Of Dukes and Deceptions (16 page)

“Are you enjoying your punishment, Alicia?”

“Well, I don’t wish to enjoy it, or have anything more to do with you. You’re quite insufferably dictatorial. But I can’t bring myself to lie.” She paused, turning her head sideways in the hope of catching sight of his profile.

Instead of appearing humbled by her admission, he was smiling in an insupportably self-satisfied manner. She wanted to take back her words, or at the very least demonstrate stronger resistance. How weak and predictable she must appear to him. But each time his hand came down, the sensation it left behind was so comprehensively overwhelming, the disappointment when he desisted so acute, that she was unable to think coherently about anything else.

“Is my behaviour so very shocking?”

“No, darling, you’re supposed to enjoy it.” He chuckled when she couldn’t suppress an agonised groan. “Never deny your passionate nature, Alicia, especially not to yourself.”

“Am I permitted to speak if I have a question to ask, Nicholas?”

He sighed. “What’s your question, minx?”

“Why do you feel it necessary to discipline me?”
Thwack.
“You’ll be gone tomorrow and we’ll never see one another again.”

“You’ve been disobedient and disrespectful. No duke likes to have his authority threatened, you know.” A third finger joined the two already working inside her. His hand again came down on her buttocks, this time a little harder. “Go with the sensation when I spank you, darling, don’t fight against it. If you’re patient, the tingling will turn to pleasure. Then you’ll enjoy it as much as you’re enjoying the feel of my fingers inside you.”
Thwack.
“That’s right, welcome the feel of it. You are a very attentive pupil, Alicia, I’m pleased with you. Now, tell me how it makes you feel.”

“It makes me feel wanton and abandoned,” she said, not stopping to consider the question but voicing the first thoughts that came into her head.

“Very good, sweetheart. And what else?”

“Well, in truth, I’d like to experience more of your punishments before you leave here,” she added brazenly.

He let out a throaty chuckle. “Would you indeed. How tiresome.”

“Yes, I dare say my request comes as a vast inconvenience. Do you think it possible that you might manage to feel rampant again soon?”

Nick’s laugh, deep and rich, echoed round the barn. “Perhaps it could be managed.” He paused, a speculative expression gracing his features. “In fact, now that I think about it, perhaps you can feel the extent of my rampancy pushing against you?”

“Oh, is that what it is?”
Thwack.
“I didn’t realise. But what are we to do about it? We can’t risk being together here. Anyone might come in at any time.”

“Gibson’s outside. He won’t let anyone through the door.”

Nick tilted her upright and seated her on his knee again. Alicia was ashamed of herself for wanting her punishment to continue. But Nick clearly had other plans for her. He loosened the ties on her bodice and feasted his eyes on her breasts, clearly visible beneath the thin material of her chemise. Ladies’ apparel held no secrets for him and he had no difficulty loosening that garment either. Her breasts tumbled into his waiting hands, and with one of his wolfish grins he bent his head to feast on her nipples.

“Are they still sore?” he asked, briefly lifting his head to pose the question.

“Yes, but I rather like the pain so don’t even think about stopping.”

He offered her a mocking bow and resumed his previous occupation. The teasing touch of his tongue caused spasms of acute pleasure to ripple through her. She sighed, willing the sensations to continue indefinitely. But it wasn’t to be. Abruptly he released her breasts and stood her on her feet. She felt rather self-conscious, standing before him half dressed.

But it soon became apparent that he’d only stood in order to divest himself of his upper clothing. He threw it with apparent disregard for its welfare onto the soft pile of hay in the corner of the barn. Alicia immediately curled her fingers in the hair that adorned his chest and this time it was Nick who groaned. She glanced down and saw the extent of his rampancy pushing urgently against the fabric of his breeches.

“Is it very uncomfortable?” she asked.

Nick followed the direction of her eyes. “Agony,” he said, laughter in his tone.

Daringly she reached for the buttons that would relieve his torture. His shaft sprang from the opening, solid and angry-looking. Alicia tentatively reached for it and didn’t take fright when it leaped in her hand. She ran her fingers along its length, just as he’d encouraged her to do the previous evening.

“Is that the right thing to do, Nick?”

He sucked in a deep breath. “Yes, darling, absolutely right.” He reseated himself. “Sit over me, love. Kneel on either side of my thighs.”

Alicia considered his request. “Oh, I think I see what you have in mind.”

She scampered to do as he’d asked and sighed with pleasure when his marauding hands reclaimed her breasts. Without being told she lifted her skirts out of the way and hovered above his throbbing shaft. Her body was already on fire, pulsating with need. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined such exquisite feelings of anticipation to be possible. She took hold of Nick, too impatient to wait, and positioned him at her entrance.

