Lessons From a Scarlet Lady (7 page)
“I doubt it made him happy to have you appear in public wearing only half a gown,” Lea pointed out, ever the practical older sister.
“It irritated him very much,” Brianna admitted. “But he also—maybe for the first time since we met—got the sense that I am my own person and I may not always act predictably, whether or not it pleases him.” She couldn’t help a mischievous smile. “Besides, once we were alone, I got the distinct impression he rather admired the gown after all. Which, as I said before, is the only reason I wore it. So far our marriage has been on his terms alone. That is going to change. I want us to share our lives, not just the same address.”
Her sister said nothing for a moment, before her mouth twitched and she laughed. “I see. You sound quite determined. You were such a stubborn child when you got a notion into your head. The poor man really doesn’t have a chance. Does Colton realize what he is up against?”
Brianna thought of the book and said serenely, “He hasn’t the slightest idea.”
Something strange was going on—of that there was no doubt.
When the door into his bedroom from the adjoining suite swung open, Colton was a trifle wary. During dinner Brianna had been particularly animated, and if they hadn’t had guests, he might have asked her flat out why exactly she was acting so markedly different. He could have sworn she seemed nervous, but for the life of him he couldn’t imagine why. Lord and Lady Black were on the dull side and they concentrated more on the food than conversation, so he couldn’t believe their company had sparked such a reaction.
“It’s late and I dismissed my maid for the night. Will you help me out of my dress?” She’d taken the pins from her hair and it fell to her waist in shining blond curls that caught the low light. Barefoot, she walked slowly toward him, her brows arched slightly in teasing question.
Will I help you out of your dress?
He couldn’t think of anything he’d enjoy more.
Colton’s fingers fumbled slightly as he complied and slipped free the fastenings on her evening gown. It slid off her slender shoulders and fell to the floor. Her chemise was nothing like the demure undergarments she usually wore, but instead made out of a lace so sheer she might as well have been wearing nothing at all. Colton could not help but take a quick breath. His voice a trifle thick, he said, “I see Madame Ellen has been at her scandalous work again.”
Turning around, Brianna smiled at him mischievously. “It was a warm summer, and I wanted something a little cooler to wear under my gowns.”
“It’s warm, all right,” Colton muttered darkly, tugging at his cravat, pulling it loose and discarding it carelessly.
“Shall I go back to my room?”
He almost didn’t register her delicately phrased question. Pink, perfect nipples thrust high against the sheer fabric of her shift, and the soft weight of her opulent breasts molded by the fragile material. It fell to midthigh, and Colton could clearly see the intriguing darkness between her legs. “I beg your pardon?”
Her laugh was light and provocative, her soft mouth curving. “I asked if I should go back to my room, but I am going to assume
that”
—she pointed at the sudden prominent bulge in his tight breeches—“is my answer. Here, you helped me. Now it’s my turn.”
that”
—she pointed at the sudden prominent bulge in his tight breeches—“is my answer. Here, you helped me. Now it’s my turn.”
To his utter astonishment, his beautiful, refined young bride dropped to her knees in front of him and began to unfasten his trousers. The brush of her slender fingers through the material as she worked was excruciatingly arousing, and he hardened further, almost holding his breath as she finally tugged open the last button and freed his erection.
“Brianna,” he said hoarsely, as she began to stroke his cock, her caressing hands making his entire body quiver. “What are you doing?”
Wiping a bead of semen from the engorged tip, she looked at the substance on her finger with open curiosity, and to his shock, licked it off. “It’s salty,” she said artlessly, looking up at him like a young nymph, all veiled, lush curves and flowing hair. Her lashes lowered a fraction and Colton felt a rush of molten heat through his veins as she leaned forward with unmistakable intent. Her soft lips slid over the head of his erection, the sensation exquisite.
Never in his life had he been so outraged.
Never in his life had anything felt so good.
Oh, he’d had lovers before his marriage who had pleasured him orally, but they’d been experienced women, not innocent, genteel young ladies who should have no notion of doing any such a thing. His hands went to her hair, and he had every intention of demanding to know just where Brianna had gotten the idea to do something so wanton, but just as his fingers sank into the silky mass to tug her head up, she began to suck gently.
