Eternally Seduced (84 page)

Her embarrassed gaze flew up at him.

“Now do you understand?”

She returned her attention quickly to the iPad. “Umm…houses…right?” Oh, oh, oh. It was so hot here. She took quick calming breaths. Had she really done that? Once, she had seen Bartholomew aroused under his pastor robes and it had made her vomit because it was the most revolting thing she had ever seen.

But with Rathe, it was so very different.

She had seen the way he was with others and was able to compare it with how he was with
her.

With the others, he had always been
the duke.
He was rarely smiling but always polite, rarely talking but always listening, rarely asking but always commanding. No one was ever allowed to get close to him, not physically or emotionally – but somehow she was different.

Rathe Wellesley had chosen to let her in.

With her, there were flashes of wickedness in his eyes, there was amusement, and there was passion. The hottest and deepest kind that made her toes curl and sigh even when she was only imagining his face before she fell asleep.

With her, he was not the duke.

He was Rathe.

“Well?” It was the duke in him snapping this time. “Have you found one yet?”

She was not bothered by it, knowing instinctively that it was only because he did not want to be more…affected. She was a little bothered, too, and she prayed fervently that he would not notice how her nipples were begging for his attention now, thrusting against the thin silk of her dress.

Mary blushed, remembering that it was Rathe who had changed her clothes and that he had insisted she did not wear any bra.

“Mary?”

“Ah, this one,” she hurried to answer, pointing randomly to one of the thumbnails on the screen.

With a frown, Rathe took
the iPad
, one eyebrow lifting when he saw what she had chosen. “Figures,” he muttered.

Curious at his response, she scooted close, forgetting that they were not supposed to be this near.

He tensed at her proximity, doing his best not to inhale her inviting scent. His balls ached. Dammit, they had been aching since forever. Why did it take so bloody long for the human body to heal? If he had to endure this the entire week, he didn’t think he would survive.

Mary was now bending forward, allowing him a glimpse into her dress and see
how
her rosy nipples
were pointed
and begging for his kiss.

She touched the thumbnail on the screen to have it enlarged, gasping when it came into view in all its glory. It was almost like serendipity, she marveled silently. It was exactly the kind of house she dreamed of. A two story wooden structure, like a palace designed under the guise of a cabin, with its high ceilings, glass balconies, and brick highlights.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She swiped the scree
n
for other photos and paused when it zoomed to the home’s master bedroom. “Oh, and look! It’s so big – enough to squeeze in my piranha---”

“No bloody way.”

She frowned up at him. “Why not?”

“I don’t share my bedroom with killers,” he said, Rathe’s disdain making his British accent very much pronounced.

She had a hard time not smiling. Oh dear. There it was again – the implication that he was indeed going to live with her in the house. It shouldn’t be so but if it was…she would
not
complain.

“Well, if you put it that way,” she said, pretending to hedge.

He said in disgust, “If you were to make a choice between me and your piranha---”

Mary answered innocently, “I couldn’t ever choose.”

Rathe grimaced. A mistress would have chosen him right away or play
ed
coy and chose the other option, just to tease him. But Mary hadn’t done either. Forcing himself to concentrate on the house, “Are we done then? Is this what you want?”

She bit her lip. “I just think it’s so extravagant and---” He placed one finger on her lips.

“A beautiful pearl like you deserves the most gorgeous setting,” Rathe said huskily.

Oh.

He really was a duke.

Only a duke could say something so pretty like that and not look like a liar.

She confided helplessly, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just the truth will do. It always will.”

Mary nodded. But because she couldn’t speak the truth, not when she wasn’t sure what it was yet, what she did instead was draw his head down. Their lips met, and the truth was silently spoken in their hearts even when they both pretended they didn’t understand it.

When Mary slept that night, he gently drew the covers over her and left the room, not wanting to accidentally wake her up as he made a few necessary calls. There, he made the necessary calls to get the house in order and finally, he placed a call to his solicitor.

“Wilson, I need you to draw
up
a contract that will act like a pre-nup but will function more as a quit
-
claim and confidentiality agreement.”

His solicitor asked carefully, “What is this for?”

Rathe hesitated
,
then deciding that his solicitor would have to know all the details anyway, he said abruptly, “For my mistress.”

