To Tame a Dangerous Lord (35 page)

Taking a deep breath, she unfastened the hooks at the front of her dressing gown, then slipped out of it. The garment fell to the floor in a delicate pool, leaving her completely naked.

Rayne’s features arrested as he took in her form, and several heartbeats passed before he spoke. “Words fail me.”

Madeline smiled in relief at the admiration in his tone. “Truly? I have never known you to be speechless.”

“I am now.”

“You will be more so when I ravish you.”

His boldly familiar gaze raked over her bare body. “Behold me in transports of delight.”

He did not appear to be overwhelmed by delight, yet there was no doubt he was affected by her. Undeniable attraction sizzled between them as he stepped closer.

Without warning then, Rayne reached out to flick her left nipple with his thumb. Blood rushed to every part of Madeline’s body that he had taught to feel pleasure.

Rayne suddenly seemed amused. “So you mean to play the temptress again? Very well, then tempt me.”

Madeline bit her lower lip at the unmistakable challenge in his tone. This was
not
the response she had hoped for. There was interest in his eyes just now, perhaps even heat, yet there was no passion and certainly
no overwhelming love. Instead, Rayne seemed emotionally distant, determined to hold himself apart from her.

Madeline felt a twist of longing so strong her stomach hurt. She might be chasing a dream, using seduction to make Rayne love her, but she wouldn’t give up just yet.

Confiscating his glass of wine, Madeline took a deep swallow for courage, which drew a surprisingly sharp look from Rayne. Then taking his hand, she led him over to the hearth, where the table and chairs had been arranged for her purpose.

Setting the goblet down on the table, Madeline reached up and pulled the pins from her hair. Thankfully, Rayne’s gaze riveted on her as the silken mass fell down to curl around her breasts.

“You have on far too many clothes,” she said in a low, husky voice. “I intend to take them off.”

“Do as you wish.”

His studied nonchalance was beginning to annoy her. Lifting her face to his, Madeline kissed him flirtatiously, letting her warm mouth linger against Rayne’s as she untied the sash of his dressing gown and pushed the lapels apart, then slid the brocade off his magnificent shoulders to expose his broad bare chest.

Leaning even closer, she raised herself up on her tiptoes and outlined the shell of his ear with her tongue while pressing her belly against his loins. Beneath his pantaloons she could feel Rayne’s erection swell instantly at the erotic sensation.

At least his physical lust seemed real. His gaze was hot on her now, and the air had grown sharp with expectation even before she finished undressing him.

Dropping to her knees before him, Madeline removed his bedroom slippers, then unbuttoned his pantaloons
and drawers and drew them down his powerful legs. Upon standing once more, Madeline caught her breath at the splendor of his superb body rippling with supple muscle, the mysterious allure of his rampant male flesh rising from his loins.

Rayne was aroused and made no secret of it.

She felt a rush of damp heat between her thighs. She had incited his arousal, and the knowledge excited her.

“What now?” he asked.

The words were faintly taunting, and Madeline could not let his challenge go unanswered.

“Now I demonstrate the skills I have learned,” she promised.

Pressing her hand against his bare chest, she guided him backward toward the chair facing her. When Rayne sat at her urging, she knelt between his parted thighs. His naked masculine beauty made her yearn to caress him with her hands and her mouth, and she intended to fulfill her desire without delay.

Rayne leaned back lazily—until she surprised him by dipping two fingers in the wine glass and painting his chest with the cool liquid.

“It seems you have a hidden wicked streak after all,” he commented in a huskier tone than before.

Madeline smiled a soft, sinful smile. “I am only trying to prove your match, darling. Your wicked streak has been evident since the first moment I met you.”

Wetting her fingers in the wine again, she artfully trailed a path down the muscles of his abdomen. Rayne’s eyes gleamed with a different light now; the spark of heat in the blue depths had changed to hunger.

Determined to rattle his composure even further, Madeline traced the heavy sacs below his tumescence,
slowly brushing the soft skin. Then reaching higher, she curled her fingers around his thrusting erection, molding her palm to his hardness. The thick length surged in her hand, while Rayne tensed visibly.

