Ruthless Lover

by Sarah Holland

  ‘Yes…!’ she breathed jerkily, twisting hotly beneath him. ‘Oh, God…Nick…’

  He was unbuttoning his shirt, his face dark, watching her as he took the cuff-links out and threw them to the floor. The shirt followed. He was back against her, his hard hair-roughened chest electrifying as her bare breasts rubbed against it.

  His mouth burned down over hers. His strong fingers were sliding her silk panties down slowly, skilfully, over her slim hips.

  Suddenly she knew this was the moment she must stop him, but she couldn’t, she couldn’t fight the landslide of pent-up desire that was crushing her defences in a torrent of hot pulses.

  ‘Tell me you want me, Serena,’ he said thickly, ruthlessly, his eyes flicking with blackened desire to her face. ‘Tell me what you felt when you first saw me. Tell me…’

  She whimpered, closing her eyes, whispering thickly, ‘No…’

  He laughed under his breath. ‘Then I’ll tell you, shall I?’ His hands continued to stroke her panties down until he slid them off and they fell to the floor. He was talking to her in that hard, ruthless way that she loved, telling her everything that had run through his mind, and as she moaned in rising excitement beneath him she felt his hard hands on her body and knew she was approaching ecstasy, her blood drumming in her ears.

  Nick was unzipping his trousers, pushing them down over his hips, and Serena started to pant, her mouth contorted in an agony of desire as he parted her slim, hot thighs with his, the hard throb of his manhood making her whimper as he slid between her thighs, his mouth on hers, and his eyes black with desire.

  ‘Oh, Nick…’ she said thickly, her hair standing on end with excitement. ‘Oh, please…please!’

  But he was merciless, and she started to sweat, her skin prickling with intolerable excitement, and then she felt the hard pressure of his manhood at her entrance and her breathing thickened, her heart banging harder as she felt him enter her, felt him thrust slowly, ruthlessly, until he filled her, and she choked out a fierce, guttural expellation of breath in ecstasy, her body now slippery with sweat as her heart banged that dangerous rhythm.

  He was moving inside her, his face ruthless, and she was at fever pitch, staring at him through lids drenched with sweat, her blood throbbing faster, faster, faster…she thought he’d lose control, thought he’d waited so long for this that he’d go berserk, go completely out of control, go over the edge into ecstasy…and his heart was drumming even as he slammed into her, his face darkly flushed, his skin covered in sweat, his chest heaving and his limbs hair-roughened, slippery with hot perspiration, looking down at her with fierce dark eyes…and she wanted him to lose control…wanted it so badly that she was almost ready to claw at him…

  But it wasn’t him. It was her. It was her, panting feverishly as he ruthlessly took her over the edge and she felt the excitement spiral to explosion, taking her by surprise, forcing her up in gasping ecstasy against his hard body, her brain almost exploding as her eyes shut tight and her body went into hot, wet spasms, slamming against him with the scent of fresh sweat clinging to her skin, her hair, her eyes…out of control, moaning his name, and as the waves of violent pleasure dragged her into the whirlpool she knew she had always wanted this, wanted it from the minute she saw him, wanted it tonight as she’d flirted with that boy, wanted it forever…

  Nick gripped her hips with iron fingers, slamming into her again and again with a face carved in barbaric determination until she finally subsided in a shivering wreck beneath him and watched him drive for his own satisfaction, his face hardening into a violent mask until he gave a ferocious snarl and jerked against her in his own release.

  And what a release…his arms were shaking as he tried to support himself, his body flipping forwards, stationary for split-seconds as he cried out in a harsh, guttural voice then sucked in his breath, pulled back by an invisible thread and slammed against her again, his heart hammering as though he were dying.

  Serena lay shivering like a pool of liquid heat beneath him, staring up at him, dazed. He collapsed suddenly, gasping for breath, his body as hot and slippery as hers, and their hearts drummed in violent unison as they lay together in exhausted silence.

  They lay like that for a long time, breathing hard, and Serena felt her life had been changed by this experience. Emotions were flooding her, emotions she neither fought nor recognised. It was as though a floodgate had been opened and she was drowning in feeling.

