He held his breath. It could not be that simple. “No one ever loves the whip but me. How can I expect to ask you and have you say yes? I had to devise a way and reason to use it on you.”
“What are you basing this on? Your previous whores? They did not like anal coupling either, did they? Have I agreed with them and their assessment?” Her brows lifted and creased.
“No—you love it and readily take it—to my utter and constant astonishment. That is why I must have more.”
“You can have it. Tell me how it feels, what you plan to do and I will see if I can meet your expectations.” She reached out and set a hand on his right, flexing forearm.
“I thought the cold would aid you—numb your skin a little. And you are wet, so you are tingling no doubt from the frostiness out here.” He sucked in a chilly breath. His stomach was trembling.
She nodded. “Tis true. All of it. I can see how thoughtful you were trying to be. Now trust me to honor you and your needs. Where will you whip me?”
“Anywhere I am struck with the need to.” His gut tightened and lifted so much, it was hard to speak. Would she truly allow this?
“Will the blows hurt?”
“Yes.” His eyes went heavy, and his heart raced.
She shrunk away a little. “Can you spank me first—warm me up that way and then whip me after? If I have a little pain in the beginning and build up to it, maybe my tolerance will be more than you or I would think it capable of.” She stroked his arm, and her voice was so soft, so lovely, it was as tender as a snowflake, barely touching down.
His chest damn near exploded with anticipation and excitement. “You would do this delicious, deviant act for me? Take my hand on your ass and my whip after?”
“Yes, William. For you, I hid behind a bush naked in the cold night air. I will incite your senses higher if we can do this together so we both mutually benefit. I want you to kneel first, and ask me properly to be your wife, and then I will do what you so desire.” She removed her hand off his arm and took a measured step back.
While she stared at him with a look of adoration, he sunk to the cold, grassy ground and bit his tongue. He huffed, and his heart stopped as he whispered, “Clarissa Stone, you are the woman that makes my life not only bearable but worth living. You are the reason I am a happy man. Make me happier still and do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Yes, William. I am in the same state as you—so I will be proud to be called your wife and take your hand.”
He jumped up, hugged her and backed her up to the tree.
He kissed her with a fierce passion, then traded places with her so his back was against the tree. A moment later, he spanked her and gripped her ass cheeks over and over while he kept kissing her.
She jerked and made these amazing yelping moans each time his hand contacted her flesh with a smack.
When she was damn near melting in his hands, he turned her toward the tree, rested her cheek against the trunk and tied her up so she was spread out, yet held fast to the trunk.
His whip was out, and he was brandishing it, making it crack in the air as he warmed up his arm.
She made the most luxurious groaning sounds imaginable with each snap of his whip above her head.
He walked the stripes down the trunk of the tree and then stopped abruptly.
After a deep breath and widening his stance, he finally did it.
Whaaaap!
It clipped through the air, sailed toward her body, making her jump and leaving a small pink stripe on her right ass cheek.
“Darling, if this gets to be too much and you need me to stop—I want you to call out ‘Pearl.’”
“I will.” She nodded and held still, her hands loose.
She looked relaxed. Ribbons of electric heat danced through his body. She was handling this. She was not screaming, calling him a monster or running away. She was in his world now, and in it to stay.
He grinned so wide, his teeth made a grinding sound.
Whiiipppppaaahh!
This time when it touched her, she went on tiptoes, emitted this soft cooing noise and made fists, but made no attempt to yank at her bindings.
She desired to remain here—to experience the way he unleashed.
With the next slight flick of his wrist, her ass extended out behind her and her gentle sound from before grew and rose to an edgier, needier sound.
His body rushed with a need so urgent, he was barely able to eke out two more lashes and then he was flinging himself at her.
He failed to get more than a handful of licks in, but it was enough.
“What did it do to you? God, please tell me.” He brushed her hair over her shoulder, kissed her neck with soft lips and crushed his body against hers, but remained careful about touching the stripes on her ass.
“It was . . . The sting was harsh at first.” She sucked in a tight breath, closed her eyes and when they opened he was mesmerized by what he saw. She was glassy-eyed and glowing. “Those last few—my God, William—my mind was humming with a soft buzzing sensation. Everything tingled, and it was like I could float into the tree all while being tied down. It was the oddest sensation to be so fuzzy.” She licked her lips. “I loved every second. It excited me beyond measure.”
“Excited? You’re certain that’s how you would define it?” He edged closer to her and caressed her naked bottom.
“Excitement the likes I could’ve never dreamed. Thank you.” She sighed like she was in a daze. “No more hiding. I may be the one that likes this game of hide and seek, because you come after me like a predator, but you cannot hide your base desires from me anymore. Share them. I need the opportunity to fulfill your fantasies, otherwise I will become nothing to you.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
“That will never be possible—I assure you. But you are right. I have been hiding. That will cease from this day on.”
She nodded and smiled, slumping over, her body lax as could be.
He growled, kissed her and ripped her bindings free.
