by Suzi Love
He swallowed deeply, once, twice, before he was able to face Thomas, expecting censure. And yes, on Thomas’s face there was definitely that, plus disgust and anger. Plenty of anger, directed not at the innocent woman bowing at his feet, but at him. Thomas’s well-placed fury was directed at the idiot who’d thought this little performance would extricate them from a sticky situation.
But damnation. All he’d managed was to alienate one of his best friends, and he certainly didn’t have enough of those that he could afford to lose one. In direct contrast, Bart’s face glowed with admiration for Anna. As if he couldn’t believe an innocent angel had turned in to such a sexual woman, one intent upon learning about the male body in that public way.
Justin glanced down again, bending his knees a little to whisper to the golden-headed angel. “Pretend to touch me so I can move on before anyone notices.”
Her hand flashed out from her side and with the softest of touches ran one finger across the purple tip of his penis. “Oh,” she murmured with a surprised gasp as his body reacted.
His shaft bobbed and bucked like a bee-bitten horse. He jerked back from her fingertip, but Anna didn’t hesitate. She followed him, reaching out again and again to caress him again with her fingers. Her sweet and subtle touches aroused him so much more than the practiced grasps and grabbing of the others, that a dribble of liquid oozed from his slit.
“Jesus,” he gasped, and backed away.
“Oh, no!” Thomas moaned from somewhere close by.
Justin understood his friend’s anguish, and felt a sharp stab of shame and self-loathing. Good- hearted Thomas revered saintly Anna, and he, the most unsaintly of men, had cheapened her by letting her touch his exposed member in front of this lewd and screaming crowd. He looked at Thomas, who stood open-mouthed with shock and horror, and lifted his hand in apology and appeal.
“I’m sorry,” he mouthed to his friend. “I tried to stop her.” Thomas’s face twisted into a grimace of pain, but after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded.
Justin glanced down to Anna where she still kneeled in the line of women, expecting to see disapproval, embarrassment. Good Lord, he didn’t know what else. He stared. Anna’s face glowed. Red for embarrassment, definitely. Her cheeks were flushed with color but on her complexion and with her angelic looks, it looked beatific. In fact, her whole demeanor was one of a serene Madonna. How could that be?
He stepped back to her and bent to whisper in her ear, “Anna, are you well?”
She looked up at him with her angelic smile and nodded. “Very well, thank you, my prince.”
He swallowed hard, not sure what she thanked him for, not sure what to do or say. He gave Thomas a helpless shrug and looked to Bart for assistance. If he had to guess, he’d say that Anna, sweet and innocent Anna, had thoroughly enjoyed herself. Too bloody much for his sanity.
Bart started to laugh, a small rumble becoming louder and louder until he was laughing in a full- throated roar. Trust Bart to find it so amusing. Thomas alternated between glaring at him and smiling reassurances at Anna. Chrissie … oh God, he didn’t think he could bear to look at her. Bracing himself, he stepped away from Anna and once again managed to skirt around Chrystal but that put him directly before Gillian. He sucked in a quick breath, bent to her ear, pretended to nuzzle and tease her for benefit of their attentive audience.
Gillian’s eyes glittered with amusement and naughtiness. Before he could speak, she whispered, “It will be all right, my lord. Trust me.”
He pulled back a little. Trust her? He glanced sideways at Edward. Oh, double damn. Edward was a picture of seething fury. Now what the hell was he going to do? And what happened to his plan for these women to play act in the harem line, not to take an actual physical role?
“Christ!” A wet tongue darted out and touched him several times, not as tentatively as Anna, but in sloppy licks. Gillian was more determined than Anna to get him strung up by his friends.
“Enough,” he murmured, bending close to her ear and hopefully putting his dripping shaft out of her tongue’s reach. “You’ve proved your point, Gillian. You’re now officially a worldly wise woman.”
With a majestic wave of his hands, Justin addressed the girls in the line that he’d already passed.
