Persuading Prudence (6 page)

The bed creaked and moaned as he pummeled her without mercy, her passionate cries of pleasure inflaming him impossibly further. His eyes teared with the intensity of overwhelming pleasure that seized him, and he buried his face in her hair as he fought to hold back his release and prolong the feeling.

“Kolton! Oh, God,
Kolton
,” she cried digging her heels into the mattress and thrusting her hips madly against him as her inner muscles contracted almost painfully around him.

He threw back his head and shouted her name as his balls drew tight and his orgasm hit with blinding intensity. He wouldn’t have been surprised if his balls imploded, so strong was his release. He gripped her shoulders from behind, pulling her down to meet each of his forward thrusts, driving himself harder into her as his seed shot from his cock in forceful streams deep into her welcoming passage.

Chapter Seven

She was a shameless hussy.

At this very moment, a naked Earl of Ravensbrook was collapsed atop her, his cheek pressed to hers, his breathing startlingly harsh and hot as it burst from between his lips and fanned her neck. His member was still inside her, his seed slowly trickling out of her to the bed sheets beneath them.

And she’d never felt more satisfied.

Did that make her a harlot? No, she decided, she had not encouraged him to make love to her—just the opposite, in fact. But she had enjoyed it.
God
, had she enjoyed it. He was sober and in full possession of his faculties. He had truly wanted
her
this time, not some other woman.

So, what did it mean? Was he as passionate as he’d been with her with every woman he was intimate with? He hadn’t reacted as strongly with her the first time but, then again, he’d been muddled with drink. . .

He mumbled something about crushing her and rolled to his side pulling her with him. As she snuggled against his side, he stroked her hair tenderly and Prudence wondered if she was dreaming. Kolton couldn’t really want
her
like that...could he? He’d never looked at her in any way she would ever describe as desirable. In fact, she sometimes thought he didn’t notice her much at all. If it weren’t for the pleasant ache between her legs and the feel of his hard body against hers, she would say that what had just happened was part of some elaborate fantasy her mind had dreamt up.

Prudence had to admit that she liked being the center of Kolton’s attention very much – even if he could be a tad overbearing. She snickered to herself. A
tad
? Dragging her off to the wilderness to seduce her into accepting his proposal was more than a
tad
in her opinion.

Kolton’s light snoring indicated that he had fallen asleep. Raising her head from where it rested against his shoulder, Prudence gazed at his face. Relaxed while he slumbered, he looked vulnerable, more like a young boy than a carefree man of the world. His hair was mussed, a stray lock falling over his forehead adding a bit of mischief to his appearance.

Prudence was unprepared for the warmth of affection that filled her chest. She moved away from him and lay on her back. She couldn’t fall in love with him any more than she could marry him. To do so would bring her nothing but heartache. He didn’t love her, he probably never would. No,
probably
made it sound like there was hope for a life to which she was never destined to have. She didn’t understand why Kolton was pursuing her like he was. She doubted their first time in Bath had created a child. So why wasn’t he relieved when she turned down his proposal? Why did he insist on trapping himself in a loveless marriage when she had given him a perfectly good plan of escape? And why did the fact that he was so determined to marry her make her heart flutter despite knowing marriage between them could be disastrous?

Her eyelids grew heavy as she pondered the situation. As sleep wove its silky web around her, one thought drifted through her mind: all that had occurred tonight, the passion, the pleasure, stemmed from the night before and the one and only wantonly reckless act she had ever committed – tossing caution, and her nightgown, aside and deciding to sleep naked in her bed.

Prudence lay in a lush, green field. A hot breeze tickled her neck and brushed lightly over her naked body.

Naked?

Since when did she loll about in the grass, much less
unclothed
? Prudence lifted her lids and attempted to focus her bleary eyes to study her surroundings. A lamp burned softly beside the bed in a room that in no way resembled her bedroom in London. From what she could tell, the room was much bigger, but that was about all she could make out with the heavy drapes blocking the morning light.

