Persuading Prudence (5 page)

Kolton didn’t consider himself a vain man, but the fact that she showed not even the tiniest spark of interest pricked his pride a bit.

“What did you think?” she continued. “That I would fall at your feet in gratitude? ‘Oh, yes, my lord,’” she cooed in a breathless voice, clasping her hands to her heart as if overwhelmed with joy. “‘You honor me with your intentions. Please, ignore any desire
I
may have to wed a man who seeks to marry me—not out of duty but—because he simply wants me for his wife. Oh, how foolish I have been!
Please
, my lord, make passionate love to me.’” She ended her speech with a coquettish flutter of her lashes.

He gaped at her, speechless; her outrageous performance catching him completely off guard.

She dropped her besotted facade and crossed her arms over her chest. “You cannot be serious,” she concluded lifting a brow insolently while tapping her foot as she stood glaring at him.

Kolton snapped his jaw shut, barely able to contain his laughter. Who would have guessed Prudence had such a quixotic sense of humor? What else would he discover about her in the next fifty years? If this was any indication, he would certainly never grow bored.

“Well,” he said scratching the back of his head. “That was quite the performance.”

“Yes, and is as close as you will ever get to me agreeing to such a farce,” she sniffed disgustedly.

Even with that hideous hairstyle and those dreadful spectacles, she is adorable in her indignation
. The thought shocked him; ‘adorable’ was never a word he would have previously used to describe Prudence.

“Believe what you will, dearest Pru, but that is exactly what I plan to accomplish with this ‘farce’, as you so sweetly put it.” He closed the space between them and grabbed her wrist. “Beginning tonight.”

“You would force me?” Her voice raised a notch as she attempted to tug free of his grasp. “I cannot believe you would stoop to such vile behavior!”

No, Kolton, wait...Stop, stop, stop! . . .

Kolton shoved aside the hazy memory of her whispered words the night before and concentrated on the night ahead of him. “Please, correct me if I am wrong,” he replied, his voice calm and soft as he studied her face closely, “but, to my knowledge, I have never had to force any woman into my bed.”

Pru blushed furiously and lowered her eyes, but did not argue the truth of his statement, to which he was profoundly relieved. “Well?” he urged to solidify his point. A slight shake of her head was his answer. “That being the case, my dear, I do not intend to start with you.”

He released her wrist and drew her into his arms, molding her reluctant body to his. Her breasts were generously full and firm as they pressed against his chest. Sex with this dowdy spinster wouldn’t involve convincing his cock he wanted her, if the unexpected spear of arousal that pierced him, causing his member to rise enthusiastically, was any indication.

Pru raised her head, her ocean blue eyes shooting sparks of indignation. “Why, you pompous,
bloody
ass—”

He captured her mouth with his, promptly bringing her tirade to an end. Taking the back of her head in his hand, he held her in place while he ravaged her lips. She balled her hands into fists and beat at his shoulders. He ignored her struggles, which soon ceased altogether as she began to respond, her hands unclenching and sliding around his neck, her lips parting, allowing him to deepen the kiss.

As Kolton explored the sweetness of her mouth, he let his hands wander over her body. He was pleased to find he had not imagined her lush curves. Her waist was tiny and her hips generously shaped. He cupped her nicely rounded bottom and pulled her against his erection, swallowing her moan of pleasure.

Reaching up, he removed her spectacles and tossed them aside then proceeded to remove the pins from her hair. It sprang free of its tight confines, falling down her back to settle at her waist.

When he broke their kiss and looked down at her, Kolton was stunned by the vision of beauty he held in his arms. “My God, Pru, you’re breathtaking!”

How
had he never noticed the woman behind the hideous spectacles and the unflattering hairstyle? Kolton was ashamed to admit he’d never once tried.

Her eyes were a darker shade of sea blue than he remembered, and framed by incredibly long, dark lashes. Her nose was pert and strait above perfectly shaped full lips, which were moist from his kisses. Her hair, released from its constricted style, tumbled in ebony waves down her back, and framed her passion flushed face becomingly; softening the otherwise severe features the rest of the world was allowed to see.

