At The Stroke Of Midnight (24 page)

"And we shall find them,
sweetheart, I promise.
 
But later,"
he assured her, pulling her deeper into the suite of rooms and closer to the
toasty warm fire.
 
"But for the
moment, I simply want to hold you.
 
I
need the assurance that you are still with me.
 
Earlier, I feared you were lost to me forever, and I want to bask in my
good fortune if you please."
 
He
said the words with humor but she could hear the true emotion beneath and
wordlessly moved back into the safety and comfort of his arms.

This was precisely where she wished
to be as well, and for a time, she simply stood there, captured in his embrace,
allowing herself the luxury to pretend that this night would never end.
 
She also indulged in the fantasy that there
would be many more after this.
 
She was
foolish she knew, but her heart and mind were so bruised and battered that she
could not help herself.
 
For a moment,
she would take what happiness she could find, even if it was an illusion.

Sebastian could feel the tension
leave Jane's body the moment she allowed herself to relax.
 
She became softer and more pliant against
him, her body molding to his as if they were made for each other.
 
In his mind, they were.

He inhaled her scent, something
fresh and vaguely lemony, much like the citrus trees that grew in the
conservatory.
 
He preferred it far more
than he did the cloying rose scent that Lizzie doused herself with, often
overindulging to the point that it made him want to be ill.

As he stood there, he felt the heat
of the fire begin to ease the tension from his body as well, relaxing his
muscles and, were such a thing possible, softening his bones until the tension
that had pounded on his skull earlier began to recede as well.
 
In its wake, there was only Jane and her
softness.
 
There was the lushness of her
body - all hips and breasts - fitted against him perfectly.

Someone, probably a servant, had
filled the room with candles as well.
 
Hundreds of them, presumably to ward off the darkness and make the suite
a bit cheerier for Jane, even though it was essentially a prison. Now, they
gave everything a soft, almost magical glow, softening the lines of the room
and the furniture within it.

This was a feminine room.
 
It was easy to see, even by
candlelight.
 
There were layers upon
layers of lace and embroidery scattered about and the furniture was scalloped and
filigreed, just as a woman would desire.
 
A line of old paintings dotted one wall, another mark of a female touch,
though whether they were pastels or watercolors, he could not tell and did not
much care.

This was a place full of feminine
frippery, completely with cut crystal perfume bottles and a dressing table with
a silvering mirror that was from a different age.
 
In the full light of day, it probably would not look nearly so
soft or inviting, but at the moment, it was the most perfect setting Sebastian
could image to seduce Jane and finally make her his in every way possible.

That hadn't been his goal, of
course, when he first sought out Jane, but now that he was here, all he could
think of was stripping her naked and sliding inside of her, claiming her as
his.
 
Branding her with his touch.
 
Possibly even getting her with child.
 
His child.
 
His heir.

And she seemed more than willing,
what with the way she was clinging to him, her body pressed into his, almost
begging him to make love to her.

Without realizing what he was
doing, he began walking her backwards into the bedroom where another fire
blazed brightly in the grate.
 
He had
seduced plenty of women before, though he was not exactly a rake.
 
Then again, he was not an innocent either
and knew the lay of a woman's body as well as any man.

However, no woman had ever been
Jane.
 
He had not hungered for those
women he had bedded in the past the way he hungered for her.

He hadn't searched for her solely
in order to seduce her.
 
No, he had come
to free her, if that was even possible.
 
He actually hadn't thought far enough ahead to decide what he might do
if he was lucky enough to find her.
 
All
he knew was that he needed to see her, to touch her and make certain that she
was whole and well.
 
He had wanted to
see her skin glow in the firelight, wrapped in the silky caress of that
magnificent green gown and marvel at the thick lushness of her tresses.

He wanted to make certain that she
was unharmed.
 
And of course, after all
that had transpired, she still cared for him.

The seduction was an
afterthought.
 
Or it had been until this
very moment.
 
Now, it was all he could
think about.

"Jane."
 
Her name was a harsh, ragged sound on his
lips.
 
"I want..."
 
He tried again, desperately trying to
contain the fire that was quickly growing within him.
 
"I need.."

What?
 
What did he need?
 
Her,
certainly.
 
But what else?
 
Was
there anything else other than
her?

When he had been seeking her, he
thought there was, but now that he had her in his arms, there was only
her.
 
In a moment, he was transported
back to that magical night in the Devonmont's garden, the first night he truly
knew what it was to desire a woman for more than her body.
 
The night he had met Jane.
 
The night he knew with a certainty that he
had never felt before that he needed to possess her - all of her.

"Tell me, Sebastian,"
Jane whispered, as if she felt this incredible pull between them as well and
was just as powerless to resist.
 
"Tell me what you want.
 
But
I need to hear the words."

"You."
 
The single word was torn from him.
 
"I need you, Jane.
 
God help me, but I need you."

Then he seized her by the arms and
lowered his lips to hers, plundering her mouth and taking all that he both
needed and wanted.

He was so absorbed in his own
desires that he did not realize that Jane was returning his kiss with a passion
of her own.
 
For she needed him just as
much as he needed her.

