Historical Trio 2012-01

by Carole Mortimer

  Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly raised her head to look up at him, knowing by the glittering intensity of the silver gaze that looked down and met hers that she was not mistaken concerning his present state of arousal.

  She moistened dry lips before speaking. ‘Dominic, how can it be that we feel this…this desire after all that has happened today?’ She was utterly bewildered—almost ashamed—by the feelings now coursing hotly through her own body.

  Dominic shook his head. ‘I have seen it dozens of times in soldiers following a battle,’ he recalled huskily. ‘I believe it is a need, a desire, to reaffirm one’s own place in the mortal world following confrontation with death.’

  Caro breathed shallowly. ‘Is it not shocking for me to feel this way now?’

  His expression softened. ‘Does it feel shocking to you?’

  ‘No.’ The pink tip of her tongue swept across her lips a second time. ‘I— It feels as if, as you say, I have a need to know that we both still live.’

  Dominic looked down at her searchingly, a gaze that she met unflinchingly. ‘Will you allow me to make love to you, Caro?’ he asked gently.

  Her eyes widened. ‘But I thought you had made it quite clear that we could not, must not, repeat the events of this morning?’

  ‘Neither will we.’

  Her frown was perplexed. ‘I do not understand…’

  Dominic gave a rueful smile. ‘There are many ways in which to make love, my dear. Many of them do not involve the penetration that could so easily result in you becoming with child.’

  Caro’s cheeks felt hot. ‘I see. And will you…will you show me these other ways?’ Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes fever bright.

  But not with awkwardness or discomfort, Dominic noted with admiration, but instead with a curiosity and underlying excitement. He knew he should not allow this to happen, that he should refuse to acknowledge the invitation in her eyes. But as he looked down at her, he clearly saw the same desire in her that now throbbed through his own body, and he knew he would not, could not, walk away from her as he surely should.

  He, too, had had time to think since they had parted after arriving at Brockle House earlier. To realise that she could just as easily have gone to visit Drew and Ben at Nick’s this afternoon rather than this morning. To acknowledge that she might have been inside the club with the other two men when the fire began, and easily envisage the nightmare of what might have been—Caro lying in the morgue rather than Ben Jackson…

  Which perhaps explained why he had felt it so keenly when Denby had told him a short time ago that Caro had asked him to inform Dominic she would not be joining him downstairs for dinner. Whatever the reason, no matter how much more it might complicate matters if he were to make love with her again, he knew that it was something he urgently needed to do.

  Caro pulled out of his arms to turn her back on him before looking at him over her shoulder. ‘I believe we should start by removing my gown?’

  He drew his breath in sharply as he looked at the calm determination in Caro’s expression for several long seconds before raising his hands to begin releasing the buttons down the back of her gown. Only to falter slightly once he had unfastened a half-dozen of those tiny buttons. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

  ‘I am very sure, Dominic,’ she murmured even as she tilted her head forwards to reveal the fragile vulnerability of her nape.

  It was more than any man could bear—more, certainly, than he could at this moment—to resist Caro’s absolute conviction in what they were about to do. And once he had unfastened the rose-coloured gown, allowing it to pool on the carpet at her feet, before she stepped free of its confinement and turned to face him wearing only a shift that nevertheless revealed the firm thrust of her breasts tipped by those darker nipples, and the silky thatch of golden curls between her thighs, Dominic had no room for thoughts of resistance. His desire blazed completely out of his control as she reached up to slip the thin straps of her last garment down over the slenderness of her arms, before allowing that, too, to fall at her feet and she stood before him completely naked.

  Dominic meant to be gentle with her, out of consideration for the discomfort she must still feel following their lovemaking this morning. But it was a gentleness Caro firmly rejected as she stepped boldly into his arms before raising her head so that her lips might capture his. That kiss became wild, fiercely heated, as she dispensed with his jacket and waistcoat before unfastening his shirt and pushing her hands inside the silky material to caress his bared chest.

