A Desperate Wager (11 page)

“
I was thinking more of this.” He took her hand and placed it over the front of his breeches. His hardness strained against the fabric. She squeezed it and he groaned. Then she raised her lips to his for a kiss and he opened his mouth immediately, ravishing her with his tongue. The taste of her own flesh on his lips and tongue was strange but rather heady and arousing. He was hungry and needy.

He thrust gently against her hand, rubbing his hard length under her palm.

Did he want to be inside her like last night or did he want her to kiss and suck him? She felt a flush creep up her cheeks at the very thought of doing such a thing while a traitorous excitement rushed through her.

Their combined movement around the placket of his breeches—her hand and his hips—grew faster as he plundered her mouth. There was something primal in this moment
, and she could tell he was nearing the edge of his control.

“
Please, Nathaniel.”

She had no idea what she was asking for.
Gently, he pulled his mouth away and smiled at her. He was breathing hard. Placing his hand over hers, stopping her stroking movement before he lifted himself from her.

But his gaze held no censure
, and she suddenly became very aware of her nakedness. Nate grabbed a pillow and placed it halfway down the bed. Then he shucked off his breeches, drawers and stockings. His manhood stood to attention, long and thick and hard. She still could not believe something so large had fitted inside her.

He picked her up and placed her with her hips atop the pillow.

It was strange, but he knew what he was doing so she did not complain. With that same wolfish smile, he crawled onto the bed and between her open knees. He bent and kissed her thoroughly, pushing away any concerns she might have. His fingers worked between then, rubbing the little nub of pleasure at the top of her private place.

“
The oil,” she said, watching as he gripped his large member.

“
My love, you definitely do not need oil. All is working extremely efficiently down there. Here. Feel.” He took by the wrist and placed her hands between them. He was right. She was very wet down there. “But you must tell me if it hurts.”

He pressed into her, very slowly. She felt herself widen and stretch to accommodate his girth and length.
Gazing into each other’s eyes, they held their breaths. When she thought he could surely go no further, he let out a puff of breath and she let out hers.

“
Do you feel me inside you?”

“
Yes.” He nodded, a sense of satisfaction flitting across his features. He pushed in and out of her a few times, and then he hooked his arms behind each of her knees and arranged them up past her hips, opening her up to him. She could see his thick length plunging in and out of her, could feel him move deeper into her heat.

“
Oh God, you’re so tight and I am so deep,” he growled as he increased the pace of his thrusts. His jaw was set, his eyes glazed over as he pounded into her. She accepted him, lifting her arms to push against the pillows and headboard, increasing the friction and depth.

She did not know much but she knew if he pushed too hard, too frantically, he would
nudge her up the bed and off the pillow and it would become a difficult encounter as they tried to get back into position. She held fast and closed her eyes, concentrating on her spiralling need. Nate seemed lost to her—his breathing hard and fast.

“
So deep—so wet,” he muttered. She was so tense now and he was driving into her so quickly, so ferociously, but somehow it was perfect. He wanted her. He was deep inside her wetness, lost in the moment. She was no longer a cripple, no longer a problem to her father. She was Nate’s, and though she would be a cripple in the morning and a problem for him once again, for this moment, she was a woman who had made the Duke of Kirkbourne lose his mind with lust.

Stiffening, Nathaniel cried out her name, then
thrust a few more times, slowing his pace, grinding himself against her, his eyes closed.

“
Oh God.” He withdrew and flopped beside her, gathering her to him. He grabbed the pillow and placed it under his head before snuggling her against his side, her head on his chest. His body heaved as he caught his breath, and his heart thudded a rapid tattoo in his chest. She listened as she ran her hand over his torso, flicking her thumb over his small nipple then through the smattering of black hair on his chest.

“
Why do I lose myself every time I am inside you? You are like fine brandy to me. You have a hold over me I cannot understand.”

“
Is that bad?”

“
No. It is very good. It probably makes for a good marriage.” They lay for a long time, the night air cooling and drying their skin, the heat from the fire stopping them from becoming cold. Every so often, Nathaniel pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.