“You need to keep still,” she ordered with a provocative smile. She dipped her fingers once more and held his gaze, looking directly into his eyes as she painted the thick head of his shaft with wine.

A muscle jumped in his jaw that was suddenly tight, Madeline saw with satisfaction. He wasn’t the only one affected, either. She was certain Rayne could see the flush of her own arousal, the rapid flutter of her pulse in her throat.

She bent to his groin then, letting her tongue lick the sweet wine from his rigid flesh, making his breath hiss. His taste was hot and heady and highly arousing all by itself.

Holding his swollen member in a light grasp, she let her mouth close around him fully. When he groaned at the pleasure of it, she suckled harder, relishing her feeling of power at the way Rayne was responding to her touch.

His hips arching against the torment she was inflicting, he started to slide himself slowly between her lips, his hips rising reflexively off the chair, but Madeline would have none of it.

“Be still,” she commanded in a husky voice, “or I will stop.”

He obeyed, yet she suspected it required a great effort for him to maintain control as she explored him. His fingers pressed into the chair’s seat as she went on arousing him, her hands a continuation of her mouth, stroking,
squeezing, taunting, while her tongue stimulated him relentlessly.

Finally he let out a soft curse and caught her hair to make her lift her head. “Enough, witch.”

He was staring down at her, his eyes dark with need. Knowing the expression in her own eyes was one of hunger, of craving, Madeline gazed steadily back at him, this beautiful man who made her heart and soul ache.

Desire throbbed thick and heavy between them as Rayne’s gaze traveled from her wet lips to her bare breasts, to the taut nipples that were already straining for his touch.

“Come here,” he demanded.

Not giving her time to refuse, he grasped her shoulders and drew her up, pulling her astride his thighs. Madeline, however, had no intention of denying the deep, powerful longing inside her. Her body burned for the completing fullness of before, the bliss of being joined to Rayne in the most intimate way possible. She was dizzy with wanting him.

Pleasure, desire, need, all driving her on, Madeline eased herself over him, preparing to mount him, but to her surprise, Rayne stopped her.

“No,” he warned at her eagerness. “Slowly. Hover over the tip of my cock … tease me first. Then without warning plunge onto me.”

Holding his gaze, she lowered herself slightly, rubbing her slick, swollen sex against the hard, thick ridge of his member. It gratified her to see the flames that sparked in his eyes.

Vowing to outlast his control, she held herself there, just hovering over the tip of his throbbing erection, barely touching, teasing the sensitive crown with her
sleek heat. Taunting him further, Madeline arched her back, her breasts thrusting out to graze his mouth, the nipples pebbled and hard.

The difficulty, however, was that her brazen movements were arousing her as much as they were him.

Rayne must have seen the feverish desire in her eyes, for he reached down between their bodies and cupped his hand against her cleft, stroking her provocatively.

Her nerves shook.

“Want me?” he ground out.

Yes, she wanted him. She wanted desperately to feel him silky and hot inside her. She was already wet and aching for him.

“So what do you intend to do about it?”

Needing no further invitation, she sank down to envelop his shaft, impaling herself. The tight, glorious fit of his hard flesh in the slick softness of hers sent a fierce rush of renewed pleasure spiraling through Madeline—and evidently Rayne as well. He swore beneath his breath as her feminine sheath enveloped him.

She felt the shudder that went through him, wracking his body, and her sense of power swelled further, along with her own arousal.

His jaw clenched with need as his hands closed over her buttocks. He held her there for a moment, then lifted her and brought her back down so that he could thrust even more deeply inside her.

Then, to her bewilderment, he suddenly inhaled a ragged breath and gripped her hips to hold her still.

“You have too much control,” Rayne muttered hoarsely under his breath.

Reaching for the wine, he repositioned the goblet to clear a space on the table’s surface. Even more surprisingly,
he slid his hands beneath her buttocks for support and stood up with her, then turned and set her on the edge of the table beside the wineglass.

Madeline clung to him, scarcely believing he meant to withdraw from her when her body was so primed for him.

Thankfully, he didn’t; Rayne kept his thick shaft planted firmly inside her.

“Lie back,” he instructed.

