Ecstasy n-4

by Nicole Jordan

“Kell…”

  “Say it.”

  “Please…suck on my breasts…lover.”

  “As you wish, my sweet.”

  He bent his head, seeking and finding. His warm, sculpted mouth sent a shocking trail of fire curling deep inside her.

  Without volition Raven’s fingers clutched in his silky black hair as he suckled her. He was rousing her to a warmth she had not thought possible. His mouth was a searing flame upon her bare, aching breasts, and she could only fight the pleasure.

  Moments later she felt his hand move between her legs, and she shuddered. Without her knowledge he had raised the hem of her gown to stroke his palm up her bare thigh. When he cupped her woman’s mound, the gesture was so sexually possessive that Raven gasped.

  “Touch yourself. See how wet you are.”

  She didn’t need to touch herself. She knew her secret places were damp and swollen, throbbing with need for him.

  But Kell refused to take no for an answer. Clasping her hand, he guided her fingers to the juncture of her thighs, deliberately making her explore her own tender flesh.

  He was right; she was sultry, yielding, weeping passionately for him. Raven felt a tremor of excitement ripple through her.

  Then brushing the point of hot pleasure with his thumb, he slid a long finger deep inside her. She whimpered, her body pulsing to his touch as if she had been made for him alone.

  For a long moment he stroked her, sending all her senses reeling.

  “I think you are ready for me,” he said with satisfaction.

  Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her up and set her on the desk facing him, then pressed her back to lie on the hard, unyielding surface. Raven was scarcely aware of the discomfort, though, for Kell was pushing up her skirts, baring all her secrets to him.

  In the firelight his eyes gleamed like onyx as his hands parted her legs and slowly smoothed up the insides of her naked thighs. The way he looked at her was rawly sexual and made her heart race.

  Holding her thighs spread wide, he bent down to her. Lightning speared through her body as she realized his brazen intent.

  Raven gasped in protest and pushed against his shoulders, trying to stay him.

  Kell raised his head, his eyes gleaming. “Does your fantasy lover kiss you here?”

  The question was too intimate for comfort.

  “Does he?” Kell demanded roughly when she was silent.

  “Yes!”

  He bent his head, his warm breath hovering over her aching flesh. “Then don’t withhold from me what you so eagerly give him.”

  At the first touch of his mouth, she whimpered. She wanted Kell to kiss her there. Her body was begging for it, craving it; she didn’t care if it was foolish or wise. She could almost feel her feminine folds moving like real lips in anticipation, pleading for his caress.

  “I want to taste your nectar,” he murmured softly before his tongue found her, gently stroking.

  The pleasure almost shattered her. With a breathless moan, Raven put both hands in his hair, not to push him away but to hold his face between her burning thighs. Kell obliged her by sucking in a kiss. His passion was a brand, searing her flesh. A heartbeat later, his tongue slid deep inside her. Her breath caught on a sob, and she desperately tried to shift her hips, seeking to escape his ravishing mouth.

  He wouldn’t let her move. Holding her still, he hooked his arms under her thighs and draped her legs over his shoulders. His tongue was still attending her, softly licking, savoring, thrusting, giving her the most frightening pleasure she had ever known. Under his ruthless assault Raven nearly went wild. Urgently she arched against his hot mouth, her hips moving in a rhythm that was ancient, mindless, elemental, the growing sounds of frenzy in her throat filling the hush of the room.

  In a few moments more, she climaxed, dissolving into throbbing, impassioned release, crying out at the showers of sparks that fountained upward, drowning in black fire and glittering darkness.

  Even as she was recovering, Kell moved upward, kissing her breast, her damp throat, the corner of her mouth. Raven lay panting for breath, replete, yet vaguely dissatisfied.

  He had left her shaken with the realization of her own passion and filled with a desperate yearning. She wanted them joined, wanted to have him deep within her.

  “Come inside me,” she whispered.

  His eyes narrowed with heat and dangerous lust at her invitation, but he didn’t obey. Instead he stepped back to shed the rest of his clothing.