  Suddenly, Nick kissed her throat. ‘Total surrender…’

  She felt defenceless, hating him, loving him, unable to reply.

  ‘That gives me absolute victory, Serena,’ he whispered mockingly against her damp hair. ‘Exquisite…well worth the wait.’

  ‘You’re so cruel,’ she said hoarsely, and kissed his strong throat.

  ‘You’re right. I am cruel.’ He laughed under his breath, his powerful body still a part of hers as they lay coupled. ‘But it’s been a long and bloody war. You made me fight hard, Serena. I enjoyed my victory. Every second of it.’ He was taunting her. ‘But most of all I enjoyed your pleasure…your frenzied excitement…’

  She drew a shaky breath, running her hands along his damp spine.

  ‘You relished your defeat.’ He lifted his dark head, a cruel smile on his mouth. ‘It was ecstasy for you…wasn’t it, Serena?’

  ‘Yes…!’ she whispered, hating him.

  ‘And it’s not over yet.’ The blue eyes grew more ruthless. ‘You have an account to settle with me. It stretches back three years, and I have a long memory. Just think of yourself as a prisoner of war, my love. A captive aristocrat settling a debt with her conqueror.’

  Serena whispered, ‘If I’d given in on our wedding night…would you have been so cruel?’

  ‘No,’ he said with a slow smile. ‘Not quite so cruel. But that only makes your repeated submission more exquisite for us both.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked, though she knew, and the excitement began to pulse in her veins as she heard his reply.

  ‘I’ll conquer you again and again,’ he said softly, ‘for the scratch you gave me on our wedding night…’ he kissed her mouth, eyes mocking her ‘…for telling me you didn’t want me in your bed…’ he kissed her again, lingeringly ‘…for saying you couldn’t stand the sight of me…’

  ‘No…’ she whispered, heart thudding in tortuous excitement.

  His hands moved to her breasts. ‘For saying you’d divorce me…’

  She moaned, her nipples hardening under those strong, tormenting hands.

  ‘You’d divorce me…’ he whispered against her mouth, his manhood stirring potently inside her as he suddenly started to move against her, kissing her. ‘Oh, would you, Serena? Would you, by God?’

  His hard mouth closed over hers and she was delirious, her lips opening beneath his, a hoarse moan of pleasure coming from her throat as she felt his hard hands on her breasts and buttocks, his body moving forcibly between her thighs.

  Her mouth was clinging passionately to his, her body like fire beneath him as he took exquisite revenge on her and she moaned out her surrender in a hoarse voice that shook with pleasure.

  ‘You want me,’ Nick was saying raggedly as he drove into her again and again. ‘Say it…’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ she moaned as her body grew slippery with sweat again.

  ‘Again,’ he bit out thickly, his hands gripping her buttocks.

  ‘I want you,’ she gasped out hoarsely, her arms twining around his neck. ‘Yes…yes…’

  The room seemed to splinter into a thousand fragments of colour. Her heart was slamming violently. Suddenly she was flung into that dark ecstasy again, moving frenziedly against him, blinded by such exquisite release…such pleasure…such incredible pleasure…

  A voice inside her cried, ‘I love you.’

  The pleasure went on and on. So did the voice. The words seemed to spin in her mind like light in catastrophic darkness, repeating again and again…I love you, I love you, I love you.

>   Then she was lying helpless and breathless, shaking uncontrollably as she stared up at him through damp lashes, her mouth slack.

  As she watched him reach his own release she knew she was in love with him. His face was contorted with pleasure, his body shaking in those moments, and she felt moved by the sudden vulnerability she saw in the face she had hated for so long, her heart turning over with love as she listened to his fragmented cries of agony and ecstasy.

  When he laid his damp head on her shoulder his body was shaking. Serena’s trembling hands moved to stroke his dark hair. She was tentative, hesitant, unsure. Afraid to show him tenderness or love, though she felt it filling her like sunlight. And suddenly she understood poetry, love-songs, art…

  She kissed his throat, her eyes tightly closed. I love you, she thought, and felt tears begin to sting. This was the root of her fear and hatred for three years…this powerful blaze of emotion that had suddenly landslided as he made love to her, breaking the barrier she had built three years ago to protect herself.

