Authors: Kate Pearce
Simply Carnal (22 page)
The jade felt cold against her heat and far more rigid than a man’s cock. She hissed out a breath when Christian’s tongue licked at her clit.
“I’m going to slide the other one inside your cunt. Don’t come.”
She held still as he slid the jade home and then sat back to admire her. Tentatively she squeezed her internal muscles. Although she could sense the phallus, it was more a provocative sensation than a feeling of fullness. God, if only she could move. She realized she was straining against the restraints.
Christian looked down at her. “What’s wrong, Mrs. Smith? Not enough cock for you?”
She wanted to snarl at him, and concentrated on channeling her feelings into her gaze. He broke the contact by bending his head and slowly licking his way around her sex, sucking her labia into his mouth until she could feel them swelling and throbbing. Of course, he clamped them, capturing both the intensity of the feeling and the heat in each throbbing piece of flesh. Her clit came next, the sting of the clamp and the gradual increase in pressure as he screwed it tighter made her writhe against her bonds and made him laugh.
Every part of her
needed;
every pulse of her heart was echoed in her sex and in her nipples. He reared above her, his gaze roving over her exposed flesh, her desire reflected in his narrowed stare. Suddenly he rolled on top of her and caught her face in his hands. He kissed her with a brutal possessiveness that took no prisoners and claimed her as his own. His cock thrust against her clothing, and she cried out, wanting him lower, wanting him buried deep inside her. But just the pressure of his body was enough to make her climax, and she shook with it, her wail of mixed pleasure and denial screaming into his mouth, leaving her shaken and breathless.
needed;
every pulse of her heart was echoed in her sex and in her nipples. He reared above her, his gaze roving over her exposed flesh, her desire reflected in his narrowed stare. Suddenly he rolled on top of her and caught her face in his hands. He kissed her with a brutal possessiveness that took no prisoners and claimed her as his own. His cock thrust against her clothing, and she cried out, wanting him lower, wanting him buried deep inside her. But just the pressure of his body was enough to make her climax, and she shook with it, her wail of mixed pleasure and denial screaming into his mouth, leaving her shaken and breathless.
By the time she opened her eyes, he was busy untying her wrists and ankles. She lay stretched out as he’d left her, her mind too confused to understand, her body still desperate to be taken.
Christian glanced down at Elizabeth. By God, she looked glorious, her sex decorated for his pleasure, her mouth swollen from his kisses, and her nipples two hard points of need. He slowly tucked his reluctant cock back into his breeches and did up the placket.
She watched him from the bed, her gray eyes full of passion and gathering bewilderment.
“I think I’ve proved beyond doubt that you are quite capable of climaxing, Mrs. Smith, don’t you?” He bowed. “Would you like me to carry you back to your own bed?”
Her hand shot out and grabbed his thigh, preventing him from moving anywhere. He obligingly held still while she struggled to roll over amidst the ruin of her clothes and the tangled scarves.
“You can’t mean to leave me like this?”
He frowned down at her. “I can do what I damn well like.”
“You can’t!”
Her grip intensified and this time he managed to pull away from her. He took a step back and she launched herself at him. He fell to the floor, bringing her down on top of him. She tried to slap his face, and he blocked the blow, keeping hold of her wrist. With his free hand, he dragged her gown and petticoats off her, then twisted her underneath him to finish the job and rid her of her corsets and shift.
“What’s wrong, Elizabeth?”
She squirmed underneath him and tried to kick him. His body reacted and his cock jerked against his breeches.
“You are ... selfish!”
He raised his eyebrows. “I made you come several times. I came only once. How is that selfish?”
“Because I want you inside me!”
He slipped his hand between them and roughly fondled her sex, his fingers catching on the clamps. “Here?”
“God, yes!”
“Right now?”
She tried to bite his right shoulder and he quickly unbuttoned his breeches. He shoved his knee between her thighs, opening her wide. He touched the phallus embedded in her cunt and slid two fingers in above it. Her eyes widened as he stretched his fingers. “I’m not taking this out. If you want me so much, you’ll take my cock in here too.”