Eventually he groaned and slid from under her.

“I need to wash you and get you into bed. I do not want you to end up chilled and with a fever.”

“
I am fine.”

“
For now,” he grunted, before returning with one damp and one dry linen cloth. Gently he eased apart her legs and began to clean her gently. She could feel the coolness as the air hit her newly dampened skin.

“
What about the baby?”

“
What baby?”

“
If you are washing your seed away, how can I become with child?” His movements stalled and he threw her a curious look as if not quite believing her question. Then he shook his head. “Some of my seed is still inside you. I shall probably have to clean you again in the morning before Tilly comes. Cleaning the seed on the outside shall not stop you becoming pregnant. I promise.”

“
Oh I see.” Damn, he thought she was an imbecile, yet again. And she was. Her understanding of anatomy really was flawed.

“
There, now we shall put your hair in a plait so Tilly does not scold me.” He hurried to the washbasin and left the cloths at the side then he took her brush and a ribbon from the dressing table, sat behind her and brushed the long red tresses for several minutes. When he parted them and began to weave the plait, she was surprised.

“
You know how to plait a woman’s hair?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why?”

“
I had a sister. She died when she was eight years old. A fever. Anyway, she used to make me plait her hair when the ribbon came out so that our nurse would not scold her.”

“
Oh Nathaniel. I am so sorry.”

“
Why? It was a long time ago.” His voice was gruff and brooked no response. He finished the plait and returned the brush to the dressing table. Then he lifted her nightgown, which Tilly had laid out earlier, helped her into it then aided her to get under the covers. After banking the fire and blowing out the candles, he climbed in beside her, completely naked, and pulled her into his arms.

“Promise me you shall wake me if you need to turn,” Nate said once the covers had been pulled over them.

“
Nathaniel, it is not necessary. I have been turning myself in bed for the past seven years.”

“
That may be true, Freckles, but I want to be awake for that moment your shapely little arse nestles against me.” The thought was enough to put his body back on alert. She did have a delightfully shaped backside—pert and peachy and squeezable.

“
Nathaniel!”

“
Listen Freckles, after what I just did to you, I think we’ve got passed you being missish about me using the word ‘arse.’”

“
I am not being missish. It just came as a shock.”

“
I know some really rude words. If you are very wicked, I shall teach them to you.” He loved teasing her. She refused to be bested by him and that in itself was arousing.

“
Then I shall be in a permanent fit of the vapours.”

“
That I should like to see.”

She nestled against him, yawning. He should let her sleep. They had another long carriage ride tomorrow.

“Good night,” he whispered.

She wriggled slightly before settling one hand on his chest, just in front of where her head lay.

“Cock,” she whispered suddenly.

“
Pardon?”

“
Cock. It is one of the rude words I know. Do you need me to point to yours?” Her hand began the journey down his chest. It was nearly at his navel when he caught it.

“
Not necessary. And where does a gently-bred young lady learn such words?”

“
Here and there,” she replied sleepily. Letting the matter rest, he focused on her breathing as it slowed and deepened. The fact she could fall asleep so easily in his arms, in a strange inn, halfway to Bath told him she trusted him. And that spoke to the baser, protective part of him.

He wished he could fall asleep so quickly. Thank heavens he had caught her hand a second before she had found that
bit of his anatomy and realised that he was rock hard again. Part of it had been her wriggling in his arms getting comfortable, part of it the feel of her hair running through his hands.

T
he way she dropped the subject of his sister Caroline showed she was not only caring but sensitive too. Others would have pressed for more information. Oh she would learn about the child soon enough. His mother regularly mentioned her in passing. Somehow it helped her to talk of the small shy girl with curly black hair and dark almond-shaped eyes.

He looked down at his wife, her gentle snore easing the dark silence of the bedchamber.
Cock.
Had she really said that word out loud? He suspected she was attempting to shock him. And she had. He had a feeling that the new Duchess of Kirkbourne may very well turn out to be a handful and it would have nothing to do with her difficulties walking.

