Tenacious Trents 03 - A Reluctant Rake

by Jane Charles

  Patricia arrived a short time later. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” she asked.

  “Why haven’t you returned to the manor?”

  “I am not going back there until I must.” She shivered as if the place scared her. “Besides, one of the servants is ill and I am staying to help out my brother-in-law.”

  “Could you remain with Audrey?” Jordan asked. At least she was familiar with Patricia and it wouldn’t be a stranger assisting her.

  “I’ll see that she is all settled. Just let me take these things down to the kitchen.” She placed the used bowls and utensils onto the tray. “I’ll bring back some hot water so you can wash up before bed.”

  “Thank you,” Audrey said with a tired smile.

  It took longer than Jordan expected but he was able to locate an apothecary and a shop with a few readymade dresses in Bath. He had arrived just before the shops were to close. He wasn’t sure the garments would fit Audrey but at least she would have something else to wear besides her riding outfit.

  When he entered the room, Patricia was sitting by the stove, a small candle was lit on the table beside her and she was stitching. Audrey lay on the bed curled on her side, sound asleep. He had never seen her so relaxed and so beautiful. His heart constricted for a second. What was it about her that caused the strangest sensations in his body?

  Patricia folded her sewing and stood. “I’ve had a bottle of wine delivered in case you need it later.” She indicated to the bottle on the table and two goblets. “Miss Montgomery has been asleep for near an hour now. I don’t suspect she will wake before morning.”

  “Thank you for staying with her.” Jordan set his packages on the table by the wine. He would pour himself a glass and enjoy it before he slept tonight.

  “You just ring if you need anything.”

  With a nod she ducked out of the room and closed the door quietly behind her. Jordan pushed his fingers through his hair and wandered to the window. The courtyard was still fairly busy but not like it had been upon their arrival. He needed sleep as much as Audrey but the chair did not look all that inviting.

  Perhaps the floor, but there wasn’t even a rug to help with the comfort.

  He sighed and returned to the table where he poured a glass of wine. If he drank the bottle perhaps he wouldn’t care or notice the hard floor.

  The one place he was not sleeping was in that bed with Audrey.

  Audrey opened her eyes and strained to look about the strange room. The only light came from the fire lit in the stove. Jordan was in the center of the room, smoothing blankets out on the floor. A pillow rested by his feet. She would sit up but it took too much effort. As it was she couldn’t find a comfortable position. She was so used to sleeping on her side with her hands tucked under her pillow and beneath her head. It was impossible shackled liked this. She had tried to lay on her back at first but the metal was heavy against her stomach so she rolled to the side. Since she had been able to grasp only snippets of sleep and she doubted she would get much before they were off for good. As it was her arms and shoulders ached from being in the same position since Millicent had put them on and she didn’t even know when that had been.

  “What are you doing?”

  He turned to look at her. “How are you feeling?”

  She stifled a yawn. “Still tired.”

  He bent forward and kissed her forehead. “You should sleep.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I am making a bed up on the floor.”

  Did he really think to sleep on the hard wood? “The bed is large enough for both of us.”

  He stared at her as if she had lost her mind. “That is not a good idea, Audrey.” He turned his back quickly and began shaking out the blanket he had just smoothed out.

  “Why?”

  His head dropped but he didn’t turn to look at her. “Are you so innocent?”

  Her face warmed. “Yes though I suspect that will soon end, if you still plan to marry me.”

  He turned so quickly she didn’t have to blink. “Of course I intend to marry you,” he insisted.

  “Then get into the bed. You will be sore tomorrow if you sleep down there.”

  Jordan glanced at the floor, back at the bed, then to the floor again before looking in her eyes. “Why are you awake?”

  Why was he changing the subject? “I am uncomfortable. I can’t sleep as I normally would and my shoulders ache.”

  A gentle smile came to his lips and he settled at the side of the bed.

  Audrey rolled to her back and looked up at him. “I would love to simply stretch but they weigh too much to bring over my head.”

  Jordan placed both hands on her wrists and slowly lifted them away from her body. Her elbows bent and a moment later the hands rested on the pillow behind her head. A sigh escaped from the immediate relief and she arched her back to stretch the aching muscles.

  “This was not a wise decision.”

  Audrey looked up into his dark blue smoldering eyes. Goodness. That look could scorch a lady’s heart. Whatever had she done?

  Before she could voice the question Jordan leaned forward and placed his lips against hers. Audrey melted. She moved to put her arms around him but momentarily forgot that she couldn’t lift them, especially from this position.

  His kiss was gentle at first but became more demanding the longer he continued. Audrey didn’t care. Strange warmth was building, one she had experienced before and she was anxious to know where it led.

  Jordan traced the seam of her lips. When she opened he delved setting her aflame with when his tongue mingled with hers. Goodness, he had never kissed her with such passion before. It scared and thrilled her at the same time and she certainly didn’t want him to stop.

  He lifted his head and looked at her. “You know you are at my mercy.”

