Seduction Wears Sapphires

by Renee Bernard

  “We . . . Quakers . . . like to keep our secrets, Mr. Blackwell.”

  He caught her wrist and pulled her down onto the rug to straddle him. “I’d forgotten that I’d promised you riding lessons.”

  “Did you?” she teased. She wriggled her hips to nestle her sex against his, the barrier of his pants doing little to disguise the firm outline of his aroused flesh. The first shimmer of anticipation flared up from her hips and Caroline reveled in the silent promises his body made to hers. She crossed her arms to lift her nightgown up over her head, a nymph unabashedly revealing herself for his appreciative eyes and hands. “I love the feel of your hands on my body, Ashe.”

  “Then you must close your eyes and imagine them there the next time you are trapped in the dowager’s den and fending off Miss Woodberry’s poetry readings.” He was quick to oblige her, his hands fanning upward from her waist, encircling her back, and then sweeping up over her breasts, where he pressed his palms lightly against the pebble-hard tips to make her gasp in delight and arch into his touch.

  Caroline threw her head back and closed her eyes as his fingers pinched each coral nub, sending jolts of fire down her spine and making the inner muscles of her core begin to ache with need. It was as if he knew every invisible line within her, and she moaned as he played the tight strings that would create her release.

  “Ashe!”

  He slid one of his hands between her legs, instantly finding what he sought. He loved the wet, soft, silky flesh that met his caress as he worked her clit and one of his fingers slid up inside of her, then two. All the while, his other hand continued to tweak and tug at the coral crests that demanded his attention, and he mirrored his strokes to spur her on, striving to make her lose control.

  In the firelight, she was a pagan goddess riding him for her own solitary pleasure, her hair burnished bronze curls that fell across her shoulders and down her back. The play of light and shadows made her lush figure even more stark and beautiful, and he was awed at her complete trust and abandonment. Ashe was sure that as a man he would happily sacrifice himself on this altar if it meant watching her achieve her release. But his own needs protested, his cock throbbing with denied access to her slick sex as she moved over him.

  “Come, my clever chaperone. Take charge of me, I beg you.”

  She was quick to show mercy, rocking her weight back onto her ankles to eye the clear cause of his discomfort as his cock pressed up toward the waist of his trousers. Caroline shamelessly caressed and stroked him through the cloth, testing his endurance and openly enjoying her game. Her nimble fingers made quick work of his buttons, finally freeing him for her intimate appreciation. She dipped one pointed fingertip down to touch his mighty erection’s eager tip, collecting a single pearl of translucent crème to ever so slowly suck and sample it from her finger, and Ashe nearly spent himself at the sight of it.

  “To be a good rider, I must break in my stallion, sir.”

  Caroline decided she would use her mouth to bring him to the brink. In the rise and fall of the firelight, it was a thing of true beauty, proud and impressive, as hard as steel but sheathed in velvet soft skin that begged for the touch of her lips.

  It still amazed her that her body could accommodate the sheer size of him, but for now, she wished only for possession of it—and the chance to make him beg even more.

  Caroline took her time, running her fingers over the satinlike skin, teasing then gripping, stroking him just as he’d shown her, and watching the subtle changes as his cock jumped in her palm. The fiery heat of his flesh was intoxicating, and Ashe groaned as she deliberately fanned the wet head of his cock with every exhale to torture him, until she couldn’t stand to wait any longer before tasting him.

  She lowered her head down and kissed him, reverently drinking in the salty-sweet first drops of his essence before opening her mouth to pull him in. Her tongue encircled the ripe head of it, then dipped into the sensitive juncture at the tip of his shaft to dance along the ridge of skin until his hips shook beneath her hands.

  Caroline gripped him with her fingers, alternating the pressure of her touch with wicked wet kisses and the work of her tongue up and over him, until she was lost in the rhythm and ritual of pure pleasure.

  His fingers tangled in her hair, and Ashe stared at the overwhelming sight of his prim and proper chaperone wantonly lapping up his sex and parting him from his control.

