His Mistress (12 page)

Ragged and unsteady, his breathing was a raspy sound against her cheek as she leaned into him and maintained the pressure of her grip. His hips shifted forward slightly as his growing erection stirred against the edge of her wrist, and Jane looked downward. Since her first night at
La Maison des Plaisirs Sombres
, she’d grown accustomed to the naked male form, but this was entirely different. This was Tobias.

She sucked in a soft gasp of air at the raw, primal desire engulfing her. Close on the heels of her desire was a wave of panic. Dear God, what was she doing? What had ever made her think she could tame this man and make him surrender to her? No sooner had the thought entered her head than determination brushed it aside. He might think he’d chosen her, but it had been her choice to accept his offer of service.

The confidence he’d exuded from the beginning was a wall between them. If she had to remove it brick by brick, she’d unlock his secrets until he bowed beneath her will. Desire was the key to unlocking the darkness simmering beneath Tobias’ surface. Desire and patience would ensure his submission.

“Why are you here, Tobias?” she murmured and tightened her grip on him and gently tugged his testicles upward another fraction. He drew in a sharp breath, and she took pleasure in the sound.

“My Lady?”

“What made you want to attend me, Tobias?”

She wasn’t sure what provoked her to ask the question, but she knew she wanted an answer. He rocked slightly on the balls of his feet as he adjusted his body to the firm, yet gentle, grip she maintained on his balls. A small smile tilted his lips, but it was at odds with the tic in his cheek that signaled his tension. Her thumb swept back and forth across his sacs with a slow precision that elicited a soft rumble in his chest.

The hard, thick length of him hit her wrist leaving a luminescent drop on her skin. In a quick movement, her forefinger wiped the droplet off her skin. As she looked up at him, she met his gaze. Desire blazed in the deep brown of his eyes. She didn’t bother to chastise him for looking at her.

Instead, she licked his essence off the tip of her finger. Jane had never tasted a man so intimately before, and the droplet was salty and slightly bitter. But it was Tobias’ seed, and her eyes drifted shut as she savored the flavor of him on her tongue. Aware he was watching her, Jane flicked her tongue out to dampen her lips. Low and dark, his growl echoed with need.

“Well, Tobias?” she murmured as she opened her eyes to stare at him. “Why do you want to serve me?”

Pleasure curled its way into every inch of her as she met the flash of frustration and stubbornness in his gaze. The question had thrown him off balance. That he’d expected something different tonight was obvious. After a brief second, he lowered his gaze and cleared his throat.

“You were lovely, my Lady. I wanted to please you.”

“And how do you think you might please me, Tobias.”

“I can think of any number of ways, my Lady.” His brash response made Jane immediately tighten her hand on him, and a dark groan rolled out of his throat.

“That’s a privilege you will have to earn,” she said sternly.

“Then I shall do whatever you ask of me to earn that privilege, my Lady. And when I do, I
will
give you great pleasure.”

“You sound quite sure of yourself.”

“I am, my Lady.”

Arrogance filled his clipped response, and she squeezed him harder until a rasp of something dangerous rumbled in his chest. Elation skimmed its way through her blood. For the first time in her life, she was in complete control. Still the certainty in Tobias’ voice frustrated her. The man was determined to block her at every turn.

Patience, she reminded herself. Rome had not been built nor fallen in a day. The wall Tobias had built up around his innermost thoughts would fall if she bided her time. Despite the confidence in her thought, doubt wound its way through her once more. She ignored the desire to tighten her grip on him. She would not hurt him for her own feelings of inadequacy.

“We shall see,” Jane whispered as she released him and tapped the tip of his hard length with her forefinger. The action drew a low growl from him. She smiled but ignored his nonverbal protest. “Come, I think you need to develop a measure of humility.”

As Jane crossed the floor, her gown created a soft rustle of noise against the carpet. The dark rasp of Tobias’ breathing nearly extinguished the quiet sound as he followed her to the St. Andrew’s cross. Jane cast a sidelong glance in his direction. A small smile quirked one corner of his beautiful mouth as he stared at the cross in front of him fashioned in an X. It was clear he was familiar with the piece of equipment.

