A Devil Named DeVere (The Devil DeVere) (10 page)

***

He had filled her with his sex. Hot and throbbing, her body strained to adjust. It was part pain, part pleasure and the most exquisite agony she'd ever known. She was already writhing with the need for release. "Kiss me," she whispered. And then his mouth was on hers, his tongue plunging in and out, sucking and swirling in rhythm with the hammering force of his sex. Plunge and drag. Sweet, slick friction. She clutched his shoulders, her fingers gouging his flesh, urging him on. He drove into her fiercely, relentlessly.

Breathing ragged, bodies coated in a thin sheen of sweat, the slap of flesh on flesh, the pressure increasing. Too much. Not enough. Rising higher. Dipping back. Harder. Faster. Spiraling out of control, her body jerked, and her orgasm came crashing, ripping over her in pulsating waves. Her sex contracted in a last powerful spasm that rippled through her, leaving her in final breathless, boneless repletion. Ludovic cried out, a guttural sound, before he jerked out of her body, shuddering and spilling hot jets of liquid fire over her. He collapsed against her with a groan, rolling her into his arms, her head pillowed by his body.

Her cheek resting against a chest still sounding a rapid drumbeat and steadily slowing to an even thud with his longer deeper respirations, she closed tear-filled eyes. Her heart surged inside her chest with gratitude...and something more she couldn't define. They had exchanged no words after their mutual release, but to Diana, there were none sufficient to express her awe in the heart-sundering rapture she had experienced. In this warm cocoon of wondrous well-being she slipped into sated slumber.

***

Diana awoke hours later to feel a warm, stirring sensation against her thigh. In the pale light of dawn, she stole a look at her lover's face, for there was no denying now what he had become to her in one passion-filled night. They were lovers now in truth, her reality now far exceeding her nocturnal fantasies. She thought about what he had done to her, how he had worshipped her body with his own, had led her to soaring heights without demanding anything more than she was willing to offer in return. It filled her with warmth, with the need to give back.

Her gaze lingered on the strong profile, the half-smile curving his soft, sensuous mouth, the wonderful wicked mouth that had wrought pure rapture. Her eyes drifted to the throbbing
pulse of his neck, and she was suddenly filled with the powerful urge to lick it, to trace the column of it, to suckle his nipples, to pleasure him in every way he had her. She lifted the sheet and drank in the delicious vision of the lean, sculpted muscle and sinew that formed the solid wall of his abdomen, the erotic trail of black hair leading to his phallus, semi-erect in its nest of dark curls and resting benignly against her thigh. Her stomach fluttered at the remembrance of what he had wanted from her. An illicit shiver rippled through her at the thought of putting her mouth on his sex. She wondered if she dared, but desire soon overcame trepidation.

Her hair curtained his face as she feathered kisses against his strong, square jaw. Drifting downward, she enacted her wish and licked his neck, teasing with her tongue. She shifted her weight onto his body, and he stirred beneath her, his arousal surging upward, his hands moving automatically to grip her buttocks before his lashes had even fluttered fully open. She shifted deftly out of his grasp. He reached for her.

"No," she said. "It is my turn now."

Vivid, blue eyes met hers, questioning from beneath hooded lids.

She licked her lips and traced her tongue around the disk of his nipple. "Do you like that?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. "You are wonderfully sensuous, Diana."

"Teach me," she insisted. "Show me what pleases you." She moved to his other nipple and gave it an experimental nibble.

He groaned. "Your wish to do so is an aphrodisiac in itself."

"No. That is not enough. I want to give you the same mindless pleasure you gave me."

His eyes narrowed. His erection reared up between them, tenting the sheet. "Don't tease, minx. You'll get far more than you bargained for."

"Really?" she challenged, his ominous look heating her blood. Emboldened to prove herself, she reached for him, grasping his sex in her hand while her mouth played over his abdomen, growing more fevered as she followed the seductive trail to the object of her desire. She crept down his body, licking, kissing, biting as her hand worked his shaft. She gripped him harder, closed her eyes, and brushed her lips across the sensitive tip. The smooth sleek texture of him surprised her. She stretched out her tongue, gliding across the purple head, giving an experimental flick to the underside of his shaft.

He jumped in her hand. "Sweet Jesus." He groaned and palmed her head. "Please, just take me in."

"In? You want to be
inside
my mouth?" He was large and thick, his length daunting. She felt her courage falter.

"Yes. Speaking bluntly, I want you to open your beautiful lips and swallow me whole...but if the notion unsettles you..."

"No," she answered softly. "I just didn't know...what you expected..."

"I would never ask anything that repulses you, Diana. The act of love should only bring pleasure. Don't take me in your mouth unless you
want
this. I kissed and tongued you because I love the taste and scent of you, because it excites the hell out of me to make you come with my mouth. Do this because you are hungry for me, because it excites you to take me to the brink of the abyss, or don't do it at all."

