This. This was what he had dreamed of for so long while on the blood-soaked battlefields of Spain. He had dreamed of a woman just like Aria, one who was warm and giving and who would allow him to command her body. She simply hadn’t had a face back then. Now she did and she was so utterly lovely that he doubted another woman could compare to her.
Michael explored Aria’s body at his leisure, his fingertips tracing the line of her spine before tangling in the thick tresses of her hair. His palms caressed her back before cupping her breasts, relishing the perfect weight of them in his hands. He teased her already tight nipples, rolling them between his fingers until she moaned. He nipped at the delicate skin on the back of her neck, marking her with his teeth as his. His and no others.
He had no idea how long he played with her body, pressed hard against the door as she was. All he knew was that she was quaking in his arms, her words now mere whimpers, by the time he moved to strip her completely bare for him. Good. That was good, because he wanted her to enjoy this seduction as much as he was.
When Aria’s dress finally pooled at her waist, Michael paused to take his leisure, his hands caressing her bare skin again, thankful she had not donned a corset that day and shredding the old chemise she wore in half with a single tug that made him more aroused than he had been only moments before. He would buy her another. Hell, he would buy her twenty if he could continue ripping them off of her body like that, the pounding need in his cock starting to make him ache fiercely.
Working his way down, Michael slid the dress and remains of her chemise down the long, smooth length of her legs, glorying in the perfect globes of her backside and the small indentation at the base of her spine. He kissed her there, gratified when she shivered but still did not move, her hands pressed hard against the door and her fingers clenching and unclenching as if of their own volition.
“Something amiss, pet?” he asked as he slid his hands down her legs to strip her of her garters and stockings. At another time, he might leave them on but for the moment, he wanted her bare to him. This was a seduction, not a quick fuck and he meant to treat it as one.
“N…n…no.” Aria stuttered over the single word and her legs trembled as he caressed her, feeling her feminine dampness begin to coat her inner thighs as he gently spread them apart. She smelled of musk and sex and something unique to her. He would enjoy feasting upon her there, but later. Once she had a chance to become accustomed to the sinful pleasures of the flesh. And he would be the one to teach her.
If he had his way, he would be the one to teach her everything.
“Certain of that, are you?” Michael asked lazily as he cupped her backside, squeezing her arse cheeks lightly before sliding a single finger through her slick channel.
“N…n…no.” Aria stuttered again and Michael felt her legs tremble as he dipped the tip of one finger inside of her slick heat. She was dripping wet, her body already clenching in anticipation of him entering her for the first time. Hell, she was trembling all over, her body reacting to his, calling out for more of what it desired.
And it desired him. Thankfully.
Slowly, Michael rose to his feet, kissing his way up the length of her spine, his fingers caressing her back, dancing over her ribcage briefly before snaking around to cup her breasts. “God, you feel so good.”
Aria’s only response was to cry out and arch her body into his. It didn’t seem to matter to her that she was naked and he still fully clothed. All she seemed to want was to be closer to him.
“Show me what you want, Aria.” Michael had no idea how much longer he could hold on to his tenuous self-control but he would last for as long as he could. He wanted to make this good for Aria. He wanted it to be special. Ravishing her against a hard door was neither of those things. “You say that you desire me, and I believe that you do, but I still need just a bit more proof. Actions, pet. Not words.”
Slowly, languidly, as if her limbs were liquid, Aria turned in his embrace, her hazel eyes now a deep, dark brown. Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hand, her thumb stroking over one of his many scars. “I want you, Michael. All of you and all of your flaws. I want your darkness and your light. It makes no sense given how little we truly know of each other, but neither does this pull I feel for you, the one that has possessed me from the moment I awoke naked in your bed. I want you so much that it hurts in places that I cannot begin to describe.” Then she did the last thing he expected. She reached down and cupped him through his breeches. “And I want you to fuck me. Now.”
Praises be, had she really just said such an awful, wicked thing? Had she really just touched him there? Aria couldn’t believe she had but the slow, wolfish smile spreading across Michael’s face said otherwise. And he was pleased – very pleased – with what he had heard. And by what she had done.
She hadn’t wanted to say such a thing. Hadn’t planned to, really. After all, she was a lady at heart. Except that a part of her wasn’t. A part of her was a wild creature that had come of age in the West Indies and knew what happened between the workers in the fields. She had never sought the men out to teach her pleasure as other young misses did; she was no libertine. However, she had stumbled upon mating couples more than once by accident. She knew the language they used. Michael used it as well and using it herself was the best way Aria knew to make him understand that she was serious.
He was her choice. Not because he had saved her life or offered to protect and hide her from Felton. He was her choice because of who he was, because of this indescribable attraction that had flared between them from the moment they met. And if given a choice between Michael and another man? She had told the truth before. She would choose Michael each and every time. Even if she could not say why.
“Your wish is my command, pet.”