  Just when he was sure he couldn’t hold back, she pulled herself back up over him, spreading her legs to hover there for long seconds, squeezing just the ripe tip of him with the tight entrance to her core, allowing him inside of her body by the merest fraction.

  “Damn it, Caroline!”

  “Shhh! Such language, Ashe! I am learning about passion.”

  “You’re learning how to kill a man!”

  She leaned down, her dark blonde hair becoming a curtain that shielded his eyes from the firelight. “I would never hurt you.”

  She enveloped him in a single glorious move, rocking back onto his cock and taking all of it, impaling the hot, soaking confines of her body with his and forcing him to grip her hip bones to keep himself from bucking upward and bruising her. It was a mindless ecstasy that shocked him as his entire body fused with hers.

  Ashe gave into it and they set off at a gallop until the room echoed with their quiet cries and the primal slapping sound of their flesh meeting in a timeless dance. If she was learning about passion, then Ashe was sure he was every bit her fellow pupil. The entire world fell away and there was only Caroline above him and around him, the taste of her in his mouth, and the scent of her in his nostrils.

  I’m drowning in this woman and I want more, he told himself. Enough!

  He shifted to overtake her and force her to lose her seat without dislodging himself from within her. In the space of a heartbeat, Caroline was on her back, a willing captive beneath him, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she locked her ankles around him, holding on for dear life as every vestige of tenderness fell away from them both. This was blinding hunger that demanded satisfaction, and Caroline tilted her hips upward to draw in each ruthless stroke.

  Locked together, they became a living intricate puzzle that made every exhale and the slightest movement impossibly erotic and meaningful.

  Caroline’s eyes widened as the searing hot coil inside of her imploded in a white-hot shower of sensation. The climax stole the air from her lungs and she was helpless in its wake as wave after wave washed through her frame, echoing every thrust of Ashe’s hips. The pleasure grew so intense she began to weep.

  She feared he would misunderstand and ducked her face into the curve of his neck only to bite his shoulder as another shiver of fire overtook her.

  Ashe gritted his teeth to keep from roaring as he came in a cascade of lightning and fire that seared his soul—her climax spurring him on and on as her muscles milked his cock until he was completely drained.

  I’m as weak as a newborn, God help me.

  One last arc of molten bliss shot down his spine and Ashe decided that he was past all help—divine or otherwise.

  Let’s just pray we both survive this.

  Chapter

  19

  “I have something for you.” He held out the black lacquered box, wishing he had more practice at respectable gift-giving. He’d invaded her room to surprise her before they left for a masque ball. She was wearing the silvery blue evening gown that he’d requested and it thrilled him to see that she had done just that—to please him. “Though perhaps you shouldn’t say they are from me.”

  Caroline’s hands stayed by her sides. “It isn’t appropriate—”

  “Never mind! To hell with appropriate, Caroline. Say they’re a family heirloom or tell the world that I gave them to you because I wanted more than anything to offer you proof of . . . my feelings.” He shifted his weight on his feet, nerves making the box heavy in his hand as he continued to hold it out to her. “Take it, Caroline, if only to spare my pr
ide.”

  She smiled slowly and reached for the case, opening it with the gentle caution of a woman unused to gifts. Ashe watched her with an echo of surprise. Her grandfather had been as rich as Croesus and she would have a mountain of trinkets to show for it. But her demeanor was so sweet, he was humbled by her acceptance of his present.

  “To spare your feelings then, for I wouldn’t be accused of stripping a man of his pride,” she said. Then her eyes widened as if in shock. “Ashe! It’s . . .”

  “Sapphires. They are star sapphires and when I first saw you in this ball gown at Worthley’s, I couldn’t help but think that they belonged with you.” He took the necklace from the case to place it around her throat with sensual ease. “These are stones from India. Souvenirs from my travels there and ones I thought never to see the light of day, Caroline. But when I look at you, I think what a tragedy that would be. For they come to life in the light, don’t you think?”

  Just as you’ve come to life for me, Caroline. Just as I have . . . with you.

