Victoria raised her head, a dazed expression on her face, her mind foggy with newly discovered passion.
Blake rearranged her clothing and hooked the tiny clasps of her gown before she fully comprehended his words.
At the sound of springs squeaking and the driver jumping down from his seat, Victoria snapped out of her trance.
“Oh!” She jumped off Blake’s lap and smoothed her skirts a moment before the door opened and the driver lowered the step.
With a firm grasp, Blake took her arm and escorted her into his town house. They flew past Mr. Kent, whose impassive expression never once cracked, and rushed up the stairs hand in hand.
As she struggled to keep up with Blake’s brisk pace, she stole a glance at his face. His profile was strong and rigid, and a strange, eager look flashed in his eyes. Her gaze swept from his broad chest to his narrow hips to a definite bulge in his trousers.
Her eyes widened in wonder. He’s not as detached as he would like me to believe.
Excitement and a trickle of fear ran down her spine at the knowledge that such a physically powerful male was so anxious to be with her.
They reached the top of the stairs. Blake swept her into his arms and carried her into his suite. He kicked the door shut with a booted foot and walked to the enormous canopied bed which dominated the room. Not bothering to pull back the coverlet, he placed her in the center of the mattress and loomed above her.
“I can’t wait to have you in my bed a second longer.” Pulling the pins from her hair, he spread the inky mass across the bed and raised a shiny tress to inhale its fragrance. “Your hair is stunning, like shining midnight.”
She reached up to cup his head and urged him to kiss her. With a low growl of approval, he claimed her lips in a mind-numbing kiss.
He was not satisfied for long with kissing, and soon his hands caressed her throat, then lowered to stroke the side of a breast and the curve of a hip.
He nuzzled her throat and the tops of her breasts which swelled above her low neckline. “I want to see you without your clothes. I want to see all of you in the full light of day.”
Her pulse skittered. The gruffness of his voice and the smoldering flame in his eyes unlocked her heart and soul.
Rising slowly, she sat on the edge of the bed beside him and watched through lowered lashes as he unhooked her gown. When her silk dress and chemise lay loose on her shoulders, she pulled them down to her waist until her breasts were bared to his hot stare.
Blake groaned. “You are perfect—molded for my hands.”
When he reached out to caress the globes, her nipples were already pebble-hard, seemingly crying out for his touch. He pushed her down gently, and stretched his long length beside her. Instead of removing the rest of her clothes as she expected, he raised the hem of her gown once more. As in the coach, his hand slid up her stocking to the top of her garter. But this time, she knew his goal, and she was eager to feel his fingers on the flesh of her bare thighs.
She arched her hips against his hand, and he hissed. He unfastened the garter and slowly drew off her stocking. The heat from his hand warmed her skin. She desperately wanted the other stocking off, and she sighed with pleasure when he was quick to peel it down her leg and toss it on the floor to join its mate.
The silk gown and chemise bunched around her waist. Through a haze of passion, she realized she wanted him to remove them too. She felt no shame, only urgency as her body hummed and felt more alive than ever before. She pushed the garments over her hips, and he was quick to pull them down her legs. With a rustle, they fell to the floor.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
His dark eyes swept over her intensely, and through his trousers, his rigid manhood burned against her thigh.
The realization flashed through her mind that her beauty enraptured him. He desperately wants to possess me. Maybe he will come to love me.
He stroked her inner thighs and brushed against the tight curls between her legs. She gasped as he separated the curls and eased the tip of one finger inside her. He stroked her gently until dewy moisture made his finger slick.
“I want your first experience to be all pleasure without a trace of pain. There is a sensitive nub I ache to touch.” When his wet finger slid across it, her breath caught and her eyes flew open.
“Yesss,” he hissed.
He slid one finger inside her hot sheath, and when she bucked against his hand, he eased a second inside. Slowly, he ran one finger back and forth across her nub as the other slid in and out of her body.
The sensations were so unexpected and intense, she grasped fistfuls of his shirtsleeves. She writhed beneath his touch, panting through parted lips, urging his fingers to quicken their pace. Her body began to vibrate with liquid fire, until a delicious torment built. With one last bold stroke, her feet dug into the coverlet and her hips arched off the bed while waves of exquisite agony rocked her.
Victoria lay sprawled across the bed as Blake smoothed the hair away from her forehead. She stared up at him in wonder. “Is that what all the fuss is about?”
He laughed. “There’s more.”
“More?” she asked, amazed. Her languid gaze slid down his fully dressed form stretched beside her. She was naked, and he still wore all of his clothes. “I want to see you too.”
“My pleasure, sweetheart.” Blake sat up and began to unbutton his shirt.
“No. Let me.”
She rose to push away his hands. She had a strong urge to touch him, to get closer to him. Even though she had just experienced ecstasy at his expert hands, she sensed she was missing the cataclysmic event that would bring them together as one.
Victoria’s fingers trembled as she undid his buttons and helped pull the shirt free of his trousers. Muscles in his broad shoulders flexed beneath her hands. His chest was sprinkled with dark hair that ran down his tight stomach into the waistband of his trousers.