He was hard and hot and throbbing in her hand, and she could see the stark desire in his eyes. He wanted it so badly, yet he still did not demand. The knowledge was bolstering and incredibly arousing.

"Yes," she said. "I want you in my mouth. I want to taste your desire, to give you bliss."

***

She dipped her head, and her parted lips were gliding over him with more confidence, her tongue circling his crown, exploring the tiny slit and the bead of salty moisture with delicious, little darts. His breath hitched.

"Good. That's very good," he encouraged, gently cupping her nape, riffling her silky hair. "Open your mouth now, Diana, and take me in. Slowly. Breathe through your nose. Use your lips, your tongue. No teeth," he added brusquely.

She closed her eyes and opened to him, laving with her tongue as his length slid inch by inch into the wondrous wetness of her mouth. "Relax, Diana. Pull me deeper," he commanded, tamping down the urge to thrust. "Suck upon the release. Harder. Use that velvet tongue."

She answered with an effort that was unschooled but heavenly, a decadent delight. He lost himself in the euphoria of her hands and lips, the swirl of her tongue drawing him deep into her mouth, the sultry sucking sounds, the pulling of sweet friction on the release.

"God, yes," he groaned as he threaded his fingers through her hair. Her rhythm increased with the encouragement, her mouth becoming a voracious vortex of pleasure. Every fiber of his being fired with exquisite sensation. His vision blurred, his sac contracted. He was going to explode
hard.
But not this way. Not this time.

"Enough," he growled. His bollocks throbbed with agonizing pressure to release his essence. Still, he withdrew from her mouth.

"But you haven't..."

"No. I won't come in your mouth. Not the first time," he said, tamping down the powerful compulsion to do just that. Instead, he flipped her onto her stomach and straddled her thighs. He slid a hand under her belly to raise her hips, and she bucked under him with a strangled sound.

"No! Please don't!" she cried out with a hysterical sob and burrowed her face into the pillow.

Christ Jesus!
He turned her over. "Diana, what the devil is wrong?"

Her eyes were wide. She trembled. "Weren't you going to..."

"Sodomize you?" he finished, aghast. "Did he..."

Her lower lip quivered. She nodded mutely.

"That bloody buggering bastard!" His vision blurred again, but this time in blind rage. He pulled her into his arms, kissing her deeply, stroking, soothing. "It's all right, my love. I won't ever do anything to hurt you. Do you understand me, Diana?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize," he said, his fury adding a harsh and unfamiliar edge to his voice. "Just know that whatever we do together is about
mutual
pleasure. I will
never
do anything you don't wish me to do."

"I know that now," she said, twining her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

"Do you? Then let us be certain." He pulled her down on top of him.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting you in control," he answered, positioning her thighs on either side of his hips. "We shall start the races early, my dear, for you shall ride me."

It was dangerously
past dawn when Diana crept stealthily back to her own bedchamber. She quietly opened the door, praying Polly hadn't already noticed her absence. Upon closing it behind her, she noted the bed curtains were still drawn just the way she had left them, and the fire was still banked. She breathed a sigh of relief that she was undiscovered. Yet, when Diana looked to the chair by her dressing table where she had discarded her night rail, it was gone.

Strange.
She searched the room in vain. Mayhap she had left it on the bed? Diana drew back the heavy velvet and gasped.

Reggie lay fully clothed atop the counterpane, reclining back on a mountain of pillows. He raked her with an insolent gaze. "Looking for something, my dear? It must have been an
eventful
night indeed. I've waited for you for hours."

"Eventful? Hardly." She laughed, her mind scrambling for an alibi. "I was reading in the library and fell asleep in the chair."

"Without your night rail?" He held up the cotton gown with an evil smirk. "Even if I was stupid enough to believe you, your appearance betrays you. Look at yourself, Diana! You look like some Covent Garden whore."

She stole a glance to the mirror over the mantel and knew that it was true. Her lips were swollen, her hair mussed beyond redemption, and most telling of all was the faint purple shadow of a love bite on her neck. She realized she had no defense, but neither did he have the right to accuse her. Her initial shock turned to fury. "Does it really matter to you, Reggie where I spent my night?" she hissed. "As I certainly know where you have been spending yours."

His gaze narrowed. He abruptly sat up and seized her arm, squeezing as if it were clamped in a vice. "Do you now?" His eyes glittered dangerously. "And just where might that be?"

"Must I say it aloud?"

He paled at the realization she had discovered his well-guarded secret. "You have no proof of anything," he spat. "Besides, where I bed and with whom is my own damned business."

"Your own business? But I am your wife! You made vows to me!"

"As did you, Diana. No man likes to be made a fool. So I ask again—where were
you
last night?

