Rogue in Red Velvet (17 page)

She recognized her own desperation reflected back at her when he kissed her and went on to taste her lips, her neck, her throat. Stretching up, she gave him better access. He palmed her breast. As if it were meant for him to do that, had no other purpose his touch made her moan, arch her body towards him.

“Hush,” he said. “Let me please you.”

She melted, flowed into him, put her arms around him and slid her palms up and down his strong, smooth back. He explored her, touched her, made her mad with longing but at the same time she didn’t want to stop. Didn’t want him to stop. Didn’t want him—

When he slid his fingers between her legs and slipped them along the dampness there her breath expelled in one long sigh “Ohhh.”

Smiling tenderly, he took his time, explored her, touched her, always sliding past that part of her she’d barely been aware of before, the little knot of flesh at the front. She’d noticed its sensitivity before, when she’d washed but never like this. She’d tended to avoid it, thinking it too tender.

Now it had become even more sensitive under his ministrations but it felt so good, sending pulses of heat through her whole body. She opened her eyes, not having been aware of closing them and stared up at him. He was watching her and he smiled. “Good?”

“I—I think so.”

His smile faded a little. “You didn’t know about this?”

Swallowing back her nervousness, she shook her head. “I never—”

“It’s called the clitoris and it will bring you great pleasure. Has nobody…?” He stopped, smiled tenderly down at her. “Obviously not. Lie back, sweeting, let it happen.”

Listening to his voice, she lay back while his fingers increased and intensified their activity. She hid nothing of her reaction, letting him see her pleasure while he played with her, smiling into his eyes until the sensation increased, shivers rippling through her. She twisted under him, but he guided her back into position and relentlessly continued. Gradually, heat spread, sensitivity washing in its wake. She bit her lip, not sure how to react, but he kissed her.

“Don’t hold back. Let me hear you. I want to know, I want to hear.”

She moaned and he gave her an encouraging smile. “Now forget everything else, just concentrate on this, what’s happening to you. Trust me.”

She had from the first moment she’d seen him, which was ridiculous but just the way she was. If she couldn’t trust him, she couldn’t trust herself.

The next minute she didn’t care. Every sense she possessed came together in a crescendo. The intimate wetness of his actions should have embarrassed her. It didn’t.

She cried out, arched her body towards him and he pushed a finger, maybe two deep inside her. He murmured words of encouragement she couldn’t hear properly but that didn’t matter because they reassured her, reminded her who was doing this to her. She was his, all his.

In a series of jerks, she exploded, convulsed around his fingers, staring up at him in helpless, delighted confusion.

Before she could find her voice to ask him what exactly was happening, he rose up, removed his hand and eased her thighs wider, settling between them. She lifted her knees, hugged his body between them. His shaft, hot and wet, slid down to her opening.

She knew this part. It had happened before. But for what he’d just brought her she’d give him all he wanted. It was his turn now.

When he kissed her she opened her mouth for him and tasted his tongue in sheer delight as he worked his way inside her, mouth and—that part she had no name for apart from the vague ‘erection’ or ‘shaft.’ He lodged the tip inside her then pushed further.

That was different. He waited for her to open for him instead of forging straight in and pumping away like an automaton. She opened her thighs wider to give him better access and her hands glided down his back to rest on his beautifully rounded backside.

He moaned into her mouth and pushed in further. He wasn’t backward in expressing the pleasure she was giving to him and that warmed her almost as much as his heated body. He’d responded to something she’d done.

Gripping his buttocks, she felt the strong muscles clench as he thrust in and out of her, small movements at first, getting stronger as his passage became easier, as she opened more to him and her body became wetter.

He tore his mouth from hers and gazed down at her as he worked. Flecks of lighter brown, almost gold, lightened the dark brown of his eyes. There was a ring around his iris, a black one, defining the circle and adding stark contrast between it and the white. “Beautiful,” she gasped, unable to censor the journey between mind and mouth.

“Just what I was thinking. You feel so good, you define the word. But if you need me to stop, I think I can. Just ask me.”

He moved with more purpose, drove in deeper and she gasped as sensation began anew.

Different from the last time, deeper, more pervasive. “Don’t—stop.”

“As you wish.” Gritting his fine, white teeth, he lifted his head, driving harder and faster, increasing the pace of his strokes. She’d felt that heat before but it had faded before it had come to anything, leaving her to assume that was all there was.

This time it didn’t fade. At this angle, every thrust grazed that knot of flesh and increased the heat. Tingles crept along her spine, up to her head and to the ends of her fingers. She arched under his weight. He gave a strangled laugh and lifted off her. Cool air swept between them, hardening her nipples even more, making her aware that he was watching her, as she responded to him.

Momentary embarrassment swept over her but he forced it away as he pounded inside her harder, faster. A long, strangled moan came from between his teeth. Their flesh pounded together and she pushed her lower body up to meet his every stroke.

Something caught inside her and the warmth flowing out to encompass every part of her. She cried out, cried his name as her world coalesced, heated and blossomed.

In one powerful movement, he plunged deep. Warmth pumped into her, as he held his body rigid above her and moaned his pleasure.

He dropped to lay beside her again. They lay next to each other, panting as if they’d run a mile. Connie tried to come to terms with the sense of wonder suffusing her.

She didn’t realize he’d found a damp cloth until he swept it between her legs. Yet another new experience, having a man care for her afterwards.

She turned towards him, half expecting him to roll over and leave her now he’d had his way but he didn’t. He folded his arms around her and took her mouth in a long, drugging kiss.

For a few minutes, they lay in contented silence then she found her voice. “Thank you.”

“Entirely mutual I assure you, dear lady.”