Warm breath caressed her neck and she turned her head to stare into a set of rich brown eyes framed by the kind of dark, thick lashes most women would sell their sweet old, grey-haired granny to possess.

“Hello there, my sleeping beauty,” said the deep masculine voice belonging to owner of those wickedly handsome eyes.

“Kolton?” she whispered, her voice still raspy from sleep.

Kolton propped himself on his elbow next to her. “Yes, love. Did you know you look like an angel when you sleep?” Prudence pulled a face and he chuckled. “Yes, it sounds cliché, but it is true. It is almost impossible to believe you are the same passionate creature I held in my arms but a few hours ago.”

“You are trying to seduce me with words again to sweet-talk me into marrying you,” she stated flatly.

“Ah, if it were only that easy, my dear Pru; but, alas, it is not, and I will not even try. Unless, that is, it’s working; in which case, I might reconsider.” He waggled his brows at her, his eyes twinkled, his lips parted in one of his well practiced, heart melting smiles.

Oooh! He didn’t play fair. “No, I agree. It would be too easy for you if I did, and I wouldn’t believe you in any case.”

His eyes rounded in mock horror and he placed a hand over his heart. “You wound me, my lady.” His face took on a more serious, dissecting expression. “You really don’t realize how beautiful you are, do you, Pru?”

Prudence gave an unladylike snort. “If that were truly the case, I would not have remained a wallflower my entire season and the seven years since. Why do you insist that I am attractive when we both know I am not?”

“And why do you insist on hiding your beauty behind drab dresses, a hideous hairstyle, and spectacles?”

“I don’t hide,” she sputtered. “Loose dresses hide my less than favorable curves, my hairstyle is easy to care for, and if I do not wear my spectacles I can never remember where I left them last.” Well it was mostly true, but she didn’t want to dig deeper into the implications of the thought.

“Your dresses only serve to make you appear fat, your serviceable hairstyle makes your features look harsh, and you could find a way to keep track of your spectacles if you truly desired. No,” he said, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear, “you are hiding from something. It makes me curious to know why.”

“I believe, my lord, that curiosity is known to have killed the cat,” she quipped primly. “I have nothing to hide, or to hide from.”

“Yes, and cats have nine lives. Satisfying their curiosity always brings them back. The fact is, whether intentional or not, you
have
been doing your best to play down how attractive you are and I, for one, believe you should stop.”

“Another dictate for me to follow blindly, my lord?” she challenged.

“No, just common sense, m’dear. After all, how many sane people take a rose and bury it in the sand? An intelligent person would put it on display for all to admire.” He cupped her chin, brushing her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.

“Hmph. More pretty words,” she grumbled.

He sighed. “I see it is going to be my job to convince you of the truth. I believe,” he continued, flashing another devastating smile, the mischievous twinkle back in his eye, “I will start with showing you how desirable you are.” He lowered his head and claimed her lips with his.

Prudence wanted to push him away – she
really
did – but, as she seemed to do every time he kissed her, she melted into a puddle of liquid desire the moment his lips touched hers. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body to his, drinking in the sensation of his naked flesh against hers.

Kolton slid his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him. He tilted his head and deepened the kiss while pressing his stiff erection against her belly.

“Can you deny I want you?” he demanded softly, moving his hips against her suggestively as his mouth left hers to nibble at her neck.

“Well, it would be difficult to deny you obviously want sex,” she stated dryly.

“Damn it, Pru,” he ground out, looking her in the eye with an annoyed expression. “I want
you
. Do you think I could be this hard with so little effort if I were not attracted to you?”

Prudence looked at him and blinked. “I don’t know. Could you?”

***

The woman was going to drive him to an early grave! “No, I couldn’t. Well,” he amended rolling his eyes skyward, “I might be able to force some kind of response if I really worked at it, but I don’t imagine it would be easy.”

“Oh.”

“And I wouldn’t wake you up to initiate an intimate encounter, that’s for certain.”