"I already told you."

"Don't bother lying again as I already have all the proof I need of your iniquity. I only marvel that any man could stir you to passion. Or were you simply moved by desperation? Did you hope to bargain with him by playing his whore? Did you please him well, Diana? I truly hope so, as your tight little quim might be the only way to regain what was lost."

His words stunned her. She regarded him with a blank stare. "Bargain?
Wh-what are you talking about?"

"That DeVere has the deed to Palmerston Hall. Did you not realize?"

Her mind reeled. "How can that be? You lost it in gaming at Clay Hill."

"I do not know precisely how it came about. I can only conclude that DeVere bought my vowels from O'Kelly."

"You lie! Why would he do such a thing?"

"How the bloody hell would I know? I first thought he intended to ruin me to claim the estate, but what is a meager five hundred acres and rundown manor house to such a man? I can only presume then that he desired the stud, but whatever his motives, all seems now to have miraculously worked to my advantage."

"How do you mean? How can any of this be to your advantage?" she asked, her heart racing.

"Simple, my dear heart. You are lawfully my wife, my legal property, whether I choose to use you as such or not. If DeVere desires that which is
mine,
he must pay for the privilege."

"You would pimp me like a whoremonger? You bastard!" she screamed.

He smiled. "Needs must when the devil drives and all that rot. I have needs, and that devil DeVere happens to be an exceedingly wealthy man. Don't look so put out, my dear. After all, it was you who provided the perfect solution to our little problem."

"And what is that? Your perfect little solution? Extortion?" she asked between clenched teeth.

"Such an unpalatable word. I would rather call it a discreet and amicable arrangement. But if DeVere does not wish to come to such an agreement, he can pay much more dearly in the courts of law. If I recall correctly, Lord Grosvenor received compensation to the tune of ten thousand pounds when Lady Grosvenor bestowed her favors on the Duke of Cumberland. By my calculation," Reggie continued nonchalantly, "your betrayal should be worth at least that much, mayhap even twenty thousand."

"You have no proof of anything."

"But there you are wrong. I have sworn statements from two witnesses who have seen you alone with DeVere. That is all the proof I need for a court of law. You may as well go back to his bed, Diana, for I swear you will both pay dearly for it either way. As for his possession of the deed, if you still don't believe me, just ask DeVere yourself." He gave her a blithe shrug and pulled out his timepiece. "Although your little tête-a-tête may need to wait until a more opportune time. The races begin in less than two hours. I must say I am much relieved to know my fate no longer rests on the horserace. Damned unpredictable, those animals can be."

Reggie rang for the maid. "You really must do something about your appearance, Diana." His face devoid of expression, he reached a hand to her neck, tracing the evidence of DeVere's passion with his fingertip. "Might I suggest you wear your hair down today?"

"Shut up, Reggie! Just shut up!" Diana jerked away with a look of abhorrence. "Leave me now," she commanded. "We have nothing more to say."

"For the moment," he agreed. His laughter rang with a hellish echo as he departed through the connecting door.

Diana was trembling, shaken to the depths of her being. She bathed and dressed in a speechless daze, myriad questions searing her brain. How did DeVere come by the deed to Palmerston Hall and why? Was he confederated with O'Kelly all along to ruin Reggie? But why, when they were barely acquainted with each other? If he had acquired the deed, what did he intend to do with it? Was it for the stud, as Reggie suggested? Their horses were the only thing she could think of that might hold the slightest appeal to DeVere, the stud being the only thing of value.

Unless?
Diana recalled their very first meeting but immediately shook the notion away. It was outrageously vain to think he might have intended to use the deed to get her into his bed. If that was his intent, would he not have mentioned it when she first sought his help?

Now Reggie thought to turn the tables. Although he believed he had the upper hand, his avarice would surely be his undoing. Diana knew DeVere would never submit to blackmail, yet there was nothing she could do to prevent a legal action. A judgment could help her secure a separation and thus freedom from the travesty of her marriage...but at what cost?

She descended to breakfast with a feeling of dread at the thought of meeting DeVere so soon after sharing his bed. Although only knowing each other a matter of days, they had parted that morning on terms of intimacy she had never experienced with anyone. It was both breathtaking and terrifying. They had become lovers, but then Reggie's revelations had followed. Diana still wasn't sure what to think or how to react.

As it turned out, there was no opportunity at all to speak of the concerns that plagued her or to warn him about Reggie. DeVere and Hew had broken their fast early and left almost directly afterward. In the few minutes they might have had to talk, Edward and Annalee had been present.

DeVere's reaction upon seeing her, however, the secret smile he bestowed, melted her insides and promised more of what they had shared the night before. It also told her he knew nothing of Reggie's blackmail. She was partly relieved. If only she could find a way to speak with him first.

