Jordan, Nicole - Notorious 1 (27 page)

“Exactly. Now come here.”

He was sitting in one of the two wing chairs, holding a long-stemmed crimson rose. Still flushing, Vanessa went to stand before him.

His devouring gaze ranged the length of her, over her breasts gleaming pale and bare

her thighs with the crown of dark curls covering the cleft of her femininity. Offering her a beguiling smile then, he lifted the rose and teased her nipples with it, arousing her till she shuddered. Moving lower then, he drew the velvet petals slowly over the lips of her sex.

Vanessa drew a sharp breath at the delicate sensation.

Damien plucked a crimson petal and held it out to her. “Now your turn.”

“My turn?”

“To touch yourself.”

The color in Vanessa’s cheeks rose higher, but Damien seemed to dismiss her embarrassment.

“Your lover may not be considerate enough to see to your needs. You should learn to achieve your own relief in the event you have a man who cannot satisfy you.”

Obeying with reluctance, she took the soft petal and brushed it over the secret place between her thighs. Abruptly Vanessa felt a wild tingle of excitement surge through her blood.

“This,” she whispered, gazing down at him, “is so decadent.”

“Not yet,” Damien murmured. “But it will be, I promise you. Now continue. Pretend those are my fingers caressing you, arousing you to pleasure.”

Her gaze locking with Damien’s, she did as he bid, exploring a world of forbidden mystery. Heat flared inside her as she stroked herself with the rose petal, gliding over the taut bud that was growing slick with her own juices.

Damien’s eyes darkened as he watched. “Your nipples are hard, sweeting. Does that mean you’re becoming aroused?”

“Yes

but it isn’t the same as when you

”

He smiled. “I’m flattered. Perhaps you’re ready for the next lesson after all.”

Drawing her hand away, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the intimate dewy center of her. Vanessa went rigid with surprise.

“Have I ever told you how much I like the scent of roses?” Damien murmured huskily.

His eyes gleaming like liquid silver, he stood and undressed her completely. Then, leading her to the bed, he pressed her down upon the sheets and arranged her position to his liking: her hair forming a torrent of tousled silk over her bare breasts, a pillow beneath her hips, her naked thighs spread for his sensual appreciation.

He held her gaze as he stood back to undress. “It’s time you discovered just how pleasurable decadence can be.”

She waited in rapt and aching anguish for him to come to her, aware of the most potent sense of anticipation she’d ever felt.

Naked and aroused, he joined her on the bed and knelt between her thighs. The heat of his gaze set her blood on fire. Yet he didn’t enter her. Instead he bent to her breasts that were begging to be touched.

His tongue circled a dusky crest, now pebbled and eager. Vanessa whimpered with pure joy at knowing his caress again.

“I mean to show you,” he whispered against her skin, “just how to use your mouth to drive a man wild

”

He flicked his tongue over her nipples one by one, swirling over the aureoles, setting her nerves awake with each caress. Then his lips and teeth joined the assault, sending pleasure shafting deep within her loins.

Vanessa gave a low moan. Her sensitive nipples ached now, hard and pointed and tender to the point of pain. His mouth moved lower then, over the rest of her body. His flaming tongue struck sparks along her flesh, laving exquisitely each curve and swell and hollow, making her tremble with sensations so vibrant they hurt.

Between caresses Damien spoke to her, each low, sensuous word stroked her as his wicked tongue was doing.

“I want to kiss you, sweeting, all over your beautiful body. I want to explore every inch of your hot skin and make it mine. I want to hear you moan raw sounds of pleasure that will drive me mad

”

The wanton images so vivid, so potent, stirred errant quivers of wanting in her midsection, between her thighs.

“I want you drowning in need, my name trembling on your lips

”

His breath whispering against her skin, he kissed the soft satin of her stomach, leaving her trembling, driving her to madness with his deliberate slowness.

As if he could sense her need, his hand moved downward, slipping between her legs. She moaned as her softness flowed around his fingers’ erotic stroking, and moaned again as his wet tongue trailed against the shivering surface of her inner thigh. She wanted this, hungered for his possession.