“Arise, my beauties. You’ve performed well. Now go forth and spread your pleasures with others.” He particularly addressed the last words to Chrystal, hoping she’d take the hint and find other playmates to spend her next hours with. The line of girls dispersed as the giggling mass rose and rushed away to the eager crowd of men to find partners. Gillian blew Justin a kiss, sashayed over to Edward, took his hand and dragged him toward a dark hedged area. Justin grinned and gave Gillian a small wave. Edward’s luck had just changed for the better and if this excursion had done nothing else, it had at least accomplished that. He’d brought a husband and wife who obviously adored each other back together. He smiled again. This Good Samaritan thing was okay after all.
He looked to where Anna had risen with Thomas’s aid and was excitedly describing the details of her first sexual adventure to Thomas and Bart. Anna appeared jubilant, Bart aroused, and Thomas alternated between lust and anger. Justin wondered idly which man Anna would chose for her practice session tonight, for he was certain there’d be one. He’d seen that same look of eager anticipation on too many women’s faces before not to know what it indicated. It was the recognition of female power all women grew into with maturity and experience. The knowledge that by giving pleasure, they also received pleasure.
He sighed. Two women remained in his line. Chrystal, who had come back around for more, and Chrissie. Chrystal drooled with eagerness and now that he’d moved closer, reached out and grabbed him by the bollocks.
“Hell.” Her other hand wrapped around his cock and pulled him toward her in a physical command he was unable to resist without doing permanent damage to his equipment. Though he mightn’t have had much use for his genitals lately, he didn’t want them damaged.
He raised a finger in warning to Chrystal. “One touch, remember. Nothing more.”
He knew what this scheming woman was capable of when in the grip of frenzied lust. Three years ago, in the beginning, he’d convinced himself it was exciting, amusing, and not just a moneymaking venture. Now it appeared low-class, sordid, and shameful.
Chrystal’s reddened lips opened wide, as if she was about to gulp down a glass of the best French champagne. She leaned forward and engulfed his shaft, but without touching him. With a cunning move, his sneaky adversary had neatly circumvented his one touch rule.
He stiffened his lower body, anticipating what would follow. She’d had her mouth on him enough times in the past for him to know Chrystal turned oral sex into a hedonistic act. How the hell was he going to survive this without letting it appear she’d won the ultimate prize? Namely him. He’d be forced to plunge into her body in front of everyone. Not that he cared who saw Chrystal being pleasured, but he minded that Chrissie watched him and assumed he wanted this, when all he wanted was to protect her and her friends. His grand plan had exploded in his face. She’d probably never forgive him for this stupid miscalculation.
He braced with his legs apart and readied himself for the moment when Chrystal lowered her mouth to the base of his shaft because he knew from experience her mouth opened to encompass not just his rather large length, but part of his balls as well. He groaned. He was doomed!
At the very moment Chrystal’s teeth bit into his engorged flesh and Arthur led a loud cheer group, Chrissie caught his eye. She didn’t reproach him with scowls or sneers or taunt him with her eyes. She, too, blew him a kiss, as Gillian had done. Her mouth opened to tell him something, a soundless command. He sucked in a breath as he understood her message.
“Save it for me,” she said with her face, her eyes, her whole body. “Save yourself for my mouth.”
Her encouragement made it easy to resist Chrystal’s determined ministrations and a moment later, jerk ba
ck from her mouth. Still, he heaved a sigh of relief as he stepped across to stand in front of a kneeling Chrissie.
Lifting his arms, he made another announcement. “So far, there hasn’t been a woman who excited me enough to perform my masterly sexual acts, and there remains only one woman. A novice. I’m sure she’ll not manage it either, so I now give permission for all subjects in my kingdom to join with others. Take up your partners and relish the pleasure they’ll bring to you.”
“No, stop,” a lone voice cried out from behind him.
He spun back to see Chrissie rise and address the fervent group. She lifted her arms in an identical theatrical gesture to his own. Her eyes gleamed brightly in the light of the torch flames, flaming locks flowed over bare shoulders to dance around barely contained breasts, and he was mesmerized. The hide-skin trappings he’d devised for the three women was enough for the smaller figures of the other two, but for Chrissie, there didn’t seem to be enough leather to stretch around.
