Why? Brock paused, feeling the rise of her breathing against him. He had to think of another reason to compel her to the altar. What might that be? It wasn’t as if she were with child—or was she?
“I think you should consider another matter. What if you conceived last night?”
She laughed, taking Brock aback, and stepped from his embrace. “Highly unlikely.”
“Perhaps, but possible.”
“I shall take my chances.”
“And what will you do, bear a bastard? That would set the ton’s tongues wagging about you—and Aimee. There is a legacy for your daughter to be proud of.”
“If I were to conceive, perhaps I might be persuaded to marry. For now, I simply choose to believe the odds are in my favor.”
Her words gave Brock both hope—and an idea. “We still have the pesky matter of that money between us. You do not wish to marry me, and I admit I have no wish to see you put into the Fleet.”
Maddie flashed him a triumphant glare over her shoulder.
“However,” he continued, “Neither do I think it fair to have you ‘pay me when you are able.’ You won’t find any creditor to agree to those terms. So we must come to a solution. I believe you once offered your services as my mistress as a way to alleviate your debt. I find that offer acceptable today.”
Her smile crumbled into a mask of shock. “You cannot!”
“I can, and I do.”
“I made that bargain with you under duress.”
Brock shrugged. “As I recall, you offered your... services to me. How is that duress?”
“You were threatening me, pressing me—”
“That’s irrelevant, really. The question is, do you truly mean to do the dishonorable thing and go back on your word? Tsk, Maddie. I expected more from one of your breeding.”
“You intend to hold me to this bargain?”
“For each and every night of the next six months.”
Already he relished the idea of possessing her again, her damp skin and heated sighs belonging to him. He wanted her to crave him, as he did her. He intended to consume her, urge her to take every bit of him until they both found mind-numbing satisfaction.
Against the small of her back, his cock grew hard.
And after six months of being her tender, demanding lover, he’d make certain that he’d tied her heart to his so that she could no longer simply walk away.
And if she happened to conceive along the way, all the better.
Cropthorne had given Brock a mere month to persuade Maddie into marriage. And Brock knew that unless he found some means to tie their fate, he would likely lose his chief investor. It might ruin him.
But in the end, he would have Maddie as his wife.
Maddie gasped and wrenched away. “I will hate you every time you touch me.”
Perhaps, but she had given in. She would become his mistress.
Still, her barb hit its mark, gouging him with pain. He refused to let it show. “Hate me if you wish. It’s merely pleasure that concerns me.”
He sent her a hot, searching stare, one that mentally disrobed her and liked the view. Then he crooked a finger at her, wearing a wicked smile. “Come here.”
Defiance and panic gripped her face at once. “No.”
“That isn’t the answer a good mistress gives, Maddie. That word should be removed from your vocabulary where I am concerned. If I ask you to disrobe slowly for my pleasure, the answer is yes. If I say my plan to arouse you until you beg, you agree. If I ask you to look into my eyes as I thrust my—”
“That is hardly asking; that is demanding I behave like—like some cross between your trained puppy and a whore.”
“Semantics.” He shrugged. “A good mistress always says yes.”
She clenched her teeth so hard, Brock thought she might grind them into powder. Her lips pursed, her skin flushed. He’d seen her more beautiful before, but there was nothing like Maddie with her passionate spirit roused.
With an angry toss of her head, Maddie spat, “As you wish. I will return tomorrow so we may begin this degrading exchange.”
She turned away, toward the foyer. Brock grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to him again. He splayed his fingers over the flat of her belly and caressed.
“I prefer right now,” he murmured in her ear.
Brock turned her to face him. Before she could protest, he captured her face in his hands and took her mouth in a sweeping kiss.
In that kiss, he vowed to give her pleasure. Maddie paused, then softened, losing some of the stiffness in her spine. As his fingers curled into the silken strands of her auburn hair and removed the pins, he promised to be gentle. And she returned his kiss. As he brushed his thumbs across the tips of her breasts, he told her wordlessly that he would tempt her as never before. She whimpered, and her nipples hardened to his touch.
