London Lace, Series Complete Set

by Catou Martine

  She cleared her throat and shifted a little on his lap. “I wasn’t afraid of losing… anything.”

  “No?” He kissed her near her collarbone. “I was. I’ve had a horrible time being away from you. Not being able to reach you by phone. Thinking you wouldn’t agree to come along with Albert. His hand cupped one breast over her sweater. He was being so slow and gentleman-like, except he was naked and hard underneath her. It was maddening.

  “Are you hungry?” he whispered.

  “Only for you,” she finally whispered back, and turned her head to kiss him. Her words, and her kiss, relaxed him for a moment, and then he suddenly tensed.

  He stood up, knocking his chair onto the floor. Eliza gasped. He held her tight in his arms so that she didn’t fall over with his sudden movement. His arms held her shoulders and then his hands were on either side of her face crushing her lips to his. He pushed his hips into hers. His hot length had split through the robe’s opening and she felt it against her sheath of denim. She reached her hand down to him. He shuddered at her touch.

  “That’s all I wanted to hear you say,” he whispered.

  “Hear me say what?” She was panting now as she palmed the silky smooth skin of his cock’s head. The warmth… the pulse… she wrapped two hands around it as his lips coursed up and down her neck, to her ear, temple, across her eyelids and back to her mouth.

  “That you’re hungry for me, that you can’t get enough of me like I can’t get enough of you.”

  He jabbed into her, as if he’d forgotten that she still had her clothes on. She wiggled and tried to kick off her shoes, she took one hand from him so she could undo one of her buttons. He moaned.

  “Touch me,” he demanded. She managed to get her zipper down and then she grabbed him with both hands again. He had her pinned against the table so she couldn’t move much.

  “Let me taste you,” she begged. “I’m so hungry for you. I want you in my mouth.”

  He moaned, thrust into her hands, but said, “No.” His hands flailed behind her back and then Eliza heard crashing and tinkling and rolling porcelain. He had pushed all the food off the dining room table!

  “Todd! Morgan will come.”

  He hoisted her onto the polished wood and practically threw her down on her back.

  “No one is allowed in. I told them. No matter what they hear in here.”

  He grabbed the waist of her jeans and wrenched them off her. His robe had completely opened and he was like a madman tearing at her clothes. She must have shown some fear in her eyes because he held them with his icy blue eyes and smiled.

  “I told you, you don’t have to fear me. Just say the word and I’ll stop.”

  When he had pulled her jeans away, her panties had gone with them; they were a slippery mess and had made a wet trail along the inside of her leg.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered.

  He gave her a wicked grin and growled once. “That’s my Eliza. These are the games we can play. In these games I show you what you do to me, and I do to you what you want done.” He flung off his robe. His chiseled chest was already beaded with sweat. He stood tall, his erection a thick rod reaching up and toward Eliza who was laid out like a feast on the table in front of him.

  “Take your sweater off,” he said. It was already half pushed up over her bra. She slipped out of that, too, feeling her back press into the cool polished surface. She lay there with arms spread wide and watched him. He was gorgeous leaning over her now, his hands on either side of her hips.

  A slight glare returned to his gaze, and that dark sensual look…

  “I’m hungry,” he said.

  He bowed down and laved her pussy with his whole mouth. “I’ve been a starving man and you are the ambrosia I’ve been waiting for.” He moaned into her and she felt the sound resonate up into her body. She whimpered and panted, giving in to his feeding and the delicious nourishment she was receiving. It didn’t matter what happened before or what might happen later. This moment was pure pleasure, abandoned ecstasy, this is where she came alive, and she wanted to live here forever.

