The Courtesan's Bed (31 page)

Authors: Sandrine O'Shea

BOOK: The Courtesan's Bed

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Those softly spoken words drove a shock of desire through every vein and sinew in his body.

“Do what you will, Claire.” He could hardly speak through the need clawing at his chest. “I surrender to your desires.”

The shudder wracking her at his words took Claire by surprise. Power, potent and sweet, leapt in her belly and increased her own arousal. All she had learned, all she had experienced, seemed suddenly to have meaning. If for this one night she could give this one man pleasure, everything,
everything
, would be worthwhile.

Sinking to her knees, Claire reached for Xavier's straining cock, marvelling at its perfection, lightly skimming her fingers over the velvet hardness. It pointed straight up towards his belly, the veins standing out in bold relief, the end mushroomed into a darker knob, and the sensitive little tendon just below the slit begged for special attention. His ballocks, already tight, waited to pump his release.

It had been a long time since she had felt like this, eager and needy, yet also wanting to give. For two years she had been without a man, two years during which fantasies had sustained her. But dreams, no matter how graphic they might be, could not compare with reality.

She lowered her head, hands caressing up and down his thighs, savouring the sensation of firm musculature, hair-roughened skin so completely different from her own. He was trembling, and the sensation seemed to travel through his flesh and into hers, until they were joined by the same aching desire.

Lowering her head further, she touched his testicles lightly, using just the tip of her tongue, running it from side to side, barely letting him feel the contact. Gently she increasing the pressure until, suddenly, she curled her entire tongue under the sac to explore the soft, firm skin behind. As he gasped, she withdrew slowly, letting his flesh slide off her tongue.

Looking up, she shuddered at the raw passion on his face. His eyes were closed and his neck arched back. Strong hands clutched the wall as though for support. Her heart ached for him, this passionate man whose passion had been squelched until he doubted its veracity. She bent back to her task, determined to make this a night he would remember until his dying day.

Sucking slowly on one side of his sac brought a heartfelt groan, and the sound drove her on. She let it almost slip free before increasing the pressure and drawing it back in, swirling her tongue over the tight flesh constantly. An abrupt switch to the other side, and he jerked in reaction. Reaching up to take his cock in her right hand, she found the tip wet, moaned into his flesh as she spread the moisture and used it to lubricate a slow, steady pumping. His ballocks contracted even more and she raised herself up onto her toes, releasing him from her hand, from her mouth, waiting without touching.

Secrets can destroy youâand the one you love most.

Hareton Hall

Richard and Rose, Book 6

As Richard returns with Rose to her childhood home of Darkwater for two weddings, romance is in the airâbut so is trouble. It begins with Rose's stolen watch. Tensions rise when they learn their old adversaries, the Drurys, have taken a house nearby. A series of attacks on those they love, plus a rise in smuggling activity, only add to the threat of violence.

Then illness strikes at the worst possible time, threatening everyone in the districtâespecially the children. Questions abound: Was the infection deliberate? Is someone striking at Richard through Rose, or are their enemies targeting Rose for information she possesses?

Richard calls on his resources, public and private, to counter an enemy that threatens to destroy his beloved Rose. Rose is no helpless victim, however, and refuses to let anyoneâeven Richardâtake away her independence. She finds ways to fight that aren't in his armoury. Whether he likes it or notâ¦

Warning: When Richard uses a topaz necklace to give Rose hot shivers, it might give you ideas, so keep a man handy to experiment on. But you can't have Richard.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Hareton Hall:

“Would you like me to get Nichols back for you?” he murmured. “Or will you accept me as your lady's maid?”

“Do you need to ask?”

He laughed and kissed me, his tongue caressing my mouth with a gentle insistence I could never tire of.

He unhooked my gown at the front, pushed it off my shoulders and let the garment fall to the ground, leaving me in my stomacher, stays and petticoats. The stomacher was easily got rid of, being attached to the stays by a few pins only. It fell to the floor with a heavy thump, as the topaz brooches were still fastened to it. He reached round to the back and began to loosen my stay laces, taking the opportunity of our proximity to kiss me again, sweet kisses over my cheeks and throat, pausing to nip at my earlobe. While he was performing these actions for me, I wasn't idle.

I undid the buttons on his waistcoat, feeling the hard, nubby surface of its heavy embroidery, then I slid my hands under it and felt his body beneath the fine linen of his shirt. He chuckled softly, and I felt my stays give way. The drawstring of my outer petticoat proved no obstacle to his questing, skilled fingers and my under petticoat and side hoops swiftly followed.