“I should have asked you,” he said in a thick voice, “if you’re ready to do this again so soon. Are you not sore?”

“Not at all.”

He regarded her steadily. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t hurt you for the world.”

“Nick! You hurt me more by making me wait.”

“All right.” He smiled and kissed the corner of her mouth tenderly. “You’re the one on top, madam, so I suggest you take the lead.”

“Like this?” She sank down and slowly took a little of him inside her.

“Ah, yes, exactly like that.” He placed his hands on her hips and guided her. “Mmm, that feels so very good. So tight, so warm, so…” He kissed her again as she sank down some more and slowly took all of him inside her. “Sweet Alicia, you’re magnificent!”

She took pleasure from his tortured expression as she rocked gently from side to side. “I begin to understand why people express enthusiasm for this occupation,” she said, her breath coming in shorter and shorter gasps.

“Who have you been discussing such matters with?”

“Well, no one exactly, but I couldn’t help overhearing things some of the lads in the stables used to say. Back in my father’s day I was such a familiar sight in the covering barn that they forgot I was there and frequently made raucous comments as the stallions performed their duties. They likened their activities to their own romantic conquests.”

“Ah, I see.” He thrust upward hard, taking her by surprise. “Oh, I beg your pardon. You’re such a natural at this that I forgot you’re so inexperienced. Did that hurt you?”

“No, quite the reverse.” She smiled at him. “Stop treating me as though I were made of glass and make me feel as you did last night.”

“Well, since you ask so persuasively.”

Nick increased the force and frequency of his upward thrusts. She sank down to meet him and they expressed their pleasure in unison with a series of feral grunts.

“Slow down, love,” he said, restraining her wild, uncoordinated thrashing by holding her hips more firmly. “There’s plenty of time, and it will be more rewarding if you let it build slowly.”

“But I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

“Oh, you can wait.”

“But if I can’t?” she asked, moving again but more slowly, taking every inch of him more deeply inside her still.

“Then I shall have to devise more fiendish chastisements. I’ve already told you that I can’t have disobedient women under my charge.”

“How many women exactly do you have under your charge who engage in this type of activity with you?

“None of your business,” he said, tweaking her nose.

“No,” she said, sighing, “I suppose it’s not.”

She deliberately increased her pace again, enjoying the sublime feel of her unfettered breasts bouncing against the abrasive hair on his chest. His eyes were focused on her face. They softened as she observed him, his expression no longer arrogant but full of desperate-seeming passion. “And I shan’t be able to persuade you to confide in me since you leave tomorrow to collect your bride.”

“Yes indeed, but we still have tonight.”

She felt a small pang of regret when he didn’t deny his intention to collect his bride but was too far gone to dwell upon it. They were here together now, she was on the brink of release, and he’d expressed his intention of visiting her again that night. But still, the tiny portion of her brain still capable of rational thought put up objections to her easy capitulation.

“On second thought, perhaps it wouldn’t be advisable for you to visit my chamber again. Oh, heavens, Nick.” She let out a prolonged groan. “Whatever you just did, please do it again!”

“Not advisable?” He slowed his thrusts, eliciting another loud protest from her.

“We’ll discuss it later. Just don’t stop now, I beg you!”

Nick’s thrusting picked up rhythm again. His hands left her hips and returned to her nipples, agitating and teasing until she cried out with the combination of pleasure and pain. The sensation sent piquant thrills cascading through her, straight to the place where they were joined. Every nerve in her body sang in sweet harmony with its neighbour, sending dizzying shock waves chasing one another through her bloodstream. Drugging her mind.

“Nick, please!”

“Please what, darling?” He cocked an innocent brow, giving the impression that he could carry on like this for hours.

“You know!”

“Do I?”

“Stop it! Stop playing games with me,” she cried, truly anguished.

He laughed, slowing his movements until they were almost nonexistent. Taunting her, driving her wild.

“All right, you win.” She tossed her head, sending her hair cascading over her face. “Give me what I desire now, and I’ll allow you to come to my chamber this evening after all.”

“Thank you. But is that all you’ll allow?”

“You’re being unfair! You know I’ll agree to anything you say at this particular moment.”

He chuckled. “That’s because you’re in a state of complete truthfulness. At this moment you can think of only one thing and have forgotten about so-called respectability. Don’t deny yourself what you most desire because you fear it would be frowned upon. Having a passionate and inquisitive nature is not something you should ever reproach yourself for.”

