The Duke's Gamble (5 page)

The tension in his jaw eased and he walked towards her. “The money is nothing, as long as you find the clothes to your liking. Are they to your liking?”

The duke stood before her, so close that she could see the tiny streaks of gold in the dark brown of his irises. The now familiar fragrance of his eau de Cologne mixed with the smell of soap and starch was intoxicating, invoking a sudden memory of him braced above her as he thrust his shaft deep within her, his cologne combined with the scent of perspiration and arousal heavy in her nostrils.

When he spoke again, his voice was husky. “Arabella, if you do not stop looking at me in this manner, I will pick you up, place you on that settee and take you again.” The blaze of heat in his eyes and his words made her stomach quiver. “And I do not wish to do that because I know you must be tender this morning.”

Even as she blushed at the intimacy of his statement, she couldn’t deny the melting warmth in her chest at his concern.
 

“I am sorry.”

Bella’s eyes widened in surprise. There was a strange note in his voice and she wondered when he had last made an apology.

His voice low, he said, “I had only meant to pleasure you. But the way you responded to my touch, watching you reach your peak drove me beyond bearing.” His brows knitted. “I hurt you, didn’t I?”

Bella was at a loss for words. The man before her displaying regret for claiming her body, when it was rightfully his to claim could not be the same man from yesterday.
 

Castor obviously took her silence for agreement. “I will not come to your bed again until you are healed.”

“No!” Bella stopped short, feeling her cheeks flame. “I mean, I am all right. Truly, it wasn’t so bad. The pain was only momentary.” The pleasure had lasted much longer. Her blush deepened. “You don’t have to stay away. I have no objections if you wish to … visit me.” Lud, he was going to think her a wanton now, and he would be right.
 

Just a few days ago, she had resigned herself to living the rest of her life a spinster. She was destined to never know the love or the touch of a man. If there had been even the tiniest sliver of hope that she would one day find a husband, it was now gone. She was no longer a virgin. She was mistress to the Duke of Ice. She was already ruined beyond repair, so why not enjoy herself. And although Castor Winterton-Grant may be the most ruthless peer in the whole of England, he was also a very skilled lover.

His eyes were hooded and she could not read his expression. He said nothing, merely inclined his head. “Come. I have something to show you.”

That something was a room on the top floor of the house, adjacent to the central stairs. Bella swore her mouth fell open when she had her first look of the library. Three out of the four walls of the room were covered in books from floor to the high ceiling. The fourth wall was actually a bank of windows which allowed the library to be well illuminated. All the libraries she had ever seen, including the one in her home, were poorly lit and it was a hardship to read there.
 

Speechless with awe, she slowly walked over to the nearest shelf, reaching out and tentatively touching the red vellum of one of the books there. “Guide to the Lakes,” she murmured.
 

“It is a guide to the Lake District. The engravings are barely tolerable but the prose is a great improvement. It was written by one who knows that area well. I found it unexpectedly poignant.”

Bella looked over at Castor. “How many of these books have you read?” There were thousands of books in the mammoth room. Perhaps tens of thousands. She would need several lifetimes to read each tome in the library.

“I don’t know. Certainly more than a thousand.” He shrugged. “I have always been a voracious reader. As a child I would rather be in here reading that outside with Pollux.” He froze. Shock flitted across his countenance.

“Pollux? Is he your brother?” Bella asked him curiously. “I did not know you have a brother.”

The duke’s expression was shuttered. “Had a brother. He died when we were children.” His tone was cold and flat, clearly inviting no further questions.

“Oh, I am so sorry.” Feeling terribly awkward after her
faux pas
, she looked around the room, hoping to find something else to discuss.

Before she could do so, he spoke. “I will need to attend to my business matters in the mornings. You may wish to spend that time here. I will join you for luncheon and after that we can go for a walk or ride. The countryside is very pretty this time of the year.”

Bella didn’t know what to make of this. He wished to spend time with her outside the bedchamber?
 

“Of course, you may ride in the mornings if you wish. Just say the word to Mrs Robbins and she will arrange it for you.”

