Her Gift - Bundle Pack

by Laurel Bennett

  Charlotte slid into his dressing gown and belted it at the waist. She ran her fingers through her sleep tousled hair and opened the door to his private sitting room. She stopped cold. Trent sat on the other side of the room in the window seat staring out into the approaching morning. His posture was relaxed, but the hand that shuttled up and down his cock was not. He must not have heard her open the door, because he didn’t even look up at her. He simply stared out the window, his mouth hanging open as his fist sped its furious flight up and down his cock. His eyes closed and his head fell back, his hand slowing its movement, then speeding again. His hips began to move as small noises left his throat. He arched into his own grip, the crown of his cock purple and shiny with wetness that seeped from the small slit at the tip.

  He had a lady, warm and willing in his bed and he was more interested in pleasuring himself than thrusting inside her body? Tears pricked at the backs of her lashes. She’d hoped for more from the duke. She’d hoped for a pleasurable interlude. She’d hoped he’d be different. She’d hoped for more than she should.

  “Your Grace,” she said softly. He didn’t hear her. She coughed into her closed fist. There was still time. Still time before he found release. Still time for him to choose her over the pleasure of his own hand. However, he didn’t look up. He didn’t acknowledge her presence.

  His hand slowed and his grip eased somewhat on his swollen member. His mouth closed and she feared she could hear his teeth grinding from across the room. Charlotte shoved her hair back behind her ear and took a step toward him.

  It was then that he saw her. His hand stopped. “Good morning,” he said calmly, as though they spoke over tea rather than his raging cock.

  “Would you like some help with that?” she asked. She bit her bottom lip between her teeth, and hoped he’d say yes. Need me! Want me!

  He groaned aloud as he came, covering his eruption with a towel he’d had at hand for the purpose. He continued to stroke the head of his cock, grunting loudly with each pulse of his release. His eyes met hers for the fullness of the event, and he didn’t look away. A mad thumping began between Charlotte’s thighs. But then he took both his hands from his cock and looked down at it with a smirk. “I don’t believe so.” He smiled ruefully. “The thought of you naked in my bed is enough to make me spend in my hand without any assistance at all.”

  “And yet you’re out here bringing yourself pleasure rather than in bed with me.” She tried to hide the hurt she knew he could hear in her voice. And failed desperately, she was afraid. She belted his robe more tightly and prayed for courage. “If you don’t want me, you could have just sent me home and saved me the pain of finding out this way.” Her voice cracked on the last and she hated herself for it.

  “You think I don’t want you?” He shot up from his seat in the window and rushed to wash his hands, then to her side. His hands captured her face and forced her to look up into his eyes. “Tell me that’s not what you think.”

  “What am I supposed to think? I have offered myself to you and yet you choose to…” She made a wild gesture with her hands, unable to find the right words.

  “Masturbate,” he whispered against her lips. Then he licked across them. He tasted like tooth powder and coffee. He’d been awake long enough to clean his teeth. She pulled back because she hadn’t.

  “Yes.” She heaved a sigh. “Why?” Why don’t you want me? What have I done? She didn’t say the words. But they hung there heavy in the air.

  He smiled unrepentantly. “When I finally do get to be deep inside you, I don’t want to go off like an untried lad, Charlotte. I want to please you, pushing myself inside you until you explode around me.” A chuckle broke the tension in the room. “You had me so hot last night that I wanted to take you with no care or precision whatsoever. I wanted to rut with you. I wanted to come inside you with no thought to your pleasure.”

  “Then why didn’t you?” She stepped back from him and looked down at his softening cock. He shoved it inside his trousers and laced them up quickly.

  “You came to me for pleasure. Not as someone I would use and discard.” He sat down and pulled his boots on as he regarded her warily. “Did I ever indicate to you that I would not please you? Everything I have done for you so far has been done with that in mind. Why would I deviate from that course?”

  “I can please you as well,” she murmured, more to herself than to him.

  “You please me just by being here.”

