“You’re beautiful,” he said.
It was not a compliment, but an accusation. One that very nearly prompted an apology to spill from Caroline’s lips before she bit her tongue. She had nothing to apologize for. It was not her fault her husband had turned a blind eye to her since their wedding day. Even before that, really. During their courtship she had caught him looking at her from time to time…but he’d never really looked at her. At least not like he was doing now. As if she were a tasty rabbit and he was a hungry wolf.
Make that a very large hungry wolf, she thought when he took a menacing step forward. His muscular frame seemed to fill the entire room, leaving her with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. For one wild, heart stopping moment she considered diving under the bed…but she knew it would not stop the duke from claiming what he desired.
Her stalked her down with long, prowling strides until nothing stood between them but Caroline’s own uncertainty. What had her mother instructed her to do? Suddenly she couldn’t remember. Something about gritting her teeth and staring up at the ceiling…
She jolted when Eric touched her hip. Quivered when his hand splayed across the small of her back. Gasped when he yanked her against the hard, hot length of his body.
“I am going to kiss you again.” It was not a question this time, but a command, and she scarcely had time to close her eyes and tilt her head back before his mouth was on hers.
He devoured her lips with quick, hungry bites before sliding his tongue between her teeth. She felt her knees wobble from the unexpected sensation, but it was nothing compared to the shock of pure arousal that crashed over her like a wave when his hands slipped beneath her wrapper to touch her breasts.
His thumbs flicked across her nipples, arousing them to pointed, throbbing peaks of desire. Flames licked at her toes and swept up her legs to pool between her thighs. They ignited into a fiery ball of lust when he dipped his head and drew one of her nipples into his mouth, suckling it until her head lolled back and a desperate mewl escaped her lips.
The tiny sound only served to heighten Eric’s desire. She caught a glimpse of his eyes, dark and potent and filled with passion, before he swept her up into his arms and carried her effortlessly over to the bed.
With one easy pull her wrapper spilled open, exposing her entire body to his hungry gaze. Overcome with shyness she tried to cover herself, but he gently took her wrist and lifted her arm away from her breasts.
“Don’t hide yourself from me.” His husky voice rubbed against her skin like rough velvet. Lowering himself to the mattress he kissed her again until the tension in her muscles eased and she was soft and pliant beneath him, her limbs heavy, her breathing deep and even.
Her breaths quickened when he stood up and began to unbutton his shirt. Then she quite simply stopped breathing all together when he lowered his trousers and revealed his throbbing member.
“Oh,” she said weakly, shocked – and rather concerned – at the sheer size of what awaited her. No wonder her mother had told her to grit her teeth!
“Here, give me your hand,” he murmured, and Caroline hesitantly allowed him to wrap her fingers around his warm, silky length. He groaned when her grip reflexively tightened and her gaze darted up to his, a line of surprise furrowing her brow when he seemed to grow even larger.
“It’s so hard,” she said wondrously. “I – I hadn’t any idea.”
Lady Wentworth had never gone into the exact details of lovemaking which was probably a good thing, for had she told her daughter what to expect Caroline doubted she would have believed her. That part of him was supposed to fit inside of her?
Impossible.
“I am terribly sorry,” she said fretfully, “but I do not see how this is going to work.”
The corner of his mouth twitched before he adopted a sober expression. “It will work, love. I assure you.”
“But…isn’t it going to hurt?”
“No. When done correctly, it should never hurt.” Midnight blue eyes glittering with dark, sensual promise, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “Unless you want it to.”
“I don’t,” she said hastily.
“Then you’ve nothing to be afraid of.” Devoid of any clothing, he climbed into bed beside her.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned back and centered her head on the middle of a pillow, trying to give herself the best view of the ceiling as possible. Limbs rigid, shoulders stiff, she stared at a wrinkle in the canopy and waited for her husband to do the deed. When he did not climb on top of her and immediately begin thrusting, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and frowned.
“Am I doing it wrong?” she asked self-consciously.
Lifting a loose curl from her neck, the duke twisted it absently between his fingers. “Truth be told I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re doing. Bracing yourself for an attack from the French?”
“No.” A blush heated her cheeks. “I was…that is to say, I am...I am ready.”
“Are you certain?” he queried. When she pressed her lips tightly together and gave a brisk nod, the corner of his mouth lifted in a roguish half smile that had butterflies dancing in her belly. “Well by all means, let’s begin.”
Chapter Nine
No man liked deflowering an innocent. At least none that Eric had ever met. It was a messy affair, both literally and figuratively. He may not have had any firsthand knowledge, but he’d heard enough horror stories to know that it almost never went well. Gazing down at Caroline, who looked for all the world as if she were a lamb laying on a sacrificial altar, it was not very hard to imagine why.
Mothers, he thought darkly, would do well to keep their traps shut when it came to educating their beloved daughters on the perils of lovemaking. It wasn’t his fault they’d been forced to sleep with husbands who didn’t know a petticoat lane from a tea kettle, and yet he was the one dealing with the consequences.
