To Tame a Dangerous Lord (47 page)

Even then he didn’t kiss her as she longed for him to do. His lips merely skimmed her mouth, her cheekbone, her temple, then buried themselves in her hair.

“I want this night to be perfect for you,” he whispered.

It
would
be perfect, she knew, savoring the feel of his deep voice vibrating through her. Madeline shivered in anticipation. She ached with wanting Rayne, loving him. She wanted desperately to have his strong arms wrapped around her, wanted to burrow beneath his skin.

Yet he was obviously determined to go slowly, to draw out the moment.

His movements languid, Rayne took the final step toward her, eliminating the distance between them. Feeling his warm, naked skin against her at last, Madeline caught her breath. Then he slowly pulled her even closer, into the hard heat of his body.

The erotic sensation of his embrace—his sinewed muscles, his swollen member caressing her belly—intensified the painful yearning gathering inside her, even before Rayne raised his hands to cradle her breasts provocatively. Her nipples changed in a rush, answering the seductive caress of his palms.

Madeline swallowed a moan but instinctively thrust her breasts into the exploration of his hands.

“So sweet,” he murmured, his voice a husky rasp in her ear. “So beautiful.”

Her response was a helpless pleasure sound as her head fell back to give his mouth better access.

His thumbs passed in scorching circles over her nipples while he bent again to trail flaming kisses down the arch of her throat. The sharp delight of it stabbed Madeline in her midsection and deep in her loins.

Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she whimpered. Then Rayne’s mouth closed wet and hungry on a cresting tip, his velvet-rough tongue laving the peaked nipple.

The sensation streaking though her was so excruciatingly keen, her knees went weak.

He attended her breasts for some time, suckling, arousing, tormenting. Finally he slid both arms around her to embrace her fully, drawing her even closer to his body.

Heat and hunger flooded through her in violent
waves. She needed Rayne to assuage the sweet hurt between her thighs, in her throbbing breasts.

She almost cried in relief when he lifted her up and drew her legs around his hips, locking her to him.

Carrying her to the bed, he lowered her to the silk sheets and followed her down. His eyes smoldered as he pressed his naked body against hers, letting her feel his hot skin, his rampant arousal.

Raising her arms to twine them around his neck, Madeline drew Rayne’s head down to her. She gloried in the way her body meshed perfectly with his, yet it was his lips—the taste, the texture, the warmth—that set her heart soaring.

His kiss was an intimate knowing of her mouth that kindled a wonderful, craving weakness in every fiber of her being. When eventually he broke off, she stared at Rayne, gazing deep into his eyes.

He returned her avid regard with a soft smile as his hand rose to trace her lips. “How do I describe all the ways I find you beautiful?” he murmured.

His fingertips brushed across her cheek with unbearable tenderness. “You are exquisitely lovely to me, Madeline, but your beauty comes from within as well as without. You’re exciting and intriguing and incredibly stimulating. The pleasure I get in looking at you rivals the joy I feel at simply being with you, in knowing you are my wife.”

He was intent on showing her his love, Madeline knew, a poignant ache welling in her throat.

His hand moved down to cover hers and press it over his heart. “No other woman could ever satisfy me more or be a better match for me, sweetheart. You are everything
I ever wanted, could ever want. I need you like I need my next breath….”

Those were the last words he spoke for a long while. Madeline’s breath fled completely as he set about offering her physical proof of his lover’s vow.

Rayne devastated her with his tender touches and caring kisses, until she was trembling violently. Until she was wild with lust and longing. Until her veins were flooded with shuddering heat.

Her body was pulsing, shaking with need for him; her feminine hollows wet with desire, yearning to merge with his hard male flesh.

At last he guided her palm to his naked loins, while his own hand slipped between her legs, pressing against her feminine cleft. Madeline gave a hoarse whimper and arched her back.

Her skin burned against his naked arousal as it probed her slick folds. When he eased the silken head of his shaft into her quivering flesh, Madeline drew a long, shuddering breath at the feel of his thick member gliding deep inside her.

He sank slowly, only to withdraw partway, then thrust inside her again and slide home to the hilt.

Impaled by his hardness, she moaned at the fullness of his penetration.

Yet Rayne was nearly as affected by the exquisite sensations as she was, she suspected. She felt a tension quivering inside him, and knew his passion-hazed eyes mirrored her own.

“Beautiful,” he whispered again as he began to move inside her, his voice thick with desire.

Madeline wrapped her legs around him, welcoming him, holding him tightly, striving to take him even
deeper into her body as she spoke the words that filled her heart. “I love you, Rayne … so very much.”

In response, his eyes seemed to blaze with an inner fire. His hand clasping her buttocks, he lifted her hips to meet his, driving his huge, burning shaft into her.

“And I love you, sweet, darling Madeline,” he rasped.

She wanted to weep at the beauty of it. She did sob at the spellbinding sensations Rayne created when he continued whispering promises, endearments to her, urging her on.

She could feel his increased urgency now. His breath was harsh and uneven, his touch no longer gentle as he brought his mouth down on hers and intensified the rhythm of their joining.

When another sob of pleasure sounded from her throat, Rayne’s kiss grew rougher, fiercer, almost primitive. His caresses were equally as fervent as his arms came fully around her, holding her with crushing tightness. She could taste the desire in him, the emotions, the passion.

The fierceness of his embrace was an avowal of love, Madeline knew with absolute certainty.

Her heart thundering in her chest, she kissed him back as though her soul depended on answering his insistent demand.

