At the Duke's Service (3 page)

“Has it not been a happy day, Xander?” Angelina beamed across the small table at him as they dined alone together that evening.

Alexander's gaze glowered over the rim of his glass of claret as he grudgingly acknowledged how lovely Angelina looked this evening in a gown of cream silk, with her golden hair curling onto her bare shoulders.

In fact, Alexander had found it a most frustrating day!

For one thing, it was proving far more difficult to relocate Angelina than he had initially thought.

Having promised Hawkins that he would see to Angelina's future, Alexander could not just throw her out into the street to fend for herself. Neither could he send her to a hotel when she had no chaperone.

Instead, he had decided that perhaps his aunt Elizabeth might be persuaded into having the girl—as long as Angelina was cautioned first concerning any attempt on her part to discuss the finer points of her education with his aunt…Alexander had driven Angelina in his carriage to his aunt's house in Grosvenor Square this morning, only to find his aged relative had unhelpfully taken herself off to the
country for the day to visit her daughter, and was not expected back to town until much later this evening.

Alexander did not even entertain the idea of sending Angelina back to Brighton to the dubious guardianship of the overinformative Miss Bristow!

Consequently Angelina had now been at St. Claire House with him for almost twenty-four hours, during which time she had more than capably confirmed her claim to be able to deport herself with all the elegance and charm of a lady.

Andrews, Hopkins much younger replacement, had taken one look at Angelina this morning, when she strolled into Alexander's study uninvited, and completely fallen under her spell, rendering the normally reserved young man virtually incapable of fulfilling his secretarial duties.

The household staff were falling over themselves to accommodate her. So much so that their meal this evening had consisted of Angelina's favorite dishes.

All that was needed to complete the bedlam would have been a visit from one of his younger brothers, who no doubt would have become equally smitten with Angelina's beauty and charm. Luckily Alexander had at least been spared that!

Still, despite keeping himself busy, it had hardly been a happy day as far as Alexander was concerned, and dinner alone with Angelina was making his head ache almost as much as another part of his anatomy
had once again begun to do the moment he joined her.

“You are looking tense again, Xander,” Angel chided softly before rising to her feet. “I shall endeavor to help you feel better.”

Alexander could envisage several ways in which his tension might be eased, but he turned to eye her warily as she moved to stand behind him. “What are you doing?”

She smiled. “One of the girls at school suffered from severe headaches and I learned a way in which I might ease them. Just relax, Xander.” She turned him firmly to face forward, before placing her hands either side of his head so that her thumbs rested against his temples and her fingers over his brow. “There, does that not feel better?” she prompted huskily as she rested his head back against her breasts so that she might look down into his face as she continued to lightly massage his brow and temples.

Alexander gave a groan as he kept his eyes firmly closed, dark lashes resting against harshly chiseled cheeks, and his mouth thinned in a grim line.

“You really must try to relax, Xander,” Angel encouraged soothingly.

How could Alexander possibly relax when the back of his head was nestled between Angelina's breasts?

He could not suffer this torment a moment longer…!

He had watched as Angelina charmed all about her all day. Listened as her tinkling laugh filled his normally austere and quiet household. All the time
wishing that her charm was for him alone. Her delicate laugh for his ears only…!

Now, to have her touch him—!

Alexander jerked away from her caressing hands as he stood abruptly to turn and take Angelina in his arms, pulling her fiercely against him as his mouth captured hers in a kiss that owed nothing to gentleness and everything to the wild clamoring need he had to possess her.

Angel felt a thrill of excitement as Alexander pressed her body fiercely against his as his lips claimed hers, her arms moving up so that she could release the ribbon from his hair and entangle her fingers within his thick dark locks.

The initial fire of his hunger satisfied, Alexander began to flick his tongue lightly against her lips before surging hotly inside the heated cavern beneath, Angelina's tongue meeting his in a duel of desire that could have only one outcome.

Her throat arched as Alexander broke the kiss to nuzzle and then bite the sensitive lobes of her ear before trailing his burning lips down the length of her throat to seek the swelling tops of her breasts.

“Oh, yes, Xander…!” she gasped encouragingly as he impatiently pushed aside the material of her gown so that his tongue might meet one roused nipple. “Please, do not stop…!” She moaned as she cradled the back of his head to hold him against her, her knees
buckling slightly as Alexander began to suck oh-so-satisfyingly.