Sex was not something to be endured. It was something to be enjoyed. That being said, he would be the first to admit he had not been looking forward to bedding his wife.
Getting her pregnant so he could return to London? Yes.
Actually doing the deed? No.
But then he’d kissed her…and everything had changed.
The taste of her lips, the soft mewling cry she’d made when he had cupped her breast, the way she’d melted around him when he had drawn her sweet little nipple into his mouth…had his self-control been any less, he would have fed the growling beast inside of him then and there.
“You needn’t be afraid of me, love.” He touched her hip and she flinched, her soft gray eyes as wide as he’d ever seen them. “You liked it when we kissed, didn’t you?”
The pretty blush in her cheeks intensified. “Yes,” she admitted after a pause. “I did. It was…very nice.”
“If you relax, this next part will be very nice too. That’s it,” he murmured when she forced her tiny fists to unclench. “That’s a darling.” Leaning up on his side, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her slowly. Leisurely. As if they’d all the time in the world.
Their legs entwined, her small feet tucking themselves between his muscular calves. His arousal pulsed against her thigh as he traced the contours of her hipbone before gliding up along her ribcage. When he reached the swell of her bosom he changed direction, fingers dancing down her flat belly and navel to the golden nest of curls that were already damp and awaiting his touch.
She stiffened when he caressed the peak of her womanhood with his fingertip. Softened when he nibbled her earlobe before kissing his way down to her nipples. He took his time, stroking her sensitive bud and suckling her breasts in tandem until she began to move restlessly against him, her body instinctively seeking what it craved but couldn’t define. At least not in so many words. But he knew what she wanted, for it was the same thing he desired with every ragged breath he drew into his lungs.
Sheer ecstasy.
Guiding her hand to his cock, he help
ed her find a steady rhythm. His wife may have been a shy virgin, but she was a quick learner, and with less than half a dozen tentative strokes she had him on the brink of release.
Swallowing a groan, he eased his body on top of hers, one hand tangling in her wild tresses while the other guided his hard, hot length into her. Her eyes flew open and sought his when she felt him nudge at her entrance, but she didn’t resist. She couldn’t. Like him, she was caught in a thrall neither one of them fully understood.
He slid into her inch by inch, giving her womanhood the time it needed to adjust to his length and girth. And when her delicate brows drew together and her jaw tightened he kissed her grimace away, murmuring sweet, senseless nothings against her lips.
One last slow, steady thrust and he was sheathed completely. Sweat dotted his brow as he held himself perfectly still, waiting for the line across her forehead to ease. When it did – when her nails sank into the coiled muscles in his back and she released a whimpering sob of pleasure – he began to pump in and out, carrying them both towards the edge of a precipice that was higher than any he’d ever known before.
He reached the top first but he waited, waited, waited for her to join him. A finger pressed against the pulsating heart of her desire, a deep, bruising kiss, and she was right there with him, arms flung out, head tilted up towards the blazing sun.
With a desperate cry they both burned together.
That, Caroline thought dazedly as she slowly drifted back down to earth, was nothing like Mother said it was going to be.
There had been no staring at the ceiling. No clenching of teeth – at least, not in pain. She hadn’t even had to count sheep, or pretend she was doing something far more pleasant, like needlework. Instead she’d reveled in each glorious second, amazed and astonished at the pleasure two human beings were capable of giving to one another.
Wondering if her husband had experienced the same blissful euphoria as she had, she snuck a glance at him from beneath her lashes...and felt a tiny thrill of satisfaction when she saw him sprawled flat on his back with his arms crossed behind his head and a contended smile curling his lips.
Tugging the sheet up to cover her breasts, she turned towards him and gently touched his side, fingers fitting between the grooves in his ribcage. His skin was warm and covered with a silky sheen of perspiration, as was hers.
Lovemaking had been surprisingly rigorous. Not unlike riding a horse, come to think of it, although her husband had done all of the riding. Thank goodness he was such a skilled equestrian!
Biting the inside of her cheek to quell a childish giggle, she let her gaze slowly wander down the rest of his body. In the flickering light of the fire he was all lean muscle and hard lines and golden skin. Having never seen a naked man before, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was how they all looked without their clothes on.
Somehow she doubted it.
“Like what you see?” Eric said huskily, and Caroline blushed from the roots of her hair to the tip of her chin when she realized he had been watching her the entire time.
“No. I – I mean yes. I do.”
“Good.” His dark gaze swept down the length of her willowy frame, lingering on the swell of her breasts beneath the thin sheet. “So do I.”
My husband, she decided, is an absolute cad.
And she could not have been more delighted.
They may have gotten off to a bit of a rocky start – if by rocks one actually meant enormous boulders – but she knew now that it had all been an act. Eric cared for her. He must have, for how else could he have touched her in such an intimate manner? How else could he have whispered so many tender promises in her ear? How else could he have wrung such pleasure from the very depths of her soul?
“Thank you,” she said earnestly, her heart swelling with happiness as she sat up on her elbow and beamed down at him. Free of its pins, her hair spilled over his chest in a tangle of curls. Selecting one long tendril, Eric twisted it around his finger.