Nate still hated travelling. He still hated coaches. Cooped up in carriage all day, his arse battered with every rut in the road. Sarah was holding up well, all things considered. Two maids travelled in the coach behind along with his valet and some more of their luggage. That had been a good idea when it had come to calls of nature. He had to admit, she really was not particularly embarrassed when discussing her bodily functions. He supposed it came from years of having to work around her disability.

Sarah had started
to fidget in her seat—a sure sign she was getting uncomfortable and really needed to relieve the pressure.

His mind flitted back to the middle of the night when she had woken him to help her turn over. As he nestled her back against him, he pushed his aching erection between her legs. His hard length had rubbed her damp sex perfectly
. His fingers explored her folds while the others pinched her nipples. Taking her from behind had been the next natural step, and she had enjoyed it if the way she had come apart in his arms was any indication. She had moaned and shuddered and gripped his wrists, begging for him to drive into her harder and faster.

She had come a second time just after he released. It had been less intense but it had certainly been a climax nonetheless. As he had moved within her, she had clung to his hips, giving herself leverage, counterpointing his movements.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. His grimacing wife was constantly surprising him with her ability to improvise. He doubted that she could be any sexier if she could run through the fields as fast as he could. But her discomfort was obvious though they were less than an hour from Kirkbourne. Stopping would make the journey that much longer and just as uncomfortable.

He caught her under her legs and behind her back and pulled her onto his lap, settling her so that all the pressure was on her legs and none was on her over-taxed bottom.

“Nathaniel.” It was a cry of delighted surprise.

“
You looked uncomfortable.” He rubbed her rounded backside, something that was proving to be a bad idea since he was hardening inside his breeches. Her eyes flickered closed. As he rubbed the blood back into her flesh, she placed her hands around his neck and nuzzled into him. “Are you tired?”

“
A little.”

“
I should not have kept you awake last night.”

“
It would have been difficult to sleep given what was moving between my legs.”

“
I should have kept it to myself.”

“
Nathaniel, I am no more breakable than any other woman. I am tired because I have been travelling for two days. I am tired because it is my honeymoon and I am learning how to make love to my husband. And I am a little tired because halfway through the night, I woke my husband and we made love. But any other woman would be tired too under these circumstances. Please do not coddle me.”

He nodded, understanding fully what she was trying to say.

“I find it difficult at times to know where the boundary is between helping and smothering.”

“
I know. My father had that problem when I was first injured. But you shall learn, as he did.” She pressed her lips to his, briefly but tenderly. He groaned, desperate to push his fingers into her hair and deepen the kiss, but they would soon be arriving at Kirkbourne and Sarah had enough to contend with being carried into her new house in front of all the servants, without arriving looking as if she had been well and truly tumbled.

She was kissing his jawline now, her fingers undoing the buttons of his waistcoat.

“Sarah, please stop.”

She raised her head, hurt evident in her eyes.

“We shall be at Kirkbourne soon. You need to look like a duchess, not a serving wench who has just been tumbled by the local stable hand.” Her lips thinned. He had insulted her. Damn. But it was the truth.

“
Very well. I should probably not be atop your lap. I would be grateful if you could put me back on the seat.”

Nate gritted his teeth. Could she not understand? Could she not feel his erection against her thigh—proof that there was nothing he wanted more than to stop the carriage, find a secluded spot and sink into her soft flesh?

Unceremoniously he lifted her from his lap and put her back in her seat.

“
If it’s any consolation, my cock is hard as a brick for you right now,” he growled before turning from her and staring out of the window, thus finishing the conversation.

Good. He had shocked her delicate, gently-bred sensibilities and let her know how wrong she was. He was trying really hard to be a good husband but he just kept getting it wrong and it annoyed him to the core. He was Kirkbourne. He never failed at anything and he would not fail at being a good husband. Clearly this was going to be a hell of a lot more difficult to learn than fencing or boxing.