  Her fingers trembled as she touched the hazelnut sized stones around her throat, the small diamonds encircling each star sapphire setting off its hidden fire. Each stone matched the silver blue of her dress just as he’d envisioned it. “It’s too much.”

  “Hardly.” He suddenly wanted to cover her in jewels; a possessive joy seized him at the notion of claiming her in a shower of glittering stones.

  “Why were you hiding them, Ashe?” She turned to face him directly. “They’re so beautiful and it seems strange that you would keep them from the light of day.”

  You’re too clever, Caroline. I think it’s what I’ve come to admire most about you. “Natural enough to keep them safe, and what would a gentleman do with them? I could hardly decorate my horse’s harness or use them for buttons, could I?”

  She laughed at the preposterous notion. “They would make impressive buttons!”

  “Think of this necklace as your own Kohinoor, though it’s hardly the size of that infamous diamond.” Ashe loved the way she unconsciously began to preen as the metal warmed against her skin. He guided her toward the gilt mirror on her vanity.

  “And does my Kohinoor come with its own magic?”

  His eyes met hers in the mirror, and Ashe felt a tight heat in his chest, an ache at the sight of the vulnerable beauty looking back at him, her fearless brown eyes so trusting and sweet. “The woman who wears these stones will never come to harm.”

  “Never?”

  “Never so long as I live.”

  Oh, God, if ever a man spoke a blood oath over stones and meant it to the last breath.

  “You’re late, Blackwell!”

  “I’m never late, Terrance,” Ashe corrected his host, Lord Crawley, with a cavalier smile.

  “It’s said the prince himself is sporting about in a masque this evening, Blackwell! What do you say to that?” Lord Crawley crowed before his eyes lit on Caroline with a predatory gleam. “But who is this petite goddess?”

  “May I introduce my grandfather’s ward, Miss Caroline Townsend?”

  It was a slightly different title, and Caroline marveled at the subtle shift. The rules in polite society would gracefully bend if she were out from under his direct protection. A keen flare of hope burned even more brightly inside of her, one almost too painful to voice.

  The gift of the sapphires as proof of his feelings, he’d said! And now this . . . Can it be that he truly cares enough to risk such a public declaration?

  “Isn’t she a delight!” Lord Crawley bowed over her hand. “When you tire of Blackwell’s ill manners, you must send word. I am determined to restore your faith in English gentility.”

  Before she could reply, Ashe stepped forward to say, “What faith? She’s American, Lord Crawley, and has no illusions about Englishmen, I can assure you.” He gently propelled her from the receiving line as Lord Crawley burst into laughter at the exchange. Then under his breath, Ashe continued, “As if that old goat’s manners would improve anything!”

  “Be kind!” she chided him without conviction as she struggled not to smile. “We are his guests, Mr. Blackwell.”

  Ashe retrieved two masques from a basket on a large marble table and offered her one decorated with small silver beads, keeping a black and red silk affair for himself. “You’re right, of course. Here, a simple affectation and you are transformed! For the night, Miss Townsend shall be a bejeweled temptress and a woman to be reckoned with.”

  “I am always a woman to be reckoned with, Mr. Blackwell,” she said as she took the long ribbon-wrapped handle attached to the masque. “But what will you become tonight?”

  His blue eyes glowed at the amusing prospect of his disguise. “I shall be your faithful servant and make sure that Lord Crawley keeps a respectable distance.” Ashe tied his masque on and rewarded her with an elegant bow. “Dance with me, temptress.”

  She nodded her acceptance, not trusting her voice. It was all so perfect and so precarious. Her despair at the destruction of her future had never taken hold, not in the light of Ashe’s searing gaze, and new dreams coalesced and began to dance just beyond her reach as he walked her through the marbled halls of the marquis’ great house.

  For the first time, she felt a sense of belonging that had nothing to do with her family or her fortunes. It was simply Ashe’s hand covering hers on his arm as he protectively guided her toward the ballroom. I am his, and instead of feeling enslaved, I feel completely free.

