A Devil's Touch (4 page)

Although it was a highly unorthodox proposition, Ludovic had full confidence in Salime's ability to effect Simon's cure. He had departed London in the belief that no further intervention would be needed. Simon was a man with a man's needs. Even blemished as she was, Salime was still an exceedingly desirable woman, and one skilled in all manner of pleasure. They were alone together in the lap of luxury. Nature would surely take its course.

Smug in the knowledge that he had done a supreme service for two friends in need, Ludovic wasted no further time in departing for Kent, where he fully intended to indulge his own needs with the woman he adored beyond reason. In his urgency to return to Diana, he had pushed his harried coachman beyond the bounds of all good sense—nearly overturning the damned vehicle thrice along the way—but now here he was, happy to be returned to Medford Abbey, the former mausoleum that had become a home at last.

Taking the steps two at a time, his boot heels struck the marble stairs leading to his and Diana's apartments. His drowsy valet, Masters, met him in his dressing room and immediately went to work, but the moment Ludovic was divested of his boots and tight-fitting coat, Diana appeared in the doorway. She looked wan and drawn, as though  she hadn't slept, and Ludovic was instantly beset by a pang of guilt. Although he had not
intended
to wake her, in his eagerness to see her, he had made no great effort to prevent it either.

He was further unsettled to find, rather than a warm smile of greeting, a slight frown marring her features when their gazes met. "Are you all right, my pet?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm fine," she remarked stiffly. "And glad you are arrived safely, my lord."

But none too pleased to see him by the look of it. He shook his head in befuddlement. "
My lord
? I don't recall ever adopting such formal address in our bedchamber." He impatiently shooed Jacobs away and advanced toward her, arms extended. He was further flummoxed when Diana held back, making no move to enter his embrace.

"What the devil is wrong, Diana? If you are piqued that I left you alone, I can only beg your understanding that the nature of my journey was far from pleasure. Moreover, you must realize by this late hour that I left London like a madman in my eagerness to return to you."

"Was it truly eagerness to see me or did you flee from guilt, Ludovic?"

Her insinuation made the blood in his veins cool to ice. He grasped her firmly by the shoulders. "I won't play these kinds of games, Diana. If there's something on your mind, spit it out!"

She glanced down at her hands and his gaze followed hers, noting now the crumpled sheet of foolscap she held.

He shut his eyes on a groan. "It's not what you think."

"No? You receive an urgent summons from a former lover and then instantly hie off to London? What
am I
to think of that, Ludovic?"

"Damn it all! I did not intentionally hide her letter from you. It simply slipped my mind when Ned arrived with the more pressing news of Simon."

"Did you see
her
while in London?"

"Yes. I saw her," he snapped. "She expressed a dire need that I was in a position to answer. Would you begrudge her my assistance, Diana, when she played such a great part in bringing us together?"

"Why did she appeal to you, Ludovic? Surely there are other men—"

"It's a matter of trust, Diana. Look, we have walked this path before. I told you there is nothing between Salime and me. She was never my lover in the sense that you were…are," he quickly amended.

Her mouth formed a tight line. "No. She was simply a woman who willingly and regularly gratified your sexual needs. Needs you have not gratified with
me
in quite some time.  Now she sends for you and you go to her just like that." She snapped her fingers accusingly.

"Because she needed my help, Diana. You know there is much history between Salime and me that has nothing to do with us."

"It has
everything
to do with you and me!" she cried, shoving against his chest. "Salime is exotic and mysterious and beautiful while I am now big…boring…and bloated!"

"Bloody hell!" He gave an exasperated groan. "Listen to me carefully, Diana. I have
fucked
many women. Some were beautiful, exotic, and even mysterious, but
I have loved only you.
And your current gravid condition has not diminished either my love or my desire for you one iota."

"That's not true!" she insisted. "Everything between us has changed! You used to make passionate love to me all the night, Ludovic, but now we are like ships passing!"