  And she needed protection. Nick Colterne was the man she was in love with—but that didn’t change him. It only changed her. Nick remained as ruthless as he had been before he’d met her, since he’d met her, and now that he had conquered her.

  There was nothing she could do. She had fought her feelings for three years, and Nick’s final victory over her was now complete. She was head over heels in love with him.

  But he must never know. Never.

  In the morning, Serena woke early. Dawn light filled the room.

  It seemed her soul was new and her body was alive for the first time. Warm, sensual, beautiful…she turned with slow delight in her skin, red-gold hair falling softly over one eye to look towards her ruthless lover.

  He was asleep, his strong face turned towards her, one powerful arm flung around her as he slept on his lean stomach, long muscular legs splayed, one knee bent towards her.

  Serena felt weak with love. Touching his face softly, she wondered how she had hidden her love from herself. It had been there all along, lying dormant, and she had been afraid to accept it because of the nature of the man she loved so deeply.

  Suddenly, Nick’s black lashes flickered on his hard cheekbones.

  Serena’s face was very close to his.

  He opened his eyes slowly and met hers.

  There was a heart-stopping silence, then he drawled in that lazy American accent, ‘Good morning…’

  She wanted to melt.

  Nick studied her with a faint frown. ‘What’s going on inside that beautiful head?’

  Serena lowered her lashes, hiding her love from him.

  For a second he tensed, watching her. ‘What are you thinking?’ he asked under his breath, and then caught her chin, tilting her red-gold head back, his eyes narrowing on her sensual expression. ‘About last night?’

  Suddenly afraid, she said, ‘Yes, I was thinking that I shouldn’t have flirted so openly with Tony.’

  His fingers tightened on her chin. There was a tense silence. Rage leapt in his blue eyes and she felt the warm sensuality disappear as anger emanated from his body.

  ‘Don’t ever mention another man’s name in my bed again!’ he bit out under his breath.

  ‘You asked me what I was thinking,’ she protested, staring as his fingers tightened even further, bruising her chin.

  ‘Sure. And you just added to your account with me, Lady Serena.’ His voice bit out the title with harsh sarcasm. ‘Well, you may have enjoyed flirting with that pretty blond viscount, but I’m the man in bed with you.’ His hand left her chin and moved down her naked throat invoking shivers as he slowly, skilfully cupped her breast and stroked her nipple to erect obedience. ‘And I, Lady Serena,’ he said thickly, ‘am going to teach you another lesson in surrender. Understand me?’

  ‘Yes…’ she said breathlessly, and as his hard mouth closed over hers their bodies were sliding together, silk and steel, soft and hard, feminine and masculine.

  Later, when her body was pulsing with blood and sheened in sweat, she lay gasping beneath him, her mouth against his damp throat, her hands shaking on his powerful shoulders. She wanted to say, I love you. She wanted to say it so badly, but she didn’t dare, couldn’t risk his cynical laughter and the cruelty he would show her. He had made it more than clear that he was enjoying every second of his victory, and if he knew she was in love with him he would use it against her mercilessly.

  Serena fell asleep in his arms.

  When she awoke, Nick was gone.

  Hurt, she looked at the clock. It was ten o’clock. Why hadn’t he woken her? She slipped out of bed, nude, and suddenly heard the crunch of gravel under wheels outside.

  Running to the window, she looked out in time to see Nick lowering the window of the Rolls-Royce limousine to speak to the brunette who had been at the party last night.

  Pain shot through her. In disbelief she saw the brunette laugh, then the rear door of the limousine opening as she slid into it, looking very sexy in a short red summer dress.

  As the limousine drove away Serena could not breathe, the stab of sick pain so deep that it was almost a real knife in her, making her whiten as she turned from the window, breathing erratically.

  Last night had not changed Nick, then. He had married her for the reasons he had stated: lust and ambition, and no love would ever grow for her in his ruthless heart.

  It was imperative she do something to stop the pain from growing. She took a hot shower, glad of the sting of water on her flesh and the rivulets on her face that hid her tears. Would this be the pattern of their marriage? That Nick would make love to her until she cried with pleasure, then leave her for other women when the fancy took him? It didn’t bear thinking of.

