by Peyton Meri
It was then Ledi caught sight of the object Harker held. She’d seen that funny looking thing on his table of wares he’d not yet used on her. It had a fuller base that covered his hand, like that of a sword hilt, a nob at its top, attached by a spring to what looked like a motor of some sort. So that had been the odd thing making that whirling sound.
He finally turned, breaking his gaze with hers and set the odd-looking contraption down and out of sight. Ledi could barely control her breathing as she watched the scene before her. Several emotions wailed inside her. Damn the beastly rake to hell!
Harker shared a few more brief words with the lovely widow Tambers and quickly hurried her on her way. The flushed widow stopped him at the door, her small hand on his arm, her beautiful flushed face of passion upturned.
It was the one thing about her that Harker had always enjoyed, watching the many faint movements that spread across her face. Now, all he could see was that other expressive lovely face. The one hidden behind the curtains. The one who still had him aching and his cock hard as a rock.
“I know not how long your fancy will be with her or last, Count. Nevertheless, if she can make you this hard, this enamored and not want to fuck another woman as you diddle her with your fine crude delicious toy, I say you had better watch out. She’s cast her net of enchantment. You’ve already been ensnared and don’t even know it.
“I’ve always admired your restraint in the bedroom. Your willingness to please whom you are with. I would like to think you consider me as I do you, a close and dear intimate friend after our wonderful times together. Your shared look with her, that length of time and your impressive erection, tells me all I need to know. Do what we just did again and you’ll lose her.”
Ledi’s gasp died in her throat and she wondered how or what Harker would say or do next. He remained silent.
The red-haired widow resumed talking. “She’s a special one. I hate to see our years together come to an end but I’ll remember you fondly.” Then she leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Goodnight, my beautiful, Count. I wish you every bit of well-deserved happiness.” Then she turned slightly and said over her shoulder on her way out the door. “And to you as well, lucky lady.”
Then she was gone.
Ledi’s knees gave out and the drapes’ rings let loose. Pop! Pop! Pop! Down the length of the curtain bar they went, and tumbled down to the floor around her in her less than graceful heap. And as a further embarrassing insult, the cloud of dust rose up to choke her.
By the time she stepped out of the puddle of velvet material, Harker was beside her. So close. So hot. His breathing just as unsteady as hers was. All right, hers was more a wheeze now as she cleared the dust from her throat and from her watering eyes.
“Ledi! My god, are you all right?”
Ledi stared at his big hands on her arms as if they were something she’d never seen before. “What do you care?” she managed, her voice sounded strangled. She tried to pull away from his touch. “Leave me alone, you…you wicked, wicked horrible wretch of a man,” she cried and tried to step around his big body. His arm snaked about her waist, stopping her.
“Ah, you are mad at me? Is that it?” his lips were hot against her temple, his breath washing over the side of her face.
Ledi shivered, her body still battling the passionate reaction caused by his act with the widow. She damned her body for reacting to his touch. Her gut fluttered. All she wanted was to lean back against him. He pulled her closer, her feet dragging the drapes with her. She couldn’t utter a single word because she was just too damn choked with a batch of emotions.
“Or is it jealousy?” he asked, amusement laced his tone and something else she could not put her finger on.
It was too much, his mocking and sardonic attitude. She scratched her way out of his hold. He did not seem fazed one bit by her nails shredding his forearms. His slate-blue smoldering gaze just watched her.
She had thought to find a grin to match his tone upon his face. No. Not that. Instead, his expression, stormy, dark and unreadable made her feel trapped and like he was ready to spring upon her. Ledi dropped her gaze to his exposed forearms. Blood drops were beginning to form where she’d scratched him. Harsh and swift regret swept over her at what she’d done.
“Don’t do that,” he instructed, shaking his head once.
Ledi’s eyes shot back up to his. She didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Too upset, a basket of overwhelming emotions from the startling lust she was feeling, she retorted hotly. “I am not jealous! What I am is mad as hades that you—I was forced to watch that carnal disgusting act against my will. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. She knew I was there the whole time.”
“Oh my dear, I doubt that.”
She wanted to crack her hand across his face and Ledi knew he knew it. For his storming slate-blue-eyes darkened to that of a tempestuous sky and dropped in a blink to her clenched hands then back up again as he took a step toward her.
“You are jealous. Your nostrils are flaring. Your cheeks,” he drew the back of his knuckles lightly across her right cheek, “flushed. Hot. Angry hot. Yet, from passion more. I can see your nipples are hard, pushing against your gown, begging and eager for my mouth that I denied the lovely widow Tambers.”
His words had no less of an impact had he reached out and stroked her nipples. Immobile, Ledi stood rigid, unable to move as his fingers uncurled and slid over her throat and neck. His seductive gaze she tried to ignore, but the battle was difficult. She stood stiff as a board.
His hand moved back up to hover over her lips but did not touch them, yet so close. The hairs on her upper lip tickled.