“Thank you, but I believe I will be quite comfortable here.” It was hard not to contain her glee as she looked around the room. She was almost dizzy with the thought of having so many books to read. It would certainly be no hardship for her to live here. Her thoughts came to a juddering halt. Live here? She had been here a mere day and she was already entertaining thoughts of living here?
 

“Arabella.”

“Yes?” She looked inquiringly up at him. There was a strange expression on his face which she did not understand.

“Do you wish to return home?”

His question was so unexpected that she could only stare at him. “Home?”

“Yes. If you do, my carriage is at your disposal. You may leave immediately and I will consider the debt settled in full.”

“I don’t understand. You want me to leave?” The thought stung. She knew next to nothing when it came to the intimacy of the bedchamber but she had thought he had experienced pleasure during their encounters.

“No, I do not want you to leave.” He hesitated for a long moment. “I very much wish you to stay.” He uttered the words slowly, almost as if they had been dragged out of him against his will.

Warmth blossomed within her. She walked up to him, and on impulse, placed her right hand on his chest. Under her palm, she could feel his heart pounding hard and fast. Unexpectedly fast. She looked up at him but his face remained impassive. Was he nervous? Could her answer really be of such importance to him?

“I will stay,” she said, feeling his chest expand with a breath. Of relief?
Courage, Bella.
“On one condition.”

Castor gave her a wary look. “What would that be?”

“You have to stop giving me orders.”

His dark brows drew together. “No orders. That is your condition?” He looked displeased, and a frisson of uncertainty formed.

She drew in a breath to steady herself. “Yes. You may …” Her voice faltered when he arched a brow at this word. He had probably never heard that word spoken to him. “You may make a request but I will decide whether I wish to comply.”

He regarded her for a moment. “I have a counter offer.”

She couldn’t help smiling. “Of course you do.”

“Why, ‘of course’?”

“I did not expect you to have accumulated your wealth by being agreeable.”

His lips twitched. “Yes, I am a most disagreeable person. My staff will tell you so.”

“I highly doubt they will do anything of the sort,” she replied wryly.

Castor chuckled, the sound vibrating against her hand. Heavens, he was magnificent when he laughed; his eyes crinkling at the corners and filled with humour, that beautiful mouth forming a smiling curve that she wanted to kiss. She quickly spoke before she could give in to the impulse. “What is your counter offer?”

“I want you to submit to me when we are in the privacy of your bedchamber.”

Bella felt a tremor run through her at the dark desire in his voice. “S-submit?” She didn’t know why but the word made arousal spark in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t an outrageous condition, women submitted to their husbands in the bedroom. Yet the way he had spoken the word seemed forbidden, illicit somehow.

He mistook her hesitation for doubt. “I would never hurt you, Arabella.”

She swallowed. “I know.”

He covered her hand with his, and the calloused warmth steadied her. “Well? Do you agree?”

“Yes.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
 

He didn’t bother to hide his triumph. “Good. Shall we seal our agreement with a kiss?”

Bella was helpless to do anything but nod.
 

His kiss was firm and his tongue stroked hers with gentle, teasing strokes. She tentatively touched her tongue to his, parrying to his thrusts. The kiss remained light, almost playful, yet it was a sign of his skill that by the end of it, she was breathless, her body aching with desire. When he pulled away, she was gratified to find that he was similarly affected from his quickened breath and heavy-lidded eyes.

“I have a request to make of you,” he said in a low voice.

She swallowed. “What is it?”

“I do not want you to wear drawers while you are here.”

Bella gaped at him. “No drawers? But that’s …”

He seemed amused by her consternation. “Scandalous? Improper? Shocking?”

She sought to compose herself. “All of those.” She wanted to ask why, but then the reason of his request occurred to her. Her entire body heated at the thought that without her drawers, he could touch her, take her, at will. “A lady would object, would she not?” she asked musingly. “Although, I am perhaps not a lady any longer.”

“You
are
a lady,” he retorted immediately, his voice hard. “And anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to me.” His voice softened. “You are my lady. Mine alone.”