  Shakily Raven pushed herself up to watch. He still wore a bandage around his thigh, she saw when he stood naked before her. But the beauty of his finely honed athletic body made her throat go dry. She felt her loins clench painfully. He was boldly a man and he wanted her. Just as she wanted him. All she could think about was how Kell’s splendid arousal would fill her…

  He must have had the same thought for the glitter of his gaze swept over her as he moved toward her.

  Her breath faltering, Raven reached up to touch his chest. His skin was hot and smooth as velvet, his muscles rippling beneath her fingertips. Her hands were actually shaking, she realized.

  Yet Kell seemed undismayed by her distraught state. With a cool smile, he stepped between her parted legs and gathered her against his chest until her nipples nestled against his hard muscles, until the big rod of his straining arousal teased her throbbing feminine warmth.

  Raven felt the shock of his naked flesh against her and quivered.

  “Want me?” he asked, his masterful arms holding her lightly.

  “Yes,” she answered, desire flooding in a mad rush, sweeping resistance before it.

  She yielded willingly when he lay her back again upon the desk, trembling to feel the hard length of his body pinning her against the surface, anticipation taut and screaming through her senses. She hadn’t realized how desperate she was for this. It was as if her body had been starved for a man’s hardness, for Kell’s hardness. She wanted, needed, craved an end to the restless, hot longing he had created in her.

  She could feel the heat of his rigid flesh probing her soft folds…

  The same heat was in his eyes as he entered her slowly, gliding into her yielding, wet flesh. Raven drew a sharp breath as the fiery brand intruded into her delicate softness.

  His kiss scorched the arch of her throat as he pushed into her. “Can you take all of me?” he murmured, his voice a rough rasp.

  “Yes…” she panted. And she gasped aloud at the feel of him, huge and hot and urgent, forcing her wide open.

  He held himself still then, waiting for her to grow accustomed to the feel of his engorged shaft inside her. It was a long moment before Raven relaxed beneath him.

  “That’s it,” he praised in a hoarse whisper. “I want you flowing all around me like hot wild honey…”

  He kissed her then. He cupped her breasts, erotically kneading them, while his tongue plunged rhythmically into her receptive mouth in a bold, sexual way. His taste, his scent, his touch filled her senses as he began moving inside her.

  Raven whimpered into his mouth, her inner muscles tightening at the wet, white heat scalding her. She felt frenzied, unable to get enough of him.

  Kell felt the same pulsing urgency in his body. Knowing his control was nearly at the breaking point, he gathered up the trembling, sexually aroused woman in his arms and lifted her. Still iron-hard within her, he swiftly crossed to the connecting door to his bedchamber.

  He had planned to carry her to his bed but suddenly knew he couldn’t make it. So he pressed her up against the door and thrust deeply.

  The painfully intense pleasure made them both shudder wildly.

  He took her against the door, hard. His hand raked through her hair, sending the anchoring pins flying, while his mouth found hers, not letting her move or twist away. He felt her response, felt the convulsive movements of her hips arching into him as the heat of animal hunger flared between them.

  Raven felt the same intense heat as his hard, str
aining body moved against her, branding her with his desire. He ravished her with fierce demand, yet she wasn’t afraid; she welcomed his fierceness.

  Shuddering under the force of his thrusts, she rocked forward against him with desperate yearning. A roaring sounded in her ears as the exquisite pressure built. Raven tossed her head wildly, pumping her hips against him with frantic need.

  Suddenly his muscles clenched. His head thrown back, his neck corded, he drove into her one final time. A moan burst out of him as his orgasm exploded in a powerful stream, pushing Raven over the edge. With a scream, she sank her teeth into the raw silk of his bare shoulder and gave herself up to the savage, unrestrained pleasure ripping through her.

  They clung to each other in the aftermath, gasping for breath. An eternity later, Kell returned to earth to find Raven hiding her face against the base of his throat, her heart beating in a frenzied echo of his own.

