“Well…then my mind aligned with yours.” He shrugged. “The moment we began Dream Sharing, I knew I couldn’t leave Terra for the Mother Ship. I had to stay here—it was the only way to have you—though you did not want me.” He sighed. “I see now, that I should not have used the law to force you to Join with me. But I was so sure I could make you love me—so certain that in time, you would come to me.”
“I’m with you now,” Caroline whispered. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him down for another long, achingly sweet kiss. God, his mouth was so hot and perfect! He tasted faintly of cinnamon or some other spice she couldn’t name—she only knew it made her want him desperately.
“Tell me more,” she murmured breathlessly when the kiss broke at last. “Tell me what comes after the Holding Time and The Bathing Time.”
His eyes were half-lidded with need and they almost seemed to glow in the dim room.
“The Tasting Time.” His voice was a hoarse, needful growl. “The time that every Kindred male longs for.”
“The…the Tasting Time?” Caroline stuttered uncertainly. She felt like her heart was trying to hammer its way right out of her chest. “What do you mean? Where do you…do you taste her? There?” She nodded down to her bare breasts, where his big hand still stroked lightly over her nipples.
“Sometimes.” Keeping his eyes locked with hers, he ducked his head and sucked one tight nipple deep into his hot mouth.
Caroline moaned and arched her back, mutely begging for more. Richard obliged her—sucking her deep and hard and then pulling back to lave her nipple with his hot tongue. He moved to her other peak then, nipping the tight little bud lightly in a way that made her gasp and grab his broad shoulders before giving it a soft, sucking kiss, as though to sooth the sharp little ache he had made.
Moans and cries and pleas were falling from Caroline’s lips. She found she couldn’t keep still—she was writhing all over the place, her hips grinding against the bed as she pressed her thighs together to try and ease the ache growing in her swollen pussy.
At last Richard pulled back, his eyes full of lust and need.
“Gods, darling—I can smell your desire,” he growled softly.
“You…you can?” Caroline wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. “I…um…I don’t know why…how…”
“I like it,” Richard assured her. “In fact, I love it—it draws me to you. Because here, my darling, is where I truly long to taste you.”
His big hand slipped away from her breasts and slid slowly down her trembling belly until he found the V between her legs.
As he cupped her, Caroline was acutely aware of the heat of his hand and the fact that the pantalets she had on were crotchless, though, because she had her legs closed, there was still fabric between them.
Oh God, this was so wrong—she shouldn’t be doing this with another woman’s husband! Yet she couldn’t seem to make herself stop.
“Richard,” she whispered, her voice shaky with need and uncertainty. “You mean you want to taste my…my…to taste me there?” she finished at last.
“Gods yes—more than anything,” he growled hoarsely. “Your little nether region feels so soft and hot under my fingers—I can only imagine how it would be under my tongue.”
Caroline wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about this. She’d only let a guy go down on her once—the time she’d almost had sex in grad school. Her lover had been trying to “make it good for her.” So he had gotten between her thighs and lapped her for quite a long time.
It was this part of the encounter that had made Caroline decide to call the whole thing off. She felt nothing special when her lover was licking her—he might as well have been rubbing her with a warm, damp washcloth. It wasn’t unpleasant though, just unsettling and so very, very disappointing. She’d wanted so badly to feel something—to feel aroused—but it was like someone had given her entire body a shot of Novocaine—nothing he did made any difference. Eventually, she had asked him to stop trying.
Would it be different if Richard did it? It was certainly different when he touched her—well, when he touched her breasts, anyway. But would that carry over to feeling his mouth on her as well as his hands?
Caroline wasn’t sure she wanted to take a chance. What if her body wouldn’t respond correctly to the stimulus? And yet, she didn’t want him to stop touching her. She had an idea.
“Show me,” she whispered, looking up at Richard. “With your hand, I mean. “Show me how you would…would do that. Show me how you would taste me.”
“Do you truly want me to?” He looked into her eyes. “I told you once, Caroline, that I would not trespass where you did not want me.”
“I want you,” Caroline assured him. “But slowly…gently. All right?”
“I would never touch you with anything but gentleness and reverence” he murmured and bent to kiss her again. “Very well, spread your legs for me, my darling, and I will show you how I wish to taste you.”
Obediently, Caroline opened her thighs. She felt the gap in the loose white linen pantalets at once and then his big, warm hand was cupping her naked pussy.
“God!” she gasped softly as Richard stroked lightly over her neatly trimmed patch of curls.
“So soft and warm,” he murmured in her ear. “If I were tasting you right now, my darling, I would rub my mouth and cheeks all over your soft little mound. I would savor your scent—bathe in it—and at the same time, mark you with my own scent so no other male would dare to come near you.”
“You…you would?” Caroline whispered.
He nodded. “Mmm-hmm. I love your scent.”
“You smell really good too,” Caroline admitted. “I don’t know what cologne or aftershave or whatever it is you wear but it’s amazing.”
He rumbled laughter. “I don’t wear any artificial perfumes. What you are smelling is my bonding scent.”
“Bonding scent?” Caroline frowned, confused.
“It’s a special scent my body makes just for you—to draw you to me.”