"How can it not be different when you carry my child? You are easily fatigued and retire early, my love, when it is not my habit. Yet I still never spend a single night apart from you."

"And when I awake, you are already gone!"

"Damn it all! I
thought
I was doing you a bloody favor! Dr. Ford, who is considered the premier authority in these matters, confided to me that a woman needs more rest as she grows heavier with child. He strongly advised that I
not
press you for sex." He clawed both hands through his hair. "For the first time in my selfish life, I endeavored to place your needs above my own, and now have it thrown in my face as inattention!"

Her lips quivered. "Because I fear it will never again be the same between us."

He squeezed her shoulders, tamping down the impulse to shake her. "Why would you even say such an inane thing? Even worse, you accuse me of infidelity when you know how violently I abhorred the faithlessness of my parents' marriage! God help me, I would never allow the same thing to occur in ours."

"What was I to think when you don't even look at me anymore?"

"It's a bloody measure of self-preservation, so I don't go raving mad with my unsated lust. I told you
I love you
, Diana. I have poured my love into you with every ounce of my being! What further evidence do you require from me?"

"What evidence? I'll tell you what I need." She jutted her chin in challenge. "Make love to me, Ludovic. Right here. Right now. Show me I am wrong. Look at me with passion-filled eyes and prove that you still want me."

***

"You truly think I have lost my desire for you?"

"Yes. I think you have."

His expression hardened. "Then think again, my sweet." He came behind her and filled his big warm hands with her breasts while his hot breath skirted over her nape. "Does it feel like I have no desire, Diana?" He slid his hands down her sides to anchor her at her hips and ground his pelvis against her backside. Only the thin gown prevented his turgid shaft from sliding between the cleft of her buttocks.

"It seems," he stated, dark and ominous, "that what we really have are unresolved issues of trust between us. I have sworn my devotion, my fidelity. We will end this right now. There is no room in this relationship for jealousy and suspicion."

Did he intend to walk out? Panic filled her breast. "What do you mean?"

"You wish me to prove myself to you, Diana? Here and now? Very well then.
Quid pro quo
."

"I don't understand."

"It means I require an exchange. Since you want proof that I still desire you, you shall have it—but I demand something in return."

"And what is that?"

"I require your absolute and unconditional faith. I won't have this," he made an impatient gesticulation, "hanging between us any longer. Before this night is out, you
will
trust me, Diana. Fully. Completely. Unreservedly."

His ominous words made her breathless and sent a shiver of anticipation down her spine.
This
was the man who had introduced her to her darkest fantasies, the man who had made them reality. Her pulse had sprung to life under his touch, and now her blood pumped palpably through her veins. "Very well, then." She turned slightly to meet his heated blue stare. "
Quid pro quo
."

He returned a grim smile. "On your knees, Diana."

Her eyes widened. What the devil was he about? "
What did you say
?"

"You heard me. I want you
on your knees
."

"I don't understand. Do you expect me to beg? Or to take you in my mouth? At the moment I am not of a mind to do either, Ludovic. I refuse outright to do the former, and of the latter, it is not for
me
to prove my desire for
you
."

"You misapprehend, my dear. I shall give you what you want…but only after you have satisfied me. I told you I demand your full and complete trust and I will have it, for I refuse to pay for another man's sins any longer."

"What are you saying?"

"That your experience with that loathsome sod Reggie still lingers—that it unfairly casts a pall upon me, that you have never given me your full confidence, as I have given you."

"But that's not true! You know I have." She turned to face him fully, fought the urge to throw herself into his arms, but her pride prevailed.

"Quite the contrary, my pet. Your doubt of my faithfulness proves otherwise."

He was right and there was only one way to repair the rift before it became an impassable chasm. She sank her teeth into her lip and then blurted, "I'm sorry for my jealousy, Ludovic, for my mistrust. I
do
believe you…now that you have explained everything. And yes, I would not have had you do differently where Salime is concerned."