“For what?” he said absently.
“For loving me.” Oblivious to the sudden frost in her husband’s gaze, she laughed lightly and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. He still smelled of leather and brandy, but there was a new scent on his skin she’d never smelled before.
Her.
“You do not have to say the words if you do not want to.” She kissed him once more before sitting up and drawing one long leg to her chest. “At least not right away. I know you prefer to guard your emotions. Eventually it will be nice to hear you say it, of course, but I would never press–”
“I do not love you, Caroline.”
Pouring a bucket of ice water on her head would have been kinder.
“What?” she whispered as her smile slowly faded.
“I said I do not love you.” Sitting bolt upright, Eric swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and rose to his feet. Snatching his trousers off the floor, he shoved one leg into them and then the other. “I made love to you. There is a distinct difference.”
“But…but the way you kissed me.” Her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage, she rose to her knees, helpless to do anything but watch as he quickly dressed himself. “All of those things you said to me.”
“Are no different than what I’ve said to a dozen other women. Where the devil is my – here it is.” As if he hadn’t just plunged a knife into her heart, he pulled his shirt off the back of a chair and yanked it over his head. “This doesn’t change anything, Caroline. I am sorry if you thought it would.” The pity in his eyes cut a thousand times deeper than his anger ever had. “I meant what I said earlier. I would like to us to maintain a civil relationship. One based on a mutual understanding.”
Holding the sheet to her chest as though it was a suit of armor that might somehow protect her from the pain his words were inflicting, she sank back onto her heels. “A mutual understanding of what?” she managed.
“That our marriage will always be one of convenience.” His brow furrowed. “I am incapable of love, Caroline. I should think you would have realized that by now.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Of – of course.”
“It will be better this way, I can assure you.”
“Yes,” she replied distantly. “Much better.”
“You look rather pale,” he observed. “Would you like me to send for your lady’s maid?”
“No. I – I am sure I will be fine.” Just as soon as I find a way to stop my heart from aching, she thought silently.
Eric shrugged. “I shall bid you good evening, then. Sleep well.”
“Good evening,” she echoed.
But it was a long, long while before she managed to fall asleep.
Chapter Ten
“Put the evergreens over there,” Caroline instructed, pointing to the main staircase, “and bring the holly in here, if you please.”
“What are you going to do with it all?” Anne jumped to the side as two footmen, their arms filled with holly, marched into the front parlor. At Caroline’s nod they dropped their bushels into two large wicker baskets and went back outside to fetch more.
“Drape it along the mantles and put it in vases.” Stepping down off the small ladder she’d been using to hang red bows from the curtain bustles, Caroline put her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room.
After nearly an entire afternoon’s worth of decorating, it was coming along quite nicely. A few more finishing touches and it would be ready for Christmas.
One room down. Twenty-two left to go.
Oh well, she thought with a sigh. It wasn’t as if she had anything else to occupy her time.
At least not during the day.
As the last of the leaves had fallen and the ground had turned hard and barren, Eric had visited her bedchamber nearly every night. Under the cover of darkness he’d given her more pleasure than she had ever dreamed possible, doing things to her body that made her turn red as a holly berry if she thought of them in the light of day. But when
it was over he always left, leaving her to sleep alone in a bed that now felt too large and much too lonely.
She’d tried to console herself with the thought that it was better to have his attention some of the time than not at all, but the truth was she would almost rather he ignore her completely instead of having one husband during the day and a completely different one at night.
When the sun was up he was cold and aloof. If they happened to walk by one another in the hall she felt as though she was passing a stranger. He barely looked at her, let alone touched her. But when the moon rose and he drew her into his arms, it felt as though they’d known each other for their entire lives.
“Are you ready to start on the foyer?” she asked Anne brightly. “I thought we could weave the evergreen boughs through the bannisters.”
But the maid wasn’t looking at her, she was looking at the door. As Caroline followed Anne’s gaze she felt a familiar ache of longing in her chest when she saw Eric standing in the doorway. He must have just returned from a brisk ride, for his dark hair was windblown and his nose was a tad red.
Over the past few days the temperature had dropped drastically. They’d yet to get any snow aside from a few passing flurries, but with twelve days to go until Christmas she was still hopeful. To her mind there was nothing more beautiful than an estate blanketed in snow. Particularly around the holidays.
This would be the first Christmas she’d ever spent away from home and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or sad. She wasn’t going to miss the enormous dinner party her mother threw every year, but she’d always loved drinking hot chocolate with her father on Christmas Eve while they tried to guess what was hidden inside their presents.
“Your Grace,” Eric said curtly, his keen blue gaze zeroing in on her from across the room. “A word, if you please.”
“Of course.” Setting down the spool of velvet ribbon she’d been using to decorate the drapes, Caroline followed her husband out of the parlor and down the hall to the library. A fire crackled in the hearth, giving the room a warm, cheerful glow that was at direct odds with the tightness in her throat.
Regency Christmas (Holiday Collection) Page 36