Seven Nights of Sin: Seven Sensuous Stories by Bestselling Historical Romance Authors Page 22

  Gently, he drew her close, as if afraid she’d break away like a frightened bird. “You’re so delicately made. I hadn’t realized.”

  He made her feel like a girl on her wedding night, giving herself for the first time to a man she adored. She could keep that illusion in her mind and draw on it in the days and weeks to come.

  This encounter would be more than coupling. This was two people opening themselves to each other. When she had dared to imagine this, the encounter had been feverish and short. Gerald seemed determined to make her feel his every touch, his every kiss.

  He folded his arms around her. “I want to hold you like this forever, keep you safe and shelter you. Even though I know you are a wonderfully strong woman, every instinct I possess is telling me to take the greatest care of you.” He shook his head and gave a wry smile. “Don’t think too hard of me.”

  She swallowed the lump that had unaccountably risen to her throat. “I want you to, although I have always chafed against the restrictions men have put on me. But it’s just for tonight, and here, is it not?”

  When she gazed into his eyes she found confusion there, as well as a well of tenderness she would never fathom. He didn’t answer her question, instead kissed her, with a softness she did not expect. His warm tongue slid into her mouth, caressing rather than taking possession, learning her and delivering pleasure.

  Every touch pushed her higher. He made her aware of every inch of skin, every dip and hollow. He ran his fingers slowly down the length of her spine until he reached the base, then spread his hands over her buttocks and groaned into their kiss. Her flesh alive with sensation, she pressed her lips harder against his. She brought her hands to the fall of his breeches, fumbling with the six buttons that lay between her and paradise.

  Shoving them roughly aside, she went for the drawstring of his underwear and soon had it undone. She didn’t wait for the garments to fall, but touched him.

  His hard, hot shaft rose into her hand. Groaning, he gripped her bottom harder, squashing her breasts against his chest, her nipples finding the smooth, muscled planes a perfect match in sensitivity.

  Panting, he dragged his body away from hers. “Get into bed,” he commanded. Pausing only to rid herself of her shoes and stockings, Annie climbed between the sheets.

  She had fully expected the bed to be unaired, even damp, but the sheets were new and crisp, rustling as she got between them. He unbuckled his breeches at the knees, and impatiently kicked off the remainder of his clothing. He came to her naked.

  Annie could have gazed at him all day. Gerald was power personified, appearing bigger out of his clothes than in them. Fine hair was sprinkled across his chest, drawing into a line that led to his groin, and what reared there. His cock was huge.

  He paused, with one knee on the bed, poised to get in. “You flatter me, madam,” he said, letting her look.

  Tentatively, she reached out a finger and touched the head, claiming the bead of clear liquid that was poised at the tip. She smoothed it over him, tucking her finger under the flange. He responded by pushing his cock into her hand, arching his back and groaning. “You did this,” he said. “You, Annie.”

  “Mine,” she said firmly.

  He whisked the sheets down, revealing her, but he was not satisfied. He flipped his fingers. “Get that off.”

  Kneeling up, Annie pulled her shift over her head and let it fall. She remained where she was, until he joined her, kneeling facing her, looking at her. Lifting his hand, he stroked from her collarbone to her nipple, then bent and took the tiny peak into his mouth.

  She cried out, and he banded an arm around her, preventing her falling back as his action sent arousal rippling through her body. He moved to the other, pulling hard, caressing it with his tongue, and placing a few kisses on the tip before moving down. He circled her navel, touching his tongue into the tiny dimple, then lower, tracing her stomach down to the juncture of her thighs.

  Unabashedly, he breathed deeply, taking her scent into his lungs. He used the fingers of his right hand to part her cleft, and studied the glistening, delicate flesh below.

  Seeing his dark head there, his eyes open made her moan. He glanced up, his smile appreciative. “You are lovely everywhere, Annie.”

  Then he licked her.

  His action shocked Annie to the bone. “Stop—you can’t do that!”