His breathing was becoming increasingly laboured, causing Alicia to suspect that he wasn’t nearly so in control as he’d have her believe. It was empowering to know that she’d reduced him to that state. Dare she call his bluff and pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about? She dismissed the idea almost as soon as it filtered into her head. Now wasn’t the time to play mind games with a master.

“You may devise any new punishments for me that you wish,” she said breathlessly.

“Now that,” he said with a tender smile, “is the sort of offer no gentleman could possibly resist. The prospect of teaching you a little respect will sustain me through the rest of the day with your insufferable family.” His thrusting became primeval. “All right, sweetheart, you have my permission to take your pleasure now.”

His words were accompanied by several more brutal thrusts and Alicia shattered. A series of prurient noises escaped her lips as peaks of the most pulsating pleasure fizzed through her entire body, each wave stronger and more dynamic than its predecessor. She opened her eyes wide and stared at Nick in stupefaction. What she’d felt last night was nothing in comparison to this.

“That’s right, Alicia,” he said, his voice thick with passion. “Ride it for all it’s worth. It’s all for you, every inch of it.”

He reclaimed her sensitised nipples as she thrashed against his rigid shaft. Instinctively she moved hard and fast, her hair falling over her shoulders in a wild tangle, until the sensation started to fade and she crumpled on top of him, breathless and spent.

“And that,” he said, gathering her in his arms, “is nothing compared to what you’ll feel tonight. On that you have my solemn word.”

“Come, we should return to the house.” Nick retied Alicia’s chemise. “If we’re both late for luncheon it will be remarked upon.”

“Yes indeed, that would never do.”

Nick was taken aback by the bitterness of her response and equally confused by his own lack of restraint. His actions had complicated an already delicate situation. It hadn’t been his intention to ravish her when he’d sought her out in the barn, but something about her made him abandon his principles and throw caution to the wind. And it was more than mere lust. A tenderness he’d seldom experienced permeated his body as he pulled her into his arms and sought to reassure, himself as much as her.

“What troubles you, Alicia?” He brushed the hair gently away from the dressing on her temple.

“Oh, nothing, other than the trifling fact that, according to you, a member of my family is attempting to kill me.”

Nick didn’t believe her. “When a lady says nothing is troubling her in such a tone, I
know
she has something on her mind. Tell me what it is, Alicia, and I’ll make it go away.”

She lowered her eyes and turned her head away. “As you just pointed out, we’ll be late for luncheon.”

She attempted to wriggle out of his grasp but Nick wasn’t ready to let her go. He continued to hold her, stroking the contours of her back until the rigidity left her spine and she relaxed against him. The afterglow of their activities was reflected on her features, lending them a translucent hue. It made Nick want to throw her onto that damned pile of hay and ravish her all over again. When she gave herself to him she was the most wanton, uninhibited creature on God’s earth.

But all situations had a downside, and Alicia already appeared to be troubled by her conscience. Damn it, he wished he had enough time left at this place to set her straight. He ignored the voice in his head that berated him for his ungentlemanly conduct and focused on the fact that he’d barely scratched the surface of her remarkable passion. If he could turn back time and leave her unmolested he’d do it in a heartbeat, but matters between them had moved too far for that to be possible. That they must waste the afternoon out of one another’s embrace was a ridiculous travesty, but he couldn’t think of any way round that conundrum. He bent his head and savagely captured her lips one last time.

“You have hay in your hair, sweetheart.” He broke the kiss and extracted the offending strands from between her thick tresses.

“That’s nothing out of the ordinary for me.”

“There, you look quite respectable now.” He retied her hair ribbon. “Providing no one looks too closely at your flushed face, that is.” He smiled at her. “Now, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be engaged with your uncle for the entire afternoon. Oblige me by staying in your chamber with Janet in attendance until it’s time to dress for dinner.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Don’t try my patience, Alicia,” he said, sighing. “This isn’t a game. Besides, you look worn out. Use the afternoon to get some rest.”

“But—”

“I’m serious. If you won’t do as I ask for your own sake, then do it for my peace of mind.”

“What is your peace of mind to do with it, sir?”

What indeed?
He kissed her again instead of trying to explain a situation he didn’t understand himself.

“I’ll see you at dinner and, vitally, after that.” He gently stroked the curve of her face. “Besides,” he said, taking her hand. “If you intend to please me when I come to you tonight, then you must first recover your strength.”

She glared at him, just as he’d known she would, but Nick could detect little real anger in support of her expression. “You really are the most arrogant, self-important, ungentlemanly—”

“Come.”

He was chuckling as he opened the door and called softly to Gibson. He materialised out of nowhere and doffed his cap.