His mouth dried with an instant rush of desire and his arousal reached upward and toward her seeking the perfect match to his body. He wanted to grab her and drag her away to his lair, out of sight of any of the lecherous men now drooling over the sight of such a sensual goddess. Before he could will his frozen limbs to move, to scoop her up and carry her away out of sight, she stepped around him.
“I demand a chance, my great ruler, to service your needs. I may be only a novice, yet I feel certain that I am the one harem slave who can bring you to your knees. Who can make you writhe in ecstasy.”
“No, no. It’s not necessary. You are my slave and I command you to go back to your other tasks. It is time to bring forth the roasted pig.” He signaled to his waiting servants and they rushed off to hasten forward the elaborate repast he’d ordered.
Bart walked forward and clasping Chrissie’s hands he raised both her arms with his and held them aloft. “My friends, should not such eager willingness to serve our royal master by a girl come newly to the harem be rewarded?”
There were loud cheers from men and women alike. Chrystal stood alone and pouting but even her husband ignored her to rush forward and shout out lewd advice to Chrissie.
“Use your teeth on the man. A little pain heightens the pleasure.” “Good God, Bart,” Justin said, grabbing his friend by the arm. “What the bloody hell are you playing at? I wanted her out of here.”
Bart indicated to where Chrystal was deep in conversation with five or six of the women from the earlier harem line. On their faces, Justin recognized insult and fury.
“Trust me,” Bart said. “I organized something in anticipation of just such an unwelcome outcome. Chrystal and her compatriots will be demand blood, or your hide, if you don’t see this pantomime through to the end.”
“Damn!” Justin muttered. “Very well, let us proceed. But I must find a way to protect Chrissie’s privacy.”
Bart nodded and once again addressed the not caterwauling mob.
“Zoltan and this supplicant will perform a ceremony for us, my friends, such as you have never before witnessed. It will whet your appetites for the food that is being served momentarily. And prepare you for all the games and romps and pleasures that Zoltan has been gracious enough to provide this evening.”
Bart led them to the side where swathes of silk had been arranged to resemble a desert tent. He pushed them inside and then addressed the few in the group who were objecting to the location of the ceremony. The silk was sheer but the many layers blocked a direct view for any of the onlookers.
Justin realized immediately what Bart had planned and sent silent thanks to all Arabian gods for giving him Bart as such a good friend. In their cocoon of fabric, the audience would see nothing but moving shapes and would be unable to discern the action unfolding in any great detail.
“We can pretend to make love in here and no one will be the wiser,” he whispered to Chrissie, leading her to the mound of plum pillows in the center of the space.
“No. We will not pretend. We will have sex, Justin. Wild passionate sex, of the sort for which you are so renowned. I want to sample, just once, the enjoyment and satisfaction of having a proficient lover to ignite my senses and stir my arousal.”
Justin groaned and dropped his head to his chest. “Christ. You’ve no idea what you’re asking me. Don’t you see, I want you so badly if I come near your naked body for even a moment, I’ll lose control. I may not be able to stop.”
She frowned at him. “Do you mean you may not be able to pull away and spend your seed outside my body?”
“Ha! That may be the least of your worries, my love. What I meant was I’ll want to use your body in every position. I’ll want to plunge into you from every angle and I’ll not want to stop until I hear your screams of pleasure echo through the air. I’ll want to make every man standing outside and listening experience such white-hot jealousy they’ll orgasm from listening to us. Just from knowing how easily the succulent curves of your body can excite and arouse the hunger in a man. Even in a man who’d sworn off sex.”
Her eyes widened and he hoped that the prowling predatory cat he portrayed had frightened her enough she’d turn and run. A country mouse scurrying back to its hole.
She laughed. Threw back her head and gave a deep-throated howl. “Oh, yes, my lord and master,” she called in a loud voice, playing to the listeners outside. “My body is yours to command. Do with it what you will.”