  Dominic returned the heat of that kiss even as he reached up to rend the material of his shirt in two to allow her better access to his flesh. Caro’s nails scraped over the hard nubbins nestled amongst the silky dark hair that covered his chest, the hard tips of her own breasts pressed against the muscled hardness of his abdomen. He gasped into her mouth as those caressing, confident hands moved slowly downwards to stroke the length of his erection as it jutted proudly against the confinement of his pantaloons.

  It did not remain confined for long as Caro easily dispensed with the six buttons at the sides of his pantaloons before peeling that flap of material aside, the fingers of one hand curling about his engorged arousal even as she cupped him beneath with the other.

  Dominic broke the kiss, his groan one of aching longing as he felt her dextrous fingers sweep across the sensitive tip before moving down along the length of him. ‘Yes, Caro! Oh, God, yes!’

  ‘Tell me how to give you pleasure, Dominic,’ she encouraged softly.

  His breath caught in his throat. ‘Kiss me there, take me into the sweetness of your mouth!’ His moan was heartfelt as Caro dropped softly to her knees in front of him, that sea-green gaze looking up to steadily meet his as she slowly and deliberately opened those kiss-swollen lips and took him into the fiery heat of her mouth.

  Dominic’s knees almost buckled completely as he looked down at her pleasuring him, his hands moving to become entangled in her golden curls as she continued her delicious ministrations until he knew he was going to lose control. He needed to taste her before that happened, wanted to pleasure her in the same way.

  Dominic ignored her slightly reproachful look as he gently disengaged himself and pulled her back up on to her feet. He swung her up into his arms and carried her over to lie her down upon the bed, gently propping her head upon the pillows. She watched him as he first drew off his boots and then threw off the rest off his clothes before moving to kneel between her legs. The darkness of his gaze briefly held hers captive before he lowered his head between her parted thighs to run his own tongue along the length of her opening before rasping moistly over and around her sensitive bud, feeling it pulse with each rhythmic stroke. ‘Watch me, Caro!’ he urged.

  She obeyed as he gently parted her golden curls and cried out as he lowered his head once again to stroke that pulsing bud with the hard tip of his tongue, and she felt the pleasure begin to build, to grow, deep inside her. Suffusing her with heat. Turning her limbs to water. Her head fell back against the pillows even as her thighs began to undulate against that marauding mouth and tongue.

  That pleasure surged out of control as his hands moved up to cup and capture both her breasts before he rolled the nipples between finger and thumb, Caro’s release hitting with the force of a tidal wave as he squeezed those roused tips at the same time as his tongue thrust into her time and time again until she lay limply back against the pillows.

  Dominic moved up on to his knees to look down at Caro as she lay there, replete and naked against the pillows. ‘My turn now, love,’ he said throatily.

  Caro was completely focused on that jutting arousal as she came up on to her knees to move down the bed and kiss him slowly from base to tip, before then taking him fully into the heat of her mouth.

  It was too much, Dominic already far too aroused from both the taste of her in his mouth and her earlier attentions, and his hands tightly gripped Caro’s shoulders as he climaxed fiercely
, hotly, triumphantly…

  Caro’s hand moved in a gentle caress against the unruly darkness of the hair at Dominic’s nape, his head resting lightly against her breast as they lay naked together in the aftermath of their wild and satisfying lovemaking.

  She felt no awkwardness, no shame; she knew that they had both needed what had just happened between them, that he had been correct in that they had both needed to reaffirm their precarious grip on mortality, and the silence between them now was companionable rather than uncomfortable.

  Dominic raised his head slightly to look at her, that silver gaze guarded. ‘I was not too rough with you?’

  ‘Not at all,’ she assured without hesitation. ‘Was I too rough with you?’ she added, aware that she had been somewhat less than gentle herself!

  He smiled slightly before lowering his head back down on to her breast. ‘Not in any way I would not like you to repeat if, or indeed whenever, the mood should take you.’