Heaven.

This could only be what Heaven
was like
, Jane decided as Sebastian kissed her with a passion and desire
that matched her own.
 
Or perhaps
hell, for surely nothing else could ever feel so perfectly wonderful and yet
sinful at the same time.

They had kissed before, certainly,
but never had she felt the sensations all the way to her toes as she did
now.
 
This time, she felt more.
 
More of everything, including a warm
sensation that began spreading out from the very center of her, through every
last part of her body, making her feel achy and needy, though for what, she
could not say.
 
All she knew was that
she needed to be as close to Sebastian as possible.

"Jane.
 
I need you."
 
Sebastian whispered the words into her ear and it took a moment
for her to register what he was actually asking.
 
He wanted to bed her.
 
Now.
 
Tonight.
 
In this room where her mother had known such
happiness before her passing.
 
"I
know I should not, but I cannot help it."

There was so much he was not
saying, but then, he did not need to.
 
She knew as well as he that this was truly their last night
together.
 
That had been the plan from
the very beginning of course, but now, everything seemed more urgent.
 
The following day, barring a miracle of some
type, she would be gone.
 
There were no
fairy godmothers to come to the rescue.
 
There was only Sebastian and this moment.

She would have her moment.
 
She would have her happily ever after.
 
Even if it only lasted one night.

"Yes," she whispered by
way of reply, pulling back to look at him, his eyes so dark now that they were
nearly black with what she suspected to be desire.
 
"I need you as well, Sebastian.
 
I think I have since the night we met."

It was the truth.
 
From the moment she had collided with him at
the refreshment table, nothing in her world had ever been the same.
 
Everything had been upside down and twisted
inside out.
 
There had been no
peace.
 
Except for now, here in his
arms.
 
At this moment and with this man,
there was peace.

Sebastian gently stroked the back
of his hand down the side of her face, caressing her as he tried to memorize
every line of her beauty.
 
"Again," he urged softly.
 
"I need to hear again that you want me just as much as I want
you."

Pulling herself up on her tiptoes
so that she could look him directly in the eye, Jane cradled Sebastian's head
in her hands.
 
His lovely, wonderful,
handsome face.
 
"I want you, Sebastian
St. Giles.
 
Just you and only you.
 
I will not change my mind."
 
Of that, she was certain.
 
She was being given the chance to spend one
night in the arms of the man she loved.
 
The most magical night of the year.
 
She would not be so foolish as to refuse him.
 
Especially not when she suspected that he might be the only
person who could ease the burning ache inside of her.
 
The only man who ever would.

Jane's words tugged at Sebastian's
heart.
 
He had been wanted before for
many things, chief among them his fortune and his title.
 
Never had he been wanted for himself.
 
But Jane wanted him.
 
And tonight, she would have him.

"Then you shall have me,
sweetheart," he sighed, resting his forehead against hers.
 
"But first we start with something I
have longed for since the very beginning."
 
Keeping her pressed against him, he reached up and tugged her
hair free of its single comb, allowing the loose but elaborate style to fall
free and a thick cascade of dark curls to fall down her back.

For a moment, it was all he could
do to simply look and not touch for fear that he might devour her
immediately.
 
Then, he sighed with
contentment.
 
"Magnificent."
 
He tunneled his fingers through her hair,
pulling out the single emerald comb that had become entangled in her tresses
before tossing it aside.
 
"It is
just as lovely as I had imagined."
 
Then he grinned at her, his gaze full of heat and seduction.
 
"And I have imagined quite a lot, I
assure you."

Jane quirked an eyebrow at him in
return.
 
"Are you to have all the fun,
then, my lord?"
 
This was not like
her.
 
She did not flirt or behave like
some saucy minx.
 
Especially not when
only moments ago, she had been bemoaning her imprisonment.
 
She knew she should be more concerned about
what fate awaited her in the morning, but, as midnight fast approached, she
found that she did not much care.

All she did care about was
Sebastian.
 
He was all she could see and
think of, not to mention that he did things to her, wonderful, marvelous things
that made her lose all of her inhibitions.
 
He was her world.
 
No matter how
far apart they were, he always would be.
 
In that moment, it was critical that he know it.

"Sebastian, I..."
 
she began but he cut her off with another
heart-stopping kiss.

"I know, love.
 
I do know."
 
He offered her another smile, this one slow and seductive and
filled with the promise of pleasure.
 
"But you asked a question and you deserve my answer.
 
And my answer is no.
 
No, I should not be the one to have all the
fun."
 
He traced a finger down her
arm.
 
"In fact, I insist on the
lady having her fun first."

He was back to teasing and that
suited Jane.
 
Too much seriousness would
ruin the night, for they both knew that this moment between them was fragile
and could end at any moment.
 
She did
not want that.
 
Instead, she wanted to
fully live in the moment she had been given.
 
She wanted to give herself - mind, body and soul - to Sebastian before
it was too late.

"I accept," she teased in
return, her fingers dancing over the hard planes of his chest, which she could
feel beneath his shirt.
 
"And I
think I shall begin with seeing what, precisely, is under here."
 
