Alex was crouched down on his haunches, and Kat, maneuvering an arm between them, shoved him. Caught off balance, he flew back into the screen. The screen toppled over and hit the floor with a thunderous crack. Alex landed on his arse atop it with a painful grunt.
Kat jumped out of the tub, plucked a large drying cloth off the stool and hurriedly wrapped it around her torso. Safely swathed in linen from chest to upper thigh, she turned around.
Alex had already regained his feet and stood with his legs spread, hands on his hips. His face was carved with anger, the scar on his chin in stark relief. A low, animal-like growl was her only warning before he dipped his shoulder, grabbed her hips, and flung her over his shoulder like a Viking berzerker.
Kat screamed in outrage, which turned into a squeak when Alex’s fingers skimmed up her inner thigh. She squirmed violently to avoid his invading hand, but to no avail.
“In the brief span since my return, you’ve slapped me and knocked me on my arse. I see now I have been too lenient in allowing you the upper hand. I believe some discipline is in order to prove to you I am not a man with whom to trifle.”
“I am no child to be disciplined. Now put me down this instant,” she panted.
“Aye, I agree. You are not a child, but all woman…a beautiful woman of flesh and blood and passion,” he ended hoarsely.
Between her thighs, his fingers threaded through the black curly hair guarding her sheath. He brushed his fingers back and forth again and again, his touch teasing. Her breath hitched at the exquisite torture, stealing her senses and her intended rebuke. Then he tugged the hair gently. Kat moaned.
He delved again, running his fingers along her crease, but not touching flesh, trailing from her buttocks down to her plump bud. Caught up in the exquisite sensations, Kat did not even think to resist. He tugged on the silky hairs once more, setting off ripples of pleasure. Her nether lips swelled, tingling with pent-up longing as she dampened with desire.
“Your dew is sweet upon my fingers, my lady. But ’tis just a taste of what I intend to wring from your lips. I shall give no quarter, and ere I am through, there will be no more talk of ending our bargain.”
Kat snarled in disbelief, “You would take me by force?”
Alex laughed. “I shall have no need of force, my dear. You want me. Already your body betrays you. With only a little persuasion on my part, I shall have you writhing in my arms, begging me to take you.”
Then she flew through the air, and landed on a soft cloud of goose feathers, coverlet, and animal furs. Her linen barrier was somehow lost in the scuffle.
Driven by an odd mixture of anger and arousal at his threat, Kat rose to flee. On her hands and knees, she scrabbled away from him, but his hand clutched her ankle and tugged. A startled yelp escaped her. She reached desperately for a carved post, but her hand slipped and clutched only fur as she landed on her stomach.
He dragged her back, the tangled fur beneath her aiding Alex as she slid easily down the bed, exposing the linen sheets underneath. Before she could move, he sprawled on top of her. His hard body, all muscle and heat, pressed her down into the mattress. He grabbed her flailing hands and secured them above her head, effectively imprisoning her.
Her strength sapped, Kat lay unmoving beneath Alex. Harsh breathing, his and hers, resounded like pounding anvils in the aftermath of their tussle. It was not long before she became aware of the pleasurable sensations buffeting her body; underneath her, fur tickled her breasts, quickening her nipples into hard peaks, while above her, Alex’s moist breath panted against her neck. And the hard ridge of his arousal prodded her hip.
Charged tension, heavy as a sultry summer day, arced between them.
Her body softened instinctively, and she was immediately horrified by her reaction. Did she have no self-respect? Alex may lust after her, but he was not in love with her. How could she have forgotten so easily that Alex was incapable of ever loving anyone but Lydia? What happened to her resolve to end their marriage and marry Luc, a man who loved and respected her as Alex never could?
Refusing to let her body defeat her, she renewed her struggles.
Chapter 15
Alex’s vaunted control had snapped at Kat’s stubborn refusal to hear him out. But desperation quickly flared into raging hunger when she thrashed beneath him. His cock slipped into the channel of her buttocks. He groaned. His shaft throbbed and lengthened with each thrust of her body. Up and down, up and down he rode within her erotic embrace, moaning at the exquisite friction.