  “I want to do more than that!” she shouted. Then she covered her mouth. She’d never shouted at a man in her life. “I’m sorry,” she blurted, trying to fix her mistake.

  One dark brow arched. “For?”

  “Oh, never mind.” She threw up her hands and stalked back into his bedchamber.

  “Don’t walk away from me, Charlotte.” He followed her closely all the way back to the bed, where he turned her back to face him. “Talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I can do a lot of things, but reading minds isn’t one of them.”

  “I don’t want to be an inactive participant in your game of seduction. I want to learn to please you.” She turned away and buried her face in her hands.

  He pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her. “You do. You will. There’s so much I want to show you.”

  “What are you waiting for?” she murmured against his arm.

  He slapped her playfully on the bottom. “I’m waiting for you to be ready.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “You only think you are.” He shook his head as though he was frustrated. “I want to show you something.”

  She looked down toward his trousers. “I just saw your something and it’s very impressive.”

  He chuckled. “I want to show you that, too. But I want to show you something else, first.” He bent down and kissed her cheek. “How long will it take you to dress?”

  “If getting dressed is part of it, I imagine you won’t be showing me anything,” she said, trying not to appear surly. And failing. Miserably.

  “Will you please trust me?” he said. “Trust that I know you well enough to know what you need.”

  “You don’t know me at all.”

  His face clouded. “But I knew him. And that’s enough.”

  Him. He referred to her late husband. “Will he forever be in your mind?”

  “He’ll be out of my mind as soon as I banish him from yours.” He tilted her chin up, forcing her to look into the depths of his eyes. “The fact that you are even worried about pleasing me means that he’s still at the forefront of your thoughts, darling.” He pinched her bottom lightly and called for a maid to help her dress.

  ***

  “Where are we going?” Charlotte stomped across the grounds toward a glass enclosure in the center of Trent’s garden. He stopped in front of the doors and turned to grin at her. Then he thrust the door open and urged her inside with a hand at the small of her back. Charlotte gasped. Humid indoor air met her, chasing the chill of the early morning from her body. “Your greenhouse?” she asked, turning back to him, unable to keep the smile from her face. Charlotte loved plants. She loved getting her hands dirty with potting soil. She loved making things grow. Encouraging them. Nurturing them.

  “It’s actually more than a greenhouse,” Trent said as he took her hand and led her deep into the building. They went by rows and rows of every sort of plant and trees, fruit bearing and otherwise. Some were planted directly in the earth. And others were potted and set about strategically. A butterfly came to land on her shoulder. Charlotte reached out to touch it, but it flew away. That was when she realized how many there were. They hung in the trees and on the bushes. Some were scattered in dishes full of water. “It’s a haven for butterflies.”

  She smiled and spun in a circle, trying to take it all in. “It’s amazing.”

  “It’s one of my favorite places,” he confessed, looking a bit sheepish.

/>   “I could live here,” she breathed. He gave her hand a gentle tug and dragged her further into his personal jungle.

  “If you promise to come with me, I might grant you access once in a while,” he teased.

  “Grant me access, huh?” she asked playfully. She liked this side of him. He looked almost abashed at the thought of sharing his favorite place with her. “Do you bring all of your women here?” she asked, without even thinking. She groaned loudly at herself before he could respond. “Ignore that.”

  “You’re of the opinion that I have a lot of women underfoot, just waiting for me to lead them along the path of debauchery.” He tilted his head to the side and regarded her for a moment.

  “You don’t?”

  He shook his head, looking sheepish at her again. “I’ll admit that I did my fair share of carousing when I was younger. But for the past few years, I have chosen my partners with discrimination.”

  “But you didn’t choose me,” she reminded him. “I chose you.”

  He nodded and then took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips. “I hope you’re pleased with your choice.”

  She would be if he would ever fuck her. But that didn’t seem to be part of his plan. “I can’t have children,” she said softly. “If you’re worried that you’ll get me with child, and that’s why you haven’t… done anything. Then you needn’t worry. I am barren.” She laid a hand over her stomach. “I will never get with child.”