“Well, it’s definitely working,” Caroline admitted. “Every time I smell it I just want to climb all over you!”
He laughed again, a low deep sound that seemed to warm her all over.
“I am glad to hear it.”
“Tell me more,” she begged shamelessly. “Show me how you would…would taste me.”
“Well, after I’d had my fill of your sweet scent and marked you with my own, I would spread you open.”
As he murmured the words in her ear, she felt two long fingers stroke briefly over the outer lips of her pussy and then he was opening her, spreading her wide to reveal the aching button of her clit. She was overcome by a mixture of apprehension and need. Oh God, she shouldn’t be doing this—letting him do this—but she just couldn’t seem to stop.
“And…and then what?” she whispered breathlessly.
“Why then I would taste you,” he murmured. “I would probably start with a few gentle kisses here…” With one fingertip, he slipped into her wet folds and Caroline gasped to feel him slowly stroking around and around the swollen button of her aching clit, without ever once actually touching it. The indirect stimulation was driving her wild.
“More!” she begged, thrusting her hips up to meet him. “Please, Richard—more.”
“Mmm, my hungry little darling,” he murmured, his deep voice tinged with both amusement and lust. “Have you finally discovered how good it can be to give yourself to your husband?”
“I…I think so.” Caroline clutched at his arm and arched her hips desperately. “Please, Richard—you’re driving me insane!”
“Well, I would hope to be driving you wild with my tongue as well,” he murmured. “But eventually, I would go to where you needed me most.”
As he spoke, the fingertip zeroed in on her clit, brushing lightly over the aching bud and sending sparks of fire through her veins.
“Oh! Oh, Richard!” She moaned his n
ame and grabbed for his broad shoulders as he continued to stroke her with feather-light brushes of his broad fingertip.
Close, I’m getting so close! she thought wildly as she felt her orgasm approaching. This was going to be a first for her—never had anyone besides herself been able to give her an orgasm. She ached for the release from the bottom of her soul.
“Gently, my darling,” she heard him murmuring in her ear. “Just open yourself to the pleasure—let it fill you.”
“I…I’m trying,” she gasped out. “Just don’t stop—please don’t stop!”
“I won’t,” he told her. “Though the Goddess knows, I wish it was my face between your legs instead of my fingers. How I long to lap your sweet nectar and feel those soft thighs wrapped around my head!”
The mental image of the big Kindred with his face buried between her thighs was a strong one. As he stroked with a light but sure touch over her aching bud, building her pleasure until she couldn’t keep still, Caroline suddenly understood that she couldn’t stand it anymore—he was making her come—pushing her over the edge of pleasure and she was happy to go.
“Oh!” she cried breathlessly as her hips bucked up and the wave of orgasm crested inside her. “Oh, Richard, yes! That feels so good…so right.”
Richard’s other arm tightened around her and he pulled her close for a deep, possessive kiss. He stayed with her, stroking steadily until she began to flinch away from his touch because the pleasure was too much and she felt too sensitive. Then he withdrew his hand from between her thighs and sucked his first two fingers into his mouth, as though savoring her flavor.
“Gods, darling, your honey is so sweet,” he growled in Caroline’s ear. “I’d love to taste it straight from the source.”
But before she could answer, they heard voices in the hallway outside the room they were in.
“I’m sure they came up this way, Ma’am. I saw ‘em, so I did—he carried her up the servant’s stairs.”
“This is scandalous!” declared a familiar voice—the other mother, Caroline realized. “He must not be alone with her! What will Lord Harkens think if he finds out? Come, we must find her!”
As the voices continued on down the hallway, Caroline bit her lip. Richard stiffened against her and a low, possessive growl rose in his throat.
“That blackguard,” he snarled softly. “Thinking he can steal my wife! I have half a mind to go down and challenge him to a duel right this moment for even thinking of you!”
Caroline felt a surge of panic at the idea of him dueling with the portly Viscount. Of course there was no question of who would win if they were fighting hand-to-hand but that was clearly not the gentlemanly way. What if Lord Harkens was a crack shot and he killed Richard? The very thought made her stomach clench in icy fear.
“No!” she exclaimed, more forcefully than she’d meant to. “No, you can’t do that!”
His eyes narrowed, flashing blue fire in the gloom and he pulled back from her.
“So, you pretend to want me but you show your true colors when I speak of challenging your suitor?”
“No—it’s not like that at all,” Caroline protested. “I just…don’t like the idea of a duel. Look—there’s no way he’ll want me anyway—not after the awful way I sang and played and danced. I made a mess of everything—he’ll probably run a mile to get away from me.”
Richard didn’t appear mollified at all. He sat up on the side of the bed and regarded her coolly.
“You’d better hope he doesn’t, my dear,” he said, his voice hard. “I was on hand when his first wife expired—the symptoms of her ‘wasting sickness’ were extremely suspicious.”
“What?” Caroline exclaimed, sitting up as well and clutching the torn parts of her chemise around her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that by the time Lord Harkens finally allowed a physician to examine her, it was too late. The poor woman’s hair was falling out in clumps and her teeth were crumbling in her mouth. Her skin was white as paper and she could scarce draw breath. It was no mere wasting disease she died of.”