He positioned his cock where his fingers worked her and pressed deep along the line of the dildo. His shaft jerked at the hard, soft contrast of her forgiving flesh against the unyielding stone. He stayed deep, using his hips to drive him forward and her urgent response to meld them together into an earth-shattering climax.
Before she even finished coming, he picked her up, put her back on the bed, and placed his mouth over her clit, sucking her hard into his mouth. Her fingers tightened painfully in his hair and she moaned his name. He removed the dildo and stabbed his tongue repeatedly inside her, using his fingers to drive her into another convulsive climax.
His cock was hard again, so he reversed his position and fed it into her willing mouth, letting her suck him to his demanding rhythm while he pleasured her cunt. But it wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. He pulled out and rolled her onto her front, shoving his cock back inside her in a fast, unforgiving drive that had her thrashing around. He held her steady, one arm wrapped around her breasts, the other teasing, tweaking, hurting her clit until she came for him again and he came, too, in thick hot waves that seemed to go on forever.
With a groan, he gathered her close to his chest and lay on his back, letting her fall over him like a blanket. She felt right tucked against his heart. He’d never thought he’d find a woman like her. Did she understand that on some level? He still wasn’t sure.
Much later, she stirred in his arms. “What do they offer at the Demon Club that is better than this?”
He slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the canopy over the bed. “There is nothing better than this.”
She stayed silent for so long that he thought she had gone to sleep.
“Then why do you go there?”
He opened his mouth to tell her to mind her own business and then closed it again. Would she understand? Had anyone ever actually asked him
why
he went rather than simply condemning him for going?
why
he went rather than simply condemning him for going?
“At first, I enjoyed the novelty and unpredictability of the place. If you lose a game of cards, you gain a point. When you reach five points, you have to offer your sexual services to anyone who wins the next hand at any of the tables.”
“It sounds horrible.” She shivered and moved closer to him.
“I rarely lose at cards, so I’ve never reached five points. For a while I was the major recipient of a lot of sexual favors from both men and women, most of whom were reluctant participants at best.”
“You probably liked that.”
He paused to consider her words. “I suppose I did. I like a challenge in bed. I like a fight. But after a while even that palled. I knew that I was taking advantage of those poor souls rather than engaging in a mutually agreed upon pleasurable sexual act.
“I also became aware that there was a certain set of men who were intent on manipulating the gambling either for personal gain or revenge. I refuse to fuck anyone for someone else’s personal vendetta.”
“Your mother doesn’t think the place is honest.”
Christian kissed the top of Elizabeth’s head. “She is extremely aware of all the competition to her pleasure house and is very knowledgeable about the unpleasantness behind such businesses.”
“But she worries about you too.”
He felt his peace evaporating. “Do we have to talk about my mother?”
Elizabeth sighed against his chest. “Why do you dislike her so?”
“I don’t dislike her.”
“Is it because she is so successful? A lot of men do not like women to make a success of their lives. And from what I understand, your mother did it against incredible odds.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“No, but I think everyone else who works here has told me some version of the story of how she started the pleasure house.”
He rolled away from her and stared up at the ceiling. “She certainly got what she wanted.”
“I know. A secure future for her children.” She hesitated. “I can only admire her determination to succeed against all the odds.”
“Don’t forget, in order
to
succeed, she gave up her children.”
to
succeed, she gave up her children.”
Elizabeth came up on her elbows and looked down at him, her long hair brushing his skin. “But she reclaimed you as soon as she could.”
“Not exactly. We came looking for her and found out she wasn’t a housekeeper but a brothel keeper.”
“That must have been horrible for all of you.”
“All of us?”
She hesitated. “Mostly for you and your sisters, but I can understand why your mother lied.”
“I can’t,” he muttered.
“Because she was trying to protect you from what she had to do.” She kissed his nose. “A mother’s love is quite ferocious.” Her voice faltered. “I doubt I would be so brave if I were in her shoes. In truth, I know I wouldn’t be.”
He tried to make light of it. “I’m sure, unlike my mother, you’d never put yourself in the position of having to choose.”
She stiffened. “How do you know that?”
He shrugged. “Because I’m like you. We are survivors. We’re too stubborn to need anyone else or care to sacrifice ourselves.”
