He gasped, then laughed softly. “You wanton little hussy.”
He ran a slow, caressing hand down her back, his touch deliciously warm. Arching like a docile kitten, she sighed softly.
Images arose in her mind’s eye. Hot, lazy summer days lying on sun-soaked, fragrant grass watching the clouds passing above. Soft, cotton-like fluffs. She eagerly grasped one as it passed by, hugging it to herself. Feeling his hand stroking her long, loose hair, then sweeping it away to bare her neck, she sank more deeply into the soft warmth.
Lazily, he worked his way from her neck, down her spine, massaging her body into boneless jelly. Now she knew how cats felt. No wonder they liked being petted. She could lie here and let him fondle her like this forever. Then he caressed her bottom and wetness began to flow from between her legs. Restless desire made her writhe under his touch. He strayed between her legs and feathered over her swollen, wet inner lips.
She ached for something more stimulating than those flirting fingers and moaned, pressing herself up against his touch.
He removed his hand.
“Alex?” The word came out as a hoarse plea.
“You’re a naughty little puss, aren’t you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“You’ve been here, drunk, abed in the afternoon, pleasuring yourself.”
“What makes you think that?” she said, trying to keep the guilt out of her voice.
She was such a wicked, wicked girl. She knew it and so did he.
“I can smell your come.” His slightly hoarse tone spoke of his arousal.
She laughed. “No, you can’t possibly. Because I couldn’t.”
“You couldn’t come?”
“No, I couldn’t.” She couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice. Now that she was fully awake again, the throb of her overheated blood swelled in her pelvis and made her ache with need.
He stroked her bottom again, moving at a leisurely pace. “And you’re frustrated over that?”
“Quite. But it is just what happens.”
“You think it is wrong to touch yourself.”
“Well, you just called me a ‘naughty puss’ for having done so.”
He chuckled, his tone resonating such deep affection that it made her catch her breath. “I mean, you really and truly do think it is wrong. That’s why you have trouble.”
“Perhaps.”
“It is a common problem.”
“I suppose all your legion of women have informed you of this.”
“Every woman is different, but there are some common threads among their stories.”
“Oh, so now I am common, am I?” She put a teasing note into her voice.
“Not common at all. But enough of this. I can make you come, very quickly and very intensely, if you want.”
She laughed softly. “Of course I want it.”
“But you must open your mind to me. And you must be honest afterwards, if you don’t like my method.”
A thrill passed through her and she shivere
d. “Goodness, Alex, why all the warnings?”
“Because lovers should discuss things.”
“I want to see what you can show me.”
He stroked her bottom a few more moments. Then he brought his hand down on her left buttock with a smack. At first she was merely shocked at the sudden change in his motion. Then the stinging sensation hit her. She cried out and swung her head around so fast that the room spun.
“What the devil was that?” She gaped at him. Had he just…spanked her? Indignation burnt through her. But a stronger fire spread through her sex.
Well, she’d never expected that.
He stared sternly back at her. “Get up, you little brat. I require your presence at my side tonight and you’ll give it.”
“Oh, shall I?”
“Yes, you signed the contract.”
“Like signing a contract with the devil,” she muttered, then buried her face in her pillow.
He caressed her bottom again, and again delicious fire spread through her intimate flesh. She couldn’t help writhing and trying to press her mons against the bed.
“This is fair warning, Emily—if you don’t get up now I am going to warm your bottom like you won’t soon forget.”
Chapter Thirteen
At the image he provoked, heat washed over her. Her channel clenched and wetness gushed forth.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Her voice was all breathy in her ears.
“You’ve got about thirty seconds to get yourself out of this bed.”
Her mouth went totally dry and her heart pounded against her rib cage, but she couldn’t seem to move.
“It’s your last chance,” he warned.
She trembled all over and let out a hitching breath. His touch between her legs made her jump. He slid his fingers into her drenched folds and laughed softly. Then he resumed caressing her bottom.
“So my naughty girl knows what is best for her?”
Why was she lying here, allowing herself to be so powerless against him? And why did it feel so terrifyingly arousing? Moreover, what was he going to do? Was he really going to strike her again?
She glanced over her shoulder. His expression was stern. She buried her face back in the pillow to stifle a nervous laugh. Apprehension mingled with anticipation and she moaned at the unbearable excitement racing through her blood.
He made contact with her right buttock, not hard, but just enough to sting.
She squealed.
He laughed low.
And then she remembered that this was a game, just a silly lovers’ game, and she giggled.
“Hush, you little sensualist. You’ll get us discovered.”
He brushed over the burning area. As the pain dissipated, her inner muscles clenched violently and she arched up towards his hand. If only he would touch her there, she would come instantly—she was sure of it.
“Patience, you greedy little puss.” He gave her a light swat. “First I am going to spank you as you so richly deserve, then I am going to fuck you hard and proper.”
His hand struck her buttocks several times. She tried to anticipate when or where he would strike next, but she never managed to. After a time, her flesh was burning and stinging. A lot.
And she was dying for him to take her. Hard and fast.
With his unbandaged hand resting lightly on her pinkened buttock, he put his cock to her entrance. He groaned at the heat and moisture of her. Damn, she was dripping wet. He’d never known a woman who could lose herself in sensuality as quickly, and he’d known she would adore bed play. When he had found her here, slightly foxed and naked, face-down on her bed, he’d been unable to resist the temptation. Now she had his balls aching with the need to possess her. He thrust into her and her walls instantly contracted around him as if wanting to capture him and keep him from withdrawing.