Caroline stared at him as his words sank in.
“You…you think she was poisoned?” she exclaimed in a low voice.
He shrugged. “There was, of course, no way to be for certain. I brought the matter before the authorities but I could prove nothing and so nothing was done.” He frowned. “Lord Harkens was angry, of course—he claimed I was trying to besmirch his good name. Ha!” The laugh was an angry shout. “As if I could do more than he has already done himself in that regard!”
“He…I take it he’s not a very nice man?” Caroline asked.
“Not a nice man?” Richard sneered. “The man’s a gamester and a rake and he keeps low company. I have heard it said that he visits the brothels of Graves Street nightly and that his tastes are not gentle.”
“So…he visits prostitutes? Uh, fallen women?” Caroline asked uncertainly.
Richard’s lips thinned to a white line. “I wish I did not have to speak of such things to you. But forgive me—I must be plain, Caroline. It is well known that such visits lead to diseases of the venereal sort. Diseases an unfaithful husband may easily pass to his wife to both their detriment.”
“You think he has syphilis or gonorrhea or something like that?” Caroline asked before she thought.
Richard’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline.
“Where did you hear those names?”
Too late, Caroline realized that a well-bred lady in this time and place clearly had no business knowing the names of STDs.
“Um…I read about them,” she said quickly. “In…in your medical texts.”
His frown at her statement was hardly less skeptical than his previous reaction.
“You’ve never been much of a reader, my dear—especially not dusty tomes of medical knowledge.”
“I…I’ve only recently developed an interest,” Caroline said desperately. “I…I wanted to get to know you better. I thought if I read what you read…”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know what to make of you. First, after years of pushing me away, you claim you actually want me to touch you and now you develop a sudden interest in reading? It seems too good to be true.” His face hardened. “Are you playing me for the fool, Caroline? Trying to get me to drop my guard so that I’ll agree to let you go easily when our Joining Period is up?”
“What? No!” Caroline protested. “Please, Richard—you have to believe me! I know I’ve changed but…but I just feel so different now.”
But she could tell that she’d lost him. The frown on his face deepened and he shook his head briefly.
“Come—we must get you dressed and back to the ball before that infernal mother of yours comes pounding at the door.”
Caroline felt miserable. She thought about begging him to believe she was telling the truth again but the words stuck in her throat.
Because you aren’t telling the truth, whispered a little voice in her head. You’re lying about almost everything—lying about the most important thing—who you are!
But one thing she wasn’t lying about was how she felt for him. More and more, she was irresistibly drawn to the big Kindred. She wanted him desperately and for a few, brief, amazing moments it had seemed that he wanted her too. But now he was back to being suspicious and angry and there didn’t seem to be any way to regain the magic they’d shared when he touched her.
Maybe I should just tell him—tell him everything, she thought. About the PORTAL and how I got sucked into this universe when the lightning struck and who I really am…
And get thrown in the mad house? asked the little voice in her head. No thank you! Keep it to yourself, Caroline—you’re only asking for trouble if you try to make people from the nineteenth century believe in twenty-first century technology. They’ll think the lightning strike drove you crazy and probably decide that since one bolt of electricity made you insane, several more will set you right. Do you r
eally want to spend the rest of your life getting ice baths and electro-shock therapy in a place you wouldn’t lock up a dog?
The answer to that was a definite no. So she stayed mute and miserable while Richard coldly helped her back into her clothes and the two of them took separate ways back down to the ball.
* * * * *
Richard couldn’t believe he’d been such a fool. Caroline had claimed that the lightning strike had changed her—claimed that it made her remember her dreams of him—acting like she wanted him to touch her…
In short, she told me exactly what I wanted to hear and I swallowed it all and begged for seconds, the thought angrily.
She’d really had him believing, too—he would have been completely fooled if she hadn’t lost her composure and shown her true feelings when he spoke of dueling her new suitor, that blackguard, Harkens.
Damn the man! Richard didn’t care that he was a Viscount and that he himself was in trade—albeit the respectable profession of being a physician. He wouldn’t give a damn if Harkens was the Earl of Kensington, or the King himself, he would happily wring his paunchy neck for even daring to think of Caroline!
Ah, but his attentions aren’t the problem—or not the whole problem, a little voice spoke up inside his head. The true difficulty lies in the fact that she has encouraged his addresses—or at least her mother has.
He had heard his mother-in-law speaking earlier after he had left Caroline’s bedroom—heard her gushing about Harkens being a Viscount and having twenty thousand a year. No doubt she was behind the courtship—she had ever hated Richard and reviled him as “the lowest form of Kindred scum,” telling him he should not have her daughter, despite the law which allowed him to Claim her in the first place.
Well, she’ll be free of me soon enough, he thought darkly. Free to do as she pleases and marry whomever she likes.
But though he felt angry and betrayed, he knew he could not allow the matter to rest there. The image of Harken’s first wife would not leave his mind—her face as gaunt as a skeleton’s, her eyes sunken in with great, dark circles all round them. She had been trying to say something when Richard finally reached her bedside. And when he bent his head and put his ear to her lips to hear her final words she had whispered.
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