  They blended seamlessly into the swirling dancers already on the floor, and Ashe held her so closely she forgot to worry about the steps or even consider where her toes might touch the ground. Caroline forgot everything in the whirlwind of color and movement that became their world for a few magical moments.

  The mud wren is gone forever! I am a temptress and a woman in love!

  The electricity between them left her breathless and giddy.

  “What are you thinking, Caroline?” he asked. The warm heat of his mouth barely brushing against the outer shell of her ear made the span between her hips spasm with moisture.

  “I was wondering if I was sleepwalking again.”

  “I can assure you that you are awake.”

  “How embarrassing to think of oneself walking and carrying on conversations without any memory of it! I’m still not sure I can trust my senses. Are you sure this isn’t a dream?”

  He looked down into her eyes. “Trust me. When you sleepwalk, I’ve not known you to remember to wear clothes.” The gentle teasing tone made her want to melt against him completely.

  “You make a good point, Blackwell. Thank you for clarifying things.”

  The woman who wears these stones will never come to harm.

  The dance ended far too quickly as far as she was concerned, but the sight of Lord Winters and his lady wife gave her a rush of comfort. Lady Winters took both her hands into her own in a warm greeting and Caroline marveled again at the easy grace and lack of pretension she projected.

  “What a pleasure to see you again, Miss Townsend!” Haley said. “And how beautiful you look this evening!”

  “I meant to say the same, Lady Winters,” Caroline replied. It was not an empty compliment to her new friend in a ruby red gown that set off her coloring to perfection.

  “You were to call me Haley, remember?” Lady Winters teased her merrily.

  “She remembers,” Ashe noted with a wry grin. “Miss Townsend remembers everything she has ever heard. Trust me. I’ve experienced it firsthand.”

  Caroline blithely ignored him. “Mr. Blackwell didn’t mention that we might see you tonight, Haley!”

  Galen gave his friend a wary look. “Perhaps because Ashe was hoping to have you all to himself for the evening.”

  Caroline averted her gaze to make a thorough inspection of her masque, checking it for any loose feathers. Are we that obvious? Will his friends think less of me for it?

  Galen’s wife rewarded him with a quick elbow to his ribs as Ashe replied, �
�A flawed strategy to take a woman out in public if that were my intention.”

  “Would you care to get us some refreshments, gentlemen?” Lady Winters interjected, the ploy obvious.

  “We are dismissed, Ashe. Come, let’s slink away to the punch bowls and recover what dignity we can while the ladies discuss your shortcomings.” Galen bowed briefly.

  “My shortcomings? Brace yourself, Lord Winters. For I am bound to come out ahead in a comparison—shall we?” Ashe winked at Caroline playfully before heading off with his friend into the crowd on their quest for drinks.

  “They are like children whenever they are together,” Lady Winters remarked. “Teasing each other and competing like fools.”

  Caroline’s eyes followed Ashe’s broad shoulders until he vanished into the crush. “He does not like to be called a child,” she said quietly.

  “What?” Haley prompted, missing her words.

  “Nothing,” Caroline corrected herself. “I cannot believe they would abandon us so quickly if either one fears a conspiracy.”

  Haley shook her head with a smile. “It gives Galen a chance to apologize for being too outspoken, and Ashe a chance to deny that he’s completely besotted; so I believe it entirely. And don’t look at me like that! I know what it is to be swept up in the moment, Miss Townsend. I am . . . familiar with your predicament.”

  “Oh,” Caroline said, wishing she could summon more eloquence after such an admission. It was comforting to think that Lady Winters cared enough to empathize, but she wasn’t sure they were discussing the same matter. Besotted? Here is proof beyond sapphires! Fresh eyes are seeing what I can’t, and if that isn’t cause to celebrate, I don’t know what would be.

  “But what a beautiful necklace, Miss Townsend!” Lady Winters exclaimed. “Those are jewels fit for a queen.”

  Caroline’s cheeks warmed, her fingers tracing the arc of the stones at her throat nervously. “Thank you. They were a gift from—”