Shayla Black (32 page)

She feared she cared for him all too much.

As she stroked his erection, she could not keep that sentiment from her touch, from the touch of her fingers around his bare flesh.

“
I swear, Maddie, you are killing me slowly.”

She smiled—until he grasped her wrists and pushed them away, then immobilized her arms with a strong grip. Once he had her contained, he smiled at her with all the pleasantness of a brigand. Clearly, Brock had a plan.

Trepidation and an aching eagerness tumbled over one another in her belly. “Brock—”

He ended her ability to speak when he cupped her buttocks and lifted her legs about his waist. The bump of his hard shaft against her belly and the soft abrasion of the hair on his chest against her hard nipples made her grip his shoulders tight. He nuzzled her neck, nipping at sensitive spots near her shoulder, behind her ear.

Pleasure wasn’t a sea she could float on; but a rushing river threatening to drown her. Maddie took his mouth in a fevered kiss.

Then Brock sat on the settee and turned to spread his legs out toward the end. He arranged her on his lap so that she straddled him before settling against the settee, still wearing that challenging grin.

“
Brock?”

Rather than answer, he lifted one hand from her hips and ran a finger in the cleft between her thighs. His touch was like fire, and he slid through the moist flesh, pausing to tease her where she needed him most.

Her thighs tightened around his hips. Desire surged. She gasped. If he made love to her now, it wouldn’t be too soon.

Instead he shocked her by removing his finger and sliding her juices across her nipple. Then, wearing that ever-widening grin, he urged her toward her. Their eyes met and locked. Disbelief and excitement charged her stomach. Maddie held her breath.

Brock took her damp nipple in his mouth and sucked, drawing in the taste of her.

Maddie gasped. But no sooner than her brain registered the pleasure, she felt the blunt tip of his erection probe and penetrate her.

In one smooth stroke, he brought her down to the hilt. His flicking tongue drove her to insanity all the while.

She cried out, awash in the consuming desire only he could create in her, the wonder of the depth of their pleasure. Coupled with that, Maddie experienced a gladness that Brock possessed her body.

He dragged his thumb between her legs, across her most sensitive spot. Breath hitching, need spiraling, Maddie could do nothing more than feel the rhythm of their lovemaking and moan.

Beneath her, he thrust, filling her. Her thighs tightened as the pleasure he gave mounted inside her, radiating out from her middle like a bubble, expanding, expanding—before it burst.

The climax began as a tremor, a sharp peak. It overtook her entire body, robbing her of breath, of words.

As she pulsed around him, his shaft swelled, hardened. With a cry, he came, gripping her hips and calling her name.

Maddie opened her eyes at the sound. And as Brock slid into her one last time, he looked right at her. His green eyes behind his black, spiked lashes blinded her with a tenderness she never expected.

That easily, he erased the last of her resistance to him.

Joy came, followed by uncertainty. As if sensing her ambiguity, Brock reached up for her shoulders and brought her against his damp chest, where she could feel his racing heart beginning to slow.

The gesture should have alarmed her. Instead, it only made her feel safer and dangerously cared for.

He wanted her land. That fact should not be difficult to remember. But around Brock, it was.

“
Maddie, you exhaust me,” Brock moaned beneath her. “I cannot move.”

Despite her uncertainties, she smiled and pushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead. “You must eventually.”

Brock laughed and eased her to his side until they crowded together on the sofa. He clasped her hand, locking their fingers together and propped his head up on his other palm. “We are very good together.”

“
Yes.” That was the irony of it, really. They were wonderful lovers, but could they be married happily?

Would he still want her after their vows gave him her land?

He paused, looking as if he wanted to say something, and from his expression that something was important. Maddie watched expectantly. With a small shake of his head, he looked down and began placing soft kisses on her shoulder.

Maddie found herself too curious to let the moment pass. “What did you wish to say?”

His head popped up; his gaze met hers again. Surprise molded his features.

“
I-I could see from your expression that...” she trailed off awkwardly. He hadn’t told her what was on his mind because he hadn’t wished to. It wasn’t as if she told him every thought that crossed her mind. “Never mind.”

“
No,” he corrected. “I have something to say.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Brock took a deep breath. Then another. Damn, he did not want to have this conversation. He could not bear to hear Maddie tell him how far beneath her she thought him.

But in order to wed her, he must overcome her objection against him. That included the class to which he’d been born. Besides, with his wealth, he’d moved from the serving class firmly into the wealthiest fraction of the middle class. Impoverished women of blue blood were beginning to marry men of his station. Why couldn’t Maddie accept him as a husband as eagerly as she accepted him as a lover?

Why did it grind his guts to think that she never would?

Donning his shirt, Brock put space between them, gritting his teeth. “I know why you’ve resisted marrying me. I cannot change my birth. Isn’t the money enough for you? Or must you have a titled husband?”

Maddie sat up, hair spilling over her shoulders and naked breasts. When she looked in his direction once more, surprise, confusion even, colored the frown on her face. “You make me sound mercenary. Your lack of title has nothing to do with my refusal.”

If all of Maddie’s lies were like sweet honey, that one would have given him a toothache. Why else would she refuse a match that was advantageous in every other respect? When she needed the money so badly?

“
If my lack of blue blood is not the cause of your refusal, then why?”

