Taken by the Duke (10 page)

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, burying his face into her hair and pressing a kiss to the place where her neck and shoulder met. “It will fade in a moment. Breathe with me.”

She stared at him. He pulled back and looked down at her as he began to draw deep, calculated breaths. She slowly matched her own breathing to his, and soon they shared a rhythm.

Something almost as intimate as their joined bodies.

He turned his face away, as if that intimacy had just occurred to him as well. Then he pulled his hips back and stroked into her again. This time there was no pain and she sighed as he began a slow, gentle pace inside her body.

She did not expect pleasure to come again, not after twice, not when there had been pain at their first moment of joining, but as he thrust into her, keeping a steady rhythm, that pleasure built again. Brick by brick, it created a wall, then a tower, and just when she felt too full from it, the world shattered and she cried out.

Her release seemed to inspire his, and he withdrew from her quivering body to spend between them. For a moment, he remained over her, his body shaking in time with hers, his arms still tight around her in a warm embrace. Then he rolled away, stiff and awkward thanks to his injury, to lie on his back.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. His face was so unreadable that she had no idea what was in his mind. Although the encounter had seemed as intense for him as it was for her, was he unhappy? He had pulled from her body, did that mean something? Would he renege on their arrangement now that her virginity was gone?

She rolled to her side and looked at him full on. “Have I upset you? Disappointed you?”

He jolted, almost as if he had been lost in thought, and glanced at her. “No,” he said. “No, I am anything but disappointed, Ava.”

“Then you shall not go back on our bargain?” she said, relief flooding her.

His brow wrinkled. “You have surrendered your innocence. There is no going back now.”

She shivered as she stared up at the ceiling far above. No going back. That was most definitely true. She had given up her one bargaining chip for any relationship. And the future without it was very hazy.

She closed her eyes and tried not to ponder that truth any longer. It was quiet in the room, warm from the fire, and after such strenuous activity and so much high emotion, she found herself very tired. As she drifted away into sleep, her last coherent thought was that she had to make this sacrifice worthwhile.

It was her only choice now.

Christian lay on his side, watching Ava as she slept. Her face was soft in the dying firelight, free of the worry and fear that had lined it since he took her.

It seemed like a lifetime ago that he had stood in the shadows on the terrace and plotted to take her. His plans, which had been so clear and made so much sense to him, now had been altered because of her. He had gone from vengeance to pleasure, a ruination in name alone to the claiming of her innocence in a most enjoyable encounter.

One that had included a connection he had not expected nor desired. In the moment he had claimed her body, he had been overtaken by a primitive sense of ownership, of protection, of claiming that had nothing to do with her quaking body or his long-neglected physical desires.

“Manipulation,” he muttered as he got up and paced away from her.

But could he truly accuse this woman, who reacted so guilelessly to his touch, who had truly been an innocent until he took that from her?

He shook his head. Whatever the answer, his path was clear. There could be no connection with her, no further moment of weakness to her wiles, purposeful or not. She was a means to vengeance and perhaps a bit of pleasure.

Nothing more.

He turned back to look at her. She was curled up on the bed, naked. He grabbed a small blanket from the chair beside the fire and draped it over her before he buttoned his trousers and moved to the door, moving slowly so he didn’t require his cane. He rang the bell, then waited there.

Within seconds a servant arrived. He was very careful not to look into the bedroom as Christian directed him to bring a tray of food and to arrange for a bath to be drawn in the adjoining room. When the arrangements had been made, he limped back to the chair beside the fire and sat, trying not to look at the sleeping woman who had somehow utterly discombobulated him in such a short time.

He would not allow her to affect him. Not in any way.

Chapter Nine

When there was a light rap on the door half an hour later, Ava sat up and looked around, her expression dazed and softened by her brief nap. When she caught a glimpse of Christian rising from the chair beside the fire, her cheeks darkened to deep red, and she quickly covered herself with the blanket he had draped over her a short time earlier.

He almost laughed at her modesty. As if he could forget every inch of that delicious body just because she hid it away for a moment.

“I took the liberty of asking the servants for a tray,” he explained as he moved toward the door. “You hardly ate anything earlier, and you must be famished.”

She nodded. “I admit, I am. Is there something I can put on quickly?”

He shrugged. “They will not come in, and I have already seen anything you wish to hide.”

Her brow wrinkled ever so slightly. “I suppose that is a true enough statement.”

She settled herself in a seated position against the pillows, blanket wrapped around her loosely, and watched him. He felt suddenly awkward, very aware of his limp, as he took the tray from the maid outside and stepped back into the room. As the girl shut the door behind him, he faced Ava.

“Do you mind eating in bed?” he asked.

“I only eat in bed under very unusual circumstances,” she said. Her eyes sparkled as she added. “These certainly fit that description—why not?”

He hesitated before bringing the tray over and setting it on the bed before her. He joined her there and began pouring her wine from the bottle that had been included on the tray.

“Would it be terribly rude of me to dive in?” she asked, eyeing the cheese, biscuits, fruit and meats that had been provided by Christian’s cook as a hardy snack for post-lovemaking.

“Please do,” he said and watched in wonder as she popped a bite of cheese between her lips and made a little rumble of pleasure.

What else he had expected, he didn’t know. He didn’t make a habit of deflowering virgins, especially virgin enemies. But somehow he hadn’t thought she would awaken in such high spirits. Should she not be flogging herself for giving away the prize of her virginity?