  Concern swept through him. His use of her had been devastatingly thorough; he had taken her with a pirate’s passion, with little regard for her inexperience.

  Leaning back, he studied her flushed face, her swollen, bruised lips. “Did I hurt you?” he rasped.

  “No,” she said quickly. And yet there was a vulnerable look about the mouth he had just ravished.

  Searing heat and fierce tenderness filled him. He wanted to make it right. Next time he would show her more gentleness.

  And there would definitely be a next time. He was tired of fighting his desire for her. Raven was his wife, and he wanted her; he should be able to have her.

  Surely he could command enough strength of will to enjoy her body without falling for her. To slake his urgent need and still resist her incredible allure.

  It would be difficult, but he was through denying himself.

  His arms tightened about her for a moment, crushing her naked breasts to his chest. Keeping her legs wrapped around his hips, he managed to open the door and carry her to the bed, where he laid her down and stood staring down at her.

  The room was dark but for the low-burning fire in the hearth, but Raven had no trouble seeing the glimmer of heat in his gaze or her own dishevelment. Her skirts and bodice were both tangled around her middle.

  Blushing at her near nakedness, she stirred restlessly. “My gown is ruined…” she murmured, plucking at her bodice.

  “I’ll buy you a new one,” he replied as he began to strip her of her garments.

  “Kell…what are you doing?”

  “Undressing you. You’ll stay here tonight. You haven’t fully satisfied me yet.”

  “Kell…” Raven bit her lower lip. She had agreed to attend to his sexual needs, not spend the night in his bed. “I don’t want to stay here with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…it could lead to unwanted complications.”

  That made him pause. “Physical intimacy can breed too much emotional intimacy, is that what you mean?”

  She shivered. “Yes.”

  Without replying, he removed her clothing completely, then eased the covers from beneath her hips and drew them up over her naked body. After going to the hearth and stoking the fire, Kell returned to the bed and slid in next to her. For a moment he lay beside her, staring at the ceiling, his arms laced behind his head. Finally he spoke.

  “Do I understand your reservations correctly? You’re afraid to have a real lover because you’re determined never to fall in love?”

  “Yes.” In a defensive gesture, Raven clutched the cover to her breasts.

  Kell turned onto his side, supporting his head on one hand. “And yet sex and love are two entirely different matters. Passion doesn’t necessarily lead to love. If it did, most of the men of the beau monde would be in love with their mistresses.”

  When she didn’t reply, he reached out to brush a tendril of hair from her cheek. “I see no reason we cannot be lovers, Raven. A relationship based purely on sensual pleasure. Like you, I’m not interested in anything deeper.”

  Raven held herself rigid, wanting to look away from his eyes that seemed too burningly intense.

  She couldn’t deny that she was afraid. Passion was dangerous; it could lead to terrible vulnerability. Yet perhaps Kell was right: the true danger didn’t lie in physical intimacy but in that of the emotional kind. A man could take pleasure from her body, but if he ensnared her heart, he took control.

  Raven shuddered. She would never suffer a tragic love as her mother had. No man would ever render her senseless, without a will of her own.

  Still, passion of the flesh didn’t always result in passion of the heart…

  As if sensing her inner turmoil, Kell slipped his hand beneath the covers, resting his palm lightly on her breast. “Since we are tied together as man and wife, we might as well indulge ourselves.”

  His warm, erotic touch distracted her, preventing her from forming a coherent reply.

  “You enjoy my lovemaking, vixen,” he added in a low tone. “Your response a moment ago very clearly proved that.” He smiled knowingly. “Not many women are as responsive as you are. Your body craves my touch.” As if to prove his point, he brushed her peaked nipple with his thumb, making her arch involuntarily.

  She did crave his touch, Raven thought in desperation, perhaps too much. And his brazen lovemaking…Trapped in his dark gaze, she stared back at him. It had thrilled her to have Kell take her like he had, as her pirate lover would have.