  He did as she bade him, but only to say, “Be quiet and feel. If no man has done this to you before, then I count myself fortunate that I am the first. But believe me, I can do it.”

  After pressing a gentle kiss to her belly, he moved farther down, and did it again.

  She reached a hand out blindly, digging into his thick, dark hair, the strands silky against the sensitive skin between her fingers. All she could do was hold on while he kissed, licked and sucked, driving her so high she feared she’d never come down to earth again.

  He made sounds, too, slurping noises as if he was relishing the feast she couldn’t help but give him. Her body tightened, and her hands curled into claws.

  He broke off what he was doing. “No. You shall not come with me the first time like this. Another time. Later.” Rearing up, he tumbled her back against the pillows, the soft feathers billowing the linen around her like a cloud. He came on top of her, guiding his erection to her crease. But he didn’t shove it straight inside as she’d expected. He used it to tease her, watching her face. “Don’t dare close your eyes. They are the most beautiful mirrors of your soul. They tell me everything I need to know.” His voice had deepened, purring through her.

  She grabbed his shoulders again, curving her hands around the bunched muscle. “Ready?” he said.

  Annie gritted her teeth. “Just do it!”

  He slid his shaft down once more, making her aware of her own hot, wet, neediness, but this time he didn’t draw back. He plunged inside.

  Her back came off the mattress as she arched up to him in sheer reaction. She cried his name as he filled her and filled her. He crammed his cock into her narrow passage, pushing the soft walls aside to make her his.

  Her breath came in short gasps. He watched her as he began to move, his eyes glittering.

  As he thrust into her, he watched her, ensuring her she was being attended to, and observed. “I serve only you,” he said, as if he read her thoughts. “You are the most glorious woman. Soft and wet, and the way you look at me—” He brought his mouth down on hers, kissing her as if his life depended on it.

  Thrills coursed through her, building toward the peak she had never experienced with a man before, but she knew where she was going. At least, she imagined she did. But she was wrong.

  She had seen buds so full of the blossom within they were splitting with the effort, until they burst, spreading cascades of color and scent over everything near them. When it happened to her, she went wild, unable to control her reactions. Her lover murmured to her, then cried out in his turn.

  Jerking out of her, he emptied on to her stomach, the hot spurts as exciting as her own peak.

  He gazed at her as if seeing her for the first time. “My lady, I fear you’ll have little sleep tonight.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WATCHING ANNIE, Gerald had forgotten his own satisfaction and how desperate he’d been to get inside her. Her eyes were rounded in wonder, her lips, plump and red from their kissing, slightly parted. Her breasts heaved with the effort to drag breath into her body.

  Gerald closed his eyes briefly, the better to savor the explosive orgasm he’d just experienced. She was little better than a virgin, his Annie. If he wasn’t mistaken, she’d never come with a man inside her before.

  The notion made him proud, in a puffed-up rooster kind of way. Curving a hand around her flushed cheek, he dropped a kiss on her mouth before swinging his legs off the bed and heading for the washstand. The water he’d brought up earlier was almost cold now, but he rinsed a cloth in it and brought it back to clean her.

  The first pang of orgasm had come w
hen he was inside her. It had been reflex more than rationality that had made him pull out of her.

  “If you fall pregnant,” he said, pleased that his voice quavered only a little. “You will tell me.”

  “I do not think I will fall.” Her voice was feather-soft, so different from Annie’s usual firm, no-nonsense tones. “I should have my courses by the end of the week.”

  A touch of regret nudged him before he quelled it. He couldn’t imagine why he would feel that way. They had agreed—one night. Annie was not mistress material.

  He smiled when he imagined her in fine silks and satins, waiting around all day in case her lover should call. Oh no, not Annie. She’d have made herself busy. Before he knew it, she’d be selling hand made baby clothes to her neighbors.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  He tossed the cloth aside and leaned his elbow on the mattress, propping his head on his hand. “Why do you think?”