He moved still lower. “I want to love you with my mouth

”

She saw his nostrils flare as he breathed in her spicy woman’s scent. Then he kissed her, a tantalizing brush of sensual lips against her dewy warmth.

Gasping, Vanessa tried to twist away in shocked protest, but he reached up to catch her hands, his grasp like velvet manacles on her wrists. Desire burned in his eyes as he bent to her again.

She moaned as his tongue traced the outer rim of her soaking cleft. Then he settled his mouth against her intimately, sucking and nibbling and softly biting, plunging her into a sea of raw sensation.

His mouth brought her the most riveting kind of pleasure she had ever known. Heat and dizziness swept over Vanessa. From a distance she heard his husky voice filling her mind with erotic words of how much he wanted her, desired her. His teeth nipped gently at the swollen, aching folds of her flesh, preparing her for his taking, until she was shameless in her craving for release.

“Damien

” she pleaded as she thrashed beneath his caresses.

He ravished her sweetly with his tongue, determined to find the deepest, most forbidden reserves of ecstasy. Finally she could no longer bear the tender torment. She came hot and wet and slippery against his mouth, shaking with sweet spasms. Even then he gave her no surcease. Moving upward swiftly, Damien covered her with the textured heat of his chest and plunged deep.

One rhythmic stroke was enough to spark a fresh tumult of excitement within her. When she arched upward eagerly, he drove hungrily between her thighs, groaning as her feverish, ready heat enveloped him.

She gave a responding cry as she felt the splendor begin anew. She was shaking with the fire of his possession, shattering

With her tremors, Damien lost control of his savage need. As bliss ripped through her in white-hot waves, he joined her fierce ecstasy, uttering a feral growl as he plunged to a blind, furious release.

Long after he had collapsed on her, long after her trembling had ceased, she lay languid in his arms, pulsing with pleasure, lost in dreams. Contentment washed over Damien as he held her close. His fingers lightly stroked her fevered skin that was rapidly cooling, while he marveled absently at how perfectly she fit.

His satisfaction was short-lived. Shifting his weight, he felt the sting of the nail cuts she’d left on his back. Damien smiled grimly, remembering her raw cries of ecstasy. He had pleasured Vanessa, fulfilled her, and taken her to paradise with him—and become lost in paradise himself.

How wrong he had been. He’d thought that having her again and again would eventually satisfy his fierce craving for her. Had hoped to make his obsession run its course. But his plan was an utter failure. Far from ending, his desire was only burgeoning, his hunger more potent than anything he had ever known. He felt an ungovernable need to possess her endlessly, to brand her as his own, to make her as obsessed as he was becoming.

Damien swore silently. He would have to take Vanessa to London without delay. The sooner he found her another protector, the sooner he could be free of her.

With practiced detachment he clamped down on the sharp surge of disquiet that twisted inside him. He’d had dozens of paramours, ended dozens of liaisons before Vanessa. This time should be no different.

Willfully, Damien ignored the thought of how he would feel when she gave herself to someone besides himself. She would pass to another lover with his blessing, someone who would appreciate her intelligence, her rare spirit, and leave him free to regain control of his soul.

It was settled. They planned to leave for London the following Monday. Damien claimed to have business in town that required his personal attention. When he proposed that Vanessa accompany him to engage in some shopping, Olivia strongly supported the idea, saying that her companion’s entire wardrobe badly needed replenishing.

Vanessa didn’t like to think of leaving the girl alone at Rosewood, but Olivia maintained she wasn’t yet ready to make the tiring journey, or prepared to leave the protective cocoon of her home. She confided as well that she would actually enjoy the solitude and the chance to assert her independence from her brother.

And so Vanessa reluctantly packed her bags, consoling herself with the knowledge that, in any event, she would be permanently relinquishing her role as companion at summer’s end. Moreover, London was not so very far away, and they would be gone for only a handful of days. The trip would be a good test to see how Olivia managed on her own.

Vanessa intended to warn her brother to suspend his secret visits while they were absent, but she hadn’t seen Aubrey in more than a week. She assumed he was keeping his distance to prevent being discovered by Lord Sin. Or perhaps he was tiring at last of his crisis of conscience.