“That’s not true.” She touched his stubbled cheek. “Everyone needs someone.”
“Even you?”
He realized he was holding his breath. He couldn’t really see her face in the darkness, but he knew she was looking at him. He almost flinched when her mouth found his and she kissed him. Desire flowed through him so quickly that he was instantly aroused again. She moved over him, her sultry core brushing the tip of his straining cock, and took him in. He sighed as she started to move over him, rising and falling, gripping and releasing his cock with every upward and downward motion.
He put his hand around her neck and drew her down until his mouth could latch onto her breasts. She whispered his name and he felt her come all around him. His beleaguered cock couldn’t last against such power, and he joined her, his climax deep and sure inside her.
She collapsed over him and he held her there, his cock still inside her, her head tucked against his shoulder.
“Thank you, Christian.”
He closed his eyes and realized that for the first time in a long while, he was at peace. She understood and accepted him in some fundamental way that had never happened before. It only occurred to him as he was drifting off to sleep that Elizabeth hadn’t answered his question after all....
19
“M
rs. Smith?”
rs. Smith?”
“Yes?” Elizabeth turned as the butler who guarded the front door of the pleasure house beckoned to her. She’d been about to start her morning tour of the house to make sure everything was in place for the incoming guests.
“There is a lady here demanding to see Mr. Delornay. I’ve already told her that he isn’t available, but she refuses to leave.”
“Do you wish me to speak to her?”
The butler looked relieved. “If you would, Mrs. Smith. I put her in the morning room to your right.”
Elizabeth opened the door into the morning room, and the woman who paced the hearth swung around, her face falling as she registered that only Elizabeth was there. She started to pout.
“Where is Christian?”
Elizabeth curtsied. “I do apologize, ma’am, but Mr. Delornay is out on business this morning. Do you wish to leave him a message?”
“Who on earth are you?” the woman demanded, tapping her foot.
“I’m Mr. Delornay’s assistant,” Elizabeth said as she mentally catalogued the expense of the woman’s clothing, her fragile beauty, and the fact that she wore a wedding ring. “I can assure you that anything you wish to pass on to Mr. Delornay will remain strictly confidential.”
“I’m Lady Kelveston. I’m sure Mr. Delornay has spoken of me.” The woman drew closer, and Elizabeth tried not to inhale her cloying perfume. “When will he be back?”
“I’m not sure, my lady. I only know he intended to visit his solicitors.”
“I can’t afford to wait around here all day,” Lady Kelveston whined. “How typical of Christian not to be available when he is wanted. Do you know the woman he intends to bring to the orgy with him?”
“I wasn’t aware of any orgy, my lady. Mr. Delornay is a very private man.”
For a second, Lady Kelveston’s eyes narrowed and her gaze ran over Elizabeth. She sighed, opened her reticule, and drew out an engraved card. “Give him this and tell him I am looking forward to seeing him.”
Elizabeth took the invitation card without looking at it. “Of course, my lady. I’ll see that he gets it.”
“You may also tell him that we have some surprises in store specifically for him.”
Lady Kelveston didn’t bother to express her thanks or finish the conversation before she headed for the door. Elizabeth remained where she was until she heard the front door shut. She turned the card over and read the invitation. It was from the Demon Club and requested Christian’s presence for a night of sin on the following Sunday.
Elizabeth studied the engraving and recoiled from the strong scent still clinging to it. She remembered that scent. It had been all over Christian the last time he’d obviously been to the Demon Club. Deep in thought, she retraced her steps back up the stairs and into Christian’s study.
It was quiet in there, and she was grateful for both the space and the privacy. Lady Kelveston’s tone had been proprietary when she’d spoken of Christian. But Elizabeth remembered that Christian hadn’t seemed particularly enamored by the woman who had covered him with perfume and scratched his face. She sat at the desk and laid the invitation on the blotter.
She couldn’t believe that Lady Kelveston was the reason why Christian frequented the Demon Club. His reluctant explanations the night before had hinted that he now attended the club to right wrongs, not to indulge in sexual games. She believed that. He’d seemed quite sincere after the passion of his lovemaking.
