To Tame a Dangerous Lord (31 page)

She swallowed hard, trying to remember her plan to seduce him rather than be seduced. “You should let me scrub your back,” she murmured. “Isn’t that a wifely duty?”

“Later. For the moment, I have something else in mind.”

Taking the cake of soap from her, he lathered his hands and spread them over her shoulders, then directed
his attentions higher. Her throat arched as he pressed his palm to the slender column, holding his hand there against her erratic pulse, molding it to fit before slowly sliding down again.

When his fingertips skimmed the undersides of her breasts, her nipples instantly turned into two demanding peaks of arousal, which Rayne then circled with his thumb.

A moan of pleasure slipped from Madeline’s throat at the primal pleasure he was giving her, but Rayne stopped her from closing her eyes. “No, watch me.”

“Why? What do you plan to do?”

His slow, lazy smile was absolutely devastating. “You’ll see.”

Dropping the soap over the tub’s side into the basket, he returned both hands to her breasts, letting his slick palms glide over the ripe mounds. Her rose-hued nipples were already pebbled and hard, and Rayne’s plucking with his fingers only made them more keenly sensitive, while watching him arouse her heightened the feeling even further. Madeline sucked in a sharp breath as his erotic caresses speared a hot ache through her.

Then he slid one hand downward into the water, reaching for the dark thatch of curls crowning her thighs. Her entire body flushed a welcome, but she grasped his arm to stop him from touching her there. “Rayne, darling, I have a favor to ask of you.”

Curiosity lifted one of his brows. “What favor?”

“Ours may be a marriage of convenience, but there is no reason we cannot enjoy it, isn’t that right?”

“Yes. I’ve told you so.”

“Yet as it stands now, our relationship is highly unequal.
You have all the experience while I have almost none.”

“So?”

Madeline took a breath. “So I want to learn how to please you. Will you teach me?”

His half-lidded gaze was assessing. “You already please me, sweeting.”

“But there is much more I could learn. You are a legendary lover, and I want to be worthy of you. Please, will you show me the secrets of being an ideal lover?”

A spark kindled in his eyes. “You are serious?” Rayne asked.

“Utterly.”

When he locked gazes with her, something primitive, powerful arced between them. In response, Madeline felt another hard ache flare between her thighs.

“How do I pleasure you, Rayne?” she asked with more insistence.

“There are numerous ways to arouse a man.”

“Name one.”

“You can begin by touching me.”

Reaching into the water, she let her fingers trail down over his flat, hard abdomen. She could feel the muscles bunch beneath her touch, even before she reached the underside of his loins and cupped the firm, velvety pouch below his swollen manhood. “Like this?”

He gave a soft murmur of assent as his male member jerked. “That can drive a man wild.”

“What about this?” When her fingers curled around him, the thick, erect length surged in her hand.

“That is highly pleasurable, also,” Rayne admitted in a strangled voice. “Stroking me would be even more effective.”

She did as he suggested, lightly fondling his rigid, straining arousal. It quivered in her hand, and in response, something deep within her body shivered in purely sensual reaction. Then Rayne reached down to assist her. Curving his fingers around hers, he stroked his sex within their joined grip.

To her delight, his face darkened with a sensual flush, while his breath started to come more rapidly.

“I’m certain there is more.”

“Use your imagination, sweeting.”

She gave him a considering look. “I think I should explore your body with my lips.”

From the hot gleam in his eyes, she could tell he approved of the idea. “Pray, go ahead.”

Still holding his shaft, Madeline leaned forward and kissed the wide expanse of bare chest, her tongue licking the moisture from his skin, but the simple caress wasn’t satisfying enough to her. “If you stood up, I could reach more of you.”

“I imagine you could.”

Obligingly, Rayne rose to his feet and reclined against the high sloping back of the tub, his buttocks resting against the smooth metal, his loins directly in front of her face. He looked perfectly at ease, yet she sensed he was not nearly so relaxed as he appeared.

Indeed, his body tensed when she cupped water with her hands and let it dribble over his pulsing erection. Since she couldn’t recall precisely what Fanny had told her, however, Madeline simply followed her instincts. Running her palms upward along his powerful thighs, she leaned closer and touched his arousal with her lips.