“You have far too many clothes on!” he growled disapprovingly as he raised his head slightly, his breath hot against the cool dampness of her breast.

“We both do,” she acknowledged breathlessly. “Lock the door, Xander, so that we shall not be disturbed.”

“Angelina—” Alexander's protest arrested in his throat as she stepped back to unfasten half a dozen tiny—and conveniently placed—buttons at the back of her gown, before allowing it to slide down her arms to fall onto the carpeted floor.

Any chance Alexander might have had of putting an end to this dangerous situation fled completely as Angelina stood before him dressed only in her almost transparent chemise, which clearly outlined her firm breasts, and white stockings that stopped tantalisingly short of the nestle of dark blond curls now clearly visible between her thighs.

Until the advent of Angelina into his life, Alexander had always prided himself on his self-control, but he would have to be made of marble to be able to withstand the invitation Angelina's seminakedness now represented.

“The door, Xander,” she reminded as she reached up to take the pins from her hair. The riotous golden curls fell down to her waist before she slipped the thin straps of her chemise down her arms to bare her lovely breasts and curvaceous hips, as she now wore only
those tantalising white stockings held up with garters of blue ribbon the exact color of her eyes.

The darkness of Alexander's gaze remained transfixed on all that wanton loveliness even as he moved to the door to turn the key in the lock.

The turning of that lock brought Alexander momentarily to his senses and he gave a shake of his head in an effort to clear it of its riotous longings. “Angelina, we cannot…”

“We will not complete the act tonight, if you prefer that we not do so, Xander. It will be enough for now if we give each other pleasure,” she promised huskily.

“What—” His second protest ended abruptly as Angelina moved across the distance that separated them to stand in front of him, the warmth of her nakedness, pressed against him from breast to thigh, becoming his complete undoing as he pulled her into him roughly and his lips once again laid siege to hers.

Even as his kisses deepened, his breathing becoming ragged, Angelina reached up to pull his jacket down his arms and loosen the necktie at his throat, before unfastening the top of his shirt and unbuttoning his waistcoat. She then slide it down his arms before pulling his shirt from his breeches and sliding her hands underneath the material so that she might touch the hot, bare flesh of his back and chest.

Alexander groaned low in his throat as Angelina began to move her hands across that muscled heat, the groan turning to a growl as she ran her nails over the
hard pebbles of his nipples nestled amongst the darkness of the hair on his chest. She moved her hands lower still as she followed the path of that soft, downy hair to the waistband of his breeches, caressing the hardness there that throbbed and strained against the tightly stretched material.

Alexander wrenched his mouth from hers. “Angel…!”

His first use of the name she preferred made her bolder still as she released the buttons of his breeches to allow all the pulsing hardness to surge powerfully free, and her fingers curled about him.

“Angel—”

“Sit, Xander.” Angelina stepped back to urge him in the direction of one of the dining room chairs, before dropping down onto her knees in front of him.

“Angel, I cannot allow you to—Oh, my God…!” Alexander's cry was one of pure ecstasy as he felt the heat of her mouth on him, his fingers clenching the arms of the chair as her tongue circled the tip of his erection.

Alexander's head fell back, his knuckles white as he continued to clutch the arms of the chair, teeth gritted, jaw rigid, as Angelina began to suck.

It was all Alexander could do to keep himself from instantly giving in to his release. Instead, he suffered the agonies of hell for long, timeless minutes as Angelina continued to alternately lick and suck as her
hands caressed him.

How he needed…wanted—“Take all of me, Angel! He groaned as he reached down to thread his hands fiercely into her golden curls that draped so erotically across his hips and thighs. As she took the full length of him into the heat of her mouth he began to thrust his hips until he felt his climax surging in an agony of pleasure such as Alexander had never experienced before.

Angelina instantly drew back, having been told the exact moment to cease the ministrations of her lips and tongue. Knowing that a man took time to recover from climax, if she paused now she would be able to reinvigorate him, to bring him to that peak again and again.

“Don't stop, Angel…!” Alexander murmured achingly.

Angelina kissed down his still-pulsing length, enjoying Alexander's groans of pleasure and renewed hardness as her fingers encircled him, and she began to rub rhythmically up and down until she gave him the pleasure he so sought.

Dear God, how she had pleasured him, Alexander thought as he felt the ache in every part of his body from the fierceness of his release.

A release that Angel had still to attain herself.