A taut, savage need blazed between them now. She welcomed the hard thrusting of Rayne’s body as he took her, his tongue plunging in the same relentless cadence as he filled her again and again.

The tension built between them until it was unbearable. When the shattering tumult broke within her, Madeline cried out, a cry that was matched the next instant by the rough groan bursting from Rayne’s throat.

They came together in a firestorm of love and pleasure, his lips drinking in her wild moans.

Ecstasy left them clinging together in the aftermath. After a time, Rayne’s hand rose to cradle Madeline’s throat, soothing her thundering pulse beat, while his mouth feathered kisses over her face.

Then, easing his weight beside her, he pulled her close and enfolded her in his embrace.

Madeline lay there bonelessly with her head on his shoulder, marveling at the joy she was feeling. Her chest literally ached with the fullness of love. The consummation of their second wedding night had not only been a confirmation of their marriage vows but a fierce mating of souls.

She was truly Rayne’s wife now. She felt cherished, loved.

And she felt raw with love for him—her possessive, protective, warrior knight; her dangerous lord who had given his heart over to her to protect and keep safe.

With a deep sigh of contentment, Madeline pressed a kiss on his bare skin.

Her display of affection made Rayne stir enough to speak. “I trust,” he murmured hoarsely, “that after tonight, you will no longer doubt how special you are to me, or how much I love you.”

Madeline couldn’t help but smile with renewed joy. She had no doubts any longer about Rayne’s feelings for her. “I admit, you did a fair job persuading me just now.”

“Merely
fair?”
Shifting his hold, Rayne placed a finger under her chin, compelling Madeline to lift her gaze to his. “Seriously, wife, do you have any notion how much I love you?”

“I am beginning to understand,” she replied with complete honesty. She knew Rayne loved her with the same fire and passion that coursed through her soul.

Even so, Madeline pursed her mouth provocatively as she looped her arm around his neck. “But I think I need much more convincing, husband. Why don’t you show me again?”

Her seductive challenge made Rayne laugh softly and lower his head to claim her lips. “I will, love, gladly. Just as soon as I recover my strength from our last devastating bout of lovemaking.”

London, November 1817

Rayne woke slowly to the mingled sensations of pleasure and contentment. Pleasure, because he had spent much of the rainy afternoon making love to his wife before falling asleep from satiation and exhaustion. Contentment, because they were celebrating the midwife’s prediction that Madeline was to have his child.

She lay spooned in his arms now, still dozing peacefully. The rain had stopped, leaving their London bedchamber filled with a hushed peace.

Carefully, Rayne slid his hand over Madeline’s naked belly, savoring the feel of her lush, warm body. Marveling at the thought of his seed growing inside her.

Easing away slightly, he raised himself up on one elbow, the better to see her. There was an added glow about her, he noted, admiring how fine and clear her skin was.

How could he have ever thought her plain? Rayne wondered. When had he started to think of her as beautiful?
Possibly from the very beginning. Yet her beauty was more than skin deep. Madeline intrigued him, excited him, touched him, stirred him.

And in the past weeks since acknowledging their love for each other, Rayne had made it a point to show her by deeds and not merely pretty words just how lovely she was to him, how much she meant to him.

He was determined to vanquish all her doubts. Madeline was still new to love, though, and so had needed frequent reassurances. In their marriage bed, however, she displayed a flourishing confidence, slipping into the role of enchanting seductress with instinctive mastery.

Her passion was a wondrous gift, yet it was her passionate spirit that had grabbed him by the heart. His need for her was growing more powerful by the day.

Lifting his hand, Rayne brushed an errant tress back from her face, his fingers lingering on her soft, silken skin. He’d found an unexpected treasure in Madeline, without question. She was a vibrant, dynamic woman who took life by the throat. She had lured him into reaching out for love again, warming the cold places inside his heart and filling up the empty places in his soul. He couldn’t fathom now how he’d ever thought he could live without her.

He loved her dearly, fiercely.

His tender caress eventually had the desired effect, for Madeline stirred awake. Looking sleep-tousled and warm and oh, so desirable, she turned slowly to gaze up at him.

As if sharing his thoughts, she gave him a languid, sated smile that was pure love.

Rayne felt his heart jolt in his chest. He wanted to see
that beautiful smile every day of his life, wanted her laughter lighting up his days.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she murmured huskily. “I hold you to blame, my handsome husband. Your virility devastates mere ordinary females such as I.”

Laughing lightly, he touched his fingertips to her lips, loving the joy reflected in her face. “There is nothing whatsoever ordinary about you, darling. And you are even more to blame for us falling asleep. You obliterated my senses this afternoon. I may never recover.”

When her smile turned brilliantly sensual, Rayne gave in to his aching hunger and drove his fingers deep into her hair to bring her face close to his. In the instant before he claimed her lips, he saw her lustrous eyes grow smoky and hot.

For a long, pleasurable moment, Madeline yielded to his lush invitation … but then she pressed her palms against his naked chest and compelled him to break off his kiss.

“Rayne … Will Stokes should be arriving soon, have you forgotten your engagement?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten.”

“It would be scandalous to be caught lazing abed all afternoon.”

“He will understand.”

“Seriously, Rayne….”

He capitulated with a final, lingering kiss. “Very well, if you insist.”

Rayne helped Madeline rise from the bed then, although her succeeding efforts to wash and dress were interrupted by more frequent kisses and his need to wrap his arms around her.

Clearly she did not mind, however; judging from her delighted sighs, she relished his distractions.