She willed herself not to look lower, knowing the difference in their bodies would frighten her.
Passing her tongue over her lips, she reached out to stroke his chest. With great daring, she leaned forward and licked his flat nipples, then kissed her way down the corrugated muscles of his abdomen.
“Victoria,” he groaned. “I do not know how much more I can stand.”
She raised her head, black hair cascading over her breasts and down her back. “Then teach me. I want to experience everything.”
Blake stood, and his hands went to the fastening on his trousers. Breathing heavily through parted lips, she stared at him with rounded eyes. He removed his trousers, and his cock sprung free, bold and forceful, from a nest of black hair.
“Ohh,” she gasped as a ribbon of fear ran down her spine.
As she watched fascinated, it moved, growing harder.
She raised her eyes to his. His dark gaze was so hungry and full of raw need that her heart lurched in her chest.
She swallowed, and pushed aside her trepidation. “Make love to me, Blake.”
He swept her up off the bed, turned back the coverlet and laid her on the sheet. He kissed her long and thoroughly, urging her to surrender completely to his masterful touch.
Victoria felt her breasts crush against the hardness of his chest, felt his hands move downward, skimming both sides of her body to her thighs. When his hand moved between her legs, she parted them eagerly for his exploration.
“Ah, you’re ready for me.”
His mouth closed off any reply, and he moved over her. The head of his hardness traced across her slick bud. He slipped his hands beneath her and pressed the tip of his rock-hard shaft against the opening of her body. Victoria arched upward, needing him to finish what he had begun. With one bold thrust, Blake plunged forward. Her scream was muffled by his mouth.
“I’m so sorry, my love. Hold still and the pain will pass.”
Seconds passed and she didn’t breathe, didn’t move. She was aware of his hot breath against her nape, of his hard length
She began to move with him and soon matched his rhythm with an urgency of her own until her body exploded in a fiery climax. Once, twice more he plunged within her, and then he stiffened and spilled his white-hot seed inside her.
He rolled to the side and pulled her against his heated length. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine,” she murmured, then laughed at her answer. “I feel more than fine, I feel wonderful.”
She leaned back to study his face and caught his broad grin. She reached out to touch the ruffled dark hair that clung damply to his brow.
He caught her hand and planted a gentle kiss on her palm. “Thank you. If I knew it would be this glorious, I would never have promised not to ravage you at will.”
“And I would never have waited this long to demand you carry me to your bed.”
She nuzzled her face in his chest and inhaled his masculine scent. He stroked her hair, lulling her to relax against his warm flesh. His heart beat rhythmically beneath her cheek, and she yawned, thoroughly exhausted.
Completely satiated, they slipped into a deep sleep.
Blake woke before dawn, instantly aroused by the delicious female flesh pressed against him. Opening his eyes, he found Victoria asleep beside him. Skeins of ebony hair curved over her shoulders and traced the tips of her breasts. Rosy nipples thrust through the dark strands, and his mouth watered at the sight.
He lay still, not wanting to disturb her peaceful slumber. She slept like an angel. Long dark lashes lay like delicate fans against her cheeks. Entranced by her peaceful beauty, he reached for a silky tendril of hair and raised it to his face. He inhaled deeply of her scent.
Sighing dreamily, she slipped a slender leg between his and parted her lips in contentment when their flesh touched.
Lust, commingled with a strange possessiveness, ripped through him.
He had been convinced that once he had possessed her body, the tightly coiled need inside him would ease. But instead, it was keener than before, driving him to madness. He had made love to her the night through, yet he wanted her again, desperate to impress the memory of their shared passion in her mind forever.
Why did he feel this way?
He told himself it was because Victoria was a beautiful woman who responded like fire to his slightest touch. What man wouldn’t want to taste such pleasure again? Or maybe it was because she had been a childhood friend he had always admired and looked after. Uncertain of his feelings, he leaned back, rested his head on his palm and studied her features.
Charles Ashton had sold his daughter for what he believed was a few months’ reprieve on several business loans. Victoria’s mother had done nothing to stop her tyrannical husband. Spencer Ashton was a selfish pleasure-seeker, a habitual gambler and drunk, who used his sister for money. And Jacob Hobbs, the corrupt businessman who proclaimed to love and want to marry Victoria, had conceded out of fear that he too would be sent to the poorhouse.
Not one person in Victoria’s life had considered her feelings or desires, or had tried to protect her. Even though it had been to Blake’s advantage that Victoria had come to him, he was still irked by her family’s selfishness.
Amongst such a vile environment, Blake was amazed that Victoria had survived unspoiled. Instead of withering beneath her father’s dominance, she had used her keen intelligence to accomplish the unthinkable: penetrate the male arena of the London Stock Exchange.
Charles Ashton had never discovered her secret. As far as Blake knew, no one had learned of her clandestine activities except Spencer, in whom she had confided.
Blake’s original plan had been simple and based entirely on hatred and a burning need for revenge. He would destroy Charles Ashton economically, and he would use Victoria to ruin Charles socially.
