To Desire a Wicked Duke (21 page)

And when she cupped the soft, velvety pouch of his loins, his body tensed visibly. Then her fingers curled around his hard shaft, and the thick length surged in her hand. Encouraged by his involuntary reaction, Tess couldn’t help a gratified smile.

Still kneeling, she kissed her way further down Rotham’s body, letting him feel the drag of her heavy sable hair over his stomach and groin. When she took him in her mouth, his rampant member jerked reflexively, and she felt another faint measure of triumph.

Control was somehow empowering, Tess realized, and liberating as well.

More eagerly, she slid her lips fully over the thick head of his shaft, swirling her tongue lightly over the taut, heated skin. His body clenched, and although his resulting groan was soft, she felt his hand twist in her hair.

After enduring several more moments of her seductive ministrations, though, he issued a ragged protest. “I knew it … you came here to torment me.”

“Am I tormenting you?” she whispered.

“Yes … and I cannot take much more.”

She relished the thought of making Rotham lose control. Yet apparently he wouldn’t cede all the power to her.

Holding her upper arms, he eased his rigid length away from her caressing mouth. Then, pulling Tess up to him, he guided her knee over his thighs so that she sat straddling him, face-to-face.

At her look of surprise, his gray eyes smiled into hers. “This way we can both enjoy the pleasure,” he said huskily.

Tess couldn’t find her own voice, however. The searing heat of his arousal against her stomach had made her throat dry and deprived her of speech.

Reaching up, he took her breasts in his hands, lifting the swelling weight in his curving palms. Then leaning closer, he covered her mouth with his.

Just the taste of him sent her pulse leaping more erratically. He invaded her mouth with bold strokes of his tongue while his fingers plied her nipples with a gentle plucking motion. The eroticism of it stole her
breath. His mouth, his tongue, his hands—all combined in a powerful assault on her senses.

Wanting grew inside her. Her heart pounded as he sent waves of heat to every part of her body.

Then Rotham unexpectedly drew back. His eyes had darkened, Tess saw before he glanced down at her breasts again.

His lids lowered, he deliberately bent his head and closed his mouth over one engorged peak. At the same time his hand dipped between her legs to find the creamy wetness there.

She gasped as his teasing fingers stroked her sex. The strong pull of his mouth on her nipple created a hot, echoing throb deep inside her very center … a throb that intensified when he paused to whisper huskily against her skin, “You’re wet for me. Your body is eager for mine.”

It was true. Her cleft was already slick and swollen and aching for him. And Rotham was clearly intent on making her longing even greater. Still caressing her, he left off suckling her breasts to watch her face. His smoky gaze held hers, never wavering as he explored her more thoroughly, his fingers probing between her feminine folds, the rough pad of his thumb gliding back and forth over the sensitive bud of her sex.

She nearly moaned at the sweet torment. “Rotham … you are making me so …”

“So what?”

“Hot.… Like I will burst into flames any moment.”

“I want you to burst into flames, sweet Tess.”

When he sheathed two fingers in her pulsing
warmth, a half gasp, half moan spilled from her lips as she shivered with wanton pleasure.

Oddly, her response only made him give up his delectable torture. But Tess realized why a moment later. Easing her thighs open wider, he closed his hands over her buttocks and pulled her hips even closer, so that her belly and feminine cleft cradled his heavy, swollen shaft. The pressure on the sensitive core of her sent a shock of fire rippling through Tess, making her clutch at his shoulders.

Unable to restrain her desire any longer, she rose up on her knees, intending to lower herself onto the velvet-smooth head of his manhood. When she felt his thick hardness begin to press inside her, though, Tess stiffened at the invasion, drawing a deep breath.

“Slowly,” Rotham whispered, stopping her from going any further. “Let’s take our time.”

She paused, shutting her eyes, wondering if her body could accommodate his enormous size. For a dozen heartbeats, she felt the heat of his fingertips brush her face, her throat, her shoulders in soothing caresses. And after a time, her damp sheath seemed to open in readiness for him.

When she nodded, his hands moved to her thighs to guide her. She sank down another fraction, slowly enveloping him. The pain was not too great, more a burning sensation than real pain, and even that subsided in another few moments.

“Look at me, sweet angel.”

She obeyed and found herself drowning in the shadowed glimmer of Rotham’s eyes. How had she ever thought those gray depths cold and cynical? They smoldered hot and hungry now.

Tess felt an answering hunger burning inside her. Yearning for him to fill her more completely, she sank all the way down, so that he was seated fully inside her.

He held her there unmoving while he gently kissed her. His lips stroked over hers tenderly, as if she were rare and special and something to be savored.

His mouth was magical … and so was his touch. His kisses enchanted, and when she began to relax, he kissed her even more deeply, his tongue penetrating her mouth like his shaft was doing between her thighs.

An aching tightness coiled throughout her, spreading to her every nerve and sinew. Of its own accord, her inflamed body began to rock against his.

Rotham had given her the illusion of being in command, Tess realized, but she was not in charge at all; control was quickly slipping from her grasp. Her pulse turned wild as he began a slow, deliberate thrusting in turn. She moved her hips instinctively in a primitive, needful rhythm, trying to satisfy the hot, urgent longing clamoring inside her.

To her dismay, Rotham’s beguiling lips left hers as he drew back again … yet it was only to watch her. There was a fierce tenderness in his eyes as he coaxed her with his hard body, heightening the erotic friction between them.

Her breath was coming in hoarse whimpers now. Her hands clenching spasmodically, Tess gripped his shoulders, clinging to him, seeking more of the fevered pleasure he was giving her. Her body felt deeply connected with his, so full that she was part of
him. The feeling was intense, wonderful, and so was his dark, molten gaze.…

Suddenly, the pleasure was too keen, too fierce to be borne. Her heart pounding, Tess gasped at the bright flare of sensation that rocketed through her. She tried to press herself even deeper against Rotham—but then the shattering explosion came and swept away all her senses in a storm of fire.

His climax followed directly, as if he’d forced himself to wait for her. He groaned and shuddered and surged hard into her, catching her when she collapsed bonelessly onto his chest.

In the aftermath, his hand rose to cradle her throat, soothing her thundering pulsebeat, while his mouth feathered light, tender kisses over her face and hair.

His own breath was harsh and uneven, but after a long moment, Rotham lifted her and eased her down beside him. Letting his legs tangle with hers, he pulled the covers up over them both and drew Tess into his arms. He lay there, his body wrapped around hers, warming her, calming her, brushing her cheek with warm fingers.

“Are you all right?” he murmured after a time.

“Yes,” Tess replied, savoring his hard strength. Her feelings for Rotham were still chaotic, creating turmoil in her heart and in her mind, yet her body had never felt so blissful. “Thank you for being so … considerate.”

“Did you expect me to be otherwise?”

“I suppose not. But I did not think … this would happen tonight.”

Ian himself had not expected to seal their marriage vows either. He hadn’t meant to renege on his pledge
to leave Tess strictly alone. Yet he could not possibly have resisted when she’d come to his rooms garbed only in a nightdress, looking anxious and alone.

He’d wanted to comfort her, yes, but he’d wanted more to claim her. The prospect had made him hard in an instant.

At that moment he was almost glad for the castle ghost, since it had driven Tess into his arms.

And then he had joined carnally with her. Her serene loveliness had taken his breath away … her exquisite body, her hair cascading down over her shoulders in heavy silken waves, her dark velvet eyes hot and pleading.

Her passionate response to his lovemaking had been everything he’d imagined and more, Ian admitted, remembering her sweet cries of pleasure. She was even more beautiful in her arousal than he’d anticipated, making all his past encounters with other lovers pale in comparison.

It was his own response that deeply concerned Ian. The pleasure he’d experienced with Tess had been shattering. Despite his extensive carnal experience, he’d felt the effects of their union as if it were his first.

And now he was lying here in the aftermath of passion, treasuring the quiet intimacy of holding her, relishing her scent on his skin.

Ian spread his fingers in the dark richness of her hair, luxuriating in the texture of it. Taking her innocence had left him hungry and aching for more of her.

Tess glanced up at him then. Her beautiful face was still flushed, her eyes hazy with sated passion, her thick sable hair a sultry tangle, her mouth swollen from his kisses.

Remembering the ripe softness of her lips, Ian felt a rush of desire that only made him want to be inside her again. He wouldn’t use her body so harshly her first time, though. Yet he knew one night with Tess would never satisfy him. He wanted the rights of a lover, of a husband. He wanted to lose himself in the tempting fire of her—

“I will return to my own bedchamber in the morning, Rotham.”

Her husky declaration coming so unexpectedly dashed cold water over his alluring fantasies.

Wondering if she was merely unnerved by the potent emotions sizzling between them, as he was, he kept his voice even when he replied. “You are welcome to sleep in my bed from now on.”

“I see no need for us to share a bedchamber. You promised we could live separate lives, remember?”

Ian didn’t dispute her, although familiar irritation clawed at him. It was bad enough that his own wife didn’t want to share his bed. It stung more that Tess was pretending indifference after the remarkable passion they had just shared. How could she so blatantly ignore her obvious desire for him?

Then again, he would be wise to ignore his own fierce desire for
her
, Ian realized. Just now, self-preservation needed to be his chief concern. Particularly since after tonight, his feelings for Tess were even more raw and conflicted.

He was in perilous, uncharted waters; possessiveness had sunk its talons deep into him.

He meant to fight his vulnerability to her, though, Ian vowed. He’d seen her effect on other men, his own cousin most of all. He could well remember
Richard being reduced to a lovesick supplicant with Tess, behaving like an adoring puppy, hanging on her every word, her enchanting smile, her delightful laughter.

He had no intention of loving Tess, Ian promised himself. He wouldn’t let himself be drawn into that desperate affliction as his cousin had been. Especially when she would never return any tender feelings of love for
him
.

Tess was still in love with his dead cousin, Ian reminded himself grimly. He couldn’t compete with the beloved memory of a war hero.

At the reflection, he felt a muscle in his jaw harden. He didn’t
want
to compete for Tess’s affections.

But clearly he needed to make their battlefield more even. To ensure that his weakness for his lovely wife was not just one-sided.

There would likely never be love between them, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything in his power to make Tess want him just as fiercely as he wanted her.