Needing to do something quickly before he spent like a callow lad, he clutched her wrists in a single grip, raised his lower body a little and swatted her bare bottom twice.
Kat howled in pain and anger. “Hit me again and I shall make you pay. I still wield a dagger with extreme dexterity.”
“Then cease your struggles, vixen, unless ’tis your intention to provoke my lust. I shall gladly take you here and now if that is your wish.”
Kat stilled and turned her head, gray fur outlining her profile. She spat a wet strand of hair from her lips and Alex gently pulled it away from her face. “What I want is for you to get off me. Why do you not go find Lady Lydia? Whereas I do not appreciate your brutal tactics, I’m sure your whore will.”
A brazier in the corner of the chamber illuminated Kat’s face and, as Alex gazed down at her bold features and vivid coloring, he was amazed that he had ever admired Lydia’s pale, cold beauty. “Ahh…I do beg to differ about your predilections, wife. Remember our wedding night?” Kat tensed beneath him. “Though I had to restrain you, I soon had you purring in my arms. This night shall be no different.”
Giving her a foretaste of his intentions, Alex drew her earlobe between his teeth, bit gently, and then worried the delicate flesh between his lips. Kat shivered, but her next words came out cool and detached.
“Much is different this night. Lady Lydia is free to marry again and once you get our marriage annulled, so shall I be.”
He stiffened, but let the comment pass. He ran his hand over her bottom cheeks, his lips a hairsbreadth from her ear. “I love your rear, Kat,” he whispered, his voice a throaty caress. “’Tis nice and firm, with plenty of flesh to hold onto when I thrust deep inside you.”
She glared up at him, tugging on her wrists. “You are as arrogant as ever if you think I shall succumb. I saw the way you looked at Lady Lydia. You are a liar and a fool. You deserve each other.”
Alex clenched his teeth, his fight to hold his temper in check slipping. “I have told you I do not love Lydia, that ’tis you I want.” Now did not seem the right time to tell Kat he finally realized it was she whom he loved. “But it would seem only actions have any merit with you. And I shall not begrudge the undertaking. See how accommodating I am?”
“Accommodating, my arse,” she shouted, then spit out the fur that got stuck on her tongue.
He chuckled. “Aye, your arse.” Alex sat back on his haunches, drawing her arms down with him. He straddled her thighs and gripped her wrists in one hand behind her lower back. With his right hand he squeezed her bottom cheek, grazing his fingers under the crease where it met her thigh. “The flesh has turned a lovely shade of pink from my punishment. And ’tis hot to the touch. Let me give you some ease.”
That said, he bent down and bathed her tender flesh with his tongue, lathing the right globe thoroughly first, then moving to the other one. Her skin was soft, and heat generated from spanking her seared his tongue, enflaming him.
She squirmed beneath him, her breathing more rapid. “By God, ’tis beyond enough. I demand you release me.”
Alex looked up, frowning. “I do not respond to commands. My course is set. Now be quiet or I shall gag you.”
Her eyes flared silver with rage. “You brute, you would not dare.”
“Care to wager on it?” he challenged. He would not do it, but she need not know that.
Kat glared up at Alex in impotence, her head twisted back. He would gag her. He was a dom
ineering man who did not like to be thwarted. She turned away and laid her head back down on the bed. She would fight another way. She would just lay unmoving, and when she did not respond to his seduction, he would give up and leave her be. If only she believed she was strong enough to resist.
He shifted and pressed his lips to the nape of her neck, lingering there a moment. Then he kissed and nipped his way down her spine. Reaching her lower back, he began to tease the crease of her derriere. She clamped her lips tight to keep from moaning. Then very slowly, the hot, wet glide of his tongue slithered down and down, poking and prodding the shadowy crevice all the way to the back of her thighs.
Kat trembled. Shivery heat pulsed along her flesh and spread to the moist folds guarding her entry. When he reached an extremely sensitive area, a ragged cry escaped her throat. Nay, ’twas indecent, her mind cried.
But she made no denial when he spread her rear cheeks and dipped his tongue back in. He prodded the tight flesh with the tip of his tongue, and eased out, only to return and continue the torture. She squirmed against the furs, moaning as her body quivered uncontrollably. Need overwhelmed her as wave upon wave of tingles battered her nether lips.