Blake had all but achieved his original goals. Charles’s greed had assisted in his own downfall. By abusing his position in his official capacity as a Junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury including stealing from the Crown, Charles Ashton could be stripped of his position and wealth, and possibly tried for treason.
But making love to Victoria had complicated Blake’s well-laid plans, for it was an experience he did not want to soil with thoughts of vengeance.
A public scandal would hurt Charles, but it would destroy Victoria. If Charles Ashton was accused of treason, then Victoria would never again be able to show her face amongst society. The mere thought made bile rise up Blake’s throat. He knew of society’s cruelty firsthand, and he did not want Victoria to suffer such a fate.
Yet the painful memories of his father’s suicide, his mother’s painful death in filthy conditions, and the fate of his sister haunted him still.
How could he let Charles Ashton go unpunished?
Victoria shifted in her sleep, her lips brushing against his throat.
Blake’s swollen shaft jerked in response. He had known for some time, hadn’t he, that he could never throw her to the wolves? Her innocence and intelligence had enraptured him and changed his goals, and he found himself in an impossible position.
He had to find a way to punish Charles Ashton for his past sins, yet protect Victoria from the taint of scandal afterward.
Chapter 23
Victoria woke alone in Blake’s large bed. She stretched her limbs against the cool sheets and moaned when the sore muscles in her thighs and groin protested. Her mind burned with the memory of last night, and she smiled a secret smile.
Even though her muscles ached, she would never regret the ecstasy of being held against Blake’s strong body.
Her lips tingled in remembrance of his masterful touch. Once she had made up her mind to be with Blake intimately, she refused to be ashamed of her actions. He was an incredibly handsome man whom she had been enthralled with ever since she was a girl. And this morning, she considered herself fortunate to have experienced what it felt like to be loved by him as a woman.
Now that she knew, could she ever be satisfied with another man?
She found the thought disconcerting. Sitting up, she wrapped the sheet around her and cautiously slipped off the high bed.
Just then, the door opened, and Blake swept inside, carrying a large bathing tub.
“Good morning, sweetheart. I’m glad you are awake. How do you feel?”
She glanced at him, suddenly shy. “Sore all over.”
He set down the big tub on its ornately clawed feet and strode toward her. “I apologize for any discomfort, but I can’t say I regret last night.” Taking her hand in his, he kissed her palm. “A hot bath will help ease all your aches and pains. Don’t move an inch. Cook is heating water as we speak. I’ll be right back with steaming buckets.”
“You’re going to carry them yourself?”
He smiled. “Of course. I didn’t think you’d want the servants to see you naked in my bed, even though I find you quite delectable this way.”
She blushed to the roots of her hair.
He teased her with a slow wink and left the room.
Must his every movement remind me of his sexual attractiveness? Victoria sat still on the edge of the mattress and clutched the sheet to her breasts.
Allowing him to make love to her only strengthened her infatuation. Despite their families’ pasts and Blake’s thirst for vengeance, she was fascinated. Her feelings had nothing to do with reason, for her normally rational brain seemed to shut down whenever he was present. Her only hope was to believe that Blake felt something more than mere lust for her and that lying with him last night would not end his pursuit.
A low knock at the door signaled his return. Blake entered carrying four large buckets of steaming water, two in each hand. He set them down and began to fill the porcelain tub.
When the last bucket was emptied, he turned to face her, a cake of soap and a sponge in his hands. “Consider me your lady’s maid for the morning.”
“You mean to watch me bathe?”
“No. I mean to help you.”
Again she blushed. But the smile in his eyes contained a sensual flame she could not resist, and her wicked woman’s juices bubbled forth. She pushed away from the bed and slowly let her fingers go. The sheet slipped down her body to pool at her feet.
Placing one dainty bare foot before the other, she walked to the tub. “I’ve never had a man bathe me before.”
She felt his stare burn into her back, then drop to her buttocks. When she turned around she nearly gasped out loud at the savage, lustful look in his dark eyes.
“I had better be the only man to lather you up.”
She felt a thrill of excitement race through her veins at his possessiveness. Easing into the steamy water, she tied her long black hair in a knot at her nape. Her arms relaxed on both sides of the large tub, and she rested her head back. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and allowed the hot water to ease her sore muscles.
“This feels wonderful,” she said dreamily.
In a flash, he was by her side. “This will feel even better.” Taking the soap, he lathered the sponge and gently scrubbed her neck and shoulders.
“Hmmm. I smell lavender.”
“It’s your favorite fragrance.”
She opened her eyes to study his face. “How did you know?”
“I’ve smelled your hair, and the scent lingers whenever you leave a room.”
Again his attention to detail caught her by surprise. She never dreamed he would notice such things as the scent of her soap, but was pleased and flattered that he had.
Closing her eyes again, Victoria tipped her head to one side so that he could lather her neck and shoulders. The soapy sponge gliding over her skin was mesmerizing. The highly attractive and virile male kneeling above her, bathing her, was erotic.
When the sponge slid over her breasts, she gasped and looked up.
“Your skin is like velvet,” he said, his voice gruff with need. “I want to touch you all over.”
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