The words had Wilson cursing in his mind but his voice was bland as he said, “I may need her to sign in my office.” He wanted to see who the slut was that captured the duke’s heart. For so long, he had been hoping it would be his daughter who would be Rathe Wellesley’s wife. He would not give up so easily now. If he could get the girl in his office, perhaps he might find a way to get rid of her.

“No, just fax it to this number---” Rathe rattled it off. “---when I tell you to and I’ll get her to sign it.”

When the duke ended the call, Wilson immediately checked the number
on
his caller ID. It resulted
in
the address and phone number of a five-star hotel in Florida, surprising him. He had not known the duke to spend so much time outside England. This girl must have already gotten her claws deep.

Even so, there were still ways.

He would not let go of his ambitions just like that.

“Does it meet your approval?” Rathe asked the next day as he rolled her into the last room
of the house, which had seven in total. Among them was a library,
a
game room, and a music room that Rathe told her would belong to her piranha, like a nursery room for a would-be killer. He had gotten an outraged look
at
his words, which he found very cute – enough for him to bend down and take her lips for another kiss.

She let out a happy sigh. “Yes.” She looked outside wistfully, seeing the huge expanse of pine forests that made
up
her “backyard”. It was a beautiful sight and earlier she had even seen a man
-
made pond. She began, “You know, I saw a pond---”

Knowing where this was going, Rathe said succinctly, “No.”

“But I---”

He looked at her.

She bit her lip then, unable to stop herself, she blurted out, “It’s just---”

He crouched down in front
of
her wheelchair, which she had been banished to with the doctor’s approval and would remain so for at least two more days. “Let me tell you what’s on your mind so you
d
on’t have to go
through
the trouble of speaking.”

Her eyes widened.

“You saw the man
-
made pond and your devious, foolish little mind thought it would be perfect for your piranha, correct?”

Mary gasped.

“And you were also thinking, maybe – maybe if you swam with it, it would be easier for you to take care of it and train it to be a vegetarian?”

She said eagerly, “Yes---”

He gracefully returned to his feet. “The answer is no.”

Her jaw dropped.

Caressing her face, he said, “It’s non-negotiable. I treasure every part of you, little pearl, and I will hunt down anyone that aims to hurt you – including your precious pet.” He said the last word like it was a curse.

“It’s not that bad,” she said defensively.

“It tried to chew off the fingers of the movers I hired.”

“It wasn’t its fault that piranhas are programmed to mistake his fingers as food! He had fat fingers!”

Shaking his head, he took hold of the handles of her wheelchair and rolled her out of the room. “The answer is still no.”

“Tyrant,” she said under her breath.

“I heard that.”

She said in petty anger, louder this time, “TYRANT.”

But he only laughed as he rolled her back to the bedroom, which had also been
as
beautifully furnished as the rest of the house. It was uncanny, the way the furnishing was a blend of her taste
and
his. Aquatic colors of blues and greens melded beautifully with his darker shades of black and purple. Cool cotton fabrics mixed with heavier velvets and leather, and the polished wood that made up the walls, ceilings, and floor made a nice contrast with the elegant centerpieces and paintings that were all over the house.

He laid her on the bed.

“It’s just four thirty and I’m in bed again?” she complained.

He gave her a look that said she was a kid for complaining, but it only made her giggle.

He began undressing her, too, and she let him, knowing now that he loved seeing her naked. She had done so early this morning, just before he had given her a bath in the tub. She had thought then he would make her come again, but he did not, leaving her with a clenched jaw on the bed after drying her off and helping her change.

“Why aren’t you touching me?” she had asked him then, hurt and scared that he was no longer interested in her. It pained her to ask the question
,
but she had to.

The look on Rathe’s face was a mixture of irritation and disbelief. “You bloody don’t know even now?” He raked a hand through his hair. “I need you too much, Mary. I’m going out of my mind, waiting for you to heal. So there’s a limit to what I can expose myself to.”

The words had her swallowing, but the knowledge that came with it also brought a heady sensation, making her feel so beautiful and powerful at the same time.

She looked down when he took a step back from the bed, blushing when she saw that she did not have a stitch of clothing on.

“Beautiful,” he whispered in a guttural tone.

She blushed, every part of her turning pink and it was his turn to laugh, that same rich dark sound she just could not get enough of.

“I’m not really beautiful,” she told him.

“Yes. You are. My beautiful pearl.”

Even with her face flushed with color, she persevered with what she wanted to say. “I…want…” She took a deep breath. “I want to see you naked, too.”