She felt her heart swell. Where in heaven’s name had her anger and her resentment gone? “I will do as you ask, my lord.”

Castor cupped her face in his large hand and ran his thumb over her swollen bottom lip. “What are you doing to me?” he murmured, as if musing to himself.

Bella didn’t reply, but she was very much afraid that the attraction she didn’t seem able to fight could very easily turn to love if she wasn’t careful.

Chapter 7

Two weeks later
 

Bella stirred, caught in that place between wakefulness and sleep, her entire body heavy with an indescribably delicious lassitude. Her sex was pulsating with pleasure, and it was when she tried to shift her legs that she realised they were pinned down.

Her eyes flew open. The sight that met her was shocking.
Beyond
shocking.

The dim light of dawn showed the duke of Avalon lying between her thighs. His hands were holding her spread thighs and his mouth …
lord in heaven
, his mouth was covering her cleft. He was tasting her! She cried out in shock before sitting up and trying to move away from him. He had raised his head then, and told her to stop, lie down. She had barely heard him, but froze when her gaze landed on his perfectly sculpted lips. Lips which were wet with her juices.

Without waiting for her to obey, he lowered his head, laving her engorged pearl with his tongue. Her vision blurred and she gasped, falling back onto the mattress as her arms gave out. The heavy caress changed into lightning fast flicks and her fingers clenched around the bedsheets. He purred in satisfaction as he stroked his tongue along the length of her slit, gathering the evidence of her arousal before circling and teasing her tender opening with the tip of his tongue.
 

Bella couldn’t help it. She arched her hips up, fighting against the tight grip he had on her thighs as she wordlessly begged for more. “Castor, p-please,” she moaned.

At the sound of her voice, he growled, and then he was licking her, sucking hard and flicking his tongue rapidly against the hard bundle of nerves which he exposed further by pressing upwards on the flesh of her pubis.

“
Oh God!
” screamed Bella, her body convulsing as ecstasy shot through her without warning. The intense surges of pleasure had barely begun to abate when he drove two fingers into her sex. The pinch of pain to her tender flesh made her gasp, and then he was stroking that spot within her that had brought her so much pleasure in the past. But the sensations were amplified today, and her eyes opened wide as he deepened the caress of his fingertips against her inner wall.

“Nooooo,” she panted, the pressure of his fingers against her full bladder sending panic streaking through her. Perspiration misted her skin and she shuddered violently, clenching around his fingers. “I can’t. You’re making me—”

She thought for a moment that he didn’t hear her, as his fingers continued to press insistently against her. But then he removed his fingers and watched her as she slumped into the mattress with relief. It was not to last. He came up next to her, his mouth claiming hers in a deep kiss. He turned her to her side, his body behind her. Pushing her legs up, he gripped her hips and she felt the head of his cock press against her sex. With a groan, he sank his hard length into her.

Her head jerked reflexively as pleasure and pain streaked between her thighs. Her sheath was still sore from his hard use last night, and it was only her juices easing his way that made his possession bearable. Her breath came in loud gasps as he drove into her tender sheath again and again. As he did, the head of his cock came into contact with the part of her sheath that he had earlier touched, sending a jolt of pleasure through her. Pleasure rebounded through every nerve in her body, drowning all but the vaguest hint of discomfort.

Bella suddenly stiffened as her orgasm burst over her, making her womb contract as her inner muscles clamped down on his shaft. Castor growled low in his throat and then he was gripping her hips tight, pumping spurt after spurt of semen into her unresisting channel. After he withdrew from her, they lay there for a time, the silence broken by their harsh breaths.

She was surprised when he got off the bed, and without speaking a word or looking at her, strode through the adjoining door to his bedroom. She waited for a while but when some time passed and he didn’t return, she started to berate herself for feeling hurt. Just because he had remained abed with her for the past two weeks didn’t mean that he had fallen in love with her. It was difficult, though, to convince herself that she was only a vessel for slaking his lust when he had even slept beside her on those few days when she had her monthly courses, instead of retiring to his bedchamber as she had expected.