  He cupped her face gently in his hand. “Why not?” he asked softly.

  She shrugged. “I’m not certain. But I never came to be with child when I was married.” It was one of her greatest failings. The one that hurt the most. If she’d had a child to love, her suffrage with her late husband wouldn’t have been for naught.

  “Did you ever stop to think that was a blessing?”

  “No. It wasn’t a blessing. A child would have been a blessing.”

  He nodded slowly, as though mulling it over.

  “Don’t pity me,” she blurted. She wanted to bite it back as soon as the words left her mouth. But it was too late.

  “Pity is the very last emotion I’d ever feel for you, Charlotte.” He looked closely. Almost too closely. Closely enough that the hair on her neck stood up. “I have something for you. But emotions are so high, I fear this is a bad time.”

  “My emotions are fine,” she began to explain. But he held a finger against her lips to shush her. “Let me show you what I have for you and then you can decide.” He arched a brow in question. She nodded.

  “My gardener likes to bring the maid here.” He took her hand and began leading her farther into the greenery.

  “To help with the plants?”

  He chuckled lightly. “No.” He pulled her around the corner and then stopped, wrapping his arms around her from behind. In front of them lay a small oasis, with a covered settee. It seemed oddly out of place amongst the greenery, with all its brightly colored damask pillows. Standing in the middle of the clearing was a young man, no more than thirty years, Charlotte assumed. And clutched tightly in his arms was a lady, about the same age if Charlotte had to guess.

  “We should give them privacy,” Charlotte said, although her pulse was beginning to pound and she could feel a pleasant flush spreading across her cheeks.

  “They don’t want privacy,” Trent growled in her ear. His hand cupped her breast, his grip strong, but pleasant. She covered his hand with hers until she could understand his meaning.

  “They know we’re here?” Charlotte asked.

  He nodded. “They like to be watched.” Amusement lit his face. But something else was there as well. Something darker. Something lusty. Something she fully wanted to explore.

  Charlotte settled back against Trent’s length as the gardener and the maid began to quickly disrobe. The maid tore at his jacket just before he helped to shove her gown to her feet. They were naked within moments. He had a lovely physique, his arms and shoulders taught and slim. The maid was curvy and busty, and she had no qualms about being naked with him. Nor with having a stranger watch. Nor the duke.

  “Do you do this often?” Charlotte asked of Trent.

  Trent’s hands slid along Charlotte’s shoulders until he could lift her hair out of the way. He began to work the fastenings of her gown and his lips replaced his fingers as they worked down the path. He was taking his time. He lifted his mouth to reply, “I stumbled upon them a few months ago. They knew I was watching. He says she likes it. Being watched.” He shrugged. “I’ve come upon them a few times since then.”

  “And today? Was this planned?”

  “It’s their normal meeting time.” He looked down at her as he shoved her gown down around her feet. “If this doesn’t interest you, we can leave.”

  “I assume you’d like for me to learn something?”

  “No.” He said it quickly, and then he moved to pull her dress back up.

  She stayed his hands with her own. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t want you to learn anything. I simply wanted to please you.”

  The maid cried out, drawing her attention to the couple in the clearing. Trent chuckled as he saw the maid climb onto the gardener’s lap and slide down his cock. “They usually have more finesse.” He kissed Charlotte softly. “Let’s go back up to the manse.”

  “No,” Charlotte breathed, suddenly entranced by what was going on in the clearing. She couldn’t have torn her gaze away if she’d demanded it. The sight of a determined female taking charge the way this young maid was doing, it drew all of her attention. “Let’s stay.”

  Trent ran his hands up and down Charlotte’s arms. “I would like to be as naked as they are.” He kissed her cheek softly. “Would that be all right with you?”

  “I’m not made of glass, Trent,” Charlotte reminded him. “You treat me as though I’ll break. Or run screaming from the area.”