His brute strength as he swung her up into his arms made her squeal.
“You have done the most amazing thing for me—now I shall return the favor. This time, no ropes. Only a pearl, you and my body. That is all you need to reach maximum euphoria this night.” He dipped his head down, nuzzled his nose in her cold, damp hair and brought her inside.
Instead of the dark room, he took her to her private room.
He set her on the bed and before he instructed her, she spread out—splaying her legs open wide for him.
“Have I ever mentioned there’s this deliciousness about you that I shall never tire of?” He licked the right corner of his lips.
She made this purring sound as she swallowed and stared at him, appearing content.
“What do you hope to accomplish by saying such things to me?” She fluttered her lashes at him.
“Why, to woo my intended wife, of course.”
“I think that’s a guarantee, but you proceed—see how I react.” She settled into the bed, wiggling her hips.
“If you’re not sopping already from all my play, then I will be highly disappointed.” He ran his hands over her legs, up past her knees, then squeezed, pulling her legs apart even further.
He dropped down with a speed that was nothing short of indelicate.
His mouth was on her, and this low, intoxicated moan poured out of him. “Drenched—the way I want my slut to be.”
She tipped her hips up, encouraging him to taste her some more.
His heart swelled—she was growing bolder and more wanton by the minute.
How could he resist such a woman? Innocent and sweet, but alternately trusting him enough to spread her legs open wide and welcome his debauched ways.
It did not take long to bring her to ecstasy, and she released with a soft gush of her fluids.
He savored it on his tongue, lapping at her and sucking with greed. At some point he brought the pearl out, but he never wound up
using it. He was too busy having her on his taste buds.
Her writhing only spurred him on, but she had been through enough.
So, instead of edging his cock inside her, he simply crawled up her lithe form, lowered himself over her and held her to his chest, whispering sweet promises of enduring love.
This evening had been the culmination of all he could ever desire.
“I love you,” he said.
“Ferrismore, you are the devil to my sleep.” She yawned, stretched and entangled her limbs with his. “But God help this weak woman, because I love you more than the Heavens can allow.”
He smiled and drifted off to sleep for the first time ever in a bed that was not his own and happier than a man like him should ever be.
* * *
“I’m not wearing that,” Clarissa balked, batting his hands away the next morning.
“You agreed. I consented to allow you and your lady friends to take my motorcar and shop for new clothing, if and only if, you wore the underthings I provide for you. This is it. This is what I so desire, and it pleases me for you to wear it.”
“Think of the chafing!” She grimaced.
“Yes—that is precisely what I’ve been doing ever since I created this work of art.”
“It’s a monstrosity.” She pointed at it. “Just because you have found some employ for my lone pink pearl you’ve hoarded away does not mean—”
He grinned. “And the melon scarf, too.”
“Heaven forbid I should leave that detail out.” She tossed her hands in the air, then set them on his chest. “Do you know what this will do to me to have that thing rolling along my most intimate of areas as I walk?”
“Yes, my lovely one. It will plump your folds for me, cutting out half my work, so when you return to me you’ll be ravenous, wet, pink and begging. All the requirements I need from you will be fulfilled. See how ingenuous these little pants for your pussy is?”
“Why not shorten it, combine the two and call it a ‘panty.’” She mumbled something about how obnoxious he was, and what an ass he was being.
He hiccuped a laugh. “That’s the perfect name. We’ll have to market this thing like mad. Parisians will love it. We’ll bring another one when we go to France.”
She gasped. “We’re traveling there?”
“Of course. When we wed, I need you in the most sinful places imaginable, since I intend to have relations with you in public. I also intend to photograph you at my leisure in the nude.”
She choked on her breath and fanned her face with her right hand. “You cannot possibly mean that.”
“Oh, but I do.” His eyes twinkled, and his head bobbed about on his shoulders.
“Arrogance is something you have an overabundance of.” She puffed out her cheeks, then let them deflate. Her shoulders sagged.
“And curvy delights is something you possess the perfect amount of. Now—up with your left foot.” He squatted down with the scraps of material, focusing on the pink pearl he threaded through the middle swath.
“This looks like a fancy baby’s nappy.” She groaned and rolled her eyes once he tapped her right leg to get her to step in on that side as well.
“I don’t care at all what you think it looks like. It’s beyond deviant, and I adore it, and I adore you. It’s perfect.” He pulled it up her legs, stood and yanked it up into her folds.
She jumped and braced herself with her hands on his shoulders.
Her cheeks colored immediately when he spun the pearl up the fabric until it rested at the entrance to the hood of her clit.
“Evil man.”
“That’s what they all say, but you know if I was truly evil, I would not allow you to complete your release. Have I ever denied you?” He kissed the tip of her nose and patted her behind.
“No.”
“Yet, I have denied myself, haven’t I?”
“Yes, you pompous ass, but that does not make you nice.” She turned her head away.
“It makes me a fool that’s so in love with you, I’d give my two stones away to keep you forever.”