She thought about his mouth on hers and pressed her fingers to her lips. Her perfect lover. She’d finally found him, and she already knew she’d have to leave him. Would he miss her? She’d thought not, had congratulated herself that at least he’d escape unscathed. But after last night, she was no longer sure. There had been something in his voice and in the way he had possessed her so thoroughly that had spoken of deeper and unacknowledged needs.
Oh, God, she wanted to stay with him. To share his sharp wit, his bed, his
life,
to show him that he could fulfill all her needs and that she could do the same for him. Elizabeth put her face in her hands and groaned. And yet hadn’t he said they were both too independent to need anyone else? He’d also suggested that women, like his mother, who put anything ahead of their children were unnatural. She’d tried to show him with her words and her body that that wasn’t so, but perhaps she had failed.
life,
to show him that he could fulfill all her needs and that she could do the same for him. Elizabeth put her face in her hands and groaned. And yet hadn’t he said they were both too independent to need anyone else? He’d also suggested that women, like his mother, who put anything ahead of their children were unnatural. She’d tried to show him with her words and her body that that wasn’t so, but perhaps she had failed.
It was too late to change her destiny now. She had to get back to France, rescue Jean-Pierre and Evangeline, and take them to safety. What happened to her after that was irrelevant. She had to make up for the damage she had inflicted on her husband’s family.
She took a deep breath and raised her head, only to find that Christian had come quietly into the room and was watching her. She looked at his familiar face, his aristocratic cheekbones and fine hazel eyes now brimming with disquiet. Such memories would have to last her a lifetime.
“Is everything all right, Mrs. Smith?”
She summoned a smile from God knew where and vacated her seat. “Yes, Mr. Delornay. Did you need something?”
He continued to watch her from the doorway, one shoulder wedged against the frame. “I said I would accompany you to the jewelers this morning. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. I’ll just fetch my bonnet and coat.” How ironic that his kind act would hasten her on her journey away from him.
She went to hurry past him, but he stopped her with a gentle hand on her elbow and looked down into her eyes. “Are you sure that you are all right?”
“Yes. It has been a busy morning.”
“And a busy night.” His slight smile made her want to weep. “I’ll wait for you in the hall.”
Later that afternoon, as the other members of the pleasure house staff milled around the kitchen talking, Christian sat and contemplated his coffee. Ambrose took the seat opposite him and he looked up.
“Elizabeth is with Marie-Claude on the second floor.”
“Good,” Christian said absently. “I’ve told the entire staff to keep an eye on her, but you never know what a desperate woman will do.”
“Then why did you agree to let her pawn her jewelry?”
“I had to do something to stop her running off in a panic yesterday. I’m convinced she means to leave for France as soon as she can.”
“I think she does too. Whatever she needs to recover from her husband’s family is obviously important to her.”
“We should find out tomorrow what that is. Richard sent me a note to tell me that Elizabeth’s cousin, Armand, has arrived at Dover and that he’ll bring him to meet me here.”
“Do you think we can keep her here that long?”
Christian knew his smile wasn’t pleasant. “I’ll tie her to my bed, if necessary. She’d enjoy that.”
“You want her to stay, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, but I’m not going to make her decisions for her. She’s had enough men in her life trying to control her without me adding to it.”
“That must be hard for you.”
Christian laughed. “You have no idea. When I said I’d happily tie her to my bed, I meant it.”
“I believe she cares for you, sir.”
“She seems to have made a lot of conquests here,” Christian said dryly. “You, me, Paul ...” He frowned. “Where is Paul, by the way? I haven’t seen him for the last couple of days.”
Ambrose slapped his hand on the table. “Damnation, I meant to tell you about this the other day before we got caught up in Elizabeth’s issues.”
“Is Paul sick?”
“No, he came by to tell me that he’d been accepted as a member of the Demon Club.”
“What?”
“That’s exactly what I said.” Ambrose sighed. “He seemed excited by the prospect.”
“Who in God’s name offered him membership?”
“I believe it was Kelveston or his wife, or maybe both of them.”