He…blinked.

She nodded profusely. “I want to.”

He said dryly, “I’m almost convinced.”

“I mean it,” Mary insisted. “I’m just too shy to…” She suddenly realized that they were having a conversation while she was naked and he was not. She started to cross her arms over her chest but stopped when he shook his head sharply.

“It’s mine, my little pearl, and that means I have the right to please myself with the sight of your naked bo
d
y whenever I want to.”

She asked softly, “And it pleases you really?” She just couldn’t understand what made her so different from probably the thousands of women
who
had tried to seduce and claim the Duke of Flanders…and failed.

“More than you’ll ever know,” he said roughly.

“Then…” She swallowed. “Let me please you.”

His eyes widened.

“I know I’m not yet fully capable of moving, but…” She looked at him almost pleadingly. “I know you can figure out a way. I
want
to please you.”

Rathe bit back a groan at her words. “You don’t know what you’re saying, little pearl.”

“I know.” She pointed to her body. “I feel it here, I know it here. I just need to make it real.” She looked at him again, her desire making her eyes bright. “Please?”

Bloody hell.

How could he ever resist her when she was pleading with him like that?

Without a word, he pulled his sweater over his head and threw it on the floor. In seconds, he had also unzipped himself, leaving him in black briefs.

Mary gulped at the sight.

Oh dear.

He was…gorgeous.

He really was the most beautiful man on earth.

Surely there could be no one to compare to Rathe. His coldness and hardness both added to his attraction, turning him into a sculpture of perfection that would never yield. He could give any woman pleasure just by letting them look at him, but for a woman to give him pleasure? It almost felt impossible, a mortal pleasing a god like him.

But when he took off his briefs as well, revealing the state of his arousal, Mary saw for herself that the impossible had become possible.

His cock was fully engorged, thrusting up proudly. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time, the way his cock seemed to have a life of its own. It moved. It bulged. It throbbed. How in the world would it fit inside her?

She gulped again. And to think she had begged him to let her please him. Now she just wasn’t sure at all. She might end up choking to death if she tried kissing…
that.

The fear and wonder in Mary’s innocent eyes only made him harder. “Mary,” he growled.

“Y-yes?”

“You can still change your mind.”

It was obvious that he would kill himself if she did, but the fact that he offered – that he gave her a chance to retreat strengthened her resolve. This was going to work. She didn’t care what she had to do, but it would work.

Licking her dry lips, she said, “Teach me.”

He walked slowly towards her, not one part of his body embarrassed of his nakedness. But then why should he be? He was, in a nutshell, all that a man should ever be. Those strong shoulders, the broad chest, those muscular thighs, and his flat washboard abs. And of course there was his cock---

Rathe stopped next to her bed, his cock brushing against her arm and she gasped, the heat of it shocking her.

“Touch it, little pearl.”

She turned to him, careful not to make any movements that would cause her ribs to ache. She touched the head of his cock first, swallowing at the way drops of wetness came out of the slit, as if confirming his desire for her.

Mary played with the head of his cock, taking pleasure in the way Rathe drew in his breath with every touch she made. And when she finally found the courage to curl her fingers around the length of him, Rathe groaned out loud. And as she stroked him, he began thrusting in her hand.

The pleasure he experienced with Mary just giving him a hand job, and not a very experienced one at that, was incredible. He had to grip the headboard of the bed to keep his balance, if not, he would be---

He gasped, his gaze jerking down to where she had faced him and swallowed his cock.

“Mary?”

She answered by trying to swallow more of his length.

Bloody, bloody hell.

He gripped her hair and began to guide her, teaching Mary how to please him more because it was what she seemed to want. She eagerly followed, and her unhidden excitement added to the agonizing pleasure of her mouth working on his cock.

More…more…more…

Soon, he forgot all about being gentle, his cock moving faster and harder in and out of her mouth. Soon, she was clutching his bare butt, nails digging into the cheeks as she sought to balance herself while he kept thrusting his cock into her mouth.

“I’m about to come.”

She didn’t answer, only sucking him harder.

He came with a roar, his body shuddering as the seed poured out of him and into her mouth. He looked down at her in a daze, unable to believe how she was doing her best to swallow all of it.

His chest contracted. Expanded. Contracted.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He felt too much for her now.

This was so bloody wrong.

When he was spent, he pulled away abruptly and left her there without a word.