A low sound tore up from his chest and his body shook. Without thought he pushed deeper in her warm mouth. His movement was an unconscious reflex and almost immediately he tried to withdraw, but she cupped his ballocks and instead he groaned again. Sliding up, her tongue licked the crest of his erection and then she repeated the motion with tantalizing slowness over and over. Colton trembled, not able to bring himself to make her stop until he felt his testicles tighten in preparation for ejaculation. He absolutely refused to come in her mouth. It was not something a gentleman did, but he was wild with the need for release.
“Enough,” he growled, somehow finding the will to pull free before scooping her off the floor. He crossed the room, practically tossing her on the bed in a flurry of golden curls and long silken limbs. Jerking up the hem of her chemise, he heard the delicate material rip, and a rash part of him he didn’t know existed decided that if the garment was already damaged, it would come off faster if he just tore it. Brianna gave a low gasp as he deliberately jerked her bodice apart.
Gloriously exposed, she stared up at him, her body lush and inviting. If he entered her now, Colton knew he’d explode at once and cheat her of any kind of release. He undid two buttons on his linen shirt, decided it would take too long to unfasten it, whipped it off over his head, and then stepped out of his unfastened breeches. “If you wish to play wicked games, madam,” he told her, his glittering gaze admiring every inch of her nude form, “it is now my turn.”
She licked her lips. “I wish to play any game you choose.”
“You’ll like this one.” Joining her on the bed, he nuzzled her breasts briefly, kissed her stomach, and then buried his face in the sweetness between her legs.
Brianna gasped, as he expected she would, and for a moment her thighs clamped together in protest against such a sinful kiss, but he didn’t allow it. Insistently, his hands pushed her slim legs apart, and he pressed his mouth against the sensitive moistness of her sex. Licking and stroking with his tongue, he teased her just as she had teased him, and he could feel her arousal when the small nub between her folds began to swell against the pressure of his mouth. She tasted sweetly female, and as he brought her to climax, her small cries of pleasure inflamed him even more. In moments Brianna convulsed, her hands grasping his arms as she shuddered and moaned. Not giving her time to recover, Colton moved up between her open thighs, and thrust into her still contracting passage.
As predicted, it was over quickly. Her wet heat milking him, release hit him after the first three thrusts, the sensation of carnal pleasure so intense, so good, that he closed his eyes and went rigid. Beneath him, Brianna ran her hands down the damp skin of his back, clutching his buttocks as he flooded her with hot sperm. His muscles shook with the force of his ejaculation.
When he could finally speak again, he stared down at the utterly tempting, disheveled woman in his arms framed in tatters of ruined lace. “Do you mind telling me,” he asked unevenly, his chest still lifting in an erratic rhythm as he struggled to regain his breath, “just what has gotten into you, my dear?”
Her fingers traced the small of his back. “It seems to me that
you
are in me, Colton.”
you
are in me, Colton.”
A muffled laugh escaped his lips at the erotic joke. “And it is a delightful place to be, but that is not what I meant, as I have a feeling you know full well.” The fragrance of flowers drifted from her hair and he couldn’t help but kiss the side of her graceful neck, inhaling the sweet scent. “Whatever gave you the idea to . . . well . . .”
How in the hell did a man politely ask a woman why she wanted to suck his cock, Colton thought darkly, discomforted because he could sense Brianna’s amusement over his quest for the right words. He wasn’t at all used to what seemed to be a sudden shift in power in their relationship.
He
was the experienced one. She had come to their marriage bed a virgin and only knew what he had shown her, and he certainly had never asked her for something he was convinced would shock her to her very core. It was well and good if a light-o’-love wished to use her mouth to bring a man pleasure, but it wasn’t something you suggested to your proper young wife of three months.
He
was the experienced one. She had come to their marriage bed a virgin and only knew what he had shown her, and he certainly had never asked her for something he was convinced would shock her to her very core. It was well and good if a light-o’-love wished to use her mouth to bring a man pleasure, but it wasn’t something you suggested to your proper young wife of three months.