“What? No words now, my sweet? You cannot deny what I see. I see a ripe delicious fruit ready for tasting.” He reached up and drew out the pins from her messy hair, slowly. Excruciatingly slow.
Ledi never knew a simple act could be so sensual. She watched his face as he continued. “I see a woman at the height of wonder, on the precipice of ecstasy. One little thrust and over the edge, she will go. A deep, hot penetrating thrust of my cock, buried deep inside you. Yet, she battles the desire I built inside her.” His fingers plucked at the buttons down her back. “Did it ever occur to you what you witnessed was for you and I? For this?”
“Tell me, Ledi. Is your quim hot for me? I do hope so. For the way I plan to plow you, you will need to be slick and creaming down your thighs.” As if to prove to himself just how wet she was, his hand gathered her skirts and slipped up her thigh. He moaned with gratification.
As he’d ordered, she wore nothing save her garters. No stockings, no underwear. One of his demands in the contract, easy access to her treasure.
“Shhh,” he whispered and planted a kiss over one brow. “No need for unshed tears. Jealousy is not always a bad thing. In this case, it is not. I shall give you your la petite mort. Then we’ll bathe together so that I can fuck us both into oblivion.”
Ledi gasped hotly and swayed into him. His talk—the way he spoke and the directness of his words heated her blood. Damned to hell if she didn’t like it, a lot. He licked the hollow of her throat up to the side of her neck, nipping her ear.
“I don’t want my cock in anyone but you, sweet, sweet Ledi,” he admitted softly.
Ledi’s eyes went wide as he dropped to his knees and his dark head disappeared under her skirt. She was too stunned by his words at first to push him away, then forgot all about it when the tip of his hot tongue stroked up her wet trembling swollen cleft.
Later, after their shared bath, Harker laid her out on his bed and dried her off. In another world, Ledi watched him, mesmerized, her body a tight vise of longing from his every touch. After she had found her fervent release in the drawing room, Harker had carried her limp form up to his bedroom and ordered their bath.
Chayton had appeared shocked. “This room, sir?”
“Yes, Chayton.”
“As you wish,” the man sounded oddly pleased to Ledi. Neverthe
less, she blamed her mishearing on her lethargic state.
Harker had undressed her slowly, while the hot bath had been prepared in his chamber.
Then he helped her in and drawn her naked body down onto his in the wide tub. The combination of the hot sudsy scented water and his big wet hands all over her as he washed her with tantalizing seductive caresses and she did him in return as he ordered, had every nerve ending so sensitized, she thought she might faint from the incredible sensations.
She had tried to rub his hands and fingers raw. His slightly amused expression said he was well aware of what her actions proved. She was trying to scrub off any lingering scent of the widow from him. He made not one mention of it.
He was incredibly gentle. His words, his attentiveness, so unlike before, and it soothed her wounded pride. She knew she should not believe what he’d said earlier below in the drawing room but she could not help it. Even if it’d been said in the heat of the moment to placate her, Ledi wanted to believe that he meant every single word. I don’t want my cock in anyone but you, he’d said.
He handed her the scented oil and ordered her to slather it over the tiny scratches she’d made on his forearms. Ledi’s face flushed with guilt.
Now he came over her with his magnificent body, his straining erection pushed at her wet welcoming entrance. Ledi bent her knees back, her thighs opened wider. He groaned, spilling his seed and sank deep inside. She held on, moaning her own pleasure against his jaw.
Harker made sweet love to her. Their eyes met, watched one another. A truth unspoken flowed between them. Though he said not to call the act such, it was no less what he’d done. It was slow, incredibly gentle and he talked more than he ever had before against her ears, her throat and breasts as he brought them to pleasure over and over again until they collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly quenched near dawn in one another’s arms.
Near dawn, Ledi woke to find herself sprawled across Harker’s side of the bed. She shot up, wrapped the sheet around her nakedness, and suddenly chilled form. Looking at her, he understood what it must’ve taken for her to cast her brother out. Evann was a ne’er-do-well, a louse and fraudster and always would be. Harker was glad to see she’d seen the light where he was concerned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Meanwhile in London…
The black gilded conveyance emblazoned with The Benning family crest upon its door turned off the corner of St. James Street, its wheels rolling over the cobblestones. A lamplighter paused in lighting a corner lamppost to catch a glimpse of the fancy carriage, the curtains drawn. Not being able to see who was inside riding in such high fashion, the lamplighter lost interest and carried on with his business.
Inside, Lord Adrean Benning uncrossed his long legs and shut his eyes, annoyed. His business in London and the hysterics were behind him now and he could move forward onto the next chapter in his life. He’d two more stops, one he dreaded and one he might skip altogether.
His mood was not at its greatest now after leaving the fancy townhouse they’d just left behind. Dealing with women could be quite taxing. However, dealing with his brother might be a lot worse.
Maybe he should have taken his coachman’s advice and taken that detour to White’s to let off some tension. But he hadn’t. He needed all his wits about him, a clear head, when he faced his brother, Harker.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
∞Peyton Meri∞
Romance Author