“Escort Miss Woodley back to the house, Gibson. I’ll follow in a moment.”

Gibson’s glance lingered on Alicia’s glowing features but Nick’s warning scowl prevented him from voicing his thoughts. Instead he bowed to Alicia, grinned over his shoulder at Nick, and the two of them made their way toward the house.

Several remarks were made during the course of luncheon about Alicia’s overbright eyes. She dismissed her relations’ concerns, blaming her heightened complexion on a disturbed night’s repose. She sounded quite convincing and her uncle appeared to accept her explanation, rejoicing in the fact that she was recovering so quickly. Only Frederick, usually obtuse and disinterested in anything but his own comforts, looked piercingly at Alicia. But that didn’t unduly concern Nick. The man was too mutton-headed to put two and two together and come up with anything more convincing than seventeen.

The afternoon seemed both interminable and excessively boring. His time could have been so much more usefully deployed, and Nick resented having to occupy it with the stud’s records. He tried to concentrate but his mind kept returning to Alicia. Belatedly he recalled her comment about him collecting his bride and wondered what it could have meant. He mentioned it to Gibson whilst he was dressing for dinner.

“How would I know?” Gibson said, a little too glibly.

Nick’s suspicions were aroused. “What did the two of you talk about this morning?”

“Nothing much, just the usual. She asked about Dorchester Park and I told her what I always tell ’em.”

Nick narrowed his eyes at his servant. “This time I really am inclined to dismiss you for insubordination, Gibson.”

“If you say so, guv’nor.” He brushed nonexistent specks of dust from Nick’s shoulders. “Right-ho, you’ll do.”

When he entered the drawing room, the whole family was already there. His eyes instinctively sought out the lady who’d occupied his mind for the entire afternoon. She was seated serenely a little apart from the others and wore a lemon muslin gown he’d not seen on her before. It wasn’t the latest word in fashion but her dark colouring tempered its paleness. It was stark in its simplicity, but her height and elegance of posture prevented it from looking too severely plain. Not that he much cared what she wore. His mind was more agreeably occupied with thoughts of removing the garments she chose to hide her body beneath in a few interminable hours’ time. Or better yet, perhaps she’d make a provocative display of removing them herself. The dressing was absent from her temple for the first time since the attack. A dark purple bruise and smaller graze were partially concealed by her hair.

She smiled at him as he approached and enquired after her health. Her complexion glowed in a manner indicative of their earlier occupation, and her lips were still slightly swollen from his searing kisses. He stored up these grievances as additional reasons to torment her with fiendish punishments later.

“I hope you’ve not been overexerting yourself, Miss Woodley,” he said smoothly. “Concussion is a strange bedfellow. It’s impossible to know how long it will take one to fully recover one’s senses.”

“On the contrary, Your Grace, I’ve been doing as I’ve been told this entire afternoon. I slept soundly for several hours and my only bedfellow was Jasper, who doesn’t seem the slightest bit strange to me. I’m quite recovered now.”

“I am gratified to hear you say so. One never knows when one might be called upon to utilise one’s reserves of strength.”

“Your Grace?”

Woodley coughed, looking bewildered by this exchange, as well he might.

Nick turned to him, grateful for the interruption. He’d got carried away, playing a dangerous word game with Alicia. He was conscious of Frederick Woodley’s gaze boring aggressively into the back of his skull.

“We’re devastated to learn that you must leave us so soon,” Mrs. Woodley said. “Goodness, it feels as though you’ve only just arrived.”

Nick formulated a polite reply, expecting at any moment for Maria Woodley to chime in with some pointed comment. To his surprise and considerable satisfaction she remained silent. She didn’t even look in his direction. At last she appeared to have admitted defeat, even if she was sullen and uncommunicative as a result. Nick didn’t care two figs about her truculent behaviour. Without the need to fend off her juvenile advances, he’d be able to enjoy his last night at Ravenswing Manor, and being in the same room as Alicia, without unnecessary distractions.

The dinner was as splendid as always and Nick ate heartily. He was amused to observe that Alicia did likewise. Clearly their activities had given them both good appetites. In an anticipatory frame of mind, Nick condescended to keep the conversation flowing, barely noticing that Maria Woodley was still unusually quiet.

As soon as the ladies left the table, Woodley turned the conversation in the direction of the stud business, trying to gauge Nick’s intentions. He listened with half an ear to Woodley’s rather desperate ramblings but his mind dwelt upon the infinitely more enticing prospect of his time to come with Alicia. Frederick said little but drank a great deal of port. Muttering something beneath his breath at one point, he stood up and asked his father to excuse him.