Hell! Once again, he’d miscalculated her reaction. The woman was a demon who outwitted him at every turn. Who excited him unbearably and turned him into a ravenous beast.
“Very well,” he whispered. “I’ll call your bluff and you’ll suffer the consequences of all your weeks of teasing my control. Because know this, my lady, I will take you as I said. From every direction. Until you scream louder than Chrystal and all her friends together.”
Chrissie looked pensive for a moment and then she shocked him again by saying, “Ah! Despite your reluctance to reveal any names about your past conquests, my lord, I now know for certain who paid you such an enormous sum of money to service her and all her friends.”
He groaned aloud and wondered at his own stupidity. Inadvertently, he’d given her the identity of his past lovers, something he’d always been careful to keep secret. The ton made up stories willy-nilly about his prowess but the actual number of women he bedded was only known by a select few. His butler Perkins, and Bart and Thomas.
Now, instead of Chrissie looking afraid of the consequences, Justin felt a shiver of apprehension as he recognized that gleam of determination to rise to a challenge. Suddenly he was afraid his past had come back to haunt him in an unexpected way. She had told him more than once that she’d heard many, many stories about his bedroom antics and his prowess between the sheets. Or, for that matter, in linen closets and on library floors.
If what he suspected she was thinking was true, he was in for a thrilling encounter. And quite probably the ride of his life, one to outshine anything from his long and debauched years. In his mind, he could already picture a wild and thrilling sexual ride on Lady Wellsby’s, Chrissie’s, beautifully naked back. For sure, the woman would kill him this time.
Chapter Twelve
Chrissie studied Justin’s expression with interest. He appeared undecided as to whether he was about to shot at dawn or about to die from extreme pleasure. A hard choice. She prayed he’d choose her, and the option of expiring with pleasure during intimacy.
“So,” she said, trailing a finger over his bared chest. “If I’m to be a more memorable harem slave than any of those other women out there … “ She waved a hand toward the shadows moving beyond the tent.
Chrystal’s voice came to them clearly as she bemoaned the fact the great Zoltan had chosen Amira, a novice harem slave, to be serviced by the great and powerful ruler this evening. “It should be me!” Chrystal screamed, presumably at her long-suffering husband. “I’m the one who’s wet and eager and waiting to be filled by his pr
incely prick. Just as he used to do.”
Chrissie watched Justin close his eyes and swallow deeply, his embarrassment obvious. She, however, was amused. “I see even the great Zoltan can be brought undone by a woman’s emotions. Her fury and her jealousy.” She ran her fingers lower and let them circle the tip of his bobbing penis in a lazy fashion until she felt his shivers ripple, one after the other, up his lean body. He opened his mouth to reply but she placed her finger over his lips.
“Hush, my lord. Those other women mean nothing to us in here. This is our private land of pleasure, is it not?”
Justin nodded, robbed of speech for now. Good! Exactly how she wanted him. Slavering over her body. Speechless with desire. “My master doesn’t need to speak except to give me his commands, to convey his wishes and desires. Nod if you comprehend my language.”
Wide eyed, and with his breath coming in hot pants, he nodded. “I am your master, Zoltan. Chrystal—”
“No, no, my lord,” she cried out, nodding her head to indicate to Justin the listening crowd. “Please, Zoltan, do not speak another ‘s name in here. I cannot bear to hear it.”
He nodded again. In a loud voice, he called out so the waiting guests could hear his commands, playing his part again. Chrissie was also acutely aware the lecherous men waiting outside would grasp any opportunity to enter the tent. They’d also welcome any indication that Zoltan was unable to perform as he used to and they’d step into his role. The thought of any of them touching her made her shudder.
If they weren’t convincing enough in this performance, it could spell disaster for her reputation, and for that of her two friends. No one must discover their true identities and so for that reason, her act must ring true. They must believe outside that she was being taking by a domineering Arab ruler who had little regard for the sensibilities of women. Apart from that, she longed to feel Justin’s hands on her, not those leering men’s rough and coarse caresses. She yearned to feel the stretch of the viscount’s famously long cock as he rammed it home inside her in wild abandon.