Julia’s brows drew together. “I’ve already told him of the mistreatment I experienced at Wallthorpe’s hands. And he is well aware I took a sheik as a lover. What more need I say?”
“Ah, but have you told him how all that has happened made you feel?” A blond brow arched up.
Once more, Julia could feel her cheeks heat. “No. I merely relayed the events.”
Theo nodded. “I see where you are going with this, Marie. It wasn’t until I acknowledged my fears and truly opened myself up to Stone that we conquered our differences.”
Ros leaned over and squeezed Julia’s hand. “At least consider what they are suggesting.”
Julia nodded. “I shall take it under advisement.”
Having reflected on the times she had spent with Wolf in bed, Julia realized her most vulnerable moments came when he tied her up and spanked her. When he left her no choice but to surrender to him, both physically and mentally. So she decided to ask him for what she needed tonight.
Standing in a silky negligée, she pulled the ties from her other robes to give him as bindings. Determined to bridge the gap between them, and to reach for what she wanted, she waited until she heard his valet depart his room. Then she crossed to the connecting door and knocked once before opening it.
He looked up and offered her a tired but pleasant smile.
Suddenly doubting her plan, she tucked her hand behind her back and halted where she was, across the room. He had settled into a chair by a small fire with a snifter of brandy. She knew he preferred that to whisky just before bed.
“I thought I’d just check in before retiring.”
She tried to hide her consternation at finding him so relaxed and unguarded. Tired, even.
He stared at her a moment. “Check in?”
Her cheeks heated. “Yes, well, to see if you needed anything.”
She wanted to curse herself for feeling and acting so awkward. She was a woman of experience, and yet seeing him looking so worn out yet still pleased to see her had her tied in knots. She’d been about to ask him to tie her up, spank her, and then fuck her, but seeing him like this stopped her.
She didn’t wish to impose on him.
Dear God, she was a mess. Didn’t wish to impose on him? This was her husband.
She wasn’t asking him to tea; she was asking him to pleasure her. To do so to the point she had no walls left to hide behind. Disgusted with herself, she huffed out a breath, which only appeared to pique his interest.
Wolf sat up and set his drink down on the table next to him. “No, I can’t say there is anything I need at the moment.”
She started to turn and retreat.
“However, if you’d like to join me by the fire, your company is always welcome.”
He watched her, studying her like a specimen he was trying to learn and understand.
She tilted her head. “No, I’ll just head to bed.”
She turned, keeping her hand with the robe belts hidden in her skirts. She’d just reached the door once more when he stopped her.
“Jules, what’s in your hand?”
She closed her eyes and cursed under her breath as her stomach summersaulted. “Nothing.”
As though he had materialized out of thin air, his breath caressed her neck as he spoke from just behind her. “Do not lie to me, Jules.”
And then he pulled the silk ties from her clenched fist.
Her face burned. Not merely her cheeks, but her whole face flushed with the heat of her embarrassment.
He shifted around to lean against the wall by the doorway where she stood. “My, my, my. What have we here?” He ran the silk belts through his hands. Over and over again. “I wonder what my wife had in mind as she carried these about?”
Her body quivered. The problem was, now she wasn’t sure if it was from fear or anticipation. Possibly a little of both. Without a doubt, there was no turning back now. She bit her lip and waited to see what would happen.
“Nothing to say?” He no longer looked tired as he stood there holding the ties. “Conceivably she intended to tie me up and have her wicked way with me?”
She closed her eyes. “No.”
“I see. Then perhaps she wished for me to tie her up?”
His voice had grown husky, thick with arousal.
A strangled noise escaped her throat as her eyes flew open. “Do not torture me. You know very well what I intended.”
She glared at him balefully.
He reached up and swept a stray hair from her face with a tenderness that stalled her breathing. “Why are you leaving without asking for what you need?”
“You looked tired. I didn’t wish to impose.”
“Pleasuring you is never an imposition. Now, tell me what you came to ask for.”
He snared her gaze with his and refused to look away.
Her nipples beaded, pressed against the silky fabric of her robe. “I wanted you to tie me up and…”
He pushed up off the wall and stepped into her. She trembled and stared down at his chest, trying to come to grips with her doubts. Then he reached up and tucked a finger beneath her chin, tilting her head up until she looked at him.
“And?”
“Spank me.”
Determined to see this through now, she held his gaze and tried to gauge his reaction. It wasn’t as though she expected him to balk. After all, he’d done that to her before, but she had not specifically asked for it, and had not participated in it with the express intent to break down her walls and open herself up to him.
He licked his lips, desire darkening his gaze. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? Because I enjoy it.”
She blustered in hopes he wouldn’t delve too deep. She still wasn’t completely sure she could do as Marie suggested, but she thought this was her best chance.
He shook his head. “No, my dear. If all you wanted was a little slap and tickle, you would have no issue with demanding I tie you up and spank you. There is something more at play here. Tell me what you are after.”
