Colorblind (Moonlight) (20 page)

“Leon.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t acknowledge her. He only continued his sucking, his nipping, his licking….

When he finally sank into her, she was so close from his attentions that she came instantly, whimpering and bucking under him as he stilled and waited for her. Once she recovered, he caught her lips and rode her until she came again. This time, he joined her, spilling inside without locking her in place.

Sated, Leon rolled onto his back and slipped his hand under her body, pulling her against his side.

“Leon?” she murmured, still in a slight daze.

He responded with incoherent words.

“Leon?”

There was no response. Blinking, she pushed herself up and stared down at him again. This time, she slipped into his mind.

He was sleeping! Her mate was dreaming, and thought that what he’d just done to her was a dream as well. He was having another, this one with her above him, her lips closed over his swelling erection.

Penny’s face grew warm at the image, but her center also tingled with the knowledge that she could bring him pleasure by doing that. She slipped from his mind and looked down his body. His shaft stood tall and proud, pointing away from his belly as if he hadn’t released just moments ago.

She crawled easily down his body and took him into her hand. He was so thick she could barely close her palm around him. Penny dragged a finger over him, paying particular attention to the soft head. His hips jerked off the bed, and she paused, eyeing him to see if he awoke. Joining her mind with his once more, she took lessons from the dream version of her, opening her mouth and wrapping her tongue around the plush, pink tip.

She moaned at his salty, pleasant taste and closed her lips over him, slowly moving her head up and down like she’d seen in his dream. She took him as far as she could into her mouth, sucking and licking at him until he moaned and released. “Penny!”

Moving up his body, she smirked down at him. His eyes were open and he looked sated but confused.

She kissed him softly. “I just made your dreams come true, Leon.” With a proud smile, she moved back to his side, finding her comfortable spot and closing her eyes. “You can go back to sleep now.”

Chapter Twelve

“What are you doing here, girl?”

Patrick Ryder watched as the girl, a brown-skinned nigger with large oval eyes, a small face, and a slim body, shifted nervously before him. She was pretty, he guessed, but she wasn’t one of his.

“I got information, Massa. Hear you been askin’ 'bout Penny.”

His ears immediately perked up as he watched the girl’s gaze dart behind him. Eddie, one of his errand boys, stood there.

“I have,” he replied, leaning against the stall and watching her. When she continued to look at Eddie, he added, “Leave us.”

The boy scampered away, rushing out of the stables almost instantly.

“What’s your name, girl?”

She blinked, then blinked again. For a moment, he thought she wouldn’t answer. He could feel himself growing enraged at her hesitation when she spoke. “Aisha, Massa.”

“What information do you have about Penny?”

She swallowed and looked at her feet. “Rumors, Massa. I don’ live in ’er cabin tho’ I be hearin’ ’bout how she slip out every night to go somewhere.”

“Where?”

He felt a jolt of anger that she was slipping out at night. Where was she going and was she meeting someone? A man perhaps?

His affixation with Penny had started a few years ago, when he’d witnessed her rebellious behavior to Adam Thorn. He’d wanted to break her, something he enjoyed doing to the rebellious ones on his plantation. He’d hoped she remained intact, knowing it was far-fetched with all of those prime bulls around her, but now hearing some slave girl say that she was slipping out to meet a man…. That irritated him.

“Dunno, Massa,” Aisha said, though Ryder got the feeling she was lying. “Rumor is she different from rest of us, got voodoo in ’er.”

“Voodoo?” His curiosity was piqued once more. He’d never thought of Penny as having anything to do with nigger magic.

Aisha looked around as if afraid someone was going to jump out and catch her before she fixed her gaze on his. Resisting the urge to tell her to lower her eyes, Ryder clenched his fists and waited.

“I tell you all you need know, Massa…if you buy me.”

He didn’t know whether to laugh or snap. A slave, bargaining with him? Three long steps brought him to her. One more had him pressed up against her. Shock, then terror, radiated from her body as he braced her between the stall door and his body.

Her head dropped instantly. Placing a finger under her chin, he tilted it back up. Lips trembled in fear and her eyes welled with unshed tears. Weak.
Pathetic.