She blinked a couple of times, as if awakening from deep slumber. As she came out of her lustful daze, the deep blue-green of her eyes changed to a lighter shade that was more of an ocean green.

Her body tensed and her expression soured. “You do not have to try to seduce me with words, my lord,” she stated coldly. “It is more than obvious they were not needed to gain my acquiescence. False compliments do nothing to gain my favor.”

Kolton frowned. “I do not give false compliments, nor do I need to do so. Look at yourself, Pru.” He turned her to face the full-length mirror standing in the corner, and gently guided her to stand in front of it. “You’re beautiful.”

Prudence snorted indelicately. “My hair is too dark, my breasts and hips are too large, and I am short. What is ‘breathtaking’ about that might I inquire?”

It was Kolton’s turn to snort. He stood behind her and looked at her in the mirror. “Your hair is glorious,” he stated, gathering a section and draping it over her shoulder. “The color only enhances your flawless ivory skin. And look at this wave that falls over your forehead,” he said tucking a lock behind her ear, “and these gorgeous curling ones that shine like still water on a bright, summer’s day. It is a crime to have kept this hidden all this time.”

Prudence met his eyes in the mirror and looked away shyly, a becoming blush washing over her features. “I-I have always liked my hair, I must confess. But dark hair is not at all in fashion.”

“Hair like this never goes out of fashion, pet. And as to your figure,” he slid his arms around her waist, slowly bringing his hands up to cup her breasts, ignoring her gasp of shock, brushing away her attempt to stop him, “your breasts are indeed larger than most, but I assure you, my dear, no man with anything in working order between their legs would even
think
to complain about such a thing.” He chuckled softly at her shocked expression.

“Now, your hips,” he said conversationally as he slid his hands down her sides, pausing at her waist, emphasizing the topic of conversation, “they are perfect. No, no, no,” he insisted as she began to protest. “They are in perfect proportion with your breasts, and coupled with your small waist, you have a perfect hourglass figure.”

“Really?” She seemed to want to believe him, but still looked doubtful.

“
Really
, Pru. Have I ever lied to you?”

“Well, not to my knowledge. So I would have to say no. But I am still short,” she added with a defiant lift of her chin.

“You are the perfect height,” he assured her, resting his chin atop her head. “I would not want you any taller, you’re just right.”

Prudence sighed. “Well, if nothing else, you have succeeded in making me
feel
beautiful.”

“Good,” he said, untying the sash of her robe and sliding it off her shoulders. “Now, I believe we were about to make love.”

“No, Kolton,” she objected, grabbing the front of her robe before it could slither to the floor, and pulling the material together over her breasts. “I don’t want to have intimate relations with you as a means to an end. I don’t want to marry you out of obligation, and I don’t want that from you either.”

“Trust me, Pru,” he said in a husky voice as he slid his arms around her, pressing his stiff arousal against her bottom and nibbling at her neck. “Making love to you ceased being a means to an end the moment I took your luscious body in my arms.”

She was ready to abandon her resistance. He could tell by the way her body trembled and the unconscious tilt of her head granting him better access to her neck. He massaged her stomach just above her nether curls with one hand, while the other went to the ties holding the front of her nightgown closed and tugged them loose. He was met with no resistance when he slid the gown and robe off her shoulders and down her arms, letting the material drop to pool on the floor at her feet.

“Mmm, you’re perfect, sweetheart,” he whispered against her ear as he ran his hands over her body while he studied her nakedness in the mirror.

Her eyelids drooped, her eyes glazing over with passion as he slowly caressed her. She turned toward him, and he noticed the color of her eyes had again deepened to that mysterious aqua color. The color of her passion, he thought with satisfaction.

She surprised him by untying his robe, slipping it off his shoulders, and pressing her bare skin against his.

Kolton groaned.

He wrapped his arms around her and took her mouth in a possessive kiss, relieved that he did not have to worry about scaring her with his passion. Though he did not intend to misuse her, she was no frightened virgin; she knew what was to come.

Without taking his lips from hers, he picked her up and carried her to the bed where he laid her down and settled his length atop her.