Kat choked back a cry of protest when he pulled away, but he was not through. Kissing up her spine, Alex slid his free hand beneath her stomach and cupped her mound, grinding his palm against her in a teasing rhythm. Harder, then softer, he stoked her like a flame. She gasped, arching with unbearable pleasure, begging for more. He answered her silent plea, inserting his middle finger into her feminine channel.
Alex groaned. “Jesu, you are incredibly hot,” he said.
He pulled his finger out, only to slip back in deeper with two fingers, penetrating her in a slow, teasing cadence as her pleasure built, her heart raced.
Kat tried to resist, but the pleasure was too intense as need throbbed between her thighs. Panting, feverish, she wanted what only Alex could give her. It was just beyond her reach, but each time she neared that elusive summit, the sensation receded before she could grasp it.
Unable to wait any longer, desperate for release, she ground down on Alex’s hand. Groaning in ecstasy, she clutched the furs in her fists, suddenly realizing Alex had released her hands. His hand still pumping between her thighs, Alex leaned over her. Sensuous lips trailed up her neck, licking and sucking a blazing path. She turned her head, seeking a deeper connection. When his lips met hers, she sighed. His tongue plunged between her lips. Kat sought it greedily, her tongue wrapping around his, giving no quarter.
Just then she felt her peak nearing and she pulled her mouth away, moaning.
“Nay, I want to taste your desire on my tongue.”
He removed his hand from between her legs, and Kat cried out in protest. But he rolled her onto her back, knelt between her legs, and spread them wide, exposing her glistening flesh to his hot gaze. He stared intently for several beats of her heart. When he looked up at her at last, something she read in his eyes made her feel loved and cherished, but surely it was her imagination, conjured by her own private yearnings.
“You are beautiful beyond words, Kat. I shall have you or no other.” A lump lodged in Kat’s throat. She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe him so badly it firmed her resolve to resist him one last time. She clutched his shoulders to push him away. But with a fierce gleam in his blue eyes, Alex bent his dark head and placed his mouth upon her wet, throbbing flesh.
With no preliminaries, he thrust his tongue inside her. In that moment she cared not if he loved her or nay. Passion held her in its tense grasp, wiping away all thought, all pride, all common sense. Kat cried out his name, moaning wildly as the pleasure coiled tighter, hotter. Instead of pushing him away, her grip became a plea. She clutched his dark hair and raised her hips to meet his frenzied kiss.
Alex withdrew his tongue from her sheath and lashed her dewy folds, seeking every crevice and hill except where her pleasure centered most. She writhed against his hot, sleek tongue. Until he raised his head and stared at her with a fevered light, his mouth but inches from her wet center. “Do you wish me to stop now?”
Kat shivered as moist air caressed her exposed flesh. When Alex’s words finally penetrated her befogged mind, she glared at him and sealed her lips tight. She would die before she asked him for aught.
A ruthless light flared in his eyes. Holding her gaze transfixed, his tongue darted out, light and delicate, to trace around the nugget of flesh at her apex without touching it. She watched, entranced, as he came ever closer, the teasing touch driving her beyond bearing, wanting, nay craving him to end the torture and give her release.
“Shall I stop now?” He rose as if he intended to leave her there wet and throbbing, unsatisfied and wanting.
“Stop!”
“Stop?”
“Nay. Oh God, I don’t want you to stop.”
With a hoarse groan of satisfaction, Alex cupped her bottom in his strong hands and lifted her hips to his hungry mouth. He clamped his lips around her engorged nubbin and sucked vigorously. Intense desire stabbed her dewy flesh and she thrust up against his relentless mouth, his tongue a raspy caress. He flicked back and forth over the highly aroused bud, the erotic tension tightening beyond bearing as he tormented her with his tongue and lips. Pleasure drew higher, tighter, deeper.
It seemed to go on forever, driving her wild, willing her to promise aught to end the shattering tension. Just when she thought she would never reach fulfillment, Alex pushed his finger deep inside her. He touched a spot so pleasurably sensitive, rippling heat exploded between her thighs. Stars burst before her eyes. She cried out in rapture, her sheath contracting, throbbing. Deep, hot, centered.
