“I know that’s what you intend.”
“And I will succeed too.”
“How so?”
“Because you assume that you’ll get the better of me, simply because I’m a woman and supposedly incapable. But you fail to take into account that I spent several years scouting in dangerous areas. Getting the better of you will be child’s play by comparison.”
“Ah, thank you for the warning. Now I shall know precisely how to act.”
“And how will that be?”
“Nothing could be simpler. I shall, if necessary, lock you in your room.” He paused, his eyes glistening with enjoyment at the prospect. “If necessary I’ll also tie you down.” He paused, watching her intently. “If necessary, I shall tie the knots myself.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare!”
He met her gaze and held it, determination etched in his expression. “My advice to you is not to put that assumption to the test.”
“Give me leave to exorcise this demon once and for all, Lord Fitzroy.”
Her voice shook with emotion but whether that was attributable to her cause, or to the attraction she entertained toward this elegant sophisticate, she could no longer say. Their relationship had reached a defining moment, and she had a decision to make that had nothing to do with Dawson. But it was so difficult to think coherently when he could cause her body to pulsate with need, to tremble and ache, simply by circling an aureole through the fabric of her gown.
His vital strength, the vibrancy of his presence, unbalanced her as much as the brutal passion she’d already seen burning in his eyes. She couldn’t be entirely certain whether she was being wooed or coerced, but suddenly, with a clarity that left not one iota of room for doubt, it didn’t matter. She wanted to experience, just once, all that he was prepared to offer, and now wasn’t the time to question his motives. His lips were still hovering just above hers and, with a brazenness she wasn’t aware she possessed, she tilted her head back and initiated a kiss.
With a gentle sigh her arms slipped ’round his neck and he drew her body hard against his. She opened her mouth and sucked the tip of his tongue into her mouth. Her reward was a stifled moan. Then he took control and deepened the kiss.
His hands roamed across her back and came to rest on her derrière. He clasped it, pulling her closer until she could feel the full and impressive state of his arousal. Aware that she was responsible for his condition was empowering and she melted against him, mindlessly following wherever he led. She pushed to the back of her mind the few doubts she still entertained about the wisdom of her actions. Something that subliminally felt so right couldn’t possibly be wrong.
He broke the kiss but his eyes lingered on her face, asking a question that required no words. She offered him a riotous smile, her heart beating wildly as she audaciously inclined her head.
“I’m perfectly sure,” she said.
“I know you are. But I needed to be sure that you did.”
“You’re insufferable. Do you know that?”
“I thought I was infuriating.”
“That too.”
“By this reckoning, my list of shortcomings is likely to be extensive.”
“Believe me, I’ve hardly started upon it.”
“I’m mortified to learn that I fall so short of the standards you look for in a man.”
“Don’t berate yourself in that respect, sir. My standards are very high.”
He was chuckling as he removed her hairpins and scattered them carelessly over the floor. He appeared satisfied only when her tresses tumbled about her shoulders in a jumble of insubordinate curls.
“Come here, vixen.”
She slipped her hand into his extended one and allowed herself to be led back to the daybed. When he sat down and pulled her onto his lap, all her insecurities returned and she wondered about the wisdom of going through with this. He must have sensed her hesitation because his hands immediately fell away from her waist.
“Have you changed your mind? Tell me at once if you have and we’ll stop.”
“No.” Her hesitation was momentary and she was again filled with the urgent desire to experiment. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“It’s only natural that you should have doubts but I shall make it my business to dispel them. I won’t disappoint you, sweetheart.” His eyes burned into her face. “On that you have my solemn promise.”
He kissed her again and as he did so she felt her bodice slipping away. By the time he broke the kiss it had had fallen to her waist. She wasn’t wearing a corset tonight and only the thin fabric of her chemise now covered her breasts. Before she had time to be embarrassed, he’d removed that as well and she now sat on his lap, her breasts entirely exposed to him for the first time.
“Beautiful!”
He spoke in an awed tone as he caressed first one plump mound and then the other, stroking and agitating until she thought she might well lose her mind. She moaned, thrusting herself into his hands, urging him on. But Adam clearly required no such encouragement. He lowered his head and captured a nipple between his teeth. It was rock hard but expanded almost painfully as his tongue rasped against it.
“Adam!” She buried her fingers in the thickness of his hair and cried his name, flames leaping inside her, threatening to ignite at any moment.
“Yes, darling, what is it?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing. Just don’t stop what you were doing.”
She writhed on his lap, beyond caring how abandoned she seemed. With a strangled oath he admonished her to sit still.
“This is for you, sweetheart, and if you keep moving it will be over in an instant.”
“Oh, I see.”
Well, she thought she did, but couldn’t be entirely sure. This was nothing like anything she’d ever done with Simon. He’d been considerate, had given her pleasure, but their time together was always too rushed for them to be able to explore one another’s hungers. Moments snatched in out-of-the-way places in which they seldom enjoyed the luxury of anything as fundamental as a bed. Adam appeared to appreciate that and was intent upon showing her precisely what she’d been missing. She was unsure if it would be wise to find out. Ignorance might very well have been bliss.