Prudence pulled back. “Kolton, I don’t want to marry because-”

He placed a finger to her lips. “Shh. Later, Pru, we can discuss it later.” He took her mouth again with his, swallowing her moan of defeat. She wrapped her arms around him, responding enthusiastically to his kiss.

When she parted her legs and slid one up his thigh to wrap around his flank, he gave a deep-throated growl of approval and thrust his tongue into her mouth in parody of how he intended to thrust his throbbing cock deep in her tight, wet passage.

She sucked on his tongue and undulated her hips, grinding her hot core against his rigid staff. A wave of pure lust surged through him and drove all the blood in his body to his throbbing arousal. “Bloody
hell
, I want you,” he groaned, moving against her and sliding his erection between her slick folds.

“Yes, Kolton, now,” she begged breathlessly.

“No, not yet, love,” he replied, burying his face in hair and breathing deeply of her scent. Spicy apple assailed his senses, reminding him of crisp October nights spent sipping hot-spiced cider. “God, you smell good,” he groaned. “I want to taste you before I ride between your legs.” He took her mouth hungrily then moved to her breasts.

“Beautiful,” he murmured as he cupped the firm mounds and lowered his head to take one of their pebbled peeks between his lips.

Prudence cried out and arched her back, begging without words for him to take more. He complied, opening his mouth wide and taking in as much of her breast as possible. Drawing at it strongly, he flicked the nipple with his tongue and teased its mate with the thumb of his other hand.

“Yes!
Oh yes
, Kolton,” she hissed.

A sudden rush of moist desire drench his cock as he slid it against her and turned his attention to her other breast. The evidence of her passion made him impatient to sample the bounty offered between her thighs. He slid one hand down between her legs, running his fingers through her drenched curls, and slipped one digit between her plump folds.

“Oh, please, Kolton, I want you inside me,” she gasped and lifted her hips, trying to force his finger into her.

“No,” he said abruptly, and moved down her body. Widening her thighs, he draped them over his shoulders and slid his hands under her. Lifting her to his mouth, he gave her slit one long lick.

Her hips jerked. “Kolton!
What
are you do—...Oh, sweet Lord, don’t stop.
Don’t
stop!”

Kolton chuckled softly and claimed her nether lips much like he had her mouth, plunging his tongue deep into her honeyed depths. Gripping her hips, he played havoc with her aroused flesh, alternating between lapping at her with the flat of his tongue and fluttering it over clit while pausing now and again to drink her juices and slide his tongue deep inside her as she writhed and moaned.

He lifted his eyes to study her face as he flicked his tongue over her sensitized nub. Her body convulsed. She screamed his name, tossing her head back and forth on the pillow, clutching the bed linens at her sides in a death grip.

Kolton felt like the most powerful man in England—if not the world—as he watched her race toward orgasm. Her body was bathed in a soft glow of moisture as she gasped a great lungful of air, her breasts jiggling enticingly with the rapid rise and fall if her chest.

His balls ached and his cock throbbed, reminding him it was being horribly neglected. He rocked his hips against the mattress in an impossible attempt to ease its frustration. Eager now to drive her to her peak, he sucked her clit into his mouth and drew at it strongly while brushing it lightly with his teeth and fluttering his tongue over the hardened nub.

Her reaction was immediate. Her body tensed and she threw back her head, letting lose a hoarse shout of release.

Kolton shifted immediately, abandoning his carnal kiss. He rose above her and stabbed his rigid staff to the hilt inside her.

“Ah, bloody hell, you’re so
tight
!” he hissed, pulling almost completely out and plunging deeply into her again. Her muscles gripped him harder as another orgasm tore through her body, squeezing his cock tighter than he thought humanly possible.

“Harder!” she cried, burying her face against his shoulder and sinking her teeth into his skin, her nails digging into the flesh of his rhythmically clenching buttocks as she gripped them and pulled him against her.

Pain and pleasure mixed, ripping from him a feral growl. Something inside him snapped and he lost complete control. “
Yes!
” he snarled.

All conscious thought evaporated, his sole focus centered upon slamming his cock into her as hard and fast as possible. The blood rushing in his ears deafened him to all but the sound of their bodies slapping a fast, wet rhythm.