Her arms flung wide, she savored every tremor as she stared up at the dark blue canopy above her, its golden embroidered stars still spinning.
Alex was enchanted by her abandonment. He savored every ripple, every quiver of the pink flesh beneath his tongue, her heat and honeyed essence scalding him. Slowly, her contractions abated and her panting breath filled the silence.
Now that he had seen to her satisfaction, the hard arousal pressed taut against his linen undergarments demanded release. Wanted to seek the welcoming haven of Kat’s hot, exotic dwelling.
Unable to hold back his raging lust any longer, Alex tore off his tunic. Leaving his sherte on, he reached beneath it and untied the cord encased in the waist of his braies. Kneeling above her, he shoved his braies down to his knees. His erection sprang free, easing some of the pressure. Then he lowered his body in the cradle of Kat’s spread thighs.
Hot and heavy, the bulbous head of his cock nudged the entrance of her portal. His movements slow, he rocked back and forth along her slick flesh.
A gravelly moan escaped him. “Oh Jesu, love, I can’t wait another moment to have you.”
Kat tensed beneath him, but Alex was too blind with lust to notice.
He drew back, ready to plunge into her sheltering depths, and was startled when she shoved him aside. Kat crawled out from under him with a cry of outrage. But his excitement was too far gone and he could not stop himself even if he wanted to. Did he want to?
Cursing, he rolled onto his back, took his cock in hand and pumped up and down, his pleasure tenfold as Kat watched him at the foot of the bed, her towel shielding her nudity once more. He gazed into her silver eyes, luminous as the moon with some unreadable emotion, and with several frenzied strokes, his hot seed burst free and peppered his stomach.
Kat stared aghast and yet oddly enthralled as Alex caressed his thick shaft until his seed erupted. He was a sorcerer, a practiced seducer, and that she should never forget. Indeed, had he not been moments away from stripping away the last remaining vestiges of her pride and self-respect? Passionate to a fault, she was ashamed that she had relented in her weakness. Tears pooled in her eyes. Was a lifetime of heartache worth a few moments of pleasure?
Using a corner of the bed sheet, Alex wiped off his stomach.
“You disgust me, Alex.
Never touch me again. I want you to leave. Now!”
Alex rose from the bed and adjusted his braies, his eyes glaring daggers. “I did not disgust you when you were writhing beneath me and your pleasure drenched my mouth.”
Kat gasped, incensed. “You struck me and held me down against my will, forcing your attentions on me. Treating me no better than a whore.”
Alex scowled. “Were that true, I would have taken you with no thought to your pleasure. Don’t pretend that you did not enjoy the lovemaking we shared.”
“You talk of sharing, but what exactly did we share?” Kat answered her own question. “’Twas naught but animal lust. There was no love involved.”
Kat held her ground when Alex moved around the bed and stopped inches away from her.
He tenderly stroked her cheek with his thumb, searching her eyes. “You are wrong, my love,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “I care more for you than you can truly know.”
Her resolve slipped at his impassioned words, the tender regard in his gaze. Nay! She knew better than to trust him. And she would not let Alex get her hopes up again, only to dash them when he tired of her and returned to his true love, Lady Lydia. Never forget, never forgive.
Kat stepped back from Alex and his hand dropped away from her face. “Nay, I don’t believe you. You are in love with Lady Lydia. Had I any doubts, your actions in the reception hall proved otherwise. Naught you say can convince me. Just leave me be!”
Shaking with pent-up emotion, she retreated to the outer chamber, opened the portal and waited. Alex stepped out of the bedchamber dressed once again. The crackling fire barely disturbed the seething tension emanating between them as he slowly approached.
He stopped before her, then drove his fingers through her hair and tilted her head up to his burning gaze. “I will leave you. For now. But the bargain still stands. I realized today I do not love Lady Lydia, that my feelings for her were simply a youthful infatuation. What you and I have is so much more real and powerful. I shall not rest until I prove to you Lady Lydia means naught to me.”
Vow of Seduction Page 16