“You’re amused.”

“The lace ribbons are a bit…understated,” he said with a laugh and lifted his head to meet her gaze. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to drown in the dark mahogany of his gaze before frowning her displeasure.

“If you look at me again without my permission, Tobias, we’ll be through here.”

“Forgive me, my Lady.” When she didn’t respond to his apology, Jane saw him scowl at the floor, and she smiled at the irritation holding him rigid.

“As to the lace ribbons, they’ll test your ability to control yourself better than any hemp or cotton rope will.”

“My ability to control myself?” he asked.

The irreverent note in his voice made her shake her head with annoyance. The man was baiting her, but she refused to let him draw her into a battle of words. She was content to use nothing more than her imagination and her touch to make him do her bidding. His ultimate surrender wouldn’t happen tonight, of that she was certain. But in the near future, she would discover Tobias Lynsted’s reasons for why he chose to take his pleasure in the same way she did.

“Step forward and put your back against the cross.”

Without hesitation, he stepped forward and pressed himself into the wood fixture. Although he kept his eyes downcast as he faced her, the taut lines of his body illustrated a silent challenge to her authority. Outside of this room she doubted he would rarely, if ever, openly defer to her requests. Tobias might submit to her, but it was evident he was willing to surrender his will to her only so far as he allowed. There was a dark part of himself Tobias seemed determined to hide, and it was that Tobias she wanted.

“Surely, you’re not waiting for me to tell you to tie your feet to the cross, Tobias.”

Jane didn’t bother to look at him as she moved to the small footstool she’d placed a few feet away from the cross earlier in the day. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him bend at the waist with his hands still tied and awkwardly wrap one of the gray lace ties around his ankle.

As he did so, Jane placed one foot on the stool and lifted the skirt of her gown until the material pressed into the crevice where her waist and hip met. The gown and its petticoat were a frothy rustle of silk as she made a pretense of checking her garter and stockings. The moment she heard Tobias suck in a sharp breath of air, pleasure lunged its way through her blood.

When Angélique had suggested she wear nothing but stockings and a garter under her gown for this evening, Jane had questioned her friend’s advice. She glanced at Tobias who was leaning to one side as he struggled to see her more closely. Jane deliberately released a sigh of annoyance.

“If you tear your lace bindings, Tobias, our evening will be at an end.”

“Yes, my Lady,” he choked out as he straightened and stood rigid against the wood cross with his eyes closed.

“You didn’t bind your feet too tightly did you?” Jane smiled as she dropped her skirts and took her time smoothing the satin material.

“No, my Lady,” he growled softly.

Closing the short span between them, she raised his hands up to her mouth. She breathed in his delicious male scent and swirled her tongue around the inside of one palm and then the other. Tobias didn’t move as she moved her lips to brush the edge of his forefinger. The moment she sucked it into her mouth, he groaned low in the back of his throat.

When she released his finger, she looked downward and smiled. His erection jutted outward, the veins beneath his skin were raised ridges along his hard length as his body silently cried out its need. Her breath caught in her throat at the erotic sight. This was her doing. She’d been the one to make Tobias so aroused that his body was straining for its release.

A shudder threaded its way through her as fire erupted at the apex of her thighs. Seeing him this aroused made her long for something more than her hand between her legs tonight. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. Not yet. It was too soon. Her body screamed its objection.

Swallowing the knot in her throat, Jane lifted Tobias’ arms above his head and looped first one gray lace ribbon through the silk tie still binding his hands together and then the other. His features grew harsh, and unyielding. It was obvious he now understood that lace ribbons made for a much more painful method of restraint. Holding his arms above his head without any clear means of support meant that the minute he gave way to lowering his arms he would tear the lace in direct disobedience.

“Are you feeling any discomfort from your earlier acrobatics?”

“No, my Lady,” he said with a sharply drawn in breath as she traced the length of his erection with her finger before turning her attention to his other arm.

“Clearly something has unsettled you,” Jane said as she threaded the other lace ribbon through the silk tie. “Tell me what it is.”