Before Aria could utter even a peep of protest, Michael scooped her up in his arms and strode through the cottage with her. She had blurred images of rooms done in garish, overly bright colors – colors more suited for a Covent Garden establishment than a duke’s estate – but only briefly. Then Michael was pushing open another door to a room where the fires in the multiple hearths blazed high and the room was soaked with a most delicious heat. The sort of heat she remembered from back on the plantation. And then she wasn’t cold at all anymore. Especially when Michael placed her on the center of the bed before stepping back.
“You are the loveliest woman I have ever seen.” From the look in Michael’s eyes, Aria knew he meant what he said. “And I want you. I have wanted you from the moment I plucked you half-dead from my stables.”
Biting her lip, Aria ran her hand lightly over her stomach and up over her sensitive breasts. It was a move designed to be provocative, something a whore would do rather than a lady of breeding. But just then? It felt right. She was teasing him and from the hungry expression on his face, he was enjoying every moment of it.
“Then why don’t you undress and show me, Michael? As you say, actions speak louder than words.” Then Aria grinned wickedly, figuring she had already helped her ruin along this far. What was a little more? “And that time, I do not believe I was putting words into your mouth.”
With another low growl, Michael quickly began stripping out of his clothes. “Minx. I can think of something else of mine you can put into your mouth, however.”
It was an utterly crass thing to say and yet, such filthy talk excited her. She must be deranged. Or a wanton of the worst possible sort. Aria could think of no other explanation why her body clenched and she began to ache between her legs at his words. Then all thoughts flew from her head as she watched him begin to strip off the final layers of his clothing.
Aria had seen the scars on Michael’s face and knew he must be scarred elsewhere. She was correct in her assumptions. His body bore the marks of a soldier, even though he had only been a physician. None were particularly deep since most of his attackers went for his eyes, but they were there just the same and each one spoke of a pain he had endured, a pai
n that she could not even imagine.
Then she took him in as a whole and her body began to heat all over again. For he truly was a magnificent man.
His Mediterranean heritage was evident in the way his olive skin glowed in the firelight. The coarse hair that covered his body was as black as that on his head and his eyes seemed to shimmer with a light and fire all of their own. Michael’s muscles were nothing short of exquisite, his chest and shoulders broad and wide before taping down to a narrow waist.
“See something you like, pet?” he asked and it was only then that Aria realized she had been stroking her breast as she watched him disrobe.
She swallowed hard, refusing to allow the fear that had suddenly sprung up within her hold her back. “You know I do.” She hoped that was what a saucy minx might say anyway.
Her words seemed to please him and yet Michael’s hand paused at the top of his breeches. “Are you certain of this, pet? It is not too late to change your mind, you know. We taunt and we tease but I am not so much of a scoundrel that I would force myself upon a woman. I will only take off my breeches if you wish me to do so.” He drew in a shuddering breath. “Just know that once they are gone, there is no going back.”
Aria should tell him no, she should say that she wished to stop. That was what a good girl would do. That was what her parents, Aunt Tilly, and all of Society would expect her to do. Except that Aria didn’t want to stop. She wanted Michael.
Slowly, making certain that Michael’s eyes were fastened on her, Aria slid to the edge of the bed. Then, taking a deep breath, she allowed her legs to fall open so that he could glimpse her swollen sex. It was something a whore would do. She knew that. But she didn’t care. Michael required actions more than he valued words. This was the only action she knew without a doubt would convince him.
“I am certain.”
He shed his breeches in a trice and Aria was certain her eyes went wide the moment she had her first good look at his cock. He was, in a word, massive, and she sincerely doubted this venture would work as he had planned. Then again, she reasoned to herself, people had been coupling for millennia. If this particular act didn’t work with men and women of different sizes, it was unlikely that the human race would still exist. Or at least the number of people on the planet would be significantly reduced. No, this would work. Michael was a physician, after all. He above all people should know.
As Michael advanced toward the bed, he stroked his cock until Aria could see the head of it glisten with a wetness that matched the one now pooling between her legs. “This first time will hurt, pet. I cannot make that pain go away, much as I would wish to.” He reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. It was almost a loving gesture and she had to be careful not to allow her heart to get ahead of her brain. “The next time we mate? I will make it so much better for you. I promise.”
“I trust you, Michael.” Again, they were only words but Aria punctuated them by lying back and opening her arms to him, inviting him to join her on the bad. Again, actions and not words.
As she had hoped, Michael wasted no time in lying down side her. For a moment, she thought he might simply spread her legs and take her, but to her amazement, he did not. A part of her rather wished he would, mostly to get the pain and uncertainty over with as quickly as possible. However, she understood that this was his seduction as well and now that they were both naked, he would do as he pleased. He was the one in control here, not her.
After all, she had no idea what she was doing. He did. Hopefully.
Michael kissed her again, this time deep and passionate, his teeth nipping at her lips and his tongue ravishing her mouth until she was panting. Then he moved lower, suckling at her nipples, pulling the buds into tight peaks before biting down lightly and then laving the sting away with his tongue. Over and over he teased her until she was squirming beneath him, arching up into him just to feel more of his skin against hers.