  She nodded. He could do anything he wished and she was not in a position to stop him. In her heart she knew he would never hurt her.

  “If at any time you wish me to stop just say so and I will.”

  Audrey studied him with confusion. “What are you going to do?”

  A seductive grin came to his lips and that devilish dimple winked at her. “I am going to show you a taste of the passion I have been fighting since we first met.”

  Was she finally going to learn what occurred between a man and woman? “Are you going to make love to me?”

  “In a manner of speaking.”

  A thrill shot through her.

  “But, I will not make you mine yet.”

  What did he mean? Oh, there was so much that she didn’t understand.

  He brought his hands up to cradle her face. “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded.

  “I want you to promise me that if you wish me to stop all you need to do is say the word.”

  She blinked at him.

  “Promise me.”

  She nodded again. She couldn’t imagine telling him not to do anything. Especially when he looked at her with such smoldering eyes.

  His hands slid down her neck, a warm caress of his fingers against her skin. Why hadn’t she remained in that simple dress when she had gone to meet him? This blouse and jacket were far too binding.

  He pushed her riding jacket to the side and cupped and lifted her breasts, running a thumb over the tips of each. They grew heavy and tingled at his touch. “I’ve longed to touch you for so long.”

  If she could, Audrey would run her hands down his chest as well, but as he pointed out, she was at his mercy.

  Jordan leaned forward and began kissing her again with a passion hotter and more intense than before. Goodness, she might not survive everything he had to offer if he was only giving her a taste tonight.

  The cooler air grazed across her exposed chest as he unbuttoned her blouse and tugged it out of her riding skirt. Only her chemise separated her skin from his caress. He tugged again and the chemise came free. Jordan smoothed his hands down her ribcage and to
her waist, heating the silk of her undergarments with his touch. He then smoothed them back up, pushing the chemise up and over her breasts until she was completely exposed to him. Audrey’s’ face burned as hot as the flames in the stove and if her hands were free she would have covered herself.

  Jordan sat up and looked at her. His hands cupping and weighing each breast and his thumbs once again smoothing over each nipple which were now erect and Audrey knew it had nothing to do with the cold.

  “Perfection,” he murmured before he leaned forward and took one into his mouth. Audrey about jumped from the bed and pleasure shot through her body, from the tip of her breast to her woman area. Goodness.

  He moved from one breast to the other, kissing, nipping and suckling until she thought she was going to explode from the pleasure of it all.

  Jordan’s hand slipped up her leg and Audrey shifted, willing to give him access to anything he wished to touch. If he gave the same pleasure everywhere else he touched she would grant him access anywhere.

  He paused and looked up at her. “This isn’t a skirt.”

  She bit her lip and shook her head. “Riding skirt designed in case I didn’t have to ride side-saddle.

  He chuckled and slipped his hands around her waist and to her back. A moment later the skirt was loose. He didn’t mean to completely undress her, did he? Even though there was little light in the room he would still be able to see her clearly. She always assumed when the private areas were involved it was under the cloak of darkness and beneath covers.

  Her face heated with embarrassment. Jordan said he would stop if she asked. Shouldn’t she? This could not be right. But, he was a rake and they did have wicked reputations.

  But he would see that part of her that nobody was ever to see.

  “Audrey.”

  She blinked up at him.

  “That is probably the loveliest shade of embarrassment I’ve seen yet.”

  She bit her bottom lip as her face burned hotter.

  “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  He leaned forward and tongued her nipple before suckling it. Another jolt of pleasure shot to the core.

  “Do you wish me to stop?”

  He moved to the other breast and did the same. She couldn’t speak, only squirm as desire took over her body.

  Without his mouth leaving her breasts, Jordan slid the skirt down her legs, breaking only when he could reach no further. He sat up, pulled it the rest of the way off and tossed it on the floor. She was now fully exposed to him. She clamped her legs closed as if by doing so he wouldn’t be able to see anything. She was only fooling herself.

  His fingers trailed up her thigh, inching toward her very center that had begun to pulse and ache in a way she had never experienced.

  “You are so beautiful,” he murmured again. His lips took hers as his fingers found her curls, dipping and touching the very spot that ached with need. Audrey moaned into his mouth and let her legs relax.

  Jordan bit back a grin. He had never seen a more perfectly formed woman in his life and he wanted to taste each and every inch of her. Audrey’s passion was fresh and new and though she may be embarrassed, she hadn’t shied back from his touch, though he suspected he might truly shock her before he was finished.

  There was something very pagan in the way she was laid out before him with her hands above her head, shackled, open to his pleasure and desire and unable to stop him from doing what he wished. He had known gentlemen who enjoyed tying women to the bedposts and such and that had never interested him before. He liked having a woman’s hands on him as much as he enjoyed touching them. But there was something so very arousing about Audrey in this position that set his heart pounding and cock aching all the more.

  He hadn’t expected her to let her thighs open so quickly or her hips to lift off of the bed at his touch. Though he didn’t mind bringing her to release with his fingers, he wanted to do so with his mouth.