“Whites don’t bargain with niggers, girl, but I’ll make you one anyway.” He paused, reveling in the tremors that racked her body. “You tell me everything you know about Penny, and I won’t have you raped, beaten, and sent back to Arnaud barely alive.” He paused and jammed his hips into hers. Although he was hard, it wasn’t from her. Weakness didn’t affect him anymore. He’d enjoyed that as a young man. Now, he craved more. He craved a fight before submission. He craved Penny. “You understand, girl?”

She nodded and he stepped back. He waited for her to calm herself, and when it seemed like he was waiting too long, demanded, “Well? What do you know of her?”

With tears in her eyes, Aisha began to speak. Ryder listened carefully and by the time she’d finished her tale, he wanted Penny even more than he had before.

***

Leon stood behind his mate, arms wrapped about her middle as they rested against the far wall of his study. Both were breathing harshly, although laughter occasionally interrupted.

He was joined to her, unable to move until he shrank enough that he could pull away. Both were clothed, or mostly so. The bottom half of Penny’s dress was pushed over her back and the buttons at the front were undone to expose her breasts to his touch. Her drawers were pooled at her feet. His pants and undergarments were shoved to his knees.

“You attacked me,” Penny chided, laughter in her breathless voice.

He nipped at her neck, bringing a little whimper from her. “You teased me.”

“How?”

You know how.

Laughter told him she did. “No, I don’t. How did I tease you?”

“The feather.”

She sighed. “I was only brushing lint from my collar.”

Leon didn’t have to enter her mind to know she lied. From the moment he’d looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, she’d been watching him. As he looked on, she’d begun twirling the feather quill near her cheek, her nose, her lips, across her breasts.

“You were teasing me,
ma louve
, weren’t you?”

Another chuckle and she replied, “Only slightly.”

His tongue swiped the bite marks against her shoulder. “You teased me so I attacked you. You deserved it.”

As he slipped from her body, he kissed her neck and stepped away. Penny’s gown immediately fell back into place as she straightened and turned to face him. Leon couldn’t keep a straight face if he tried. Her head scarf was lopsided on her head, and her buttons had been undone so hastily, some were still looped.

He laughed, which only made her chuckle. She tugged her head scarf off and began redoing her clothing. He did the same.

Leon was heading back to his desk, to the papers he was supposed to be reading before Penny had played tease with the quill, when she stopped him with a question.

“Can I become pregnant?”

Spinning to face her, he felt his heart stop. “You can, but most
were
females have to go into heat. It’s when you’re most fertile.”

He stared at her long and hard, trying to sense another presence. Penny wasn’t pregnant, was she?

“Heat?” she queried, pulling up her undergarments and redoing the front buttons of her dress.

He moved to her. “Yes. When you go into heat, your body will need mine… to ease you. Sexually.” Leon contained the urge to groan at the thought. “During that time, you’ll become so fertile that once I release inside you, you’re likely to conceive.”

Her eyes dropped and her breathing changed. Leon smiled. He was glad she was affected by his words, as well. Was his mate anticipating her heat?

He felt compelled to add, “Most females despise it. They say it’s a nuisance.”

“Do you want children?” Penny asked slowly.

Leon watched her. Those brown eyes held his. Leaning forward, he sniffed at her skin. Nothing untoward. She didn’t seem pregnant, nor did he smell the traces of heat. Was her heat coming soon? He really hoped not.

“Yes, but not now,” he told her firmly. “If you conceived here, it would be dangerous—”

“Of course,” she interjected. “I would never choose to give birth on a plantation, Leon. I know the risks too well.”

He nodded, knowing she referred to her parents. Her question had brought him to a realization. He needed to be more careful. He would either have to stop touching her—an impossibility—or he would have to stop releasing into her body.

But was that possible, either? His wolf laughed. Leon ignored it.

There was only a small chance of conception outside of heat, but it happened. He would have to be more careful.

***

“Excuse me?”

“I said I'll give you seven hundred and fifty dollars for her,” Patrick Ryder repeated, a smile across his lips. “That’s least three hundred more than she’s worth. You can buy another slave with that money.”