It was a sweet victory for Brock. Knowing that she might soon be mewling for him and taking him deep, made his pulse leap.
Brock planted a trail of kisses down her neck as he began unfastening the hooks of her dress, one by one. Through it all, he could tell Maddie tried her damndest not to respond. But by degrees, she continued to yield.
He licked the hammering pulse at her throat and smiled against her erotically fragrant skin as he unfastened the final hook low on her back and shoved her dress down. The garment slid down her arms, exposing the swells of her breasts above her chemise. When her arms were free, the dress spilled toward the floor. He divested her of her corset and petticoats. Then Brock helped her away from the garments, back toward the cottage’s little parlor and its firelit warmth. She refused to look at him.
Not content with the scant inches of distance between them, Brock took hold of her arms and urged her closer. She resisted, as he’d suspected she would. Maddie was a challenge, no doubt, but one he was ready for. He wanted to give her pleasure like she had never had. Before she left this cottage, she would know how powerful the lure between them was.
“I’m going to learn every inch of your body,” he whispered against her mouth. He was gratified when her eyes widened.
Maddie shook her head. “There is nothing to learn. I am willing to yield myself, so hurry and be done with it.”
She wanted him to hurry, take her blindly? Did she hope she would feel nothing if he did?
Brock almost laughed. If Maddie believed he’d allow that, she was sadly mistaken. No, she affected him, arousing him beyond bearing, damn it; now he would return the favor.
“I won’t rush with you, sweet girl,” he whispered. “I plan to take my time, until I know you’re wild with wanting.”
Even as a rosy flush spread across her shoulders and cheeks, rebuttal gathered in her expression. Brock spun her around to face the wall, stunning her into silence. She stood a few inches from its surface, tense. In one quick motion, he grabbed her wrists, thrust her hands above her head, then placed them flat against the wall.
Her feet were shoulder’s width apart. She tried to bring them together, whether to close her feminine folds from his touch or out of misplaced modesty, he did not know. Nor did he care.
Brock leaned in to whisper, “Don’t move.”
“But—”
“The time for protests is over.”
“Brock, wait! I—”
Brock did not wait. Instead, he nibbled at the back of her neck in soft, pressing kisses, little warm breaths that made her shiver. He lifted the edges of her chemise and slid his hands beneath. The silk of her bare skin sent a bolt of hunger through him. He hardened, ached.
His touch roved from her thighs, up to her hip, barely skirting her feminine mound with the tips of his fingers.
Maddie wriggled her hips restlessly.
Pleased with his progress, Brock trailed a finger up the center of her belly, then slowly explored the downy valley between her breasts. He drew a thin line across the swell of her breast with his thumb, coming dangerously close to her nipple. He felt her flesh draw
up in arousal.
“That’s it,” he coaxed as he repeated the process with her other breast.
Maddie exhaled raggedly.
“I love to hear you sigh when I touch you,” he murmured.
Maddie stood stock still and scarcely took a breath. Brock smiled at her attempts to disguise her reaction. No matter. Her body would tell the truth.
Brock skimmed his palms down the curve of her waist. His fingertips brushed their way up her abdomen in the next moment—then continued over her breasts.
Maddie drew in a shuddering breath when he stroked oh-so-near to her hard nipples again and moved away. He returned an instant later, scraping his thumbs across the tips of her breasts until they puckered and engorged completely.
She gasped, then struggled to silence herself. Brock dragged his thumbs across her nipples again. And again. Maddie moaned, then bit her lip as if to keep further sounds in.
A fine sheen of sweat broke out across his back, and Brock summoned every ounce of his strength to stop himself from lowering her to the floor and burying himself inside her.
“Your breasts are sensitive,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll be certain to give them plenty of attention.”
