by Bonnie Dee
Dash quickly unbuttoned his shirt and stripped off his clothes.
She admired the lean lines of his body, his sinewy muscles and flat stomach. Her gaze lingered on his cock thrusting in eager anticipation as he crawled onto the bed and braced himself over her. She stroked her hand along the knotted scar tissue on his shoulder where Patterson's knife had carved him, as if her touch could smooth it out. But there were some scars neither of them could erase for the other. Five months later she was stil hardly able to bring herself to walk into the drawing room where the automaton had tied her up and threatened her life.
Dash frowned again as he looked into her eyes. "Are you al right?"
She smiled. "Just a memory. Yes, I'm fine." She traced her hand over his face, touching his cheek, tracing the shape of his eyebrow and his lips which parted at her touch. "In fact, I'm very fine."
"No regrets?"
"Absolutely none." She wondered how long he would continue to doubt his worthiness to be with her, or her commitment to him.
She understood his persistent self-doubt. Dash came from nothing and was married to a woman who'd always known luxury.
It couldn't be easy for him to accept that she truly had no qualms about being his wife.
"I love you, Dash," she assured him, and hoped he'd final y say the words back to her. But he only smiled, his eyes shining as he lowered his face to kiss her. His wordless response was enough for now. Maybe in time he'd be able to tel her what she longed to hear.
His lips plucked at hers, teasingly, while his nimble fingers unfastened the buttons on the front of her dress and the hooks on her corset. He slipped his hand beneath the fabric to cup her breast in his warm hand.
Victoria moaned softly and lifted into his touch. How she loved these intimate moments--not merely the pleasurable sensations Dash aroused in her body, but the silent communion they shared whenever they lay in bed together in the hushed stil ness of the room. She slid both hands through the fine strands of his hair to cradle his head while Dash slid his tongue between her lips to touch hers. She swirled her tongue around his in a sinuous dance, feeling him, tasting him, caressing him.
Dash broke off the kiss to move lower. He pressed his lips to her throat and kissed a path down her chest. Parting her bodice, he let his mouth roam from one breast to the other, taking each into his mouth and suckling. Victoria arched her chest to him for more. Heat pulsed in each breast and throbbed between her legs. Her sex was damp and open, eager for him to fil it.
After making love to her breasts for a while and reaching down between her legs to stroke her through layers of skirt and petticoat, Dash lifted his face. "Too much clothing."
Victoria sat and helped him to strip her bare then lay back down.
He regarded her naked body, taking his time with a leisurely inspection. She flushed under his scrutiny but loved it. Her sense of propriety had shifted over the past months. At first, exhibiting her nude body to Dash had been torture, but she'd come to crave the awe and desire on his face every time he beheld her. He'd introduced her to other acts she'd never imagined men and women could do, slowly and patiently teaching her about her body.
Now, as Dash focused his gaze on her sex and leaned toward it, Victoria knew exactly what he had in mind. The lips of her pussy tightened in anticipation of his mouth touching her there. He spread her folds with his fingers and licked along her seam before flicking his tongue over her erect bud. Intense sparkles of delight shot through her. If the American Mr. Edison had learned to channel electricity--and she had no doubt his electric bulb would someday replace gas lighting--just imagine what power could be generated by harnessing human pleasure. She smiled at the idea of orgasms lighting a city.
Dash lapped until the tension in her body was as tight as the filament on a circuit board. Victoria whimpered, her hips lifting to his seductive touch. Then suddenly the wire broke with a jangling that shook her to the core. She cried out and arched off the bed, electrified.
After her climax abated, she exhaled and opened her eyes. Dash chuckled and crawled up to lie beside her, his erection pressing into her hip. "You're beautiful when you come."
His coarse compliment stil had the power to make her blush. It was difficult to overcome a lifetime of purposely avoiding al knowledge of the passions of the body. When he leaned to kiss her, she tasted her musky essence on his tongue, empiric evidence of her climax.
He nuzzled at her shoulder and the curve of her neck, making her squirm and smile. "I'm so lucky to have a wife who's not only beautiful but also the smartest woman in al London."
"And I'm lucky to have a husband who not only fights relentlessly for his beliefs but also knows how to please his wife in bed."