“I thought you liked it.” The husky note in her voice matched the seductive light stroking of her fingers down his bare back.
Liked it?
That was putting it mildly.
That was putting it mildly.
Colton fought to sound rational and calm while his heart still pounded wildly. “Madam, you know full well I liked it, but you are being evasive.”
“Must you be so analytical at this particular moment?” Beneath him, Brianna arched a little, and added breathlessly, “You still feel so big.”
Her words sent a jolt of new arousal straight to his groin. It was true; his erection hadn’t faded, even with the force of his recent climax. Colton decided she was right—at least for now, the cause of her sudden sexually adventurous spirit wasn’t important. Not when he could make love to her again. He kissed her and whispered against her soft lips, “This discussion isn’t over. We’ll continue it some other time.”
Truly the book had been an inspiration.
Sated and a little drowsy, Brianna curled comfortably in her husband’s embrace, hours after her uninvited entrance into his bedchamber. After their initial heated, hurried joining, Colton had proceeded to make love to her with restrained tenderness, moving slowly so she savored each slick long glide of their bodies fitting together, caressing her sensitive breasts, teasing the hollow under her ear before taking her mouth in long, searing kisses.
He was so quiet she wondered if he might be asleep, until he murmured, “My apologies for the loss of your shift.”
Brianna tilted her head up so she could see his face, trying to read his expression. Without all the formal clothing, his chestnut hair tousled against the pillow slip, he looked different from the refined duke she had married. Not just handsome but devastatingly so, his lean body hard and male, that part of him that had so pleased her now lax between his muscular thighs. It was startling to realize that though they had been married for over three months, she hadn’t ever really seen him naked. When he came to her room he wore his dressing gown, and it was always dark before he joined her in bed.
This was much, much better.
Brianna asked playfully, “Are you really sorry? I’m not.”
His lashes lowered a fraction. “It seems to me it is a barbaric discourtesy to rip off your wife’s clothing.”
“Believe me, you are forgiven, Colton.” She couldn’t be more sincere.
“You caught me rather off guard, my dear.”
So had he her, with that wicked intimate kiss between her legs. When she’d read the suggestion she actually put her mouth on his sex she’d been shocked, but true to Lady Rothburg’s assertion, he’d obviously enjoyed it immensely. So much he’d ripped off her shift in feverish need.
Progress indeed.
It was a nice balance, she decided in luxurious contentment, between impetuous wild need and the careful gentleness of his later lovemaking. Before the night of the opera, she had experienced only the latter, but both had their merits. It was a little shocking to discover she liked sexual intercourse fast and hard, and that her own level of desire was elevated by her husband’s loss of control.
It was exhilarating. From now on, Madame Ellen would make all her underclothing out of sheer lace.
“I hope I wasn’t too demanding.” His fingers feathered down her arm.
“Did you sense any objection on my part?”
“No.” One of his rare smiles surfaced, lighting his fine features. As quickly as it came, it was gone. “But still, I was rather importunate.”
That he hadn’t been entirely in charge of the situation bothered him. She’d expected it would. He was so very used to making decisions not just for himself, but ones that affected others. In his personal life, there were now two of them; his decision wasn’t the only one that mattered. Hopefully he would come to see it that way soon.
“I am rather more than fine, Colton.” Brianna yawned. “Deliciously tired, if I may say so, but it is not a bad state to be in.”
“No, my dear, I suppose it isn’t.”
She rubbed her cheek against Colton’s damp, hard chest, hoping he wouldn’t suggest she return to her own room. Usually he came to her bedchamber, following the pattern set on the night of their wedding. The routine rarely varied, a fact that didn’t surprise her since her husband believed in an ordered life. He would wait until she was in bed and her maid was dismissed, inquire politely if she was too tired for his company, and then proceed to douse the lights. Never before tonight had he disrobed her completely, choosing instead to touch her through her nightdress, lifting the hem when he moved to take her, his entry into her body always careful and measured. When he was done, he invariably went back to his own bed. Occasionally he waited until she fell asleep, but usually he simply excused himself with the same politesse with which he’d come to her, and left.
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