Maddie hesitated, the glow of passion fading by the moment to reveal her apprehension. “Marriage for a woman requires trust. By speaking vows, we lose all control of our property, our children, our very beings.” She paused, frowning, clearly groping for words. “You’ve all but demanded I give you complete power over my life—and my daughter’s—when I know you merely want me for my land. How am I to know the manner in which you will treat us after marriage, after you have the scrap of earth that will ensure your fortune? You say you will see Aimee and me cared for, but words are pretty and cheap.”

She had valid points, and he had never considered the matter from such a frame of reference. “I want your land, yes. But do not doubt I will make certain you and Aimee want for nothing.”

With a shrug, Maddie raised her brows and slid her gaze across the room. Brock knew the evasive look well. He had not allayed her fear, but did not wish to argue the point further.

“
Maddie, what else can I say? I’ve promised Aimee fine tutors to teach her every accomplishment of a young lady and a sufficient dowry to attract the right sort of husband. I will repair Ashdown Manor, see to your aunt in her dotage—”

“
I desire all of that.” She scowled, shaking her head. “But your money cannot suddenly create trust. The quality of Aimee’s life—and mine—depends upon more than dancing masters and a new sofa. Besides, how can I know you would have my and my daughter’s interests at heart after the vows have been spoken and you no longer have a reason to care?”

Brock stared at her, uncomprehending. “Do you think me some melodrama villain who would lock you in your rooms with nothing but bread and water?” When she did not answer, Brock heaved an irritated sigh. “Good God, woman, I have no intent to seize such control of your life or to harm you. Ever. The property your father left you was never yours outright, so I can hardly see where that is an issue. So what else can you possibly object to?”

Anger dashed across her face. It was quickly fortified by a bolt of steel determination and defiance. Brock hadn’t seen that look often on Maddie’s face, but he had seen it often enough to know it portended nothing good.

“
What else can I object to? Plenty, I promise you!”

She looked at him as if he were the stupidest beast she’d ever set eyes on. He loathed the expression and all it implied. Still, she thought him uneducated and lacking in refinements. He counted the country’s top engineers and even the Lord Mayor of London among his friends, damn it. Did she still see him as the ignorant stable hand he’d been five years ago, despite her protests to the contrary? Or did she have some other concern she had yet to voice?

Schooling the irritation from his features, he took her hands in his. “Help me to understand, Maddie. What else do you object to?”

At his soft inquiry, her mouth lost its combative set. Silent seconds passed. She tapped an absent finger to her chin. Her eyes told him her mind was far, far away in contemplation.

Finally, Maddie cleared her throat, the uncertainty gone from her lovely face. “We’ve never spoken of my marriage to Colin.”

Of all the things she might have said, that surprised Brock most. Why would she want to speak of her marriage now?

Before he could run through the possibilities in his mind, Maddie drew her legs up to her chest and placed her chin on her knees, as if defending herself. From what—or whom—did she think she needed protection?

“
No, we never have spoken of it.” A curiosity he did not want to feel rang in his voice.

“
It was not a love match,” she began haltingly. “He kept mistresses and was gone more than he was home. That suited me. Soon enough, I had Aimee to keep me busy. But there were times he wanted my…devotion, though he had none for me.”

Her lack of contentment in the marriage pleased him; Brock would be lying if he said otherwise. But what did the abysmal Sedgewick have to do with him? “I’m not certain I understand.”

“
Colin came to hate me because I could not be the wife he wished. We had terrible rows.” Maddie sighed and bit her lip. “He resented you deeply.”

That Maddie had even told Sedgewick about him shocked Brock. “For taking your innocence, I presume?”

She hesitated, then nodded. “I don’t think he ever forgave me for coming to him unchaste. But before he died, the fighting grew worse.” She swallowed again, her hands now fidgeting, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. She would not meet his gaze.

“
What—”

“
Brock, men are allowed to display their anger toward their wives in a...physical manner. The law accepts such behavior, as does society.
I
cannot accept it, not for myself or Aimee.”

Physical
? Brock’s mind whirled, spun. What the hell did she mean? He examined the possibilities until her words became clear. And the implications of her confession staggered him.

He surged to his feet. “He
hit
you?”

Maddie directed a wary gaze up at him, gray eyes seemingly frozen. From her grave expression, Brock knew he was right.

Fury bolted through him. Sedgewick was lucky to be dead; if he weren’t, Brock would have hunted him down and killed the bastard himself—slowly and painfully.

He sank down beside her, taking her shoulders in a loose grip. “Maddie... Damnation, I had no idea. But I would never, ever raise a hand to you. This I vow.”

Tears filled her eyes. Maddie thrust her gaze to the cottage’s modest white ceiling and sniffed, clearly trying hard not to let her tears fall.

She had always been so brave—beginning an affair of the heart with a servant, surviving a violent husband, enduring years of poverty while raising a carefree child. Even when he had threatened her and her freedom himself, she had refused to give in to his demands. Brock could not help but be amazed at her strength.

Cautiously, he leaned toward her, extending his reach, until he caught her in an embrace. As he held her silent form, Brock realized Maddie was more amazing as a woman than she’d been as a girl. Little wonder he was so caught up in her now.

After a long moment, Maddie leaned away. “I should explain. Mostly Colin belittled me. I-I did not...respond to him as he expected.”

Brock frowned, mulling over those words. Did Maddie mean to imply that she had not enjoyed her marriage bed?

Brock pushed aside his elation and focused on his deepening confusion. Maddie found sex pleasurable—that he knew. They had proven so again tonight. In fact, she was the most arousing, responsive woman he’d ever taken to his bed. She must have been cold for Sedgewick in particular.

Even so, the cad’s battering response was unforgivable.