***

A crowd of hundreds were gathered along the racecourse when Diana, Ned, and Annalee arrived on the down. They took their places apart from the rabble upon the raised dais erected for the owners and aristocrats. Her spine stiffened when the Duchess of Beauclerc joined them on the arm of the Earl of March.

Edward bowed to them both. "Duchess. And so good to see you, my Lord March," he addressed the earl and then introduced Annalee and Diana, both of whom dipped in a brief show of obeisance. "Have you a horse in the running?" Edward asked the noted turf man.

"Aye," said the earl. "A fine mare in the second race."

"Is that so?" said Diana. "Then I promise you a great challenge as I also have a horse in the running."

The earl regarded her with a rapt interest that Diana knew had little to do with the horses. "Do you, indeed, madam? Then I wish you the best of luck." Diana was certain she could hear Caroline's teeth grinding as the Lord March's gaze lingered much longer than proper.

"Ah! There is Lord Derby and Elizabeth
Ferren. William, dearest, we must go and greet them." The duchess tugged on her companion's silk sleeve.

"As you wish, my sweet," answered the earl, though Diana noted his reluctance.

"Lady Chambers. Baroness," the duchess awarded them a brittle smile as the pair departed.

"It didn't take her long to find a replacement," said Diana
between her own tightly smiling teeth.

"She'll get nowhere with that one if she seeks a second ducal coronet," Edward replied in an undertone. "Although he's next in line for the dukedom of Queensberry, March is a notorious roué with a penchant for Italian opera singers."

"No doubt she only wished to pique DeVere," said Annalee.

"Then the effort is truly wasted." Edward laughed outright. "He was never happier to send a mistress on her way."

Their moment of jollity was disrupted when Reggie joined them after presumably having consulted with his lover-jockey. His smug expression suggested he had confronted DeVere as well, but also told Diana that he was yet unaware his race-fixing scheme had been discovered. Though she tried to ignore him altogether, his presence alone set her teeth on edge.

"When do the mares run?" Diana asked Edward.

"The stallions will be up first," he answered. "They are to run a single, two-mile heat, followed by the geldings and then the mares. The top three horses will then run against one another in the fourth race for the grand prize."

Three thousand.
Enough money to get her home back, but not her life. Diana realized with a jolt that her life would
never
be the same. She stole a sidelong look at Reggie, wishing he would just disappear. Perhaps she should just give him the winnings? Part of her wanted him to run off with his lover as he and Johnson had planned. She would then have grounds for her own legal action, but what if he refused? If he had determined to press matters with DeVere, it would be impossible for him to abscond with his lover.

No, surely he would wait and play out his hand now that he thought he held the trump card. If he carried out his threat as she presumed he would, where would that leave her? Her name would be besmirched in the broadsheets. The scandal would be unbearable. Yet she was even willing to live with a ruined name if she could only obtain a separation from Reggie, but deep down, she knew he would never agree.

To do so would give her freedom—the chance to move on with her life and the option to remarry one day. Though that option was furthest from her mind, it was one of very few alternatives available to any woman in reduced circumstances—to remarry or to live as a dependent relative. Both filled her with dismay. Unbidden, a third unthinkable alternative flashed through her mind, along with images of last night that filled her with an empty ache.

One night in
his
bed, and she was forever changed.

Diana found herself in an inexplicable, and moreover, inextricable tangle. The only certainty was that her mare would run in the race today. Perhaps she would take the money and simply disappear. She clung to that thought as desperately as to a lifeline.

Although her mind was still preoccupied, she forced herself to return to the present, back to the races. She focused on the leading grooms as they brought out the first group of horses and the jockeys who were mounting up.

"Where is Lord DeVere?" she finally asked, curious that he had yet to show when his stallion, Prometheus, was about to run.

"Ah! There he is!" Annalee pointed. "In the red-and-black silks. And Hew in the red-and- gold."

"DeVere is riding?" Diana asked.

"Did you not know?" Edward replied. "Says his man Pratt took ill this morning. That's the
third
last minute change in riders, by the by."

"What do you mean?" Reggie demanded.

"Hew was to jockey Prometheus, but now it seems he's to ride Diana's mare, Cartimandua, and O'Kelly replaced his main jockey as well. I hear he dismissed the man on the spot not an hour ago."

Reggie's eyes bulged as he squinted at the field, and Diana thought his color resembled something close to puce
.

Diana recalled DeVere's dead calm in learning of Reggie's scheme to fix the race and almost laughed aloud. So
that's
what he was up to when he said he had matters in hand.
Devious devil, indeed!
He had managed to relieve the very jockeys Reggie had attempted to bribe. Although his action did nothing to guarantee the outcome in anyone's favor, it certainly evened up the playing field. Reggie had been a fool to challenge a man like DeVere and an even greater one if he thought to threaten him.