With sure fingers, she swiftly undid the
buttons on his waistcoat and had it off of him before he could utter a single
protest.
 
Not that he was likely to do
so, for he wanted to be naked with her as soon as possible.

Jane hesitated for only a moment
when she came to the buttons on his shirt, knowing that once she parted the
thin fabric, there was no going back.
 
Oh, he would stop if she asked, but he would not want to, and, she was
fairly certain, neither would she.
 
So
before she could change her mind, she undid the buttons and then pushed the
fabric back from his chest, not at all surprised when he helped her by shrugging
out of his shirt and leaning back against a nearby dresser so that she might
look her fill.

He was thickly muscled, his chest
well defined from spending so much time at Gentleman Jackson's and covered with
a very light dusting of dark hair that was springy to the touch.
 
He allowed her to take her time exploring
him, her fingertips caressing him as she traced the lines of his muscles and
followed the thin line of hair to where it disappeared down into his breeches.

She watched, fascinated, as he
removed his boots and she found that she was entranced by his toes, as
well.
 
She hadn't given feet much
thought before, but in Sebastian's case, his toes might merit further
examination.
 
She prayed that did not
mean something was wrong with her, only that she was entranced by this man to
the point of madness.

"So have you seen something
you like?"
 
Sebastian's voice was
husky and full of barely disguised need.
 
God, he wanted her.
 
"Or do
you want to look further?
 
You can if
you like, you know."

Looking up, she saw the sincerity
in his eyes and understood what he was offering her.
 
She was free to strip him bare without having to disrobe
herself.
 
If she changed her mind, she
would suffer nothing more than the slight embarrassment of seeing a naked
man.
 
It was her choice.
 
For once, she was being given the power to
decide what happened in her own life.

"I wish to see more," she
said a bit shakily, "but I must admit that I do not know how to
proceed."
 
She had heard stories of
course, particularly in the ladies' retiring room at many a grand ball.
 
Women did like to talk and the subject of
male and female relations was a popular one when it was assumed that no one
else could hear.

Yet the truth was, Jane was
woefully ignorant of the details.
 
She
had a general idea of what came next.
 
After all, she had grown up in the country.
 
However, an animal and a man were two vastly different
things.
 
Especially when the man looked
like Sebastian and, if the growing bulge between his legs was any indication,
quite a bit more well-endowed, as well.

"Then let me help
you."
 
His voice was no more than a
whisper as he urged her backwards until she came to the edge of the overly
large bed.
 
He had thought it might be
dusty but someone was clearly keeping the room clean and when Jane sank to the
edge and sat down, he caught the last scent of laundry dried in the fall
sunshine.
 
"Trust me, Jane.
 
I will not hurt you."
 
That was the last thing he would ever do.

"I know."
 
She stroked her hand down the front of his
chest, making him shiver.
 
"Guide
me, Sebastian.
 
Show me what you
like."

Slowly, he picked up her hand and
placed it on the front of his breeches so that she might feel the hard length
of him, the way it moved and throbbed at his touch.
 
"I like that."

She smiled then.
 
"I thought you might.
 
I understand that most men do."
 
She had felt him against her before,
particularly when they had kissed.
 
Yet
now, only a few layers of fabric separated her hand from the most masculine
part of him.
 
She wanted more.
 
She craved more.
 
"So show me how to please you.
 
I want to.
 
For you,
Sebastian, and for me as well."

Her words nearly undid him and
slowly, he reached up to undo the buttons on his placket before gently peeling
the fabric away from his thighs where it clung like a second skin.
 
He had foregone smalls that day so in the
flickering firelight, he was well aware that Jane could see every last inch of
him as he shed the remainder of his clothes.

Never before had he cared what a
woman thought of his body.
 
He'd
received no complaints from any woman he had bedded.
 
Yet with Jane, he cared.
 
More than he knew he ought.
 
So
when she watched him strip away the last of his clothes to stand naked before
her, he held his breath and prayed that she liked what she saw.

He was magnificent.
 
Never in all of her life had Jane imagined
that a man could look so perfect without his clothes.
 
At balls and parties, she and her friends often admired the fine
cut of a man's coat or the fabric choice for his waistcoat.
 
The might even remark upon his boots.
 
Now that she saw Sebastian naked, she
understood what Caroline had meant when she said that once a woman saw a naked
man, she never forgot.

Certainly Jane would never forget
the sight of Sebastian standing before her, his skin glowing bronze from the
fire and looking very much like a god come to Earth to take a human woman as
his lover.
 
She also could not stop
looking at his cock, which stood proud and erect, rising from a thick patch of
hair between his legs.

"It would please me if you
touched me," he said and when her wide eyes flew to his, he laughed a
bit.
 
"You did say you wanted to
know what would please me.
 
You touching
me would.
 
Very much."

"So you did," Jane agreed
with a shaky breath.
 
The room seemed
hotter now, though she knew it was only a product of her imagination.
 
The snow, which had eased a bit earlier, had
begun to fall again in earnest and the wind had begun to howl, rattling the
windows in their casements.
 
Yet Jane
felt scalding hot, as if her body was literally aflame.