“I’m simply waiting to serve you, my Lady,” he ground out between clenched teeth “Your pleasure is my pleasure.”

Jane nodded and bent at the waist to blow a slow breath against his thick, hard length. She wanted to flick her tongue out and lick the tip of him, but decided against it. He needed to endure a great deal more torment before she would allow him the release he’d expected to achieve so easily when he entered the room. As she straightened, she caught sight of a scar on his side. It was still slightly pink, which indicated he’d recently acquired it.

Her fingers gently traced the finger length mark. The placement and width of the scar indicated the wound had been more than a mere scratch. It looked like a cut that had caused him great pain. She thought back over the past few months to Tobias’ visits to Culverstone House. The memory of her father complaining two months ago about Tobias’ sudden inability to come to Culverstone House pierced her thoughts. Her father hadn’t elaborated as to Tobias’ disability, but the logical explanation was that Tobias’ injury had precluded his visiting her father personally.

“Someone hurt you.”

“It was nothing, my Lady.”

The lie irritated her. She jerked her head up and caught him by the balls again. This time her grip was far from gentle, and her touch ripped a grunt out of him. Overhead there was the soft sound of lace about to give way. His beautiful body grew hard and frozen like a statue.

“Look at me, Tobias,” she snapped. “I have several rules when we are in this room. The first is that you show me respect. Second, you will
not
lie to me.”

Rebellion and frustration flashed in the gaze that met hers. He’d clearly not expected tonight to be any more than a few restraints and punishments before he achieved his sexual release. She was thwarting his every expectation of the evening’s play. Jane narrowed her gaze at him and squeezed him a bit harder in a silent demand for his capitulation. A sharp hiss of air escaped his lungs as he nodded.

“Forgive me, my Lady.” Tobias dropped his head, his voice quiet and emotionless.

Jane released her hold on him and studied him for a long moment. It was far from a white flag, but it was a start. She reached out to stroke his cheek. He immediately turned his head to nibble at her palm. The simple gesture asking her forgiveness made her heart skip a beat.

“Such a humble apology deserves a reward,” she murmured.

Slowly, she leaned forward and kissed him. A low groan rumbled in his throat as he quickly spread his arms as wide as possible. The slack in the silk tie binding his wrists disappeared as he reduced the strain on the lace straps attached to the cross. His effort allowed him to arch his body away from the cross and into her kiss.

The movement emphasized his physical strength and control. It would take little for him to rip his lace bindings off the St. Andrews cross, and make short work of the silk tie wrapped around his wrists. That he didn’t do so indicated she was still in control. He was willingly submitting to her, and the realization was a heady one.

The aroma of bergamot and an unfamiliar spice mixed together to wafted beneath her nose. Distinctly male, it tingled her senses as she breathed in his warm scent. The heat of his lips scorched hers as he eagerly accepted her offer of pleasure. Heart fluttering with excitement, she teased his mouth with the edge of her tongue.

His reaction was immediate. The muscles in his neck grew taut and corded as he stretched his body toward her as much as he could without tearing his fragile bindings. A fraction of a second later, his tongue slid past her lips. Startled, she froze as his tongue danced with hers. The faint flavor of whiskey teased her senses, and mindless of the consequences, she took a step forward to press her body into him.

Hands splayed across his chest, the pounding of his racing heart thudded against her fingertips. The moment she stepped into him, a growl reverberated in the back of his throat. It was a dark, primeval rumble that sent a frisson streaking across her skin. She grew still, and in that brief instant, Tobias took control of the kiss.

Stark and fierce, his kiss took her breath away. Her hands slid across his naked torso and downward to caress the hard strength of his hips. Every inch of him was hard, lean muscle. Power flexed in his every move. A contained power he could unleash at any moment.

Hunger and need spread its way through her as his kiss threatened to melt her every resolve where he was concerned. Never in the darkness of her bedroom had she ever expected to experience the touch of Tobias’ mouth against hers. He’d come to her in dreams of lust and desire, but this was not her darkened bedroom. This was real, potent, and extremely dangerous. She couldn’t allow it to continue.