But if she was, she kept that secret well.

They ate together in silence for a while, which gave him plenty of time to observe her behavior even further.

Her dark hair had fallen down around her shoulders during their lovemaking session, and the firelight caught its auburn highlights time and again. She moved with a delicacy that spoke of good breeding and education, but the little sounds she made as she gobbled up her food were highly sensual.

Still, she seemed to be increasingly relaxed, even in his presence. As if now that the deed of trading her innocence was done, she could finally be free and make the best of her situation.

“You know, this room would be prettier if you gave it more color,” she said, looking around.

His eyes widened at her unexpected statement. “You are giving me decorating tips?”

“It seems as good a topic as any to fill this very awkward silence,” she offered with a shrug.

He placed his napkin on the coverlet and tilted his head. “You are afraid of silence, then?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I enjoy privacy and silence a great deal. But this silence isn’t particularly comfortable, is it? I feel like you are waiting for me to burst into tears, and your face tells me you might run screaming from the room if I did. Honestly, I speak in order to enhance
your
comfort.”

He stared at her, gaping. For the first time in a very long time, he was utterly speechless. A fact which didn’t seem to particularly bother the woman sitting beside him. She merely pressed a strawberry between her delightful lips and awaited his response.

A response he was spared from offering when there was a noise from the adjoining room. Her gaze flitted away from him toward the other room.

“What was that?” she asked.

“They are drawing a bath for you,” he explained. When she looked at him, he shrugged. “It will help with any pain remaining from the removal of your innocence.”

Her stare returned to his face and she stared at him, questions in her eyes. “I am not sure what to think of that,” she finally said. “Of you.”

He pushed off the bed and grasped his cane. Turning his back to her, he moved for the door. “I will check on the bath for you and fetch you when they have finished readying it.”

He walked through the door and shut it behind himself, leaving her alone in the room. Once he was away from her, the strange tightness in his chest faded. What in the world was the woman about? He could not deduce her thoughts, her motives. She was direct, she questioned, she seemed resigned to her fate, even cheerfully resigned.

And he could not, for the life of him, determine if those many facts were a weapon of war against him or simply character traits naturally belonging to her. Traits he would normally admire…
if
her family title were not Windbury.

Ava remained on the bed for a few moments after Christian left, simply staring at the door between them. She was…confused.

After all, she had given him what he wanted. Truth be told, she had
enjoyed
giving her body to him. After so many years out in Society, she had begun to feel a twisting tightness of anticipation and anxiety. She had longed for the intimacy she sometimes saw between the love matches in her circles. She had wondered what she would be missing if she never found a man willing to overlook the issues that made her a spinster.

Now she was freed of those questions. She might never experience love, but passion had been well covered in just one afternoon, with more promised to come.

Yet Christian did not seem pleased with her. In fact, when they interacted he was more uncomfortable than ever.

She rose, wrapping the blanket around herself, and paced the room slowly.

They were very different people, it seemed. He was utterly comfortable when touching her. There was no hesitation then, no anger, no resentment despite who she was. But when they talked, when they made any kind of emotional connection, that was when he squirmed.

“Could that be…power?” she murmured as she pushed the curtain aside and looked out the window to a pretty garden below.

Power. She had never had any in this war between their families. She could beg her brother to stop the madness, she could pray that cooler heads would prevail, but she had never had true control over any of it.

But if she could approach Christian from an emotional point of view, if she could set him off kilter with her reactions to him, with her questions, by becoming closer…perhaps she could finally have a weapon in a war where she was too often nothing more than an innocent victim.

“At the very least, I must try,” she said. “If there is any chance, I
must
try.”

Behind her, the door opened and she turned to find Christian waiting there for her.

“Your bath,” he said, motioning into the adjoining room. She smiled as she passed him and entered the chamber.

It was, as she had suspected, a dressing area for her own room. She looked around.

“You locked me out of such a benign place,” she said with a light laugh.

He shifted. “I apologize for pushing you into a small space.”

“Then may I use this room, or do I remain confined to that pretty little prison in the other chamber?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and light.

He swallowed hard. “Do you intend to run?”

She blinked. Run. The idea had fleetingly occurred to her at the time of her arrival, but she had pushed it aside as foolish. It seemed no less foolish now, and somewhat less appealing considering their bargain and her enjoyment of it.

“I have very little idea of where I am,” she said. “And if I ran, I assume it would crush the terms of our agreement, putting my brother back into the path of your rage. So, no, I have no intention to attempt escape.”

He stared at her, a hooded glance that was frustratingly unreadable.

“Then you shall not be confined. You may explore this house fully and utilize whatever rooms you wish. Save for my sister’s old chamber, which will remain locked.”

“Thank you,” she said, then looked at the steaming tub with a smile.

“Would you like help stepping in?” he asked, holding out a hand for her.

Her eyes widened. “From you?”

He looked around. “I am the only one present.”

She shivered as she looked at his extended hand. Although he had already performed most intimate acts upon her willing flesh, she still flushed at the thought of dropping the shield of the blanket wrapped around her.

But there was little other choice, so she let it fall. His gaze flitted up and down the length of her body and he shifted as if uncomfortable. She took his hand and stepped into the tub, sinking beneath the water as if it could protect her even though he could see straight through to her body. She swept up the soap and began to lather in the hopes the suds would provide her a little protection.