He lifted her from his lap and her gown pooled around her feet. He dispensed with her petticoats, and before she had the time to feel embarrassed she was standing naked in front of him.
“Move closer to that candle, darling. I want to look at you.”
As though in a dream she did as he asked, feeling elated when she observed the admiration in his gaze. That she could arouse this sophisticate to such heights of passion was no mean feat and she gloried in the power she temporarily wielded over him.
“You’re beautiful,” he said in a gravelly tone.
“It hardly seems fair.” She smiled and evaded his outstretched arms. “I’m standing here completely naked and you have yet to remove a single garment.”
With a strangled oath he rid himself of his clothes in mere seconds, throwing them aside with no apparent concern for their welfare.
“Better?”
“Oh yes!”
She moistened her lips, which had become inexplicably dry as her eyes drifted toward an impressive erection.
He led her back to the daybed and laid her upon it. Resting on his side next to her, he applied himself to giving her pleasure. The feats he could achieve with his fingers and tongue soon left her feeling giddy with desire. And desperate for more. Time and again she begged him for release but he simply smiled and set about torturing a different part of her anatomy.
“Patience, little vixen.” He nudged her legs apart and danced his fingers up the inside of her thigh, stopping tantalising short of the place where she most wanted them to be. “We have plenty of time, and the pleasure will be greater if we go slowly.”
“But I’m not sure if I can wait.” Her breath caught in her throat as his fingers finally reached the apex of her legs and delved ins
ide. “Adam, please!”
“You ought to know that I didn’t intend for this to happen. I wouldn’t have you think that I’m taking advantage of your reliance upon me to bring Dawson to justice.”
Florentina couldn’t give two figs about what his intentions had been. All that mattered was what was happening between them now. She told him as much.
“That’s all right then,” he said with a throaty chuckle. “Just so long as you understand that you only have yourself to blame for what’s happening between us.”
“Why?” She sighed, not wanting to waste time talking but needing to know.
“Because you are so damnably compelling. Because I’ve wanted you since the first moment I laid eyes on you.” He paused to do something with his left hand that sent shivers through her entire body. “And because you dared to argue with me.”
“That’s no reason.”
“It’s more than enough reason for me. People seldom have the courage to argue with me when I’ve made up my mind.”
“Then you shouldn’t surround yourself with such sycophants. Where’s the challenge in that?”
“I begin to understand your meaning.”
“Adam, this is torture!” She moved her hips to accommodate the fingers that had worked their way inside her. “Please, I’m begging you.”
He chuckled. “So you are.” He took her hand and placed it on his shaft. “Is that what you desire, sweetheart?”
“Yes, you know it is.”
“Then you must give it a name first.”
She sighed. “Why?”
He appeared affronted. “Well, we can hardly refer to it only as it.”
Florentina giggled. “All right. Since you’re a soldier, perhaps we should refer to it as your bayonet.”
“From which I deduce that you would like me to thrust as aggressively as I would if I were fighting a murderous enemy.” He tilted his head and smiled at her. “Is that what you require of me?”
“Well, the prospect is certainly tempting. Is that how you view me? As an enemy to be overpowered and subdued?”
He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I can’t imagine you ever being subdued and submissive.”
She shook her head. “Who said anything about submissive?”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Take it whatever way you wish.”
“Very well. I accept your challenge. Before this night is out, you will submit to my every demand without demure.”
His voice, she was pleased to notice, no longer sounded quite so steady and it was clear that his need was now at least as urgent as her own. Had she been more in control she would have punished him by making him wait. But, of course, she was beyond that point and well he knew it.
“Open your legs wider, Mrs. Smith. I don’t want to hurt you with my bayonet.”
In spite of his threatened aggression, he entered her gently. But Florentina was in no mood to be treated as though she might break. She lifted her hips and wrapped her legs ’round his waist, forcing him deeper until she had taken every glorious inch of him. They groaned in unison and Florentina could already feel the heat building inside her at a quite scandalous rate. She didn’t seek to control it, crying out a stream of erotic Spanish words when she couldn’t contain the need to express herself.
She dragged her nails across his naked back as she exploded on a wave of the most intense sensation she’d ever experienced. Adam followed her almost immediately, pulsating inside her for what felt like an exquisite eternity. His pleasure communicated itself and, hardly believing it possible, she felt herself on the brink once more. This time the sensation built more slowly, spreading to the furthest reaches of her body and setting her nerve ends dancing with erotic delight. Their eyes locked and Florentina bit down on her tongue to avoid blurting out the words that sang inside her head.
She’d just made an astonishing discovery. She’d fallen in love with this dangerously compelling, deeply passionate, uncompromising male. But any lasting connection between them was impossible, and at least she still had her pride.
And so the last thing she would ever do was let him know how she felt.