She barked a wild laugh. “That would mean you could no longer be my couillon.”
“I never said my shaft wouldn’t stiffen. You’d defy all laws of the body, and I’d be harder than this now.” He cupped her right hand over his rigid length. “Have fun today without me.”
“Evil, evil, evil,” she chanted.
“This ensures you’ll return back to me quicker—correct?” He quirked an expectant brow at her.
“It means I’ll be peevish and short with my female companions when they are trying on dresses, looking at shoes and accessories.” She grabbed her chemise and put it on, then slipped the corset over it.
“Then call it a test of patience.” He chuckled and helped her lace it up taut. He stroked her behind that was pronounced in the back due to the S-curved corset. “This panty I made for you allows me to do this,” he said, peeking a finger inside and swiping across her slit.
“William!” She turned and slapped at him.
He ducked and shoved his finger in his mouth, tasting her. “Delectable as always, madame.”
He dressed her the rest of the way, even slid her shoes on for her and then watched her go.
While she was gone, he attended to some pesky business that had been giving him a headache for a few days now.
He picked up the phone and when his call was received, he wished he’d gone shopping with the ladies after all.
“This is William Ferrismore II—please state the reason for your call.”
“My shipment is coming in tomorrow, and you would do well to remember that I own a larger share of the rails than you. Do not interfere this time, or I’ll be forced to—”
The call was ended, and William grit his teeth together, then howled like a lion, “Ahhhhhhhh! To hell with you!”
He kicked his desk and threw his phone across the room.
His legs carried him straight out of the room and into his study. He grabbed the decanter of brandy, poured himself a glass and guzzled it down.
“I’ll buy the entire thing, and see how you like that!” He shoved his shaking left hand through his hair and grunted several curse words, wishing Cherry girl was back already to help soothe his troubled mind and raging heart.
When he calmed down sufficiently, he took his best carriage to the bank and dealt with Morgan, promising to also back the banks if it came down to it.
No matter what his father did, William would succeed and keep hold of the happiness so long denied him.
Chapter 15
“Tell me more about your family,” Clarissa said to Samuel the next morning.
He leaned against the wall, munching on a piece of toast.
“I miss her—she was a very fun sister to have. She liked to steal my bike and make me chase her. She would eventually fall down and skin up her hands and knees.” He chuckled. “When my bike was stolen, she cried harder than I did and for much longer. She was really bereft about it.” He dropped his eyes to the floor, and they were glassy. “I should have been there for her more. She needed me, but she would never say it. I should have known.”
His red curls looked like springs as he tossed his head from one side and then to the other—popping his neck.
“She sounds like a wonderful playmate. How did she die, if you don’t mind my asking?” She approached him, but he shrunk away from her.
“I’ve . . . I need to get Mr. Ferrismore’s motorcar running and make sure it appeals to his sense of cleanliness and order.” He cleared his throat and moved past her, giving a wide berth.
Her brow wrinkled. Stupid—don’t ask him about his sister’s death. He’s still torn up over it, and he didn’t even get to have a home wake for her. That was insensitive and very brazen.
She frowned and went to find her other friends she enjoyed conversing with.
The ladies allowed her to help a little with the laundry.
It didn’t take long befo
re William was lurking, watching as Clarissa spoke with Pauline and Elizabeth.
His eyes never seemed to leave her when he was near, and it heated her skin better than the shower did.
She had been chatting with the ladies for several minutes now, deep in spirited talks about their lives and concerns.
He was far enough away he couldn’t have possibly heard them.
“Do you worry about old clients coming here to find you?” Clarissa asked Pauline, grabbing another pillowcase and folding it for her.
Pauline paled. “All the time. I never really told any of them I ain’t doin’ that work no more.” She went back to folding the clothes in the basket.
Clarissa helped her with a sheet next while William pretended to sip his coffee.
Pauline turned her back to him. “Do you think William could tell ‘em all for me?”
“I’m uncertain if he’d be willing or not. What can I do to assist you? He’s not comfortable in the lower east side, but I am.” Clarissa stood a little taller.
Pauline’s eyes watered. “Most of me customers don’t live there. They live ‘round here. That’s why I was scared. I saw one of ‘um on this street this mornin’, grabbing his paper while I was fetching William’s. He didn’t used to live in this posh place. He must’ve come into some money. But oh God . . . He gave me a look . . .” She shivered, and her eyes lowered. “If he knows I’m here . . .”
“Who is it? I’ll look for him and explain to him he cannot bother the staff here.”
“He didn’t say nothing. He just looked.” Pauline gulped and settled herself up against the counter.
“It sounds like he was leering. Is that correct?” Clarissa searched her eyes.
William cleared his throat and when she glanced at him over his shoulder, he crooked a finger at her.
“I’ll be back shortly,” Clarissa told her friend and then scurried over to him.
“Lap—now, lovely one. I must feel you in my arms.” He pointed where he wanted her to go.
She tucked her skirts in front and took a seat. “Are you jealous I am conversing with my friend?”
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