He kissed her again, the warmth in his gaze belying his cool tones, which she recognized as ironic. He didn’t want to reveal how much what they’d just done had affected him. “Now we may make our plans. Work out what we do next.”

Our
plans? She caught her breath then remembered to let it out. It appeared as if he wanted this to continue, that they had some kind of future. That was impossible. Everything had changed. “You mustn’t do too much. I appreciate what you’re trying to do but Jasper is my problem. Once I’ve returned home and established myself there I will approach my godfather and have the contract canceled.”

He held her close as if he hadn’t heard her words. “I thought Dankworth wanted to kill you when Saxton first came to me but I refused to believe that you were dead. If he had done away with you, he wouldn’t have gone unpunished.”

He breathed a little deeper and took a moment before he spoke again. “But he knew your disappearance wouldn’t go unnoticed, and the murderer go unpunished. What’s more, if you’d disappeared, he’d have had to wait seven years before the authorities would declare you dead and he could hope to inherit your estate.”

He growled low and she recognized his anger. “You’re not an unknown. You have friends and he knows that. Lord Downholland, me, your friends at home. We wouldn’t have rested until we brought him to justice. The way he planned, he’d have it all.”

He murmured when she shivered and stroked her back, slowly, up and down in a soothing rhythm. “He has debts, sweetheart, not just from the tables, although he’s been running with the crowd that plays deep. He’s also been making unwise speculations on risky investments. By my reckoning, he has little left.”

“He wants my money.” Not her. Jasper had never wanted her. “Why wouldn’t he just go with the original plan and marry me?”

He kissed her forehead. “Because you don’t have enough for what he needs. So he wants what you have and then some more.”

A question remained. “Why didn’t he marry me and then kill me? He’d be able to marry someone else then.”

His strokes stopped then restarted. “Because he needs the money quickly. And there’s a bigger risk with that scheme. Your death would be a threat to him for the rest of his miserable life.” His mouth flattened. “That will not happen, sweetheart. I will not allow it.”

“Who is the heiress he’s set his sights on?”

“He plans to marry Miss Stobart.”

She hadn’t liked Louisa Stobart but nobody deserved that fate. “Poor lady!”

He snorted. “Poor lady, my eye. She’s showing every sign of welcoming his courtship. They’re speaking of themselves as engaged.”

“But he can’t. He’s engaged to me.” A few facts settled in her mind, a fact that made sense of this plan. “Alex, we signed the marriage contract before I left Downholland Park. Lord Downholland offered to hold the marriage there but Jasper said no, he had business to conclude in London. He asked—he asked me privately if he could come to me that night.”

He swore inventively and she listened with admiration. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I enjoyed it. Genuine originality should be celebrated.”

He gave a reluctant smile. “I like you, Connie. Oh yes, I know”—he stroked her body, making her arch toward him—“but it’s more than that. You could twist me around your tiniest finger.”

His frown returned. “You will not, however, charm me out of remembering what you just told me. He’s worse than I thought and I didn’t believe that possible. He must have met Miss Stobart at Downholland and decided to make a play for her. He was probably courting her while we were amusing ourselves in the library.”

She snuggled closer. Whatever happened next she’d always remember that time fondly.

He continued his smoothing motion but the strokes didn’t soothe her. She enjoyed them too much for that. His hand shook a little but his anger with Jasper probably caused that.

With a swift movement, she buried her face against his shoulder. A vision returned in full force, flashing into her mind in full, vivid color. “I can see it now. See him. I was shamefully dressed and he was leering at me. Sitting in a chair with red leather upholstery, a bit worn—” She broke off abruptly, fighting tears.

His fingers eased under her chin, forcing her to look at him.

She flushed. He responded by delivering a slow, sweet kiss. “I believe I could get addicted to you, my lady. Your job is to get better, do you hear me?”

“I feel perfectly well.”

“Rest and I promise I’ll take care of your interests. Mother Dawkins will look after you for the next day or two, while I put plans into action.”

With an effort, she lifted up on one elbow. He stayed on his back and raised a brow. “Of course, if you’re feeling adventurous….”

But she didn’t smile. She had something important to say. “I won’t let anyone leave me out. This is my life, Alex. I want to know what’s going on. Don’t do anything without telling me first. Promise me.” Never again would she let someone else arrange her life for her.

He cupped her cheek. “You’re a strong woman but nobody has let you demonstrate it yet. Now say it again.”

“What?”

“Say my name.”

“Alex?” She laughed as the darkness of desire filled his eyes. That she could do this to him astounded her. “Alex, Alex, Alex…”

He hooked his hand around the back of her neck and drew her down, ravishing her mouth with a kiss that spoke only of his desire for her.

She wasn’t sure which amazed her the most—that he wanted her or she wanted him with a delicious hunger she’d never known before. And he took such care with her, too.

He explored her mouth with a gentle thoroughness that melted her. She moved closer, climbed over him and his erection pressed against the soft flesh of her stomach. Her nipples grazed his chest and she relished the soft hair rasping against her nipples. He finished the kiss only to return for more, taking her on a new journey, one where she knew what would happen. Taking his erection in hand, he guided it to her wet crease and she lifted her lower body. She wanted more and she wanted him now.

He chuckled into her mouth when he sensed her eagerness and finished the kiss. “Not so fast,” he murmured, soft and low against her lips. “Let it happen, sweetheart. Like a flower growing from bud to blossom. You feel so lovely. Your nipples are driving me crazy. Feed one to me.”

She could hardly believe what he’d just said, much less the rush of liquid desire that flooded her lower body when he said it. She lifted up on her hands, her breasts dangling before his face. Remembering what he’d said, she moved slowly and when he opened his mouth, she lowered one of her nipples into it. He closed his lips, feasting on her and she moaned, letting him hear her pleasure.