by Claudy Conn
Even as she did what he asked and lost herself to the act, he took it from her mouth and rubbed it on her breasts. “I want you … as I have never wanted any other woman … you are driving me wild,” he whispered hungrily. Then he pulled her over him so that she lay on top, and he rubbed her nipples with his gentle, magical fingers until she thought she would die if he didn’t do more … and more …
And then wildly he had her on her back once again, as he positioned himself, groaning with uncontrolled pleasure as he rammed into her hard and then suddenly stopped in mid-movement.
“Damnation to hell!” he murmured incredulously.
She was stunned into immobility. Why had he stopped? It had hurt … yes, all the pleasure had suspended itself in that awful moment, but … the hurt was gone …
“Why didn’t you tell me? My sweet little one—I … I would not have hurt you for all the world!”
“Did you not think I had never done this before?” She smiled and touched his cheek. “Hmmm, then I must be a natural …”
He chuckled and touched her lips. His cock was still throbbing inside her, and she wiggled as she told him, “Don’t stop now, Sky. The deed is done—might as well complete the mission.”
“But you have never … and I feel the cad …”
“As well you should … now take me, my lord.” She put her finger to his lips to hush any further discussion and pushed against him. “Sky,” she said softly, and he groaned as he pushed further inside her.
She had no idea what she was supposed to do as she moved beneath him to his exquisite dance. She only knew what she wanted to do and ran with it. She met his thrusts with thrusts of her own and discovered herself a wanton woman full of heat and desire.
He held her tightly and kissed her with everything he had as he moved inside her, and she heard him moan with delight when she arched her back and gave over to a complete climax that left her shuddering with pleasure.
“Yes, little one … now move for me … yes, like that … oh squeeze my cock with that beautiful honey box … ah … yes, you got it … oh beauty, you beauty you …” His voice was hoarse with ecstasy as he allowed himself to go off. Then he held her tightly, rolled over with her in his arms, and with his cock still hard and ready for more inside her said, “Ride me, sweetings … ride me now.”
She wasn’t sure exactly what he meant, but she had a very good idea as she positioned herself and threw her head back with the new raw sensation that swept through her. She touched his hard belly with her fingers as she ground herself on him and rotated her hips. Then she bent to give him her tongue, and he sucked it in and met it with his own.
Then all at once he pulled out of her, picked her up around the middle and set her in place on her hands and knees. He was behind her and maneuvering his cock all over her rump. “Your ass is exquisite, love … you are perfect …” And then he was shoving himself inside her once more. “I can’t get enough of you … the more I take, the more I want, Sarah.”
She said nothing to this, but suddenly she realized he didn’t even know her real name. She wanted him to call her by her real name, and when he softly repeated, “Sarah,” she answered, “No … call me Cherry … please.”
“I will call you the stars … the moon … the sun, for that is what you are fast becoming for me … Cherry love, Cherry ripe … oh my very own Cherry …”
And then he made a feral sound in his throat that excited her beyond reason. She shoved back against him, and he worked her until she was arching her back once more and calling out his name as though a woman possessed.
He kissed her eyes, her nose, and her ears and whispered, “Now let’s see if I can do that for you again …”
~ Thirteen ~
SPRING WAS NOW making a push to display itself in full array. Wildflowers lined the side of the road and permeated the air with their arresting scents. A breeze, slight but cool as it came in soft waves, played with Cherry’s black, silky curls and rippled at her straw bonnet. She adjusted the ribbon at her neck with one gloved hand while she managed the matched chestnut pair before her with the other hand.
“Sweet goers,” she commented quietly, more to herself than to the twins. She had so much on her mind. She had a world of hurt awaiting her if she didn’t take hold of her problem and lay it out for Sky. She had to tell him the truth before he found out on his own.
Felix sat forward in the gig and bent over his sister, who sat between him and Cherry. “Do you think so? I wanted Thomas to hitch up the bays. Now, they can move.”
“I have no doubt of that, Felix, for I have seen them.” Cherry smiled fondly at him. “However, it would not be seemly for the Bromley governess to be driving them into town.” Too often the twins treated her as though she were family. That was something she had to deal with carefully. For now, and until she could come clean with who she really was, she had to remind them of her position.
Felix pooh-poohed such talk in unintelligible sounds, ending it with, “Stuff, I say. You could handle them. You aren’t a bit ham-handed—” He looked towards Freddy, who had been riding his horse near enough to the gig to hear him. “Like m’brute of a brother, Freddy, here.” Felix bestowed a wide and impish grin on Cherry, and she laughed out loud.
“Brat!” Freddy flung at him, reaching down to pop him a swat with the end of his crop over his uncovered head of fair hair.
Francine had been looking on with a sweet expression upon her pretty little face. Suddenly she hugged Cherry around the waist and said, “See … I knew you would make all things right here at Bromley. I shall never let you go, Miss Sarah. I want you with us always.”
“Ah, my dear Francie … how sweet. Well, if I am to stay on, then ’tis time you all called me by the name my friends call me, Miss Cherry for Cheryl … right?”
They all oohed and aahed, and Cherry sighed to herself. Right, one item taken care of that would bring her one step closer to confessing the truth.