Alexander pulled her up so that she now stood between his parted thighs, his eyes dark as he gazed upon the firm thrust of her breasts. “I believe it is now my turn to pleasure you, Angel,” he drawled in
anticipation.

“Yes, please, Xander,” she accepted almost shyly.

Alexander's gaze held hers as he moved his mouth onto one bared breast, Angel's hands clinging to the broadness of his shoulders as his tongue stroked across her hardened nipple. One of his hands moved down below the gentle slope of her waist in search of the nub nestled in the softness of her curls and, upon finding it, caressed her rhythmically until she moaned and writhed beneath him.

Angelina's breathing became ragged and uneven, and she parted her legs to give him greater access, allowing him to slide one finger inside her, and then two, as he thrust into her rhythmically, all the while the soft pad of his thumb caressing the hardened, pulsing nub above until she collapsed weakly against him.

Alexander raised his head to look at her as he slowly slid his fingers from inside her. Immediately he knew he wanted to give her that pleasure again.

He grasped her hand in his as he led her over to the rug in front of the unlit fireplace, laying her down upon its softness, before spreading her legs wide so that he might kneel between them. He thought how beautiful she looked as he lowered his head to rasp the heat of his tongue over the still-swollen place between her thighs, and began to rouse her once more.

Angelina cried out as Alexander's hands moved
upward, over her stomach, to cup both her breasts, fingers caressing and lightly pinching her nipples as his tongue pressed against with ever-increasing urgency.

She could feel the rising of her second release as the pleasure became almost unbearable and she arched up into him. Her breathing became shallow as that pleasure centered, pooled, at the place Alexander stroked so rhythmically with his tongue. Higher, and still higher, that pleasure rose, until Angelina felt as if she might shatter into a millions pieces.

“Oh, Xander, please,” she choked, her fingers becoming entangled in the dark thickness of his hair as she pressed him harder against her. “Please…!”

One of his hands released her breast to once again seek out the throbbing nub hidden in her curls, stroking harder, and then harder still, as his tongue thrust deep inside her, over and over again.

Angel almost sat up as she cried out in ecstasy, her body meeting Alexander's thrusts as her climax flowed through her, before she fell back, her breathing labored and rasping.

Alexander moved slowly up the length of her body to lie beside her, his head against her breast as his hand moved to curve about its twin, fingers lightly teasing the erectness of her nipple.

Alexander found himself thinking of numerous—no, dozens!—of ways in which he wished to make love with and to Angel. Again. And again.

But where? When? Did he make Angel his
mistress, after all? No! He could not—would not—do that to this warmly giving and beautiful woman. What to do with her, then? How could he keep her in his life and at the same not be her ruination? What—

“The reality is much more…exciting than the theory, is it not, Xander?” Angel breathed happily at his side. “It was truly a—a wondrous experience!”

He laughed softly, forgetting the future for the moment. Time enough to decide upon that later. For now it was enough that he held this enchanting creature in his arms.“It was indeed,” he assured warmly. “In fact, I have become quite taken with the teachings of your Miss Bristow!”

“Did I do everything correctly, Xander?” Angelina prompted softly.

“Everything!” he assured her with a self-derisive chuckle, as he recalled how completely he had been undone as Angel had kissed and caressed him with her own unique blend of innocence and seduction.

Angelina's face glowed, her eyes shining with emotion. “I am so very glad that I pleased you, Xander.”

If Alexander had been any more “pleased” he may have expired completely! As it was, he still could not believe the intimacies he had shared with this young lady. He had never, ever allowed himself release in a woman's mouth before. He had not “allowed” it this time, either, he recalled ruefully; his arousal, the
excitement of Angel's mouth and hands upon him, had been such that he had simply been unable to prevent it!

Still, indulging in such licentious behavior in his own home had been both rash and impulsive. Anyone might have found them together—

“Stourbridge!” The loud and imperious barking of his name reverberated through the house.

“Oh, God, no…!” Alexander gasped in protest as he turned to stare toward the locked dining room door.

“What is it?” Angelina looked up at him in concern.

“Not what, Angel, but who!” Alexander corrected harshly as he rose hastily to his feet and began to pull on his clothes.

“Who, then?” Angelina prompted as she less hurriedly got to her feet.

He fastened his breeches before answering her. “It would seem that my aunt Elizabeth has indeed returned to town and decided to pay me a visit…!”