“Oh,” she repeated apparently at a loss for words for once.

“Now, where was I? Oh, yes, right here.” He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to her neck once again, licking and nibbling at her flesh.

“Oh my. That feels nice, Kolton,” she gasped.

“Mmm, yes, it does,” he drawled, grinding his erection against her soft belly. He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, and situated her so her legs straddled his hips.

Sweet Lord, she is magnificent!

With her hair in rioting waves cascading over her shoulders and down her back, her face languid and flushed with desire, Prudence was sex personified. Kolton’s eyes devoured the picture she presented; her breasts heavy and full, nipples boldly peeking through her magnificent mane, her legs parted, giving a tantalizing glimpse of her moist center as her beautiful bottom rested on his upper thighs.

The situation felt unreal, as if this woman atop him were not really Prudence, but a goddess who had taken her place. How could he have known her,
lived
in the same house with her for so many years, and never caught the faintest glimpse of the vivacious creature living beneath the drab façade she’d erected?

Perhaps he sensed it the other night when he’d stumbled into her room and climbed into her bed. Maybe fate decided he should discover, not just her beauty, but the other qualities he found so attractive: such as her humor, her sometimes sarcastic wit, her poise, and intelligence, only when he was ready to appreciate them.

Her first season, he had been six-and-twenty, reckless and selfish as hell. There was no way he could have valued more than her beauty. But now, at four-and-thirty, as a more mature, discerning, and knowledgeable man of society and what it had to offer, he knew Prudence was a rare find. She knew how to speak her mind, and she was creative and smart. She would make a perfect match for him, a continued source of challenge that would keep him on his toes.

She ran a soft hand down his smooth chest, tracing the hills and valleys of muscle she found there. “You have a strange look on your face, my lord. What is brewing in that wicked mind of yours?”

“Strange look?” he said lifting a brow. “What kind of strange look?”

“The same look you wear when cook serves your favorite desert: dreamy and excited at the same time,” she replied tracing his navel with her fingertip.

“I was just imagining waking every morning with you beside me, having your body near me.”

Prudence gave a weary sigh. “Kolton, I have told you—”

“Atop me, beneath me, on your knees in front of me, bent over the bed as I take you from behind,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

“Lord Ravensbrook!” she all but shouted in indignant surprise.

“What? You don’t like the idea? How disappointing.”

“It is not that I...that is, the idea has its...Oh, bother! I still have not agreed to marry you and you insist on planning our future together,” she huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh, now, don’t hide those beautiful breasts of yours,” he insisted tugging her arms away and eliciting an unladylike grunt of disgust from the woman destined to be his future wife.

He hissed in a breath as her arms fell away and her hand brushed his arousal.

“Did I hurt you?” Her disgruntled expression gave way immediately to concern.

“Oh no, love, just the opposite, in fact.” To prove his point, he took her hand and groaned as he placed it on his cock and encouraged her to caress him.

Her eyes grew wide as she stared down at his member. “My goodness,” she breathed tracing the head and trailing her fingers over the now throbbing length. “I have never felt skin so soft.” She wrapped her fingers around him, not quite able to touch her middle finger to her thumb. “I cannot think how this was able to fit inside me without splitting me in two.”

“Nature provides for a great many things. Ah, yes, that’s good. Keep stroking it just like that.” He closed his eyes and ran his hands up and down her thighs with appreciation.

“You like it when I touch you with my hand?” she asked coyly.

He cracked open one eye and studied her a moment before closing it again. “With your hand, your mouth, your cun—”

“My mouth?” she exclaimed in shock. “Women
do
that?”

He lifted his head and looked at her. He crossed his eyes briefly then grinned devilishly. She giggled, a sound he’d never heard from her before. It was soft and feminine and wave of tenderness swelled in his chest, catching him off guard.

“Did you not enjoy it yourself when I used my mouth between your legs?” he reminded her. “Or was it so unexceptional that you have forgotten?”