She heard his sharp intake of breath as she lapped at the sparkling drops of water beading on his manhood.

Madeline glanced up at him, her smile provocative, slightly challenging. “I want to drive you insane with lust, Rayne. How do I do that?”

“I’d say you are well on your way.”

The teasing light in his eyes had disappeared completely, to be replaced by a sensual intensity that seared her.

“What do I do now?”

“Why don’t you put that luscious mouth of yours to use?”

He remained still, his hands braced on the rim on either side of the tub, giving her complete control of his seduction. Excitement shot through her, flooding her veins with shuddering heat.

Her hands were shaking a little when she threaded her fingers through the curling hair at his groin. Then, craving the warmth and taste and feel of him, she bent forward and suckled him.

His body went rigid at the first touch of her mouth, and remained that way for the delicate searching of her tongue. When she glanced up again to gauge his response, his mouth curled in a tight smile that seemed half pleasure, half pain. “That isn’t bad for a novice.”

Feeling challenged, Madeline returned her full attention to arousing him, letting her tongue and lips roam at will, her caresses inviting, teasing, promising.

Rayne gave a growl of approval and gripped the side of the tub more tightly. An answering sound rasped from Madeline’s throat. She was fascinated by his response, warmed by the pleasure she felt at pleasing him.

“God,” he muttered as she suckled him more strongly. “And you said you didn’t know how to arouse me.”

“You are an excellent tutor.”

He was no longer so nonchalant, she thought triumphantly as his hips thrust forward. She slipped her hands behind him, glorying in the way his masculine buttocks hardened in her hands.

“Does this hurt?” she murmured, her question slightly taunting as her lips enveloped him more fully.

“Yes, I am in excruciating pain. I’m ready to burst….”

As if to prove his words, his hips arched again.

With greater assurance, Madeline drew his rigid flesh even deeper into her mouth, continuing her carnal ministrations, until his hand suddenly reached up to clutch in her hair, stilling her. “That is enough torment.”

She glanced up, wondering if he really meant for her to stop.

There was nothing casual now about the glitter in his sapphire eyes, Madeline saw. His hot gaze scorched her, and she stared at him in turn, thrilling at the sight. She saw need in his eyes, sexual need for her.

She felt beautiful in that moment. Beautiful and omnipotent. Madeline savored her first feelings of power as a woman as she let herself get lost in his incredible eyes. Heat poured through her, making her weak and shaky.

She must have had the same effect on Rayne, for he suddenly lowered himself into the tub. Water sloshed over the rim as he hauled her into his arms. They were both trembling now, with poignant desire and sharp need pulsing between them.

Taking control, Rayne parted her thighs and tugged her onto his lap, so that she straddled him, her cleft nestled against the swollen ridge of his manhood. The contact was a delicious shock.

“I’ve wondered how it would feel to have you ride me.”

The image of his erotic words made her feel even more faint. She caught her breath as Rayne guided her down slowly so that she was sitting astride him. It was like riding a powerful stallion, except that she was impaled on his rigid shaft. Her body was molten, raw with wanting him.

When he was finally sheathed in her body, Madeline whimpered at the exquisite sensations. The fullness was blissful—yet Rayne seemed determined to increase her ecstasy. His lips came down hard on hers as he began to move inside her, his mouth feverishly eating hers.

His kiss was a lover’s demand, a little fierce, a lot possessive, but she met each questing stroke of his tongue with her own urgency, her mouth locked with his, seeking, searching, aching.

The tempo quickened rapidly. Her thighs locked around his hips as he plunged inside her over and over again, the friction of their wet, slippery bodies compounding her desire with searing intensity. In only moments Madeline was gasping for breath, but still the sensual explosion inside her took her by surprise. Rayne captured her scream of pleasure as she bucked and shook in his arms. Her sheath contracted powerfully about him while liquid fire poured through her.

Rayne found his own powerful climax an instant later while her body still vibrated around him, the echo of her raw throaty cries mingling with his groans.