  Caro’s cheeks felt warm as she recalled the way in which she had caressed and kissed Dominic so intimately. She had no knowledge of lovemaking between a man and a woman other than the things he had shown her these past few days, and yet she had gloried in touching and kissing the beauty of his hard arousal.

  ‘I no longer feel quite so…empty.’ Her voice was husky with emotion.

  ‘Nor I,’ Dominic acknowledged softly.

  She frowned as a thought occurred to her. ‘Do you know whether or not Ben had any family?’

  Dominic’s shoulders tensed beneath the caress of Caro’s fingers. ‘He has a sister, I believe. A Mrs Grey.’

  ‘She will be deeply saddened by his death.’

  ‘As we all are,’ Dominic said heavily. ‘Drew was to go and see her as soon as he was able to get away. I have asked him to convey my regrets, and also to tell her that I will call on her tomorrow to discuss the funeral arrangements if that is what she wishes.’

  ‘I would like to attend the funeral.’

  The tension in Dominic’s shoulders increased. ‘I am not sure that is a good idea—’

  ‘It was not a request, Dominic,’ Caro insisted. ‘Have you—have you seen much of death?’ she asked before he could voice any more objections.

  ‘More than I care to remember,’ he admitted harshly.

  Caro breathed a sigh. ‘My own mother died when I was but ten years old, and she was not at home with us when it happened.’ She gave a pained frown as she remembered the circumstances under which her mother had died. ‘My father died only a few months ago, but he had been ill for some time, and in truth, it was more of a happy release for him than a shock to…to his family.’

  Dominic was aware that the pieces that made up Caro’s life were given rarely and sparingly, but she had said enough just now for him to know it was no more a father that she hid from than a husband.

  He could not resist looking up at her and teasing her a little. ‘I believe you told Drew that it was a maiden aunt who had died a few months ago, and in doing so left you homeless as well as penniless.’

  Two bright wings of colour now brightened Caro’s cheeks. ‘I did say that, yes.’

  ‘And…?’

  She gave an irritated little snort. ‘What difference does it make whether it was a father or a maiden aunt?’

  ‘None at all—except maybe to that father or aunt.’ Dominic placed a slow and lingering kiss upon the side of her breast in apology for his teasing of what they both knew to be a complete fabrication of her previous life. But he felt too relaxed, too satiated, to seriously question it at this moment. That relaxed contentment rendered him ill prepared for Caro’s next question…

  ‘Obviously you are the Earl, so your own father is no longer with us, but what of the rest of your family? Your mother, for instance?’

  All relaxation fled, all contentment, as Dominic sat up sharply. ‘Also dead. They both died when I was but twelve years old.’

  Caro gasped. ‘Both your parents?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Together?’

  ‘No. Caro—’

  ‘Please do not go, Dominic!’ She reached out to grasp his arm as he would have stood up, her gaze pleading as he paused to look down at her. ‘If you do not wish to talk of your parents, then we will not do so,’ she promised huskily.

  Dominic concentrated on how her loosened curls looked, all spread out on the pillow behind her. Her eyes were a beautiful, luminous sea-green, her lips slightly swollen from the kisses they had shared. Her cheeks were flushed, as was the delicate skin of her breasts, the tips all pouting and rosy from his attentions. His expression softened as he slowly exhaled his tension away before once again lowering his head to rest against one of those kiss-reddened breasts, his hand moving to lightly cup its twin. ‘There is nothing more to say about my parents other than that they are both dead.’

  ‘But your mother, at least, must have been quite young when she died?’

  Dominic sighed. ‘She was but two and thirty at the time of the accident. My father was eight and thirty when he chose to follow her only days later.’

  Caro stilled, her heart pounding loudly beneath Dominic’s head. ‘He chose to follow her?’

  Dominic had learnt early on in their acquaintance not to underestimate Caro’s intelligence, and with this question she once again proved he had been wise not to do so. ‘Yes.’