His command made her knees weak and her breathing shallow. How could he be so perceptive, so aware of what was happening even as his cock stood hard and demanding against his trousers? “I- I-”
He took her hand and led her over to the fireplace. Then he sat down and pulled her into his lap. Once they were settled, he stroked her neck and pulled the pins from her hair. With the mass of her tresses down, he ran his fingers through it in the most soothing fashion. Slowly, he lulled her into a trance-like state. Her heartbeat slowed, and a sense of lethargy stole over her. Long minutes passed—maybe even hours—and then he asked again. “What were you after, love?”
She sighed as he continued petting her with a soothing touch. “I wanted to bridge the gap between us. To make myself trust you with all of my past. With our past.”
He grunted softly. “Do you trust me now? In this moment?”
She tensed up, fear stealing in to rob her of her resolve. “I- I- I want to.”
“You’ve told me of your time with Wallthorpe. And I am aware of how my desertion hurt you as deeply as your parents’ betrayal. Is there more you need to tell me?”
There was a note of worry in his voice.
She nodded. “Yes. I hated you back then. Hated you for leaving me to my fate. But then, while I lived with Tariq, I came to realize that had you come for me that night, I would have become a different person.”
He snarled at the mention of her lover, but she ignored his jealous display and continued.
“Granted, I am closed off from everyone, but I am strong. Independent in a way I would not have been had you rescued me from my fate. Which means while I hated you for a time, I know I am who I am now because of you, and I am grateful for that. But I am also scared. Scared that if I rely on you now, make myself vulnerable to you, I shall turn back into that woman I was. The one who allowed her parents to bully her into a marriage she didn’t want. And I cannot be that woman ever again.”
“Wolf, no.”
She tried to sit up, but he pinned her against his chest.
“Stay here.”
He returned to stroking her hair.
Worry settled in her chest. Fear that he might say something that changed this moment of accord into something else. Did she truly want to hear what he had to say?
Chapter 27
Fear slammed against Wolf’s ribs as he held Jules tight in his lap. She had made herself vulnerable, had opened herself up to him. He owed her the truth now. Taking a deep breath, he said the words he’d feared her hearing since she’d come back. Perhaps, if he were honest, the words he’d feared her hearing for over a decade.
“I’m a bastard.”
She jerked in his arms. “You shouldn’t say such things. You were not that bad.”
He sighed and held on to her, unwilling to see the moment the truth dawned on her. “Lord Wolfington is not my father. My mother had a lover who sired me upon her.”
With a strength he’d not have credited her, Jules sat up from his embrace, though she did not scramble from where she sat. “You are not your father’s heir?”
“Oh, I am his heir, as he has not publicly denied me as such. But it is the dark family secret that I am not in fact his natural born son.” He closed his eyes and let his head tilt back against the chair. “I learned this fact the night we were to run away. Wallthorpe sent me a letter laying all the sordid details out. How he knew, I do not know, but when I confronted my mother about it, she broke down in tears and acknowledged the truth.
“I was devastated, reeling from the news, but I was still determined to marry you. I went to my father and told him that Wallthorpe had threatened to expose the truth of my birth if I married you. I told him it mattered little to me as long as he would not deny us. But he refused. He told me if the family name was exposed in such a fashion, that he would not acknowledge me as his heir any longer. He would deny me—and you—by extension.
“We would have been penniless and nameless. Christ, I didn’t even know the name of the man who sired me. All I knew was that I couldn’t protect you without my father’s help. Without his acknowledgement, I was a pauper with no true skills other than being a gentleman. Whether I came to you or not, you were doomed. But I had no idea Wallthorpe would be violent with you. Had I known that, I would have damned the consequences and taken you away that night.”
A gentle touch swept away the moisture that streamed down one of his cheeks. Then soft lips kissed away the matching track. He opened his eyes as she drew back from the kiss. To his shock, tenderness and forgiveness shone in her gaze. He would have liked to believe he saw love there, as well, but he refused to delude himself.
“Wolf, I am so sorry my life brought such misery to your doorstep. Had you not been tangled up with me, that family secret would have remained a secret.”
“No. I am glad it came out. The truth in many ways has set me free. Until then, I had spent years trying to win my father’s approval. I had long since given up on love from him, but approval, I believed, was still achievable. Once I learned he was not my father, I let go of that small glimmer of hope. I stopped trying to please him with all my decisions.
“He and I came to an understanding that night. If I kept the family secret buried as it belonged, he would, as well. There was no hope of my having a brother, as proof she was not barren. They had tried for years after I came along. I think they both believed he was the one who could not produce an heir. Since the fault was no longer hers, and to save face, he simply claimed me as his.”
Silence stretched between them for long moments.
He looked at her through a half-lidded gaze. She didn’t appear disgusted by his revelation, but he couldn’t be sure. “If you find the reality of my birth repulsive, I shall release you from your vows. I would never want to shackle you to me if it made you unhappy.”