  When she emerged from her shower she blow-dried her hair, got dressed in an ivory silk shift dress and went downstairs to the living-room. Her face was set in white lines of pain.

  ‘Hello, darling,’ the Countess said with a vague smile. ‘Your alarming husband left about half an hour ago. He told me to tell you he’d be gone all day.’

  ‘All day!’ Her eyes closed.

  ‘Some telephone call,’ said her mother, feeding a biscuit to a slavering dog at her feet. ‘He was on the phone as soon as he came downstairs, and then he just disappeared.’

  Serena winced. The brunette…

  ‘Not to worry.’ The Countess patted the hound and shooed it away. ‘He’ll be back tonight. Frightful party last night, wasn’t it? I do hate these things…’

  Serena left the room with a murmured excuse, and in the hall leant weakly against the wall. Nick Colterne had finally got exactly what he wanted. That she should love him for it was nothing more than self-destruction. Now he was starting to enrol a new mistress: the brunette he had met last night.

  It hurt so much that she couldn’t even cry. Just stood there, staring into a bleak future, her face white.

  The doorbell rang.

  Mottram came out of the kitchen with a cheery smile to answer it, passing Serena without noticing her agony, because Serena turned her head, averting her face from the girl, unable to let anyone see how tortured she was.

  ‘I’ve come to see Lady Serena!’ drawled a lazy, charming young voice. ‘Is she around?’

  Serena moved forward, relief filling her as she stepped behind Mottram and looked into Tony’s charming, handsome face and his sparkling blue eyes filled with a warmth that she desperately needed.

  ‘Tony!’ she said, her voice hoarse.

  ‘Serena!’ He laughed, eyes racing over her, then made a face. ‘Your handsome husband isn’t around, is he? I’d hate to get my teeth kicked in. He looked absolutely murderous last night…dragging you off the dance-floor like that.’

  Mottram’s eyes bulged.

  ‘Thank you, Mottram,’ Serena said at once, watching her.

  Mottram bobbed, disappointed at missing out on such juicy gossip, and slunk off into the hallway, her ears straining as she hovered a respectab
le distance away.

  ‘My husband has gone out for the day,’ Serena said in a low voice. ‘He won’t be back until later tonight.’

  ‘Brilliant!’ Tony said unashamedly, and caught her hand. ‘So we can spend the day together?’

  He looked young and carefree in jeans and an expensive white shirt from Simpson’s. Handsome, too, in a blond ‘English aristocrat’ way. But he was not Nick Colterne, and he did not have that power, that masculinity, that ruthless mouth or that stark, irresistible sex appeal.

  ‘I don’t think it would be suitable, Tony,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I’m a married woman. People would see us…’

  ‘But if your husband is out,’ Tony said with a frown, ‘and we only spend the day together—how can it hurt anyone?’

  Serena’s mouth compressed with a sigh. Looking into his eyes, she felt her pain show, briefly, and tried to hide it by flicking her lashes and staring over his shoulder while her mouth trembled.

  ‘Serena?’ Tony put a hand on her arm, concern in his face. ‘My God, what on earth is wrong? You look absolutely devastated…’

  ‘Nothing,’ she said thickly, looking over her shoulder, aware that Mottram was lurking in the shadows, taking in every word. ‘Come on…’ she walked out of the door, closed it behind her and gave Tony a brief, pained smile. ‘Let’s tour the manor. I’ll tell you funny stories as we go.’

  It was a hellish day for her. All she could think of was Nick, and she kept seeing him with that damned brunette, kept remembering what he had said last night about victory.

  Their tour was quite diverting, though, and she told Tony about various incidents in her youth when she had lived in the manor with her parents, before Nick Colterne had come along and blasted their lives into a new and more dynamic existence.

  At three, exhausted, they went to the stables and into the café. Tony got her a cup of black coffee and himself a strawberry meringue cake, which Serena eyed with vague amusement.

  ‘You deserve to put on at least four pounds,’ she smiled, watching him lick his fingers as the last of the meringue disappeared.