  Caro’s throat moved convulsively as she swallowed before speaking. ‘Can you possibly mean that he took his own life?’

  Dominic made no attempt to halt his movements a second time, instead sitting up and moving away from her. Caro was sensible enough—or too stunned still—not to try to stop him, either by word or deed. He shrugged. ‘He loved my mother very much and obviously saw no reason to continue living without her.’

  ‘But he had a young son to care for!’

  ‘Obviously he did not feel I was reason enough to continue living.’ Dominic stood up and began pulling on the pantaloons he had discarded so eagerly only minutes ago.

  Caro reached down and pulled the bedsheet up to her chin as she watched him with huge, disbelieving eyes. ‘My own father loved my mother very much, too, and was devastated when she died. But even so, I do not think he ever contemplated the idea of taking his own life; he accepted that he had other responsibilities—’

  Dominic’s scathing snort cut off her halting words. ‘Obviously your father was made of sterner stuff than my own.’

  ‘I do not believe it was a question of that—’

  ‘And I believe we have talked of this quite long enough for one evening!’ His eyes glittered a pale and dangerous silver.

  Caro lowered her gaze. ‘It is just that I do not understand how any man, no matter how devastated he is by loss, could deliberately take his own life at the cost of leaving his twelve-year-old son alone in the world.’

  ‘I have told you why!’ Dominic paused to glare across at her once he had pulled on the tattered remnants of his shirt. ‘He loved my mother so much he had no desire to live without her.’

  The compassion in her eyes as she looked up at him was almost his undoing. As it was, the painful memories this conversation evoked felt like a heavy weight bearing down upon him. ‘I am sure my father felt justified in his actions, Caro,’ he said.

  Caro looked stubborn. ‘I do not believe there can be any justification for leaving a twelve-year-old boy alone and without either of his parents.’

  Dominic’s dark brows lifted, his expression hard and uncompromising; eyes a steely grey, cheekbones as sharp as blades beneath the tautness of his skin, that vicious scar livid from eyes to jaw, and his mouth a thin line. ‘Not even if you hold that twelve-year-old boy—your own son—responsible for the death of the woman you loved?’

  Caro gave a shocked gasp, all the colour draining from her cheeks as she stared up at Dominic with those huge sea-green eyes.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dominic knew that the look of horrified disbelief on Caro’s face was perfectly justified
; no doubt that was exactly the emotion she was feeling, at even the suggestion that a twelve-year-old boy could be responsible for killing his own mother. Let alone that it might actually be the truth…

  Not that Dominic had caused his mother’s coach to leave the road and plunge into the river. Nor had he wedged the door of that carriage shut so that it was impossible for her to escape when the carriage began to sink and the water to flood inside it. And neither had he physically held his mother’s head beneath the water until she’d drowned.

  No, he had not personally done any of those things. Nevertheless, he knew he was as much to blame for his mother’s death as if he had done every one of them.

  Caro shook her head. ‘It is utterly ridiculous to even suggest you might have done such a thing.’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘Utterly,’ she spoke with conviction.

  ‘You do not believe me capable of killing someone?’ He eyed her tauntingly.

  ‘Of course you have killed in the heat of battle,’ she said. ‘It is the way of things. But I do not believe you capable of harming any woman, let alone killing your own mother.’

  ‘Come now, Caro, I am sure you must know me well enough by now to realise that I am capable of all manner of things. Seducing, not once, but twice, the young woman I have taken into my care is only one of them.’ He looked disgusted with himself.

  ‘I was as instrumental as you in both those seductions.’ Caro’s cheeks warmed with guilty colour as she quickly stood and collected her wrap, securing the belt of that robe around her waist. ‘I also believe you are only saying these things about your mother in order to shock me.’

  His mouth twisted. ‘Am I succeeding?’

  ‘I am more disappointed that you feel you have to say things that cannot possibly be true—’