Leon harnessed his temper, just barely. “She’s not for sale, Mr. Ryder.”

“Everyone’s for sale, Arnaud. Eight hundred and that’s as much as I’ll go.”

Leaning back in his chair, Leon eyed Patrick Ryder and lifted a brow. He forced an easy smile and cocked his head slightly to the side, as if amused. “You can buy two slaves for that amount of money, Mr. Ryder. Now I’m curious as to why you’d spend so much for one slave girl.”

“As I told you before, I want her.”

It was becoming harder and harder to restrain his beast, especially with Patrick Ryder letting him know in no unspecific terms he desired his mate, but Leon once more managed. “She’s not for sale.”

The older man said nothing for a long while before a sadistic grin touched his lips. “You’re keeping her for your bed?”

When Leon didn’t answer, Ryder laughed. “When you get tired, let me know. I won’t offer you eight hundred again, but I’m sure we can come to a pleasant agreement.”

Ryder stood and outstretched his hand. Leon did the same, keeping the slight smile on his lips.

“Some of the boys are going to Madame Touilleur’s on Saturday.”

“Madame Touilleur’s?”

Ryder grinned. “A gentleman’s establishment in New Orleans that features only the prime of
dark
meat.”

A whorehouse with colored women. He couldn’t say he was interested.

“It’s a good place to meet your peers under more…relaxed settings.” Turning suddenly, Ryder headed for the door. “Send word with one of your boys by Friday night if you’re going.”

As soon as he left, Leon’s smile fell. He’d always known Ryder was interested in Penny, but from the last time they’d discussed her up until now, something must have happened. Why else would the man make him an offer of eight hundred dollars, easily the cost of two slaves, to purchase her? What had Ryder learned, and who had told him?

Leon stood and tugged at the collar of his shirt, popping three of the buttons as he did so. One thing was certain. Ryder had learned something about Penny. Whatever it was had made him desperate to have her. Regardless, Leon wanted Penny away from the plantation and Patrick Ryder. And soon.

***

Her heart felt close to jumping from her chest as she made her way up the staircase and along the darkened hallway. It was the third time Julia had done so, and she steeled herself to going through with it tonight. Most times she made it to the second floor before resolve fled and fear overcame her.

Coming to the last door on her right, she inhaled deeply and gently, carefully, pushed it open. It was dark inside, so she could make out nothing. Still, she’d been in this room countless times over the past week to know where to tread. She took a step forward, and then another, continuing on as she reached the bed. Her eyes adjusted slightly to the dark and she made out a body lying prone under the thin, white sheets. Before she lost her nerve, she dropped her shawl and undid the ties of her nightgown, shedding them at the foot of bed before tugging back the sheets.

She was about to slip under when his voice, gravelly, low, and dangerous, made her freeze. “What are you doing?”

Her heart stopped before racing quickly once more. “I come to be wit’ you, Massa.”

She heard him take a deep breath, and then the bed groaned. “Put your clothes on, Julia.”

“Massa, I—” she began, terrified but determined. Before she could lose more nerve, she slipped under the sheets and reached for him.

She was doing this for Jolie. She would willingly give herself to him if he allowed her to wait for her sister. Her hand found his bare chest and she inhaled quick, fighting back tears. “I here to give myself to you, Massa.”

A large hand encased hers and it took everything not to snatch her hand back and run. She reminded herself that she’d done this before. Adam Thorn had left her sister alone, for the most part, because she’d willingly given herself to him. As she thought of him, her fear escalated. What if Armand was like Adam? Or his father? An involuntary shudder racked her body.

Did he thrive on pain? He didn’t seem like the type, but she was resolved. Whatever it took, whatever he wanted, she would willingly do if it got her Jolie.

“Why?” he demanded softly.

For a moment, she was confused, and then she realized what he was asking. She considered lying, before she sighed. “I—for my sister, Massa. You let me wait for her and I give myself to you whenever you want.”

The mattress dipped and she found herself under him. The sheet was wrapped around his lower half, preventing it from coming in contact with her, but her naked breasts were pressed against his chest. Julia resisted the urge to vomit.