“Why do you like to undress me? I could come to you in my night rail.” I ran my hands up his back, feeling the hard, lean muscle respond to my touch.

“Because, my sweet delight, it's unwrapping the best gift in the world. Because it prolongs the moment in a delicious way. I love to touch you, to hold you, and this way I can touch every part of you.” He kissed me and then bent his head to kiss my throat, and to push away the loosened drawstring of my shift, exposing my breasts to his caresses. I pressed myself against him, felt the buckles holding his stock at the back of his neck and unfastened them.

Then I put my hand up to undo the topaz necklace I still wore, but he lifted his hand and put it over mine. “Leave it. It looks lovely against your skin. Let me look.”

I let it be, instead pulling at the drawstring of my remaining petticoat and my pockets until they fell away. He removed his shirt in one smooth movement, so I could see and touch his chest and his back. The touch of my bare skin against his made me tingle, drew my nipples into peaks. The drawstring at the neck of my shift was now fully open, so I let it go all the way down my body to pool at my feet.

I was naked now, except for my stockings, and I knelt to help him with his breeches, unfastening the glittering buckles at his knee, the buttons at the sides, and the buttons holding the garment up at his waist, beginning to understand his meaning about unwrapping.

I touched, caressed, kissed him, and heard his sigh and murmur when I stroked the swollen, silken flesh before me. I bent my head, took him into my mouth, and ran my tongue around the tip.

He gasped and murmured, “Oh Rose, oh sweetheart,” and he touched me, digging his fingers into my hair when I deepened the caress. I loved the feeling of control doing this gave to me and I felt him moisten, tasted the pearl of liquid he granted me and knew he wouldn't last too long if I did this. I wanted him inside me so I released him with some reluctance, watching the glistening member strain as I drew back.

I sat on the floor, on top of the discarded heap of clothes, and slowly removed my shoes and stockings, drawing out the moment, displaying myself to him. He watched me, before he put his hands under my armpits and pulled me to my feet.

His eyes, usually such a gemlike sapphire, had softened to the blue of the sky just after dawn, and the smile playing about his mouth was the one only I ever saw. “You're a witch,” he whispered, as he sought my mouth with his. He thrust his tongue into my mouth, sensuously exploring, sending flutters of sensation through my whole body.

Then he took my hand and led me to the bed. I lay down and held out my arms to him. He hardly paused, only looking at me, with that smile curving his lips. “The best gift in the world.”

He kissed me, touched me, took my nipples into his mouth and teased them into pinpoint hardness with his tongue.

I caressed him, his firm, satiny skin heating under my hands, and kissed him again as he found his way home, sliding his shaft along my innermost folds, then deep inside my body. I'd never yet been disappointed by Richard's lovemaking, never been less than drowsily blissful when we had done. His long years of practice must have helped, but now that he was all mine he honed his skills, tailoring them to my pleasure, for my delight.

He kissed me, then drove in, to withdraw and plunge again, moving a little to find the most sensitive parts of me, then lifted his head and gazed down at me, pausing in his rhythmic movements. “How lucky can one man be?”

I smiled up at him. He moved again and laughed softly when I caught my lower lip between my teeth and made a small, wordless sound. “Oh, my love, that's it, that's it.”

The Courtesan's Bed

Sandrine O'Shea

She vows to protect her heartâ¦until love burns away her resistance.

RÃ©gine Laflamme rules as the Queen of Fire, the Paris demimonde's most notorious and accomplished courtesan. Wealthy men shower her with riches and vie to become her next conquest. Respectable women shun her. Other courtesans envy her.

No one knows she was once an innocent young governess, ruined and turned out by a cruel lord. And now, years later, she spies her seducer's sonâa man who never answered her frantic pleas for help.

Darius, Earl of Clarridge, has never stopped searching for the woman who haunts him. He doesn't expect her to believe that her letters never reached him. No, he will regain her trust in a way she understandsâby promising to give her more pleasure than she's ever known.

In spite of her misgivings, RÃ©gine is intrigued and takes Darius up on his boast. To her surprise, he conquers not only her body, but captures her very heart.

Yet beyond the haven of her boudoir, two men scheme to possess her for their own. When one of them kidnaps and enslaves her, she clings desperately to a new hopeâthat this time Darius will find her before it's too late.

Warning: This novel contains scenes of graphic sex, bondage, S/M, anal pleasuring of the hero, and a two-women-one-man threesome in a brothel.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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The Courtesan's Bed

ISBN: 978-1-60928-197-7

Edited by Sasha Knight

Cover by Natalie Winters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: September 2010

www.samhainpublishing.com

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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