He wanted all of her, yet for all her sensuality, she held a part of herself always in reserve. Her refusal to trust him to edit her work had hurt him in some way he didn’t even understand. But he recognized it as just another way she was withholding herself from him. Another way she rebelled against him. He wanted to push her and push her until she gave everything over to him—until she was his completely.
He swatted her buttock and withdrew all the way. She cried out, a pained protest. He laughed softly, then pushed back in on one swift motion until he was touching the mouth of her womb. She moaned soft and low and arched her backside up to press against him, as if seeking even greater pressure in her depths. His balls slapped her soft mons as she rocked against him. And her walls were like silk and fire on his cock. He reached under her and found her swollen, firm little nub and rubbed it lightly.
She drew her breath in and her inner walls contracted around him in spasms. He caressed her back, waiting for her to recover. Then he fucked her as he had promised, with hard, fast, furious strokes until their bodies were covered with sweat and she trembled beneath him.
He bent and nipped at her neck. “You have me so damned hard and long for you.”
“Fuck me,” she panted. “Fuck me with your long, hard cock.”
God, he’d known she’d be like this.
Wanton, uninhibited.
And she would become even more so as she gained experience—experience he wanted to give her. He almost trembled to think of the pleasures they might share, the heights they could reach.
“Oh, I am going to fuck you, all right.” He tightened his grip on her hip and gave her another hard thrust.
She cried out sharply, the sound echoing loudly in the chamber. He put his hand over her mouth and drove her harder still. She cried out against his hand and her cunt flooded with wetness. Her body shuddered under his in the throes of the most violent orgasm he’d witnessed in a woman.
He gritted his teeth and reached to clamp the base of his cock to stop himself from slipping inside her young and fertile body. He longed to fill her with his seed but didn’t dare. He stayed inside her and let her take her full pleasure of his erect cock. Letting her hug his girth through each of her orgasmic contractions. He grit his teeth against the exquisite torture.
When her tremors subsided, he withdrew.
“I want to be close to you, sweetheart, very close.” He caressed her cheek.
She nodded. “Whatever you want—I’ll do whatever you want.”
“I want to come in your mouth.”
Her eyes widened and she took a deep breath. As well she should. He wanted to dominate her, to claim her.
“Will you trust me? Will you let me do this?”
She nodded again and tried to rise up.
He pressed her back down. “Stay there. You don’t have to do a thing; just lie there.” He moved up over her with his knees on either side of her shoulders. “Lift your head a little,” he said and when she did, he adjusted the pillow to elevate her head. Then he took his cock and slid the head over her lips. Christ, she had a lovely mouth. Lush, red, and so inviting. He’d never get enough of it.
She kissed the tip.
“Just be passive this time, sweetheart. Open to me,” he said.
She opened her mouth and he slid inside. He longed to thrust himself deep into the snugness of her throat but she wasn’t facile with this yet and to push her too hard, too fast, would put her off. Then he’d never be able to have this from her again.
Even so, her mouth was warm and wet and wonderful and he was dying to spill inside. He stroked the shaft of his cock with quick, hard strokes. His cock jerked and jerked, pumping his seed into her. Moments of stunning pleasure and deep satisfaction…and it was almost enough.
* * * *
Street lamps cast golden light into the darkened carriage as it clattered along. Staring at Alex’s faraway look, Emily sat, silently twirling one long, dark red ringlet round and round her gloved finger, her stomach knotting tighter and tighter.
Disquiet held her in its grips and would not let her go. She had been angry with him. Righteously angry. And then she had become drunk
.
And forgotten all about her valid anger.
And submitted to him thoroughly. Allowed herself to be seduced. Seduced by the devil who wanted to subvert her art to serve his own purposes.
And, in the pleasurable haze of that seduction, she had agreed to go out with him for the evening, just because it was his whim that she do so.
She didn’t want to meet any more of his people. People who would gape at her and wonder if she was really a harlot from the Blue Duck and if she and Alex were intimately involved. People of the better sort who would look down their noses at her for being poor. They would believe she was illiterate, ill-bred and dirty in her habits.
She couldn’t believe she’d let him talk her into accompanying him tonight. But in those moments after their lovemaking, she’d been willing to do anything he wanted.
Their lovemaking.
She shifted in the seat gingerly. But her bottom had ceased to burn and tingle and was now simply sensitive—in a way that, despite herself, still sent delicious waves of pleasure rippling through her.
Dear God, letting him thrust his cock in her mouth, trusting him. Knowing now the sensation of his cock, jerking in her mouth as he came, the taste of his seed. She couldn’t possibly have ever felt closer to him.
He had exerted control over her and it had…aroused her.
Uneasiness quivered around her navel. She couldn’t govern her reactions to him. From their start, she never had been able to; and now she couldn’t learn to. Instead of being jaded toward him, she became increasingly fascinated with him and their growing liaison.
Was there anything she wouldn’t allow him to do? She had made a serious miscalculation when she’d thought she could play the sophisticated woman and be his lover. She had already vowed once to stop letting him manipulate her, and yet tonight she had let him manipulate her into further carnal acts. Maybe she had already lost herself.
Fear prickled through her.
The carriage was slowing and Alex suddenly came alive. He stared at Emily with piercing intensity. He reached for her hand. She laughed in hitching breaths, feeling so taut she feared she’d break.
Wild, Wicked and Wanton: A Hot Historical Romance Bundle Page 75