  He began to disrobe her quickly. Charlotte stepped out of her gown, let him pull her chemise over her head, and let him pull her drawers down over her feet so she could step out of them. “So beautiful,” he breathed. He pressed a quick kiss against the flat of her stomach as he stood up.

  She wasn’t beautiful. Not by a long shot. Her hips were too wide and her breasts were too small. But she forced herself to stand tall and proud and not cover her body from his gaze. She was rewarded by a darkening of his eyes and a groan as he licked across her lips.

  He took her breath with that simple touch. Charlotte’s heart beat a staccato rhythm within her breast, and she found it hard to breathe.

  “Now you,” she said as she began to shove his coat from his shoulders. He helped her remove his cravat and waistcoat, as he let her pull his shirt over his head.

  He arched a brow at her as she began to work the fastenings of his trousers. He pressed hard against her hand. How could that be? He’d just satisfied himself. “You look surprised by how much I want you,” he remarked.

  He was taunting her. She was certain of it. But she was up for the challenge. Wasn’t she? “You were satisfied mere moments ago.”

  “You drive me mad, darling,” he growled. “I want you more than I want my next breath.” He sighed heavily as she closed her fist around his cock. “You’ll appreciate the fact that I took myself in hand when I last long enough to satisfy you.” He kissed her forehead. “I promise.”

  Charlotte turned her back to him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to him, his cock pressed hard against her backside as she went back to watching the couple in the clearing from behind the foliage that shielded them from view. “You’re certain they don’t mind being watched?”

  “Positive.” Then he called out loudly. “Slow things down a little, Sam, will you?” He grinned at what must have been Charlotte’s look of bewilderment as he then called out, “Good morning, Gretchen.”

  “Good morning, Your Grace,” she twittered back. She didn’t slow her quick rise and fall on Sam’s cock.

  “
His Grace has asked that we slow down,” Sam reminded Gretchen with a wicked grin.

  The gardener stilled the maid by clenching her hips between his fingertips. He grinned at her, and she buried her face in his shoulder for a moment. But she smiled a siren’s smile as he lifted her from his manhood and set her on the bench beside him. He turned and spread her legs, her blond curls separating, her pouty pink lips slick with desire and fully exposed to the air. He sank down between her bent knees and pulled her ass to the edge of the chair.

  Sam took Gretchen’s breast in his hand and slowly licked across her nipple. She raised her feet, wrapping them around Sam’s waist to draw him closer to her, but he pulled back, refusing to hurry.

  Trent cupped Charlotte’s breasts in his big, strong hands from behind, and lightly stroked across her nipples as Sam toyed with Gretchen’s breasts. A whimper left Charlotte’s lips, and she saw Gretchen smile at the sound of it. “Lick my pussy,” Gretchen said to Sam.

  Charlotte’s belly clenched at her course words. Heat flooded her thighs and Trent groaned behind her as the teasing flicks of his thumbs became urgent tugs with his fingertips. “Do you want me to lick your pussy, Charlotte?” he asked quietly by her ear. Her knees nearly buckled, but he held her in his strong arms. She shook her head.

  “I want to learn to please you,” Charlotte said, turning to bury her face in Trent’s chest.

  “You please me more than you know,” he said. “Just give me a moment, all right?”

  She nodded tentatively as he dropped to his knees before her. With his hands holding tightly to her bottom, he pulled one leg up and draped it over his shoulder. Charlotte had to reach out and hold onto the top of Trent’s head as he pressed his lips to her curls. “I won’t drop you,” he murmured, just as he parted her softest places with his tongue.

  Charlotte cried out, just as Gretchen did. Charlotte watched as Sam parted Gretchen’s shiny pink folds with his fingertips and then dipped two fingers inside her. Sam dropped his head and began to lick wildly at her most tender places. Trent suckled gently on Charlotte’s clitoris. His hands were too busy holding her upright to put his fingers inside her, or so she thought until he felt his hand creep across her bottom and enter her from behind. “Oh, goodness,” Charlotte cried out, just as his fingers filled her.