  Her first orgasm felt like a thousand sweet berries bursting in her mouth. His mouth, his tongue, his fingers, all became one thing penetrating her and bathing her in a rocking, rolling wave that swept through her without leaving; it carried her on a crest of light and joy and a pounding pressure. Her back arched, her head rolled side to side and she just kept riding her bliss as if it might never end. She was so deep in it she hardly noticed that he had climbed onto the table, was on top of her, and that his driving into her was the pounding pressure she was feeling. Her coming had just kept coming, had drawn him up and into her, deep, deep into her… He drove himself deeper now, pulled out and plunged in, again and again. He dropped his chest to hers and chewed and sucked at her neck as he bucked wildly. “Eliza,” he panted into her ear. “Eliza, you’re mine. Say you’ll always be mine.”

  Her first orgasm had barely subsided before another was there waiting, a different kind of full and hungry feeling overflowing with a pleasure that was almost pain. His words in her ears exacerbated this pleasure-pain and she began clawing at his back.

  “You’re mine, Todd. You’ll always be mine. Be in me always.” He pushed deeper and harder, practically crushing her under him.

  “Say it again, say you want me inside you.” He pulled back so he could look into her eyes. He looked fierce and desperate and demanding.

  “I always want you inside me,” she gasped. She was rising with a climax again. She could feel the tension twisting and spinning inside her, a vortex of energy being spun into being by his driving cock, his pelvis against her clit, his abs slipping with sweat against her.

  “Say, you want me to come inside you,” said Todd. He was ramming her hard, keeping their bodies close, she could feel his balls slap against her ass, and that final sensation made her eyes start to roll back in her head.

  “Oh, god, yes, Todd. I want you to come inside me.” She tried to keep eye contact but her eyes couldn’t focus, they rolled back in her head as her inner combustion bore down upon her.

  “Explode in me,” she whimpered. He panted hard in her ear, bucking so fast she couldn’t keep up but just lay there receiving every ecstatic thrust. Her clit was on fire, the muscles of her pussy clenching and unclenching as she rode wave after wave of his thrusting, his coming, his long moan with a near sob at the end. He pulsed inside her as he drained. Her pussy muscles tensed and relaxed in time with her heartbeat and drew out each tender sensation of their joining.

  “Todd,” she whispered. “Todd…” And the next words would have been ‘I love you’ but she did not have the courage to say them.

  They lay entwined on the dining table until their sweat-damp skin cooled. Todd’s face was buried against her neck.

  “I’ve missed you. I’ve been so sad.” His words were whispers behind her ear.

  “I’ve only been in London, Todd. You could have come back anytime.”

  He shook his head ever so slightly. “I couldn’t. Because of the horses.”

  She wanted to add, and because of Miss Selfridge? But she didn’t want to bring all that up right this moment, not post-coitus. She wanted the dignity of being fully dressed before she broke this off. She sighed inwardly. It wouldn’t be easy. Her body was addicted to his, but now her heart was involved, and there was no future for the two of them. This living-in-the-moment idea and ‘enjoying the ride’ could not be sustained indefinitely. But she didn’t regret coming, in both senses of the word.

  Together they dressed and cleaned up the mess on the floor, gathering all the bits into a pile on the table.

  “Marjorie will see to the rest,” said Todd.

  Oh, yes, Marjorie.

  “I look forward to meeting her,” said Eliza. Todd raised an eyebrow.

  “Albert told me about her,” she said.

  “Oh. Right. I understand love is in the air,” said Todd.

  But did he understand ju
st how much? Eliza wondered.

  “We still need to talk,” said Eliza reaching for a hunk of bread recently retrieved from the floor.

  “I know,” said Todd stopping her before she put it in her mouth. “I’ll have Marjorie bring something fresh to your room.”

  “My room?” Todd walked a hungry Eliza away from the table and toward the door. “What about your room?”

  “My door will always be open to you, but I know you are a woman of independent means and mind. I thought you’d appreciate your own room.”

  “I suppose I would.”

  They stepped into the empty elegant foyer. Todd led her up the stairs and turned to the right. The hall seemed to go on forever. He led her to a room at the very end. It was large, on the corner, with windows on two sides and afternoon light pouring in. A four-poster canopy bed made of dark wood and covered with white linens dominated one wall. The windows across from the bed looked out over the front garden. The windows looking west displayed a view of meadows, copses of trees, and, in the distance, a glimmer of the sea.