When they both finally stilled, Madeline collapsed upon his chest, her heart hammering, her breath coming in pants. She felt liquid and sensuous and too weak to move. The heat of their passion had melted every bone in her body.

Rayne seemed just as spent. His rasping breath harsh
and uneven, he lay there with his head back against the tub, his arms held loosely around her as she floated in the water.

It seemed a long while later when he gave a hoarse chuckle. “This was not exactly the welcome I expected. Unquestionably, I have never enjoyed a bath more.”

The warm glow in her body expanded at his soft laughter. Madeline still couldn’t bring herself to move, however. In truth, she wasn’t sure her limbs would ever function again. Joined to Rayne, she’d experienced that startling sense of fullness again, not just of her body but of her heart.

At the same time she felt an almost euphoric sense of exhilaration. Rayne’s wild, physical response to her lovemaking had sent her hopes soaring, had made her believe in possibilities. After such incredible passion, she found it far easier to see a glimmer of promise for their future together.

Even though love was no part of their bargain, Rayne’s love was what she wanted, what she dreamed of. Her happiness depended on winning his heart.

Of course she didn’t dare tell him so for fear of driving him away. Yet she had begun to hope that Rayne would come to want her someday, not just for the pleasure she could bring him, not for the children she longed to give him, but for herself.

Reminded of her campaign, Madeline stirred in his arms and weakly pressed a kiss against his bare shoulder. “That was a most enlightening lesson in lovemaking,” she murmured.

“You make a splendid pupil,” he replied languidly.

When she lifted her head to gaze at Rayne, his eyes
were still shut, but the tender smile that curved his mouth made her want to crawl inside of him.

The quivery feelings in her chest intensified—a warning sign, Madeline knew. She would have to end this intimate interlude before she gave away her feelings.

Only a moment more
, she promised herself, resting her cheek in the curve of his shoulder with a contented sigh.

Rayne was feeling the same languor, experiencing the same swell of bone-deep satisfaction. He had found Madeline’s wicked innocence completely entrancing.

Strange how he had once thought her plain. She was nothing like the drab spinster he’d thought her at their first meeting. Her innate sensuality not only had stirred and excited him, it had more than proved a match for his own libidinous nature. He could still feel the fever her passion had left on his skin, even though the water was cooling.

His new wife was indeed much more than he bargained for, Rayne acknowledged.

No sooner had he silently voiced the thought, however, than Madeline eased away from him. Untangling their limbs, she pulled herself up by the rim.

With effort Rayne opened his eyes, watching as she climbed from the tub, his gaze fixed on her lithe, lush body. To his disappointment she wrapped a length of linen towel around her dripping form, concealing her delectable curves from his view.

“You are not leaving, are you?”

In response she glanced over her shoulder and sent him a tantalizing smile. “Surely you can bathe without me.”

If he didn’t know better, he would call that look flirtatious,
provocative even. He was sorely tempted to rise up from the tub and drag Madeline back into the water with him.

Rayne felt himself frown. Between her improved looks and changed demeanor, he almost didn’t recognize his new bride. In truth, he wasn’t certain he liked this seductive side of Madeline. He could see no artifice in her wide gray eyes just now, yet all his instincts were suddenly on edge.

“You needn’t go,” he said without inflection.

“I’m afraid I must. I have to dress and prepare for this evening.”

“This evening?”

Her own tone remained casual as she explained. “I forgot to mention … Arabella is holding a dinner at Danvers Hall for some of the neighboring families, with cards afterward. I mean to attend, but you needn’t bother if you don’t wish to. I know you don’t care for dull social occasions.”

Rayne frowned again, realizing that Madeline had made plans of her own and was set on living her life without him. But wasn’t that exactly what he wanted from her?

“I want to attend,” he replied. “My presence can only help your introduction to society.”

“Then I will send her a note, saying to expect you.”

After drying off, Madeline pulled on a highly feminine dressing gown of jade green silk, leaving it partially open as she sauntered over to him and bent to place a light kiss on his lips. Searing heat shot through Rayne again before she closed the wrapper and hid her womanly charms once more. Then, gathering up her clothing,
she left the bathing chamber, shutting the door softly behind her.