“Must have a private word with Alicia,” he said, glaring openly at Nick as though he expected him to object. Nick merely offered him a lazy half-smile and lounged back in his chair, savouring his port. “She’s overdone it again today, unless I mistake the matter. Never seen her look so peaky before. There’s something about her eyes.” He frowned. “Some sort of look I’ve never seen in them before that bothers me. Shouldn’t surprise me if she’s contracted a fever.”

Nick hid a complacent smile behind his hand and said nothing.

“Yes, son, you go ahead.” Woodley waved Frederick away. “Make sure dear Alicia wants for nothing. We’ll be directly behind you.”

But Woodley deliberately stretched out the discussion of the stud’s affairs to the point where Nick wanted to scream with boredom. Eventually he took matters into his own hands and rose to his feet whilst Woodley was still in mid-flow.

“Shall we rejoin the ladies?”

Not waiting for an answer, he headed for the door. Woodley had no choice but to follow. In the drawing room they found only Mrs. Woodley and her two daughters. Of Frederick and Alicia there was no sign. Nick cursed beneath his breath, unable to rid himself of the feeling that he’d somehow been outwitted by the young cub.

“Shall we have some music, girls?” Woodley asked brightly.

“If you wish, Papa.” Elsbeth immediately put aside her sewing and stood up.

“I’m too fatigued to play.” Maria pouted and remained in her seat.

Nick was once again taken aback by her behaviour. She had
never,
so far into Nick’s visit, missed an opportunity to show off. But that didn’t bother him so much as Alicia’s prolonged absence. No one else remarked upon it, and it was only during the course of conversation that Mrs. Woodley let slip her niece had retired to the library in order to write a letter. But that still didn’t explain where Frederick Woodley had got to.

A further intolerable half-hour elapsed before Maria yawned and asked her mother to excuse her. Nick was delighted to be rid of her but felt like telling her that if she harboured serious ambitions to snare a rich husband, she really ought to pay more attention to her manners.

A footman approached Nick shortly thereafter and informed him in an undertone that Miss Alicia was desirous of an interview with him in the library. He stood up with more alacrity than he should have displayed.
Desirous
was precisely the word that sprang to his own mind in respect of that particular lady. Thoughts of their forthcoming tryst had been slowly driving him out of his mind. He’d found himself constantly glancing at the clock, wondering if the hands were actually moving backward, since the time seemed to be passing so slowly. He assumed that impatience on Alicia’s part must have deprived her of her habitual common sense. Why else would she risk sending for him and drawing attention to their growing intimacy? But he was too anxious to see her to care how it looked, so he excused himself from Mrs. Woodley and left the room.

“Alicia,” Nick said, closing the library door behind him with a gentle clunk, “are you here? I thought that damned evening would never end.”

“So did I.”

But it wasn’t Alicia’s voice that answered him. Instead, Maria Woodley emerged from behind a bookcase and blocked Nick’s path to the door.

“Miss Woodley.” Nick spoke casually but beneath his urbane exterior he was cursing his stupidity. He knew how determined Maria was and, having observed the alteration in her behaviour that evening, should have anticipated that his impending departure had made her desperate. “What are you doing in here?”

“Waiting for you, Your Grace.”

“I hardly think this an appropriate—”

“It’s perfectly all right. I understand your difficulty precisely. You can’t openly display your regard for me in front of my family and must be terribly frustrated because no opportunity has arisen for us to be alone.” She smiled sweetly and lifted her shoulders in the careless gesture of a spoiled child accustomed to having her own way. “And so I created one.”

“What the devil are you talking about?”

“I’ve seen it in your eyes when you look at me. You hold me in high esteem but it took me some time to realise that you can’t reveal your preference for me for fear of oversetting my sister. And so you pretended a regard for Alicia in order to fool everyone and increase Frederick’s love for her. How clever of you!” Her trilling laughter sounded almost manic as it bounced off the book-lined walls. “Alicia is very plain, that’s not to say a tad eccentric. All those smelly animals.” She shuddered. “But she has a kind heart and great good nature. I dare say she and Frederick will do very well together.”

“Miss Woodley, a word to the wise.” Nick had overcome his initial astonishment and strove to take control of the situation. “You have entirely misread the situation.”

“Come, sir, there’s no necessity to be coy.” She reached up to touch his lapel. “I took great pains to avoid talking to you this evening in order to put everyone off the scent. Was that not very clever of me? And I also went to a deal of trouble to contrive this private meeting so that we might discuss our feelings for one another without interruption.”