He smiled softly and caressed her hair. "I appreciate your confession, my pet. But you see that's no longer enough for me. I need more from you than words."

"But I meant what I said. How can I convince you?"

"I shall believe the moment
you
believe in
me
. Given your marital history, I have not pressed you all this time we have been together. I believed that time would heal old wounds—that my love, my attention to your needs, my utter devotion to fulfilling your every desire would serve to eradicate the past. It appears I was wrong."

"How can you say such things?"

"What am
I
to think, Diana? Your mistrust, doubt, and suspicion have cut me to the quick."

"Now you are intentionally manipulating me and turning the tables!"

"Am I?" He cocked a brow with a feigned look of innocence. "Is what I speak not the truth?"

"Damn you, DeVere!" She had no sooner expelled his name than his mouth came down on hers in a ruthless and devouring kiss. Diana clutched her fingers in his hair and breathed him in, losing herself mind, body, and soul in the vortex of desire created by his mouth and tongue. It had always been like this with him, from the very beginning. His merest touch inflamed her with desire. She wanted him. Madly.

But then he released her as abruptly as he had begun, leaving her bewildered and panting.

She licked her lips with a mixture of apprehension and growing sexual frustration as he stripped off his cravat and tore at the buttons of his shirt. "What do you intend to do now?"

"I want you on your hands and knees, Diana
.
I
will then proceed to fuck you senseless until I have expunged every trace of that vile blackguard from your memory at last."

"But my past with Reggie has nothing to do with this."

"Your past has
everythin
g to do with this," he answered darkly.

She drew breath and closed her eyes in dread. "Is this a punishment? Are you going to—”

"Take you in the arse?" he finished for her.

Apprehension suddenly burgeoned to fear, flickering inside her, fierce and alive. "No! Please!" she cried. "You know I can't do that. And you know why. How can you even ask it of me?" What he proposed terrified her, for Diana still sometimes awoke weeping in her sleep from the shame and horror of Reggie's sodomy.

"I have
not
asked it. You show your mistrust yet again, Diana, for you should know by now that I would never do anything you do not desire."

"Then what do you intend?"

He continued methodically to disrobe. "My unsated lust and your delicate condition have combined to drive me mad. And in my madness I have spent countless hours considering new means of gratification. And as you well know, my dearest love…I am a most
inspired
man. I intend now for us to discover what greater pleasures might yet exist between us when greater
creativity
is employed."

His ambiguous answer didn't settle her nerves. But he was right. There was no room in their relationship for mistrust.

He was down to only his breeches. Diana ached to run her hands up his buckskin-clad thighs, to feel the lean, hard muscles beneath her hands, to stroke his erection until he groaned. She studied his face, her husband's arrogant and beautiful visage, lingering on the sensuous mouth that had given her so much pleasure. Her gaze drifted southward down the strong column of his neck, over broad shoulders, to his biceps contracting in the arms he'd crossed over his naked chest, to the trail of dark hair leading into his breeches…and her passion stirred deep in her loins.

She loved this man with her entire being. Whether it was an issue of trust or lust didn't seem to matter anymore when she considered their future was on the line. Her gaze returned to his face, to the same mouth that now formed a hard line as he awaited her reply. "I ask for the last time, Diana, will you give me your faith unreservedly…or not?"

Wordlessly, Diana loosed the sash of her dressing gown and closed her eyes, allowing the silken garment to slither down her body and then suddenly he was there behind her, his breath on her neck as silky as the robe that lay in a puddle at her feet. His arms wrapped around her from behind, caressing her breasts, as he tongued and nibbled her neck while his cocked pressed against her buttocks. She gasped, trembling at the power he so effortlessly wielded over her, this wicked, lustful satyr she had wed, and marveled at how truly and thoroughly he had debauched her. She wanted him. All of him. Unreservedly. In any way he desired.