  “It’s beautiful,” whispered Eliza.

  “It’s yours,” said Todd.

  “For tonight.”

  “For as long as you want.”

  “Todd, you know I can’t…” She sat down on the edge of the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “Everything you do or say distracts me from what I mean to do or say. We need to talk.”

  He sighed. “Let’s at least shower and get dressed before we sit down and sort out the serious facts. At least I should get dressed.” He tugged at the sash of his robe.

  They would ‘sort out the serious facts’? That didn’t sound like much fun but it had to be done. “All right.”

  “I’ll meet you in the foyer in half an hour,” he said.

  She nodded. He kissed her on the top of her head.

  “I can feel of all those questions practically burning a hole in the top of your head.”

  She wanted to say it was his lips that set her on fire but instead she said, “You’ll answer them, won’t you?”

  “Yes,” he said. Then he left.

  Eliza kicked off her shoes and looked around the room. The overnight bag Albert had packed sat on top of a wooden chest next to a paneled door. She peeked behind the door and saw a sumptuous bathroom. A claw foot tub, separate shower with a rain-showerhead, gilded mirror over a pedestal sink, and a bidet. A bidet! Wow. She felt as if she were in a luxurious continental hotel. She wondered what Todd’s room was like. And she wondered where it was… She dashed to the bedroom door and looked down the hall. Had he gone into a room in this wing or the other? Why hadn’t she asked? She was suddenly tempted to surprise him in the shower… Her body begged her mind for one more time before it had to be over.

  While Eliza’s body and mind negotiated, she heard a door open a little ways down the hall. Had Todd had the same idea? Was he coming back for her? Someone half-stepped into the hall. Not just someone, a young woman. She saw Eliza and in a flash disappeared back into her room. Stunned, Eliza stared at the empty space the young woman had just occupied. The pretty young woman. With curly dark hair. She wasn’t the one from the paper, Melissa Selfridge, but she looked to be the same age. Eliza steadied herself on the door handle. Half in and half out of her room, she didn’t know which way to go now.

  She heard footsteps on the stairs. A buxom woman wearing a long skirt turned the corner. She was carrying a tray. When she saw Eliza in the hall, she smiled broadly.

  “Miss Keating, it’s a pleasure to see you here.”

  “Oh, thank you.” Eliza made room for her to pass with the tray and then followed her in. “You’re Marjorie?”

  “Yes, and I’ve heard so much about you. Oh, don’t shut the door just yet, Cara’s right behind me with—” A young maid walked in with a suit bag and a pair of boots. She laid the items on the bed.

  From the hall they all heard a high-pitched whisper, “Cara!”

  Marjorie spoke loudly over the distant voice and walked toward the door. “Thank you, Cara, that will be all.”

  The young maid scampered out and Marjorie closed Eliza’s door.

  “Well, you’ve had a long drive and the Master kept you during lunch but didn’t feed you enough I hear. I brought you soup and half a sandwich. I hope that will give you enough energy.”

  “For what?” said Eliza.

  Marjorie peeled open the suit bag to reveal freshly laundered riding clothes. “It’s a beautiful afternoon for a ride.”

  “A ride?” said Eliza doubtfully. “I don’t really ride.”

  “Everyone who visits Evergreen Downs rides,” said Marjorie.

  “You have wardrobes for all your visitors?” The clothes on the bed looked like they would fit. The boots too.

  “The Master mentioned you might need some. Others usually bring their own.”

  “I didn’t bring anything.”

  Marjorie glanced at the overnight bag but Eliza didn’t even know what was in it.

  Marjorie took a step toward Eliza and dropped her housekeeper-y formality.

  “At least you brought yourself,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “Albert says that’s all that matters.”

  “Does it? Todd didn’t say he wanted to go riding.”

  “Oh, you know him,” said Marjorie with the wave of her hand.

  “No, actually, I don’t. And Albert refused to tell me much. I’m not really sure why I’m here.”