A small cry of dismay escaped her as she clasped his face in her hands. “Never! I cannot imagine my life without you now that you are in it once again. I admit, I have had my doubts and worries”–she pressed her hand to her breast—“but here, in my heart, I know I cannot walk away from you again.”
Wolf inhaled sharply. It was not a declaration of love, but it was so close, he was willing to take it. “If you agree to stay, you will be mine. I shall never let you go. If you leave, I shall come for you. I shall hunt you to the ends of the earth before I allow you to disappear from my life again.”
“I am not going anywhere,” she mumbled, and then planted her lips on his.
Immediately, her tongue pushed past his lips and teeth, demanding entrance to his mouth. Willing to let her have the lead for the moment, he opened to her. Their tongues crashed together, slipping and sliding over each other as they tangled and twisted. The small fire suddenly felt like a towering inferno as his body heated up.
His cock had flagged as he told her of his past, but once her mouth claimed his, the blood had returned to his shaft. The way she squirmed and fidgeted on his lap was driving him mad, even as he relished the need clearly pumping through her.
Cradling his wife in his arms with the robe belts in one hand, he stood and walked to the bed as they kissed. There, he set her down, letting her body slide along his as her feet found the ground. Far enough away from the fire to allow their skin to cool a bit, he still felt the heat from within. The passion he felt for Jules far outpaced both the evening chill and the small fire he’d lit. He could not deny the love he felt for her; nor did he wish to. But he was aware she needed a bit more time to grow comfortable with her own revelations.
Knowing what he did now, he could give her that time.
Setting aside the quagmire of emotion in his heart, he focused on pleasing her. With a gentle touch, he slipped her negligee from her shoulders, exposing the expanse of her pale skin. The longer she remained in England, the paler her skin had grown. Maybe he should take her to his country home, where they could make love naked in the outdoors…under the sun. The naughty thought made him smile as he imagined her rolling about in a field like a fairy or sprite.
Her breath caught then, drawing his focus back to the task at hand, a truly pleasurable one he had not anticipated tonight. She had been right, he had been tired when she’d come in. In fact, he’d had every intention of not taking her to bed, since she’d spent every one of the last fourteen nights since their wedding in his arms and in his bed. But then she’d walked in, and his cock had stirred immediately upon seeing her.
And when he’d noticed the robe ties in her hand? All good intentions had been lost.
The evening chill combined with her desire had her nipples puckering into tight little buds. He had to lick them, to roll the hard tips over his tongue. The need pushed him until he bent over and captured one. As he sucked hard, nipping and teasing her, she gasped and arched into his mouth.
So responsive.
He shifted to her other breast and repeated the action until she whimpered with need. Then he released her rosy tip and stood looming over her. A fierce need to possess her rode him, but he tempered it, knowing that soon she would be bound and unable to escape his bed. Taking her hands, he gathered her wrists together and used one of the ties to loop around them.
Her breathing grew jagged with excitement as she realized he had every intention of fulfilling her earlier request.
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br /> Once he tied the silk band off, he prowled around behind her. With his chest pressed to her back, he commanded in a soft, but unrelenting tone, “Bend over the mattress, love.”
She moaned softly, but did as directed, without argument. With her bound hands in front of her, she lowered to her elbows, leaving her backside raised high in the air for him to do with as he pleased. He loved her submission, the way she willingly gave up control to him. It was heady stuff for this strong and independent woman to bow to his will in such a fashion.
Positioning himself behind her, he cupped the rounded cheek of her backside, stroking the delicate skin with a gentle touch. Then he raised his hand and crashed it back down against her bottom. The slap of his palm hitting her flesh sent more blood rushing to his already engorged cock. He repeated the process on her other cheek, noting how her breath caught and then continued in shallower rasps than before the smack.
Next, he returned his attention to the first side, but sent his hand crashing with a firmer strike. She moaned softly as he rubbed her pinkening skin. He picked up his pace from there, spending less time between spanks as she lifted her arse to meet each blow. When her backside had turned a rosy red he knew would match the flush on her face when she was turned on, he dropped to his knees behind her. With careful attention to the placement of his hands, he gripped her bottom, digging his fingers into the reddened skin and dragged his tongue along her soaked slit.
The salty-sweet taste of her burst over his tongue and drove his need even higher. But he only had one goal tonight: to see Jules lose all control. To watch her come apart around his cock as she fully surrendered to him. With determination riding him, he focused on taking her up and over the precipice of pleasure. He kept his hands where they could rub and tweak her burning backside while he licked and laved her sweet pussy. As her legs trembled and her cries grew desperate, he knew he would tip her over the edge soon. So he tugged her clit into his mouth and sucked hard on the swollen nub. She exploded with a cry of his name, pushing back into his hands and face as she came hard.
His Scandalous Viscountess (Lustful Lords Series Book 3) Page 21