Christian shook his head. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Time to rescue Paul from his own stupidity? You don’t have to, sir. When he is not on these premises, he is not your responsibility.”
“Ambrose, the Demon Club is not like the pleasure house. The play is deeper and the dealers are crooked. The club owners pick their intended victims very carefully and make certain they eventually lose enough games to find themselves in the punishment cage. They could hurt him very badly, very badly indeed, and I think he suffered enough in the war, don’t you?”
“Ah.” Ambrose smiled and Christian stared at him.
“What in God’s name is amusing about that?”
“It explains why you go there. You’ve never been able to resist a challenge, have you?”
“Why I go there is hardly the point. We need to stop
Paul
going there.”
Paul
going there.”
“Why?” Ambrose asked. “He is an adult. He will find out fairly quickly what he’s let himself in for and decide whether he likes it or not. Isn’t it time we all stopped helping him clear up his mistakes?”
Christian met Ambrose’s dark gaze. “Maybe you are right. I just feel responsible for him because of Gabriel.”
“And you have already done your part. The rest is up to Paul. Surely your main concern at this moment is Elizabeth? I must say I’m very interested in finding out the truth.”
“So am I.” Christian finished off his coffee. “But somehow I suspect Elizabeth will hate it.”
He went back to his office. The invitation card to the Demon Club orgy Lady Kelveston had hand-delivered still sat on his blotter. He contemplated her scrawled signature for a long moment and wondered what Elizabeth had made of her. He doubted the two women had much in common. Melinda liked a man to dominate her while Elizabeth liked to fight back.
He put the card in his drawer without sending a reply. Part of him wanted to decline the invitation and tell the Kelvestons to go to hell, but then who would protect innocents like the unfortunate Miss Retton from the likes of Kelveston and his cronies? Better him than any of those other bastards.
A soft knock on the door brought his head up. Elizabeth came in and he found himself smiling at her. She was dressed in a soft blue muslin gown that somehow made her eyes look even grayer. She was always beautiful, but at this moment, she looked far too anxious for his liking—her normal calm façade had deserted her.
“Mr. Delornay, there’s something I forgot to tell you.”
He folded his hands on the desk and wondered what the hell she was up to now. “And what might that be?”
“When Lady Kelveston called to deliver your invitation, she asked me to give you a message.”
“Indeed.”
“She said that she was looking forward to seeing you at the Demon Club,
personally,
and that she had arranged some little surprises just for you.”
personally,
and that she had arranged some little surprises just for you.”
Paul ...
Christian groaned. “Damnation.”
Christian groaned. “Damnation.”
“I’m not quite sure what she meant, but she seemed very excited by the prospect.”
“I’m sure she was.”
“She also wanted to know who you were bringing as your guest.” She hesitated.
“I’m not even sure that I
am
going, let alone if I intend to bring a guest.” Christian busied himself tidying his pens.
am
going, let alone if I intend to bring a guest.” Christian busied himself tidying his pens.
“Did you intend to take me?”
“I thought you might enjoy it. Originally, I believed it might shock you, but now I’m not so sure.”
Elizabeth smiled. “I’m quite hard to shock, Mr. Delornay. In truth, I think Lady Kelveston dismissed me as a potential rival the moment she set eyes on me.”
“Because she is a fool.”
“A fool, maybe, but a woman scorned is a dangerous thing.”
He finally met her gaze. “She is no rival to you.”
She raised her chin at him in quite her old challenging way. “I was not aware that I was in a competition.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not.”
She turned toward the door and Christian stood up. “Where are you going now?”
“I’m going back to help Marie-Claude. I didn’t want to forget to relay Lady Kelveston’s message to you before I ...” She blushed. “Before I forgot it.”
She hurried out and this time Christian didn’t stop her. She didn’t realize it yet, but he
would
be stopping her leaving for at least another twenty-four hours until this matter was settled between them.
would
be stopping her leaving for at least another twenty-four hours until this matter was settled between them.
He pulled the invitation card out of the drawer and set about writing an acceptance note. Despite everything, he couldn’t allow Melinda Kelveston and her husband to use Paul simply to get at him. He’d face them once and for all and make sure Paul came to no harm.
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