What started out slowly quickly built to a near-fevered pitch, Aria’s fingers tangling in the crisp, black hair that covered his chest as he worshipped her body with his mouth, kissing and licking every bit of skin he could find.
Then Michael cradled her hips in his hands as he slid down the length of the bed, raining kissing down on her inner thighs before sliding his hand between her legs once more. He tested her wetness before stroking a tiny spot so sensitive that she squirmed with need when he took his hand away. “So lovely,” he breathed. “And so very much mine.”
“I am yours, Michael,” Aria replied, her voice so breathy that she wondered if she might be ill. “Please. Make me yours in every way.”
He seized her mouth in a rough kiss and his hand was between her legs again, his fingers dancing over the tiny nub of flesh that made her writhe with a desire she could not name and did not understand where it had come from.
“Come for me, Aria,” Michael demanded roughly. “For I can find no pleasure in your body until you have found yours at my hands.” With that, he bit down on her already aching nipple while still teasing her between her legs.
Aria shattered. She cried out Michael’s name as her body quaked with release, her mouth seeking his for another heated kiss. She felt rather than saw him move over her and then he was nestled between her thighs, his hard body pressing into hers.
She felt the blunt tip of his cock at her entrance, his own wetness seeping from the head. He needed his release. She understood that. She also understood that he felt compelled to be gentle with her, to not hurt her. What he could not understand that the release she had found just now wasn’t enough. There was another wave of desire building inside of her, this one more powerful than the last. And it needed to be set free before it consumed her.
So in the end, Aria made the decision for him, arching up and pressing her body into his, inviting him inside of her womanly sheath until he was fully seated. And it was the most glorious sensation she could have ever imagined. She also did not feel one bit of pain. For this was perfect. This was Michael. And for the moment, he was hers.
Michael felt Aria’s feminine core tighten around him as she drew him in. He hadn’t meant to take her this way. Hell, he hadn’t been certain how he would take her, but not like this, not in one hard thrust. He meant to give her time to adjust to him, for he was not a small man. However, he should have expected that Aria would do things her own way.
When she hissed out a breath, he kissed her again. “Easy, pet. Let me make this time as good for you as I possibly can. Then I shall make it up to you.”
“Michael.” Aria whispered his name as she clenched her eyes tightly shut, though in pleasure or pain he could not be certain.
Then she shuddered again, her body once more arching up into his and he began to move.
Michael thrust slowly at first, allowing her to seek out her own rhythm, but in no time, he was pulling her along the path to ultimate pleasure with him. He drove hard into her, his balls slapping against her arse as he thrust, but she didn’t seem to care. If anything, she was encouraging him. Aria dug her nails into the muscles of his arms as she urged him to go faster. The minx. He had no idea how much faster he could go, but he did as she bade, riding her until he was certain he would break her – or himself, whatever came first.
He felt her second wave of release as it began to shudder through her, her body clenching tightly around his and her legs wrapping around his waist. Aria’s actions had to be instinctive for there was no way she could understand what she was doing. Until a moment ago, she had been an innocent. But she was innocent no longer and her body pulled his in until he could go no further.
With each thrust he pushed her higher, urging her on to a second release. Then he felt her wetness coat him from deep inside and Michael let himself go. He bellowed her name as she arched against him once more and called out his name in return.
He should have protected her from a child. He should have withdrawn before he spent but just then, Michael could no more have withdrawn from
Aria’s body than he could cease to breathe. He wanted her too damn much. He needed her too damn much.
And when he looked down into her eyes, he realized that he was in far more danger from her than he had been from any Frenchie.
The fire had died down in the middle of the night, as she had expected it would, but Aria did not feel the least bit cold for once. Embers from the other hearth still sparked to life on occasion and the door to the bedchamber was open wide, allowing in the heat from the fire in the hearths in the next room. Even if the room had been stone cold, however, she was certain she would still have been warm, for Michael lay curled around her, his body protecting hers from the chill beyond the bedcovers.
It was very lovely. And very intimate.
Then again, considering what they had just done in this bed, Aria wasn’t certain how much more intimate they could be. After all, she and Michael had made love for nearly an entire day.
Aria supposed she should be ashamed of what she had just done for she was no wanton. Or perhaps she was for there was no question she had welcomed Michael with open arms. When he had asked to bed her again after their first coupling? She had eagerly agreed. Just as she had gone to him the third time he had reached for her. And the time after that, and the time after that as well. Until day faded into night as he taught her all of the pleasures to be had in bed. And out of it as well.
Never once, however, had she felt the sting of humiliation that she was now a fallen woman. Instead, she had only felt overwhelming joy and desire. And pleasure. That too, of course.
She wondered what Michael felt. Pleasure, obviously, for he had groaned her name in delight more than once during their couplings. Each time they came together, in fact. But was he happy he had bedded her or was he – God help her – sorry that he had taken an innocent into his bed? And a rather scandalous bed it was.
Christmas With a Scoundrel Page 15