Chapter Twelve
Adam gathered Florentina protectively in his arms, his heart full of tender emotion. He pulled a rug over them both, aware that when the thin film of perspiration covering their bodies cooled they’d feel chilled. She looked like a somnolent cat. Her eyes were half-closed. Her lips were driven upward by a satiated smile that lit her features with a soft, translucent glow. He’d always considered her beautiful but, in the aftermath of their lovemaking, she appeared hauntingly ethereal.
“Don’t fight it, sweetheart.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Sleep for a while if you feel the need.”
“If I do that I might never wake up. It’s far too comfortable here.”
“Let’s risk it.” He affected a horrified look. “As long as you don’t snore, of course.”
She slapped playfully at his shoulder, stretched and wriggled into a more comfortable position. Adam could see that she was fighting the drowsiness but gradually her eyelids fluttered to a close and her breathing slowed into a deeper rhythm. As she drifted into sleep, he very gently moved a strand of hair that had fallen across her face.
Adam thought about the remarkable fashion in which she’d given herself to him, without reservation, shedding her inhibitions with a speed that merely hinted at the extent of her passionate nature. The welling of tender affection he entertained toward her swelled as he anticipated uncovering the erotic aspects to her character that were surely lurking in a body so designed for mortal sin.
Being aware that his feelings weren’t returned caused a pain sharper than a rapier to slice through him. She had something on her mind, and even his ardent lovemaking hadn’t completely dispelled the air of preoccupation he’d sensed the moment he saw her sitting on the summerhouse steps, looking as though she wanted to strangle someone. He found it deeply unsettling that she didn’t trust him enough to confide in him absolutely. Watching over her as she slept, he tried to devise a means of making her open up to him. When she awoke over an hour later, he was no nearer to achieving that ambition.
“Have I been asleep for long?” She stretched and the rug slipped to the floor. Adam was encouraged when she seemed unconcerned about her naked state.
“You earned your rest.”
“Hmm, I suppose I did.” Her responding smile was decidedly self-satisfied. “But I ought to return home now. It must be very late.”
“I’m being infuriating and dictatorial again?”
“No more than usual but?”
“Then there’s no rush.”
He sat up and pulled her onto his lap, where it was a deal easier to kiss her as thoroughly as she deserved.
“Adam, we can’t! Not again.” But the unguarded passion in her eyes deprived her words of any true conviction.
He chuckled. “I don’t see why not. Besides, I haven’t yet reduced you to a truly submissive state.”
“Then I shall add insatiable and arrogant to your list of shortcomings.”
“I certainly can’t argue with that. Not where you’re concerned at any rate.”
“The quality of your compliments still requires attention.”
“So does my bayonet.” He placed her hand on it to demonstrate his point.
“Hmm, it doesn’t feel that way to me.”
“That’s because you don’t yet understand its needs.”
As he kissed her, his hands roamed across her spectacular body. When, in spite of her halfhearted protests, she responded in a manner that was entirely spontaneous, his mind was flooded with an overwhelming torrent of protective feelings that made his spirits soar. She was his and always would be. It was as though everything he’d ever done in his life had been building up to this moment. She gave his existence structure, meaning and hope, and with her at his side he could achieve anything he set his mind to. He’d never wanted a
nything more, had never been more sure of his feelings. Determination coursed through him. Nothing would prevent him from having this fiery, spirited and principled female as his wife.
“Adam, please!”
“Not submissive enough,” he said, releasing the swollen nipple he’d been in the process of sucking into his mouth.
“Then how would you have me couch my request?”
He chuckled. “Respectfully.”
“Please, my lord.”
“That’s better.” But he resisted the urge to enter her, merely nudging at her creamy, tantalising folds with the tip of his erection.
“I’ll do anything you ask of me. Absolutely anything.”
“Oh, I already know that.”
“Ah, of all the arrogant, dictatorial—”
He immediately withdrew. “That’s not being submissive, Florentina.”
“All right.” Her limbs slackened and she looked up at him, a sinfully tempting smile playing about her lips. “Tell me what you would have me do.”
“Hmm, what a delightful request.”
He could think of any number of answers but had no wish to frighten her. Despite having been married, she was still relatively inexperienced. It was enough that she was willing to place her complete and absolute trust in him. He kissed her deeply and entered her with all the force he’d previously warned her to expect.
“Adam.” Florentina was once again curled up at his side, looking entirely too comfortable. “We’ve spent the entire evening talking about Dawson but you’ve not said anything about the problems you face at the Court.”
He waved her concerns aside. “They’re nothing.”
“I beg to differ. I believe they are a very great deal indeed and that you don’t know what to do about the situation.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, I beg your pardon. Perhaps you consider the situation at the Court to be none of my business.”
That wasn’t it. He knew he could rely upon her to keep his confidence, but he didn’t want to encumber her with his problems as well as her own. But a moment’s contemplation persuaded him to change that view. If he was completely frank with her then perhaps she would afford him the same courtesy.
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