  Unable to resist, he cupped the breast nearest to him; her left, although the right was just as peachy. Casually, he thumbed her nipple and smiled at her reaction, when she caught a sharp breath. “You were—” He choked back the words he meant to say. Glorious, perfect, the best he’d ever known. They were all true, but they sounded like forever, and he could not give that to her.

  Much though he wanted to.

  His fingers stilled on her breast. Where had that thought come from? They’d agreed on a night for themselves. If he found his romantic heart yearning for her, that would make his alliance with Elizabeth much more difficult. God knew he was finding it hard enough already.

  “You...what?” she prompted.

  “I am enjoying this even more than I thought I would.” His words gave away too much, but he would be nothing but honest with her. They had shed their status and their aspirations with their clothes. Now they were left with what they were. Not what they would become.

  Lord, he was getting philosophical! “This is difficult for me.”

  “I did not think any of this was difficult.”

  Smiling, he resumed his caresses. “Everything but this, I meant. The earldom, facing my responsibilities...” He lifted his gaze to her face. “Let us be the other’s confessor tonight on the understanding that nothing goes out of this door.”

  With a deep sigh, she nodded. “That sounds marvelous. I have to hold so much back.” She made a sound deep in her throat, like a purr. “You first.”

  With the luxury of a whole night ahead of them, he could explore, and learn her, and also maybe learn something about himself. “Up until the day I inherited the title, I went about my life believing it would remain the same. I was wealthy enough to feel comfortable about the futures of my sisters and myself, but not prosperous or high enough in status to attract fortune-hunters. My sisters are passionate about their interests. I had no title I was responsible for. One day I might have married, but there was no pressure for me to do so.”

  “But you were lonely.”

  “How in the devil could you know that?” At his heart, he’d always felt the lack of a companion, someone he could call his own.

  She touched his face, brushed the backs of her fingers down his cheek, making him want to move closer. But he would wait. They had all night. “A lucky guess, based on what I know about you.”

  His eyes opened fractionally wider. “You’re a perceptive woman. What do you know about me?”

  “That you lost your parents early. You have a reputation for an even temper and sliding from one situation to another. Society must regard you as easy prey, but I think not. You have made your sisters a priority, as I have my sons, and they are, by all accounts, happy. You moved to London to please them.”

  “Except for Dorcas, who would prefer to be in the country.” He grimaced. “I was considering finding her a companion, so she could move back to the estate and work on her yellow roses.” Catching her gaze, he laughed. “That is at the heart of her passion. She is looking forward to working on the remodeling of the main estate, but I have deterred her by the move to London. I don’t want her too invested in the project, otherwise she will miss her opportunities to have a life and husband of her own.”

  “You see, you know them well, and you’re doing your best with the minimum of fuss.”

  Oh, he loved her sharp mind, the way she understood, rather than assuming she knew him. She watched, she drew conclusions, prepared to change her mind. Flexible, and altogether lovely.

  His cock rose, determined to make its presence felt and he laughed. “Enough.” Taking her by surprise, he swung over her, and rolled them both so she lay on top. It pressed against her soft stomach, trying to find its way in. When he undulated, the motion sent the most glorious sensations through him.

  When he sealed their mouths together she joined in eagerly. Their tongues mated in a way their bodies would, when he lifted her hips to allow his shaft to slip between her thighs. He unsealed their lips long enough to say, “Put it there,” before returning to the fray.

  She needed no more encouragement. After a few seconds of fumbling, which he loved, she found his cock. Her fingers shook when she took him in hand, but he pushed against her in silent encouragement. Her touch sent him soaring, but he let her take her time. She could do this, she could control what they did. All she needed was a little encouragement. When he licked into her mouth, that proved the best of all. With a moan, she pushed him inside her.

  Her inner walls gloved him; hot, soft, silky and unique. He had never felt more perfection in a single encounter, never had the overwhelming sensation of coming home.