“Say you shall not leave us, Miss … Miss Cherry.” Francine wiggled her nose as she got used to the new name.
“Well, the future is difficult to predict, but I certainly don’t want to go.”
“Yes, but …” Francine pursued. “You must not leave us … I think even Sky would find that horrid.”
Cherry touched her chin. “My sweet Francine. I shall stand your friend wherever I might be, and hopefully I shall not be far when you need me.”
“I don’t like that answer,” Francine returned on a frown. “It has the sound of good-bye, in it.”
“Not at all.” Cherry smiled and returned her attention to the road as the village was soon approaching.
“Girls!” Felix stuck in, apparently bored with the conversation. “Forever going on and on about something mushy. What I want to know is, can we go to that bang-up cake shop for tarts and hot chocolate?”
Cherry eyed him warningly. “Not if you mean to stuff your little face with half a dozen of those things and ruin your dinner.” She was one to talk, she thought with some amusement, as wasn’t that just what she used to do until very recently? And then once again, unbidden, Sky’s face filtered into her mind’s eye. The memory of his touch two nights past and all that she felt came surging back. She had to force it away. Two days—he had been gone two days, and without so much as a by your leave! She felt hurt to the quick, but then … he had spoken not one word of love. He had wanted to set her up as a mistress … not a bride. She sighed to herself. She had some work ahead, for if she was going to win his heart, she was going to have to confess the truth of her situation, and that might just lose him to her forever.
“I promise … not more than five.” Felix twinkled back at her.
“Your brother is every bit the brat you called him, Freddy!” Cherry laughed.
“He is indeed, Miss Sar … I mean Miss Cherry.” Freddy smiled at her.
She could see his heart wasn’t in the smile. Something was terribly wrong; she was going to have to get to the bottom of it, and
soon.
* * *
His lordship tooled his spirited dapple with sure skill, but his mind was not on schooling his horse as he made his way down the Post Road back to Bromley. He had been in London for two days. Two days—only two days, and it had been torture. It seemed a century since he had last looked at her precious face …
This was absurd. He was behaving like a schoolboy. What was wrong with him? He had enjoyed many beautiful and spirited women in his twenty-eight years, but this one … this one was unlike any he had ever known. She had found a way into his mind and managed to take control.
He had gone to look in on his intended bride with great misgiving. Had he done the right thing? Was he doing the right thing? He had stopped by the Elton residence only to be told that Miss Elton was still ill above stairs, and never had he felt such relief. He had done the expected and sent a note with flowers. Should he call this off? How could he? Well, and he could. No announcement had been made. He should call it off. It wasn’t fair to Miss Elton, was it?
This question reverberated in his brain. How was he going to go through with this engagement? Perhaps the marriage was no longer necessary? Could he cry off without becoming the worst cad in creation? What if Miss Elton was a sickly girl, how then could she look after his twins … give him children? Give him children? He didn’t want children with her or any other woman, he suddenly realized. He had to find a way of letting Miss Elton down.
What was wrong with him? His entire world had been turned inside out, and he was fast losing control. Cherry … she said her name was Cherry, but he could find no one who knew anything about a family with a daughter by the name of Cherry Parker. Who the devil was she? She had never been bred to be a governess. She was too self-assured. Her gowns, though showing signs of wear, were of the first stare, both fashionable and expensive. It was that which had made him think perhaps she had been kept in style by another man. It was that which made him think she ran from a man, not her stepfather. Well, that had turned out to be rubbish. She had been a virgin … and what was more, he would never let anyone else near her. Whether she wanted it or not, he would protect her!
What was happening to him? He had lost all control. This Cherry Parker as she called herself had taken him over, body and soul.
Bromley loomed closer in the distance, and he actually felt his heartbeat increase rapidly. Excitement tickled his senses. He missed her … and the twins. He had actually gotten to know them on this last visit.
He felt a thrill as his horse trotted into Bromley Park and approached the house. Cherry … he would soon be with his Cherry, and he knew in that moment, he was in trouble.
* * *
Cherry looked up at the sky. Hmm, clouds were accumulating, and she rather thought they should start for home. She had purchased the day gowns Sky had so insisted she obtain for her position. She wasn’t, however, able to buy the drab, uniform-like gray gowns suitable for her position.
She had an eye for fashion and just could not wear anything so frumpy. However, she compromised and found a lovely black gown with a white lace collar and tightly fitted sleeves with lace cuffs. She had the seamstress do a quick nip at the waist, which was only slightly too big for her. The next gown she purchased was navy silk with a creamy chiffon round collar, puff matching navy sleeves of the same chiffon, and an Empire waist.
There, she thought, that would do. And then she spied a black wool riding habit, with a white chiffon blouse and a matching black top hat, trimmed in the same white chiffon that flounced at the back of the hat. It was dear, but she smiled to herself and paid for it with the money she still had from when she had run away on that fateful evening … which seemed so long ago.