He meant to take her on the table, she realized in gratitude. Madeline obeyed, although she was trembling enough that he had to help her.

When she was splayed before him, his pulsing hardness holding her pressed wide open, he continued watching her. His glance seared her skin, just as if he was caressing her with his lips, with his warm breath. Then raising her hand, he drew her forefinger into his mouth, suckling, all the while making no effort to disguise his blatant appraisal of her body.

Madeline gasped as he made love to each of her fingers one by one. The erotic caresses, combined with his sensual scrutiny and the feel of his rigid heat deep inside her, made her loins throb even more fiercely. The sensations were feverishly intense, with all that barely leashed vitality focused on her.

A moment later, however, Rayne changed tactics. Releasing her hand, he reached for her rib cage and slid his thumbs upward to brush the underside of her breasts, shooting fiery sparks through Madeline.

When he pinched one nipple into an obedient pout, she clenched her teeth. “Do you mean to torment me?” she rasped.

His slow smile was part wolfish, wholly enticing. “Oh, yes. Exactly as you are tormenting me.”

Dismayingly, he eased his manhood from her body, although he remained standing between her parted thighs. Madeline almost cried aloud in disappointment, yet Rayne wasn’t finished with her. He dipped a forefinger in the wine and rubbed it over her lips and down her throat. She drew another sharp breath at the cool, sweet feel of the liquid. Then rewetting his fingers, he shifted to her stomach, drawing swirling patterns on her skin before moving back up to her jutting, naked breasts.

“Rayne, please….”

“Hush, darling. Begging me won’t do any good.”

As he spoke he coated her tight nipples with wine, his slick fingers plied the aching buds, pulling and caressing the engorged tips.

Dangerous. Oh, this man is dangerous
, Madeline thought dazedly, closing her eyes.

Then he suddenly left off, drawing back his caressing hands. Madeline’s eyes flew open in confusion.

“You need to offer your breasts to me so I can suck them.”

“Rayne …” she started to protest.

“Now, love, or I’ll stop at once.”

She couldn’t bear for him to stop. She wanted his mouth on her naked skin, her fever-hot breasts. She wanted his mouth … everywhere.

Biting her lower lip, Madeline lifted her hands brazenly to the wine-scented mounds of her breasts.

“Now play with those lovely nipples. Pretend your hands are mine.”

Her fingers plucked at the crests, just as Rayne had done.

“A wanton woman,” he said approvingly. “How provocative.”

She was indeed a wanton woman. She felt primitive, carnal, exquisitely female.

Yet Rayne didn’t suck her nipples as he’d promised. Instead his gaze raked down her body, his eyes hot, touching her everywhere. Then his head lowered slowly to her belly to lick at the wine he had traced on her skin.

He took his time, as if he intended to savor her at his leisure. His tongue teased her with maddening delicacy, playing her masterfully with taunting spirals and erotic touches designed to devastate. Madeline shivered with pure wanton pleasure. Then finally, finally, he moved up to her breasts.

She gave a muted cry when his hot mouth closed over her budded nipple, sucking it sharply. For long moments he lavished attention there before attending the other breast with as much ruthless tenderness, making Madeline whimper and arch involuntarily against the exquisite pressure.

“Hungry?” he demanded in a taunting whisper. “I am, but not for food. It’s your pleasure I’m starving for.”

Placing one last kiss on each of her aching nipples, he raised his head. Using both hands then, he spread her legs even wider, positioning her silky body open for his pleasure, and smoothed his hands up her inner thighs.

At the feel of those sensuous fingers gliding upward, Madeline tried not to squirm. Yet her hips stirred and shifted, lust making her feel restless to the point of screaming. From the sensual glint in Rayne’s eyes, she could tell what was to come.

“Don’t move,” he ordered. “Your body is impatient, but you aren’t allowed to move.”

How could she remain still when he knew precisely what to do to make her wild?

Coating his fingers in wine once more, he painted the dusky triangle of curls between her thighs, then the lips of her sex, dewing the hardening, aching flesh with glossy moisture.

With fierce effort Madeline forced herself to lie still as she watched her own seduction, arousal searing through her, dark and thick, as his hand cupped the rise of her silky mound, molding her.