  “The Master needs cheering up, I’d say. He keeps it all bottled up you see.”

  “Keeps what bottled up?”

  “His grief. His worry.” Marjorie nodded her head sagely.

  “What does he have to be sad about?”

  “He didn’t tell you when you arrived?”

  “No, we… We haven’t talked much yet.”

  She nodded, seeming to understand. “You’ll draw it out of him.” She backed toward the door. “Cara will see to the cleaning of your other clothes.”

  “Marjorie, wait. Are there any other visitors here I should know about?”

  “Visitors? No, no. You’re the only visitor.” She clicked the door into place and was gone.

  Eliza took a deep breath. Then who was hiding across the hall?

  Todd was pacing in the foyer when Eliza sauntered down the stairs. He looked relieved to see her.

  “Rather presumptuous, aren’t you?” She used the crop to point out her new attire. He was dressed similarly and she had to admit he looked pretty striking.

  “I thought you’d want to see the horses. Don’t you?”

  “See them, maybe. I’m not a rider, Todd.”

  “I’ll teach you.” He stepped close to her and brushed his lips against her temple.

  “All I want to learn is what you’re not telling me.”

  He pulled back and looked into her eyes. She saw traces of hurt and confusion and, finally, resignation.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  Morgan the butler crossed the hall carrying a tray of silver candlesticks.

  “Come to the stables with me,” said Todd, pulling her toward a side door.

  Eliza held her ground. “Todd…”

  He turned back to her. “To talk, Eliza. Just to talk. It’s private there. And I need to show you something.”

  She followed him along a main floor hall and out a door at the end of the East wing. As she had guessed, on this side behind the house lay the car garages, barn, horse stables and other utility buildings needed to service a large manor house like Evergreen.

  The leather soles of their riding boots crunched across the gravel. Todd began talking as they walked. “This last week has been so hard. I foaled Jacobean – he was premature and I had to stay with him two nights. The vet’s been here every day. I think he’s going to make it, but he may not be a runner. But it’s Jez, his mother…” Todd’s voiced cracked a bit.

  “What’s wrong?”

  They had reached the stables and now Todd leaned against the open
door. His face looked strained. He was holding something in. He looked away from her.

  She put a hand on his arm. “What is it, Todd? What's happened?”

  He swallowed hard. “Jezebel hemorrhaged. She’s weak. Now she’s dying.”

  Eliza saw one tear from in the corner of Todd’s left eye. He brushed fiercely at it, as if it were a wasp about to sting him. She wrapped her arms around him.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “I tried to tell you. You weren’t taking my calls.”

  Eliza felt like a heel now. All those calls were to tell her his mare was sick?

  “I know you were mad,” he said. “You had a right to be. I should have come back to the city to set everything straight. But everything happened so fast between us. And then this.” He waved his hand toward the barn. “It’s all I’ve been thinking about.” He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. There’s a lot no one knows, Eliza. And I’ve liked it that way. I like to be in control. I like to be in charge of what’s happening around me. And now it’s all going pear-shaped.”

  He kind of crushed himself into the wall away from Eliza. She tried to hold on to him, to assure him with her body that everything was going to be all right, but this was big and deep what he was feeling. She couldn’t wrap her arms or her mind around all of it.

  “Is Jezebel inside? Should we go see her?”

  He let go of the wall and led her into the barn. The door on the other side was open and golden light streamed in. Dust motes and insects danced in the shafts of sunlight. The scent of fresh hay enveloped them. Beneath that aroma, Eliza detected a metallic hint of blood.

  Todd pushed open a stall door. A dappled gray mare was stretched on her side and covered in blankets. She whickered faintly.

  “Hey, girl,” said Todd quietly.

  Jezebel tried to raise her head but was too weak. Todd stepped around her head until he could reach her mane. He stroked her ears and her long nose.

  “She was my first foal,” said Todd. “My mother gave her to me.”

  Todd had never spoken of his mother before. Eliza knew she had died when Todd was younger, but other than that she knew nothing about her.