  She moved and his world shifted. He spread his hands either side of her head and kissed her. He moved inside her in an organic way, as though he had just discovered his natural state. Gently, he urged her away, until they were gazing into one another’s eyes. “Sit up.”

  Her pupils widened even more.

  Lifting his head from the pillows, he touched his lips to hers. “Sit. Up.”

  “Oh.”

  His heart warmed when he realized this was her first time. So many firsts in one night.

  He dismissed the reminder that they were also the last times. Everything in him rejected that notion. Nothing this good could end. How could he live his life in one night? But just to make sure he had lived life to the full, he would explore her and give her all the freedom she needed to return the favor.

  In an adorable way, she bit her lower lip, frowning slightly as she planted her hands either side of him and pushed up. Catching her thighs, he tugged, urging her to slide them up. She caught on quickly, and together, they got her into the right position, kneeling over him. And he had not left her. He remained embedded inside her, exactly the place he wanted to be.

  Her breasts filled his hands perfectly when he cupped them, delicate and pretty rather than blowsily lush. He had imagined he preferred large breasts, but now he knew they were vulgar, far too much for him. The sweet curves tipped by rose-pink nipples that were crazily responsive held everything he needed.

  She sent thrills through him when she ground her body down on to his, sending his shaft deep inside. Closing his eyes, he groaned, but forced the lids open once more. He refused to miss a minute of this. He would engage every sense, sate them with her, so that he could recall this night ten, twenty, thirty years from now.

  Laughing in sheer joy, he watched her enjoying herself, exploring what she could do and how to drive him insane.

  They were both virgins tonight, testing their reactions, discovering new worlds in the other person. He loved sliding his hands down from her breasts to her waist, shaping the curves and the flare out to her luscious hips.

  She bore the marks of childbirth, but to his eyes that made her real. He had his own scars, from childhood injuries, accidents. He even had a scar from a sword from a duel in his university days, before he learned better.

  The soft thatch of hair at her groin parted, revealing the sweet, pink secrets it shielded. They opened for him, so he could touc
h her and make her twitch and flinch, as he caressed her clitoris and watched his cock sink deep inside as she took him.

  “Gerald!” She sounded breathless, her voice high as if scandalized. He laughed and took her higher, watching her reactions, repeating what sent her wildest.

  “Yes, sweetheart. Come hard. Do it. Let me see every bit of you.”

  When her movements became uncoordinated he knew she must be close. Grasping her buttocks, he helped her control her actions. If he tipped her back, just so, he contacted the most sensitive part of her passage with every stroke, nudging her higher. Holding her firmly he pushed them both nearer to the ultimate ecstasy. Thrills coursed through him, getting stronger with every stroke, every deep thrust.

  If he could have one wish granted, he’d stay here forever, on the brink of orgasm, watching her pleasure and taking his. Giving himself up to her sweet torture.

  Words collected at the back of his throat. With difficulty he shoved them back, swallowed, refused to give them voice. They were the result of heightened pleasure, no more.

  The fact that he had never wanted to say those words to anyone else before did not pass his notice.

  His hips left the bed as the first spurt of his orgasm tipped him over the edge into mindless, thoughtless joy.

  This time she pulled away, and he spurted his seed over her buttocks and her thighs as he dragged her back into his arms.

  Oblivion took him.

  *****

  Gerald snapped his eyes open, shocked that he had tumbled instantly into slumber. The candles still flickered and it was dark outside. He could not have been asleep long. She lay in his arms, on top of him, and her back had chilled with the night air. Softly, and not without effort, he snagged the edge of the sheet and tugged it over them. The blankets came with it.

  With tenderness, he cocooned her, cradling her in soft warmth. His cock, lying flaccid, twitched when she shifted and moaned. Miraculously, he wanted her again. Gerald rarely slept in any bed but his own. With his last mistress, he’d provided her with a house and visited her when he felt the need. He could not imagine doing that with Annie—or her accepting it, he acknowledged with a fond smile.