He lived up to his promise, rolling her nipples between his thumb and fingers, pinching lightly, sliding his thumbs over their hard tops.
She whimpered. Her breathing turned fast, hard. She pressed her backside into his straining erection. Yes. He smiled. She was every bit as aroused as he was.
To prove it, he glided a pair of fingers down her stomach until he reached the soft curls covering her feminine mound.
Maddie inhaled sharply when he skimmed the top of her folds. He dipped his fingers into her vulva. She was more than slick; she was completely wet, ready. And without a doubt, he was ready to give her anything, everything...
Lust pounded at him, a constant, driving pressure inside him. He wanted her. On the floor, against the wall—he didn’t care as long as he had her.
“I feel how wet you are, sweet girl.”
She moaned in answer, shaking her head. “No.”
“Yes. You are.”
As he caressed her again, she heated under his touch. Exultation and need slammed into him, urging him on.
Fingers moist from her arousal, Brock sought her hardening bud. He circled, teased, captured, caressed, and stiffened it completely. Maddie sobbed. Her thighs trembled. He had her on the brink, he knew. She knew it too.
Her body all but offered itself to him as she flushed and moaned, spread her thighs wider apart and pressed herself against him. With his free hand, he nipped and caressed the peaked pebbles of her breasts. His blood roared.
Greedily, he devoured the soft, soft skin of her neck with his voracious mouth. The tangled mass of her hair streamed down her back, caught between them. He wanted to feel it on his bare body. He did not remember ever wanting anyone—or anything—the way he wanted to be inside Maddie right now. Desire spiraled into a tight, thick coil. He vowed to send her over the edge while buried deep inside her so he could feel her pulsing on his cock.
For now, he forced himself to concentrate on unraveling her with his hands.
Maddie arched and mewled against him as his fingers plundered her. She was intoxicating to feel as her pleasure mounted, climbed, teetered on the precipice. The air between them felt primitive and charged. Brock swirled his fingers around her once more—and waited.
“Do you want it, Maddie?”
She panted, shuddered. Tensed. Then she nodded.
“Not good enough. Tell me you want it. Ask me to give it to you.”
She drew in a deep, trembling breath and threw her head back. His fingers hovered right over her, and she wriggled her hips to take her pleasure. He curled his free arm around her to stop her.
“There’s only one way you’ll have this climax. Ask me. Make me believe you need it.” He punctuated his demand with another caress of the little hard bud, taking her right up to the edge again.
She mewled. “Please. Please, Brock. Touch me. I need it.”
“It or me?”
Her fingers curled into fists against the wall. “You. Please… I need you.”
The surrender in her plea, in her body, was so, so sweet. He savored it. And every time he touched her, he would bring her to this place. She might not have given him her heart yet, but she would give him her body, give it completely into his keeping again and again, until her heart followed.
He brushed his thumb over her hard nub again, circling, caressing. And she gave a low, keening cry before her entire body shuddered for long moments of bliss.
Finally, she sighed and fell still. Silently, Brock ran a palm lightly up her hip, to her waist. Her body bespoke repletion, but she tensed, and he felt anxiety creep back in.
When he turned her to face him. Her eyes were languid, heavy. If he didn’t step in soon, she would begin to feel awkward and shy. That was the last thing he wanted between them.
“Help me out of my clothes, Maddie. I’m dying to feel your bare body against mine.”
He started by removing his coat, then his boots. Breathing hard, Maddie hesitated, then raised her trembling hands to the buttons of his shirt, gray eyes heated, face flushed from pleasure. Her willingness flamed Brock, and he unfastened his breeches.
Soon, he stood naked. Beyond ready, he yanked her chemise over her head and murmured, “I can’t wait. I must have you.”
“Now,” she whispered.
Brock looked about. The sofa was too small. The bedroom was too far away.
With a curse, he urged her to the ground and covered her body with his, nudging her thighs apart with his own legs. When he probed between her folds with his hard cock, she lifted her hips to him in welcome. He entered her in one solid thrust.