  He caressed within her folds, not quit with enough pressure to bring her to release but to keep her on the brink as he trailed kisses from her neck to her stomach. He shifted until he was between her thighs and Audrey startled when he touched his tongue to what he had barely touched before.

  She stiffened and lifted her head. “What are you doing?”

  He paused only for a moment. “Trust me.”

  Her head fell back against the bed and Jordan continued. She hadn’t told him to stop and he wasn’t about to.

  Jordan kept the stroke of his tongue strong and steady as she writhed beneath him, moaning. Her hips lifted off the bed as if she were straining for release though Jordan doubted she had ever experienced one. Passion was second nature to Audrey and they would have many pleasure filled hours ahead of them.

  He ached and his need to be joined with her was powerful and Jordan feared he would come when Audrey found her release. He hadn’t lost such control since he was fourteen and found a book in his father’s library and he would be damned if he allowed it to happen the first time he brought Audrey to release.

  Her folds were slick with her desire and he edged one finger into her tight passage and then a second, stretching her. There was no maidenhead or even a partial one. Was it deeper than where he thought it should be? He sank his fingers into the moist heat and it was almost his undoing. There was no barrier to stop him. Was it possible that Audrey was not a virgin? He had never been with one before so all he knew of what to expect when bedding an innocent was what he had read in books.

  Her channel tightened around him and Jordan bit back is own groan, wishing it was his manhood being caressed. He could not last much longer. His cock was heavy and ached for release and the longer he prolonged Audrey’s the more painful it would be for him,

  He increased the pressure of his tongue and a small cry broke from her lips and Jordan fought the need to find release with her.

  His ministrations slowed as he brought her back to earth and her hips once again rested against the mattress. Jordan slid up the bed and came to rest beside her.

  Audrey’s breathing was still erratic and he knew it would be a bit before she was completely recovered. This was probably his favorite part of making love. First sending her soaring with an explosive release and then holding her as she returned to earth.

  “What just happened?” she asked a moment later.

  “The little death?”

  Her brows drew together in a frown.

  “It is what the French call an orgasm or release. That is what you experienced.”

  She shook as if a chill ran over her body and Jordan pulled the blanket up to cover them both. “I had no idea. I mean, I never even expected. I…”

  He placed a finger to her lips. “I know.”

  Though the state of her virginity was still in question, Audrey had never found pleasure before and for some reason pride welled up in him for being the one who brought it to her.

  She tilted her head and looked up at him. “What about you?”

  He stiffened. Perhaps she wasn’t as innocent as he had thought. “What do you mean?”

  “I assumed gentlemen found pleasure as well.” Her face colored again. “You do have a reputation of having had many lovers. Is that why women adore you so, because of this?”

  He bit back a grin. He believed that was part of the reason. Though he had liked to take his pleasure where he could he never left a lady unsatisfied. “Perhaps.”

  “Does a gentleman not enjoy the same experience?”

  The thought of Audrey kissing him to orgasm as he had brought her to release only made him ache all the more.

  “Gentlemen experience something similar.”

  She tried to roll over and face him but found it impossible. He moved her wrists from above her head so she could move more freely. She turned on her side and looked at him. He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. How could she be so innocent and lack proof of her virginity?

  He studied her. “Y
ou do know how babes are born.”

  Her cheeks turned a rosy color. “I know where they come from. I’ve just never been told how they got there in the first place.”

  Jordan laughed. He couldn’t help himself.

  Her eyes clouded in hurt and he quickly sobered. “I promise to show you how they get there as soon as we are married.”

  “Is that what is pleasurable for you?”

  “And you” Jordan pulled her close and let her head rest on his shoulder. The iron at her wrist bit into his side but it was a small discomfort to what she was living with at the moment.

  “Nothing can be better than what just happened,” she said right before she yawned. In moments Audrey was sound asleep while Jordan remained wide awake, his cock hard and aching. At this rate he would get no sleep.

  What he needed was a walk in the cool night air to relax. With those thoughts he slid from the bed and put his coat on once again, buttoning it in the front so nobody noticed his current need. With one last glance back at the bed, he slipped out of the room and locked the door behind him. He wouldn’t be gone long and Audrey would certainly sleep longer now that she had experienced the best aid in sleeping he had ever encountered.

  He tucked his hands in his pockets and left the building, strolling down the walk leading into town. How could she ask and say such innocent things and not be a virgin. Did he not understand what a maidenhead was?

  Did it really matter if she had been with a gentleman before him? Though Jordan wished he were the one and only lover she would ever have it was a bit hypocritical to demand his wife be a virgin when he had lost count over the number of women he had bedded in the last fifteen years. He was rather disgusted with himself at the thought and lucky he hadn’t picked up the pox in any of those encounters, though he had become much more careful of his bed partners then when he was much younger and always used the sheath.

  Would he love Audrey any less for having been with someone else?

  The answer came to him in a clear no.

  It didn’t matter and the only reason he was thinking of it now was because the revelation had been a bit of a shock.