The afternoon before their departure, she was alone in the garden, reading beneath a shade tree, when she spied Aubrey strolling toward her. Concerned that he might be seen by one of the gardeners, Vanessa glanced around. But thankfully they were alone.

“Where have you been this past week?” she asked as he settled on the bench beside her. “I was beginning to wonder if you had given up and gone home.”

He gave her an arch look. “Certainly not. I’ve been too occupied to break free even for a moment. I’ve found a position of employment.”

Vanessa stared. “You must be jesting.”

Aubrey winced but flashed a grin. “It is a sad state of affairs when my own dear sister won’t believe me. But it’s true. I’ve taken a real job with the rich cit who bought Brantly Hall—a Mr. Jonah Goodwine. He’s to be awarded a baronetcy soon, and he aspires to the gentry. I’m to teach him how to be a gentleman.”

Vanessa shook her head. She couldn’t have been more astonished if Aubrey claimed to have proof he’d flown to the moon and back.

“I am acting as Goodwine’s private secretary,” Aubrey explained, “but, fortunately, the role is more one of social adviser, since I’m not of a scholarly bent. Goodwine thinks it’s a great coup to have a viscount in his employ. What, Van?” he teased. “Have I startled you speechless?”

“You have indeed,” she replied finally, with bewilderment. “Whatever possessed you to take such a step?”

Her brother’s laughing eyes grew serious. “The hope that gainful employment will prove to be the making of me. You’ve always said I should find something worthwhile to occupy me and keep me out of trouble. Perhaps this is my chance. It’s long past time I grew up and fulfilled my responsibilities, instead of expecting you always to bail me out. And, financially, the position is extremely rewarding. I’m to be given an exorbitant salary, and in time I should be able to pay off my creditors.”

He looked down at his hands, while his voice lowered. “It was unforgivable of me, putting you in such an untenable position—having to share Sinclair’s bed in order to save us. I know I can never repay you for what you’ve done for me, Van, but I intend to do everything in my power to prove worthy of your sacrifice.”

Vanessa felt an ache rise to her throat. Her scapegrace brother seemed entirely serious about turning his life around. Certainly his efforts thus far were laudable

Now if he could just maintain his course.

She kept her tone light when she answered. “I believe there might be hope for you yet.”

He nodded soberly. “I mean to try to regain Olivia’s good opinion, if I can. I may have destroyed any possibility of winning her regard, but I wish to remain close to her. Brantly Hall is but ten miles from here, so I may still visit upon occasion—at least in secret. As long as Sinclair never finds out. And as long as Olivia consents to see me.”

His admission made Vanessa recall the issue his startling news had driven out of her head. “Aubrey, that reminds me: I’m traveling to London tomorrow with Sinclair.”

Aubrey frowned. “Is that not a trifle

indiscreet? It is one thing for you to live here at his estate where you’re companion to his sister, but to be living with him in town

”

“I don’t intend to stay with him, but in our own house. We should be away for a few days, but I think it best if you kept away from Olivia during that time.”

“Why?”

She met her brother’s brown eyes directly. “I haven’t prevented your visits because they seemed to have a positive effect on Olivia. But you’ve been strictly chaperoned the entire time. It wouldn’t be wise for you to be alone with her. I don’t want you hurting her any more than you already have.”

She saw the pain in his eyes. “You still don’t trust me, do you? I love her, Vanessa. I would cut out my heart before I hurt her again.”

Vanessa hesitated. Until now, she had been highly skeptical of her brother’s professions of love, but perhaps his heart truly was engaged. If so, then did she have a right to prevent a connection that might lead to Olivia’s happiness? Aubrey’s suit might progress better without her interference after all

“What does Olivia want?” he interrupted in low voice.

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken with her about you lately.”

“Then ask her. If she wants me to keep away, I will.” Aubrey rose to his feet. “I know it must be hard for you to credit, after all I’ve put you through, but I truly have reformed.”

Vanessa sat there long after he was gone, deeply conflicted by what her brother had said.

It was possible that true love could reform a man, and apparently that was what had happened to her brother. Driven by love for Olivia, he had taken stock of his life, found it profoundly wanting, and vowed to change.