She stepped out of the shop and noted with a frown that the two young men who had been extremely bold to her when she had walked the short distance to the dress shop earlier were still nearby. They had walked right up to her as she had entered the shop; although they’d tipped their hats to her, they’d blocked her path as they introduced themselves as brothers Walter and Thomas Anderson. She did not reciprocate but had politely requested they step aside. They had, but it was obvious they were angry. Remembering the encounter made trepidation tingle inside her tummy.
Cherry was not concerned with her looks, but the fact was she was certainly a beauty and had attracted attention in the small town, as well as stirred curiosity.
She turned heads as she made her way down the avenue. Two of those heads belonged to the Anderson brothers, and they followed.
She saw Freddy across the street and stopped to wave, but she halted her hand in mid-air because he seemed intent as he headed for a very odd-looking gentleman standing outside a weathered storefront.
Cherry’s brows drew together as she saw that the storefront was in fact a drinking establishment. The odd and older gentleman wore a dilapidated gray top hat and shabby clothes. His face was grizzled, and something about the way he moved repulsed Cherry immediately. Her eyes opened wide and flew to Freddy’s face. What in heaven’s name had Freddy to do with such a character?
She went hurriedly to cut him off, calling out brightly, “Right then, Freddy … we need to get going, as it does look like rain.”
“Miss Cherry … there is one more thing I have to take care of while I am in town. Do you think … would you mind terribly starting for home without me, and I shall catch up as quickly as I can?”
She knew he expected her to reply in the positive, and while she didn’t really mind the notion of driving unescorted (in fact she had always enjoyed the freedom before), she did mind going off and leaving him with such a rough-looking individual. “Yes, but, Freddy, it is already near dark … and I don’t relish the notion of taking the Post Road with the children in an open carriage alone at this hour.” Zounds, just listen to her rubbish, but she had to make a push to get Freddy away from that awful man.
“Forgive me, Miss Cherry … I promise, I will catch up, for I swear it won’t take me long to be done with this business.”
Cherry had no choice but to watch Freddy fall into step with this man as they went into the drinking establishment. What, Freddy, just what deep game are you playing, she wondered sadly.
There was nothing for it. She went to the cake shop where Felix and Francine were enjoying their tarts and hot chocolate. They made their way to the livery, where she tipped the groom who had cared for the horses, and off they went onto the Post Road towards Bromley.
They hadn’t been on the Post Road for more than five minutes when Cherry felt edgy and looked around. It was just those Anderson boys that had made her nervous earlier.
* * *
Sky paced to and fro in his central hall as he waited for his family and their governess to return from town. He stood at the open front door, then closed it and went to peer out the large hallway window.
It was with great disappointment that he had received the news they were not home, and the anticipation of seeing them again had him in a fidget very much unlike himself.
It was nearing five o’clock, and still no sign of them. Soon it would be very dark. He’d heard stories about the highwaymen on the section of the Post Road that led to Bromley. Well, Freddy was escorting them, after all. Ah yes, Freddy. He shook his head, but then thought, Freddy is just a boy and unarmed.
Highwaymen were most definitely armed.
This took hold of him and gathered weight. Suddenly, he could stand it no more. He would go and meet them and bring them home safely. His own horse was too fatigued from the journey out of London, but he could use the dark bay Cherry had been working lately.
He hurried back to the stables, helped his groom tack up the bay, and hurried off for the main road. Damn, but I’ve a bad feeling …
* * *
Dusk had quickly descended, and Cherry’s uneasiness grew. She could hear the brump brump of horses’ hooves at their backs, and her own horses were acting fidgety. However, she attempted to remain calm, pleased at least that the children were happi
ly absorbed in chatting about their afternoon. They addressed her from time to time, but she only answered absently as she began to pick up the pace of the horses. It was a rutted road, and she once again had to slow down as the twins objected to the bumps.
“Someone’s coming up behind us!” Felix announced suddenly. He was halfway turned in his seat and staring into the growing darkness.
“How do you know?” his sister asked with interest. “I can’t see anyone.”
“I can hear a horse … no … I think two.” Felix frowned. “And only look at the dust behind us, Miss Cherry … they’re riding hard.”
She heard the anxious sound in his voice. Felix was young but very much up on things. “I’m sure just someone trying to get home,” she said, trying to soothe him,
“Easy, lads,” Cherry cooed to her horses, who were nervously reacting to the fact that unknown horses were quickly coming up at their backs.
The Andersons slowed their steeds as they came up on them and then boldly moved to Bromley horses’ heads, commanding, “Ho there, loves … ho …”
Cherry pulled up her team, for these riders had also moved into their path. She put up her chin and demanded, “Just what do you think you are doing?”
One lad looked worriedly at the other. “You’re scaring them, Thomas.”
“She deserves a lesson, she does. She snubbed us in town … we can’t allow that, Walter, and we won’t allow that.”
“Aw … she didn’t know who we were.”
“Then she needs a lesson.”
The lanky Walter turned an apologetic face to them and said, “M’brother and I were wishful … we … thought we might escort you—”
His brother Thomas cut in. “Dangerous route, the Post Road. People get waylaid all the time.”
“Thank you, but we haven’t that far to go,” Cherry answered stiffly.
“Well, mean to escort you all the same.”
“I don’t think that is necessary—” Cherry said.