She stretched luxuriously and then reached down to test the strength of Dash's erection. It pulsed hotly in her hand. She stroked the lovely length and looked into his dark, hungry eyes.
"Enough compliments now."
"Definitely."
Victoria pushed Dash onto his back and moved down to face his thick, flushed penis. She'd been embarrassed and nervous the first time she'd done this, but when she'd realized what pleasure it gave him, she'd overcome her shyness. She'd quickly become adept at reading his reactions and knowing exactly what to do.
Now she enjoyed the sense of power it gave her to hold him in her hands and mouth and bring him the same pleasure he'd given her.
She stroked his shaft and slid her tongue around the tip before drawing it into her mouth. Reaching her other hand below, she cradled his sac, fondling his bal s. Dash groaned and rested his hand on her head as he thrust toward her.
She sucked him hard and rubbed his cock briskly the way she knew he liked. Only when she felt the rhythm of his body change and his need begin to pass the turning point did she pul away.
She climbed on top of him--one of those things she hadn't known a woman could do--and lowered herself onto his erection, bracing her hands against his chest.
His eyes were glazed with lust as he looked at her. "Victoria," he whispered. The syl ables of her name contained everything he didn't say-- You're amazing, wonderful, astonishing, and I love you.
As she slowly rose and fel on him, he gripped her waist and his eyes closed. Such an expression of bliss radiated from his face it made her heart ache. She thought of the hard early years of Dash's life when he'd been on his own with no one to care for him but Lizzie, another abandoned child. Victoria wanted to give him everything now to make up for those years. The comforts of her home--now their home--and al the love in her heart. She wanted to offer him every luxury she could without injuring his pride, but even more to let him know he could always trust in her.
Right now, however, she merely wanted to give Dash a powerful orgasm. She rode him faster, grinding against him, heat building in the friction between their bodies. At last, he began to shudder beneath her. His fingers dugs into her sides so hard they would leave bruises and he groaned loudly.
Victoria gripped his shoulders and drove down one last time, enveloping him. She closed her eyes and reveled in the satisfaction of being deeply fil ed. Her muscles clenched around his pulsing shaft. As his seed released inside her, she wondered if she might find herself with child soon. She pictured a little one with her red hair and Dash's dark eyes and ached to hold the imaginary child. Would Dash be equal y pleased if she were to become pregnant?
Victoria relaxed on top of Dash and his arms went around her, holding her tight. Beneath her ear, his heart beat steadily. His skin was moist and tasted salty when she flicked her tongue over his col arbone. She was as comfortable and sated as a cat with a bel y ful of cream.
Her husband's voice pul ed her back from the edge of sleep.
"Victoria?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"I--I love you."
Victoria caught her breath. In al their months together Dash had said many things. He'd argued with her, complimented her, laughed with her, spoken affectionately or angrily, but even on their wedding day, he hadn
't proclaimed his love. She understood what those words of trust cost him and how much he meant them if he final y offered them.
"I love you, too, Dash." She kept her voice steady although her eyes wel ed with tears of emotion.
"I just...wanted you to know that."
"I do know, but thank you for saying it."
"Tomorrow, if the weather's fine, we should make time to walk in the park, perhaps ride the carousel once more before they close it down for the winter."
"That sounds lovely, Dash." She raised her head to look into his eyes. "We'l take a walk, ride the carousel, and we'l be certain to admire the flowers."
About the Author
Bonnie Dee began tel ing stories as a child. Whenever there was a sleepover, she was the designated ghost tale tel er, guaranteed to frighten and thril with macabre tales. She stil has a story printed on yel ow legal paper in second grade about a ghost, a witch and a talking cat.
Writing childish stories for her own pleasure led to majoring in English at col ege. Like most English majors, she dreamed of writing a novel but didn't have the necessary focus and fol ow-through at that time in her life. A husband, children and work occupied the next twenty years, and it was only in 2000 that she began writing again. Bonnie enjoys reading stories about people damaged by life who find healing with a like-minded soul. When she couldn't find enough books to suit her taste, she began to write them.
You can see her backlist at http://bonniedee.com or join her Yahoo group for updates on new releases at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bonniedee/.
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Copyright (c) 2010 by Bonnie Dee
Al rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mil Road, Don Mil s, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
Al characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and al incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine