A Devil Named DeVere (The Devil DeVere) (34 page)

She returned the kiss with increased fervor and then took his hand. "Come, my husband…my love." Diana surprised him by leading him to their bed.

***

As before, he came behind her, but took his time, caressing her breasts, laving hot open-mouth kisses to her neck, her shoulders. His hands skirted to her bottom where he fondled, squeezed, and stroked. He nipped gently at her nape as he bent her forward, easing her back into the position he desired with two pillows placed beneath her hips. Diana's elbows and knees sank deeply into the soft down of their bed while his mouth played down her spine, licking and kissing one vertebra at a time. It was the same… but also somehow different this time.

"You must not think, Diana." His words were a hot, moist murmur of reassurance against her skin, making her warm and fluttery inside. "Please, my sweet, just empty your mind and simply feel." Diana willed herself to compliance, to relax and give herself up to his teasing touch and mesmerizing mouth—the same wicked mouth that suckled on her fleshy globes. He shocked her by biting into her with sharp teeth that were none too gentle. Yet the action sent a paradoxical jolt of sting and pleasure straight to her core. He must have felt her reaction as well. "Do you like that, my pet?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I think so."

"Shall we find out? Shall we discover if there is aught else you might enjoy?"

His weight left the bed for a moment before the mattress sagged once more and Diana felt another peculiar sensation, akin to a cool drip on her lower back and buttocks. She looked over her shoulder to find him pouring the almond oil on her body. He then proceeded to knead and massage it into her skin with expert hands. When his wicked mouth joined his clever hands, alternating soft licks with stinging bites…
Oh dear God…
she thought she would melt into the mattress. His ministrations were delicious and sensuous and transcended her to heaven.

She whimpered at the sensation of his hot tongue tracing her cleft and gasped when  his slick fingers stroked and circled her untouched entrance. He bit into her arse cheek, simultaneous with his invasion. Diana sucked in a breath at the initial pressure of his thumb, fighting the urge to tense, to pull
away.

He came over her with one hand still cupping her arse, pressing his mouth to her ear, sucking and nibbling her lobe while his other hand slid around the front of her, snaking between her thighs, locating her hidden nub, gently circling, swirling, even as he probed deeper into her arse. "Open to me now, love." The dark and decadent command was accompanied by his ruthless and relentless sensual assault.

With a steady cadence, he plunged in and out of her arse while stimulating her clitoris, pulling her inexorably back into the mindless whirlpool of pleasure. Reggie had violated her in that forbidden place, racking her body with agonizing pain, making her feel dirty and ashamed. Ludovic's duel assault buffeted her with exquisite sensation, driving her nearly insane. She felt breathless and lightheaded as waves of pleasure eddied and swirled within her.

He withdrew and a second finger joined the first. She stiffened only for a moment before her body responded almost on its own. She arched into him with a low moan as her climax continued to build. It was as a banked fire waiting to combust. But it still wasn't enough. She wanted him with the deepest ache…to be inside her…joining with her…filling her.

She groped behind her on a frantic whisper, "Please. I want you." He responded with a hissing intake of breath when she found his cock, clasping it tightly in her hand.

***

His vision blurred with lust, Ludovic freed himself from her greedy grasp to apply more oil to both his throbbing staff and to her insanely alluring arse. Lovingly, he parted her cheeks, nestling himself snugly within the globes, where he slid himself up and down her cleft, as his mind and body became engulfed in the delicious sensation of slick friction. He commenced circling his head around her tight orifice, while she arched into him in glorious invitation.

"Please. Now." She whimpered. "I
need
you inside me."

Diana's ultimate surrender was what he had most longed for. Yet he still needed to hear it explicitly from her lips, voiced in tones of certainty. "Are you sure, my love?"

"Yes. I am yours, Ludovic," she responded in a strangled voice. "In any way you choose to take me."

Trembling with his own need, he took himself in hand, but still hesitated. "I won't hurt you, Diana. Know that I will stop at any moment you change your mind. Tell me you believe that."

"I do," she whispered. "Please." She reached for him again on a sob, but he needed no further encouragement. "Breathe deeply, my love." He slowly penetrated all the while caressing, cupping, and stroking her bottom. When his crown disappeared, she inhaled a sharp breath and he froze. Ludovic clenched his jaw, awaiting her protest, even as he fought the powerful urge to push  completely into her…but to his immense relief, she exhaled again on a long and audible gush.

Thank God
. 

He entered her further, pushing into her with slow and controlled deliberation, watching in fascination, as his cock disappeared. Diana moaned beneath him. "Are you all right, my dear?" he rasped, his patience hanging by a thread.

"Yes," she replied on a sigh. "You are not hurting me. Quite the contrary."

Am I delirious?
"You are in no discomfort?"

"There is some discomfort, but there is also something else. Something I can't describe. Please
don't stop
."

Sweet Jesus.
She had answered his prayer. His lids fluttered shut to the exquisite squeeze of her muscles, his fevered lust spiking another notch as he continued his progress in measured, rapturous and agonizing inches. When he opened them again he looked down, enthralled beyond description at the erotic vision of his cock buried to the hilt inside her.

Panting and sweating from the efforts of self-restraint, he grasped her hips and gently rocked, grinding and circling his pelvis against her delectably sweet arse

***

Although they had shared many deep intimacies, Diana had never experienced such a feeling of total surrender and wanton abandon as she placed herself so completely in his hands. Instead of frightful, she suddenly found it freeing. Ludovic had always been an unparalleled lover, but in this act, he had demonstrated a tenderness she had rarely known in his passionate lovemaking. He pulsed deeply within her, seemingly in synchrony with her own pounding heart,  moving gently, stretching and filling… not only her body… but her very soul.

When he took hold of her hips and began his steady cadence, the climax that had been simmering and swirling within her roared to life with a rabid force that stole her breath. Her body trembled. Her mind went black. Diana screamed in sheer ecstasy as wave after shocking wave came over her.

Ludovic followed suit with his own shuddering groan, pumping his hips thrice and letting loose all he had been holding back. He followed her into the sublime abyss, spending his
scalding essence into her. They lay mindless, boneless and spent collapsed against one another. And in this matchless moment, in the weakening, panting, paroxysms of pleasure, Diana feared her heart would burst from her love for him. But to her shock…something else burst instead…

Diana cried out
in alarm at the sudden gush of warm fluid streaming down her thighs. Ludovic bolted upright, wide-eyed in panic. "God, God, Diana! What is it? What has happened?"

"I-I think it's my waters. The membranes must have ruptured."

He regarded her, thunderstruck. "But I didn't…I took care not to… Sweet Jesus," he groaned. "What does this mean?"

She gifted him a tremulous smile. "I think it means, my love, that I am about to have your child."

"Bloody hell!" he cried. "It's not time! Ford said you were weeks away! Have we precipitated the event? Have the pains begun?" he demanded. "Ford warned me not to ouch you, but selfish bastard that I am, I wouldn't listen. Damn it all!" he gave her an anguished look. "What have I done?"

Diana's heart wrenched for him, for she had never seen Ludovic look more contrite. "But, darling," she reassured, "even Dr. Ford knows that childbirth is never an exact science. As to the pains, I don't think they have begun, but it's hard to say, as I was exceedingly distracted until this very moment."

He leaped from the bed and snatched up his shirt and breeches. "I must send for Ford post haste."

"I think that might be wise," she agreed. "But please don’t work yourself into such a lather, my love. It could be quite some time yet."

"Me? In a lather? Preposterous!" he replied and promptly donned his shirt backward.

Diana opened her mouth to laugh but clutched her belly with a sharp cry instead, as the first birth pain seized her, pulling her into its vice-like grip.

"Diana!" He came to her side. "What can I do for you?"

"Perhaps my…dressing gown?" she suggested between gasps. "And ring…for Sally?"

"Of course!" He helped her into the gown and then strode across the chamber for the bell pull. He turned back to Diana. "What now?"

"Outside of summoning Ford, there is naught to be done but wait."

"And watch you suffer?"

She gave a wan smile. "Such is the lot of women, my love."

"Bloody, bloody hell!" He rent his shirt in his impatience to remove and right it. "I feel impotent!” He threw the shirt down with a growl and yanked another from the clothespress. Diana watched in bemusement as he paced the room. "Where the devil is that maid of yours?"

A soft rap sounded, and Sally entered with a bob. "You rang—" Sally's eyes grew wide at the sight of Diana holding her belly. "My lady! Is it your time already?"

"I'm afraid so. My waters have broken."

"Stay with her!" Ludovic demanded, stomping into his boots. "You are not to leave her side until I return. Not for a moment. Do you understand me?"

"Aye, my lord," Sally promised. "You can trust I shan't leave her."

***

Upon leaving Diana, Ludovic dispatched two running footmen—one to Dr. Ford's Mayfair residence and the other to the Westminster Lying-In Hospital. He then sought out some Dutch courage to settle his nerves, but his hands shook so badly that he spilled more brandy than reached the glass. In his exasperation, he took a long, burning draught straight from the bottle.

Until now he had never recalled a single moment of true fear in his entire life. He had known anger, frustration, and even
dark despair, but never fright. Yet the look on Diana's face when the pains came upon her sent his heart lurching into his throat with stark terror. Had he endangered her? Or the child? How the devil would he ever go on if he lost her? He violently shook away that last morbid thought, forced a deep breath, and took another fortifying swig.

He reminded himself that Ned had sworn there was no harm in coitus and tried to reassure himself that this situation was purely coincidental, but still, his conscience stabbed and his heart raced. What if the bloody quack didn't arrive on time? The feeling of helplessness nearly enraged him. He strode back up the staircase with a look that sent servants scurrying. He burst back into the bedchamber, only to find Diana's beautiful face etched with pain.

He rushed to her side and roared at the frightened maid who held Diana's hand. "Don't just sit there, damn you! Do something!"

The girl's eyes watered, and her lips quivered. "But, my lord, there's naught to be done."

Diana released the long breath she'd been holding and his shoulders instantly slumped in relief. "Darling," she said, "I know you mean well, but you are not really helping at all. Perhaps you should go for a ride?"

He groaned. "I can't leave you, Diana."

"It was not a suggestion. I'm commanding you. Please. If you don't wish to ride, then perhaps the village tavern? I'll send a footman for you when there is news."

He looked to Diana, feeling completely at sea. How could she send him away at a time like this? "But what if—"

"Sally will send someone instantly should any doubt arise. Won't you, Sally?"

"Aye, my lady." She nodded emphatically and then her timid gaze returned to Ludovic. "My lord?"

"What?" he snapped.

"Perhaps me mum can be of assistance? At least until the doctor comes. She knows a bit about midwifery after delivering eight of us at home."

"That's an excellent notion, Sally," Diana replied. "Don't you think so, darling?"

"Yes. It is at that. Pray give me the direction and I shall fetch her myself."

"Aye, milord. The house be three lanes down from Jackson's Tavern, but ye can ask of most anyone where the Abbott place is."

He nodded. "Right then." He made it three strides toward the door and then spun back around on his heel. "Leave us, Sally."

The maid's forehead wrinkled. She looked to Diana for confirmation.

"Just for a moment, Sally," she urged.

The door had barely closed before he threw himself to his knees beside the bed, taking Diana’s hand in a desperate grip and plying kisses to every knuckle. He looked up at her with burning eyes as he pressed her hand to his cheek. "I said only hours ago that you have never disappointed me. I beg of you, Diana, please don't start now."

Her face went ashen before his eyes. "How can you say that! You know I have no control over the sex of this child."

"You think I speak of my heir?" He gave a mad laugh. "I don't care if it's a boy, a girl, or a bloody donkey! I only want you safe. I
need you,
Diana. You are my light, my sustenance. You are everything to me." He looked up to find tears staining her cheeks and rose to kiss them all away.

"I promise." She returned a watery smile. "I won't disappoint you, my love. Now
please
go."

***

Diana had never experienced such agony. Nine hours she had travailed, alternating between panting and screaming in her sweat-soaked bed, and now with every push, she expected to be torn asunder.

"Just one more, my lady," coaxed the kindly Mrs. Abbott. Diana barely heard the woman for the buzzing in her ears. She was so tired. So very weak.

"Sally, give her the leather to bite down on." It was an effort for Diana to pry her jaw open again to the saliva-coated leather strip. She marveled that she hadn't already chewed clean through it.

When the next paralyzing paroxysm of pain came upon her, Diana wondered if she might actually perish before pushing this baby out, but then she recalled her promise and the tormented look on her beloved husband's face when he departed.

"Now, my lady!" Mrs. Abbott commanded. "Bear down hard as you can—like a difficult shite!"

With his image burned into her brain, Diana drew in a great lungful of air and pushed for all she was worth, putting into the effort all the strength she could possibly muster…and then the world faded to black.

***

Ludovic sat alone in his library after having drunk himself into a near stupor. He had failed her. He had removed her to the country and hired the very best medical practitioner, thinking he had taken every precaution to insure the best of care for her. In his aristocratic arrogance he thought himself immune from the risks, but the footmen had returned empty handed. Dr. Ford was already engaged in a breech birth, and could not leave for fear of losing his patient. That was hours ago and he still had not arrived. Now Ludovic  was paralyzed with the terror that he would lose Diana.

"My lord! You must come!"

At the maid's cry Ludovic lurched unsteadily to his feet. "Is it Diana?" he blurted.

Before the hapless girl could answer, he bolted past her to rush up the staircase where he froze in the doorway, his focus glued to the pale face and limp form lying in the bed. His vision blurred. The room began to spin until a piercing cry shattered his stunned state of consciousness.

"It's not what you think, my lord," Mrs. Abbott spoke up. "She only sleeps. She fainted away on the last push, but 'twas a good one," she added on a chuckle. "She had a difficult time, but all is well, my lord."

"Thank God!" He exhaled a prayer and for the first time noticed the bundle in the midwife's arms. He peered closer and felt his chest seized anew at the shriveled blue-tinged face. "Is it…is it deformed?" he asked with a feeling of dread.

Mrs. Abbott burst into laughter. "Nay, my lord! 'Tis quite a handsome young lad
ye've sired."

He came closer to examine the tiny creature's features,, only to have them contort and let out a blood--curdling screech.

"My God! What's wrong with it?" he demanded.

Mrs. Abbot chortled. "'Tis naught a nice, plump teat won't fix."

"My son is hungry? Where's the bloody wet nurse?”

"Give him to me," a familiar voice whispered. Ludovic spun around to find Diana reaching out her arms. "I will not have my child at another woman's breast."

"But, my lady," Mrs. Abbott protested, "you are much weakened and need to rest."

"We will rest together
after
I have fed my child."

Still, the woman hesitated.

"You heard her!" Ludovic glowered.

The midwife advance to Diana but she held up a staying hand. "No," she said. "I want you to bring him to me, Ludovic."

"Me?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yes. You. Don't you want to hold your son?"

"But of course I do, my dear, but can't we work up to this by degrees?" He recoiled in horror when the midwife held out the fussing child.

"Coward."

He shook his head in disbelief. "The devil you say!"

"I do say. Ludovic Henri
Montford DeVere,
you
are a spineless coward."

He felt himself puff up in affront. "Very well then. Give me the child." He added for the midwife with an undertone of panic, "But please let us do so closer to the bed." His entire body trembled, overcome with awe when he accepted the now firmly swaddled infant.

"May I see him now?" Diana asked.

"Please." He handed the babe off as briskly as he dared, watching in pure amazement as Diana silenced the cries with her breast. "He's a greedy one, like his father." She grinned.

He perched on the bed beside mother and child while the maids and midwife went about cleaning up the much soiled chamber. "Please," he addressed the servants, "will you give us a moment alone?"

"Aye, my lord," said Mrs. Abbott.

"Of course, my lord," Sally echoed, adding, "What a lovely Valentine's gift my lady has given ye."

"Valentine's gift?" he repeated.

"Aye." Sally grinned. "It be the fourteenth now, my lord. Sweetheart's Day."

"Is that so? Then I would be a most shabby creature had I not also a gift for
my
sweetheart." He disappeared into his dressing room and re-emerged a moment later with an elongated velvet-covered box.

"Open it for me?" Diana asked.

Ludovic flipped open the box and his wife gasped at her first vision of the fifty-carat heart-shaped Burmese ruby pendant, encircled by as many carats in diamonds. "I thought of you the moment I saw it, Diana."

"My God!" she exclaimed. "This must be worth a king's ransom!"

"Closer to a royal duke's ransom." He grinned.

"Whatever the cost, it's priceless to me," she said, her eyes gleaming. She then glanced down at her sleeping son. "It appears he has already exhausted himself."

"Let us hope, for his future wife, that his stamina for that activity improves with age."

"You are incorrigible!"

"Is that a complaint?"

"Never." She paused with a frown. "Although I wouldn't mind if we waited a few weeks… at the least."

Ludovic sighed. "Ford warned me. He said you might never let me touch you again after this ordeal."

"And have you seek your comfort elsewhere? I think not!"

Noticing her gaze drifting back to half mast, he quietly rose quietly, but then they snapped open again. "Darling, what will we call him?"

"Whatever you like, Diana. Just not Ludovic. I despise the name."

Her face fell. "But he is your heir."