  She swallowed against the dryness in her throat, struggling to break the hold Kell’s eyes had upon her. Was it possible, what he was suggesting? Could they engage in purely carnal relations without physical intimacy blossoming into anything deeper? Could she indulge in a passionate affair with her convenient husband without losing her heart?

  Perhaps so…

  But there were other considerations as well.

  “What of the possible consequences?” she asked. “What about children?”

  His features darkened in a frown. “What about them?”

  “I don’t want to bring a child into this world without a father to love him, to care for him…”

  “There are means of preventing pregnancy. We failed to take precautions tonight, but that can be remedied.”

  Raven frowned as well, remembering how Kell had withdrawn from her body on their wedding night. “You are not interested in having children?”

  “I’m not anxious to, no.”

  She couldn’t read his impassive expression. “Not even to gain an heir? You wouldn’t want one someday?”

  “Sean is my legal heir. That is enough for me.”

  Raven stiffened at the mention of his brother and hastened to change the subject. “I know from the journal how to prevent pregnancy, but I have no idea how to obtain the necessary means.”

  “Leave it to me,” Kell said brusquely before his tone softened. “Meanwhile…”

  With slow deliberation, he pulled the covers from her grasp and reached down to stroke her inner thigh. His burning touch made her body clench with longing.

  “There is still the matter of satisfying my sexual needs…” he murmured, his voice warm and rough like velvet. “And your own.”

  Raven drew a steadying breath, vainly fighting the rush of desire that flooded over her. She wanted Kell to satisfy her. Desperately wanted him…

  As his mouth slowly descended toward hers, she shut her eyes, ignoring the warning voices in her head. Surely she could manage a sexual relationship without tumbling into the quagmire of love.

  Her chief goal would be to keep her heart safe, she vowed silently, trying to convince herself. She would never surrender her heart to this man…

  Then the thought fled her mind as his scorching mouth met hers, and with a sensual shudder, she gave herself up to his caresses.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Raven woke disoriented. The crackling fire looked familiar, however, as did the masculine bedchamber. She was alone, she realized, lying naked in Kell’s bed at the gaming house. The same bed wh
ere she’d spent her abduction.

  Heat flooded her entire body as she recalled the mindless passion between them last night. She’d behaved just as wantonly as her first time in Kell’s arms, only last night she hadn’t had the excuse of being drugged.

  Flushing, Raven sat up and saw her ruined gown draped over a chair along with her other garments. When she climbed from the bed in order to dress, she found herself wincing at the unaccustomed aches and twinges from too much sensual indulgence.

  Then she caught sight of herself in the cheval glass. She looked like a woman who had been deliciously ravished all night long and who was more than eager to repeat the experience. Her hair was a wild tangle around her face, her lips bruised and swollen, her nipples rasped red from the attentions of his hot mouth…

  Raven closed her eyes, remembering Kell’s exquisite lovemaking and the explosive desire he had aroused in her. The memory was a wild hunger in her-

  A soft rap on the door made her snatch up her gown to cover her nakedness.

  It was Emma, carrying a tray. “I’ve brought you breakfast,” she said with a cheerful smile, “or luncheon, really.”

  Raven glanced at the brocade draperies, which were still shut against the morning light. “What time is it?”

  “Nearly noon.”

  “So late?” She blushed, feeling unexpectedly flustered to have been caught in Kell’s bed like this, by his mistress.

  “Kell thought you needed to sleep. Your groom-O’Malley, is that his name?-was here at the crack of dawn, looking for you. He wanted to make certain you were all right. But Kell assured him you hadn’t been abducted again.”

  Absurdly Raven found herself stammering. “I suppose…you are wondering what I’m doing here…”

  “Not in the least,” Emma replied, setting down her tray on the small table near the hearth. “You are Kell’s wife, after all.”

  “But still this is awkward with you being his…”

  Emma’s eyebrows shot up. She studied Raven a moment before understanding dawned. “Did you think I was his paramour? Oh, Raven, Kell and I are not lovers, nor have we ever been. I have no claim to him.”