Brock groaned aloud, deep in his chest, and threw his head back in pleasure. Maddie’s flesh around him was so swollen. She gripped him so tightly. He wanted her so damn badly...
Capturing her mouth in a blistering kiss, he surged into her again and set a brutal pace. She matched it as he hammered into her willing body, moving beneath him, all lush curves arching up to him in perfect rhythm. The heat between them smoldered. Desire lanced him like a hot blade. He’d known he ached for her, but even he was unprepared for the force of his desire.
Beneath him, she writhed and clutched at his hair, his back. She was noisy in her pleasure, and he liked that. It drove him higher. Need clawed at him. But Maddie’s breathing told him she was damn close to ecstasy.
“Don’t hold back,” he demanded. “Let me have it.”
With a catch of breath and a long cry, Maddie’s pleasure burst, and Brock felt her grip his shaft, milk him. Sensations rushed over him, exploded. He saw black spots, felt nothing but Maddie’s soft jasmine flesh, heard her cry in his ears.
Lord, he’d never known ecstasy so perfect.
When Brock caught his breath, he peered down at Maddie. She lay limp, eyes closed, replete. He’d never seen her look so damp or rosy...or beautiful.
Finding paradise twice in the past week with her hadn’t been enough. He began to wonder if twice a night would be.
Damn! He needed to move, leave the heat of her body—and this cottage. He’d proven his point. She was his mistress, to do with as he wished. And she had responded to his touch beyond his every expectation. Staying now and making love to her again would only prove him weak.
Gritting his teeth, Brock withdrew and rose to his feet, aching for her again already. Leaving her would be more difficult than he’d ever imagined.
In silence, he donned his clothes. Quickly, Maddie scrambled about to find her chemise and her dress, refusing to look his way. She wore no expression at all when he offered to assist her with her hooks. She merely presented him her back, while attempting to restore some semblance of order to her auburn curls.
The air was thick, with an undercurrent of her anger and unspoken words. One look at her face confirmed his suspicion. She�
��d drawn back into herself.
Now that Maddie was dressed, she looked as proper as any well-born widow. “Were you pleased enough?”
She spat the words at him, as if he’d done her some terrible disservice. Brock lashed back.
“Almost as pleased as you.”
Maddie blushed a deep red and drew herself up higher. “You enjoy doing your utmost to reduce my pride.”
“No. You hate that I’m forcing you to be honest,” he countered. “I won’t let you hide from me—not your body, not your response. I expect complete candor in that area for the next one hundred seventy-nine days because your pleasure is my pleasure. I’ll want to see it wildly and often.”
Maddie donned her cloak and whirled to face him. “Must you remind me that I behaved like a whore?”
Brock grabbed her shoulders. “You behaved like a perfect mistress. Be prepared to act the same, naked, eager, and ready for me tomorrow night.”
#
The next afternoon, Maddie sat in the parlor of the one person she knew could help her: her sister-in-law, Roberta. What were her chances that Roberta would rally round her? Assuredly slim, but Maddie had to try. She was desperate. She didn’t dare repeat that joyful, humiliating surrender to Brock’s touch again.
Blast it all, she would rather ask Gavin for help. And she would have gone to her cousin if she believed for a moment he would grant her wish. Brock had made it clear, however, that, despite her warning, Gavin had chosen to stay in league with her “protector.” Clearly, money meant more than blood.
Over the preceding sleepless night, she had debated the wisdom of coming to Roberta, pride swallowed. Eventually she had decided she must sacrifice her dignity for an hour to ask a favor, albeit a large one, of a woman she had once called family. It seemed better than surrendering her pride every night for the next six months to a scoundrel who could turn her inside out with a mere touch.
“You’ve come to me for money? That’s nearly a fortune!” Roberta looked both displeased and smug at once. “How have you so sorely mismanaged what Colin left you?”
Shayla Black Page 20