Starlight (4 page)

Tristan groaned as he wrapped his arms around Esther and stole another impassioned kiss before breaking away with a heartfelt curse. “Damn it – ah, God damn it!”    

“I – I should open the door before she grows concerned,” Esther whispered reluctantly, even though the idea of leaving the Comte’s arms was now near unimaginable. He nodded grimly, his jaw clenched.

“One – one moment, Eleanor!” she called faintly as she started towards the door before realising that the Comte still had the key. Her eyes widened as she slowly turned back towards him to see that the same realisation had evidently struck him, for his anger seemed to be fading away as he effortlessly held her heated gaze.

“Come and get the key then, Esther.”

The wicked grin that teased at the corners of his mouth took her breath away afresh. Dazed by the force of her desire for the devious Comte, Esther moved back towards him as if compelled, fiery arousal pulsing through her body as she stretched out her hand towards the pocket of his breeches.

The temptation was irresistible. She stared up at him, astonished to see how tensely he was holding his muscular body as her hand slipped into his pocket and hooked the key before pushing down further to brush against the hard line of the shaft of his cock as it surged against her.

Tristan instinctively thrust his hips into her hand with a low, pained groan.
Dieu
, but she was incredible! Just the gentle caress of her fingers upon his cock was enough to have him teetering on the edge of his climax. He had never wanted any woman more.

He caught hold of her as she took her hand out of his pocket with an embarrassed smile and turned away to head towards the door. “Esther,
chérie
, wait!”

Nothing else seemed to matter when the Comte was looking at her with such fire in his dark eyes. She sighed softly and allowed him to pull her back towards her. “Comte, Eleanor is waiting – you must let me go...”

“I know that, I do, but before I do so I must have a promise from you. I will come to your rooms tonight to continue this, Esther – at midnight. It will be glorious, I give you my word. Say I may do so, please!”

She buried her face in his shoulder again, not daring to meet his intense stare as she spoke the word that she knew would damn her. “Yes.”

Giddy desire and elation swept through him. “You promise me, Esther?” Tristan demanded again, desperate for confirmation.

“I promise, Comte. You were right. I cannot fight this and no longer do I even want to. At midnight I will be yours.”

Tristan had found it impossible to concentrate on anything but Esther throughout the long day that separated them, each brief glimpse he received of her when their paths crossed in the manor only heightening his desire for her further. Dinner seated opposite her had been a torture, as had the evening spent playing cards with Anton when Esther was on the other side of the parlour putting on a pretence of being calmly oblivious to his presence as she and Anton’s wife laughed companionably.

Now, though, the rest of the household was asleep and the appointed time for their tryst had finally arrived. He loosened his cravat and breathed in deeply before quietly trying the handle to Esther’s bedchamber.

It was unlocked.

His cock was already stiff as an iron rod and ready for the woman awaiting him as Tristan moved into the candle-lit room. “Esther,
ma belle
?” he called softly. “I am here for you, darling – come to me.”

Esther moistened her lips nervously as she moved out of the shadow cast by the vast bed that dominated the room. She had been pacing back and forth for the best part of an hour now waiting for the Comte to come to her. She had not doubted that he would, not after the way he had kissed her with such passion, but her nerves over what was to come had worsened with every passing moment.

She had not felt this way since the first heady days as a newlywed. None of the men she had been with since then, desirable though they were, had affected her like the Comte did. He was a sinful pleasure that she simply
had
to indulge in, for she instinctively knew that if she did not, she would never be able to purge the memory of his kiss from her heated blood.

Six days. Just six days to get through until the christening, six days to sate her lust for him, and then she could forget him and pretend that they had never met. Esther touched her bare throat self-consciously and came to a halt in front of him.

Tristan could barely breathe. In the dim light lifting the shroud of the velvet darkness, her pale and flawless skin seemed almost to glow and the white lace of her nightgown was near translucent as it clung indecently to every intensely feminine curve of her body. “
Mon dieu, belle
!”

The whispered words of incredulous French brought back some of the courage that had deserted her, bringing with it a shy smile to her face as she allowed him to draw her into his arms. “Good evening, Comte.”

“A very good evening indeed, Esther!” His hands were already roaming over her thinly-clad buttocks, pressing down firmly and pulling her into the heat of his straining cock. “Ah, I think that this could prove to be the greatest evening of all – but I must say, I am feeling a little over-dressed in comparison to you,
mon ange
. Will you rectify this for me?”

“Comte, I want you so very much that I do not think that anything that could prevent me from doing so.”

She seemed to be entirely sincere in the words that she spoke and the passion burning in her wide eyes, but Tristan took a step back and held her out at arm’s length before she could follow his directions. “Then you will do one other thing for me, Esther – if we are to share this intimacy for the next week, then I want to hear my name upon your lips. I want it to be my name you cry out when I fill you with my cock, not my title. Can you do that,
belle
?”

Her breath hitched. Somehow, the intimacy of whispering his name in her passion seemed even more insurmountable than simply allowing him to take her, but she had to have him. If that was the only term he would set her, then so be it. Esther swallowed hard as she lifted her head again to meet the Comte’s intent stare. “Tristan.”

The sound of his name on her lips aroused him as fiercely as the sight of her near-unclothed body. Tristan groaned loudly as his cock began to rage with impatience. “Again,
ma chére
!”

For the first time, she realised that the power she held over him was as great as that which he had claimed over her. The spell of their shared lust had captured them both inescapably. Esther’s slow, sultry smile widened as she finally tugged away his cravat, unbuttoned his shirt and laid the palms of her hands against the taut muscles of his broad chest. “Tristan...Tristan, I have never wanted any man like this. May I have you as often as I want you over this next week, my comte?”

He cursed under his breath, awestruck by the way that even the chastest of touches from Esther’s hands could arouse him to previously undiscovered heights. “I fully intend to take you as many times as can possibly be managed, Esther – I have the strangest suspicion that this passion between us cannot be exhausted in the space of six little days.”

As her blush deepened, Tristan began to undo each one of the buttons that nestled between her breasts even as he sought out her parted lips with his own. Kissing her was bliss. He did not know that he could ever get enough of the taste of her upon his tongue, especially when she was responding to him with such unbound passion and already writhing against him to press her bare breasts into the palms of his hands.

Without breaking the kiss, he swept her off her feet and sat cross-legged in front of the empty fireplace. He wound one hand through her loose hair to keep her mouth against his as the other tugged her nightgown down past each of her shoulders in turn to finally expose her breasts entirely.

Esther cried out into his mouth as she twisted to press her breasts into his chest before he forced his free hand between their bodies to trace out a teasing, gentle circle around each of her nipples in turn, and then, finally, lifted his lips away from her to lay her out on the rug.

It was impossible to hold back now that the beautiful breasts he had dreamed of were begging for his attention. Tristan snatched both of Esther’s wrists into his hands and pinned them above her head to restrain her before kneeling between her legs and lowering his head to capture her nipples between his lips.

She arched and whimpered as he devoted himself to her pleasure, tugging gently on the pointed nubs of her breasts in turn as they stiffened under his touch. Tristan coaxed her arousal higher and higher, rolling his tongue around each nipple and deliberately pushing his cock up against the wet heat between her legs each time that he transferred his attention to the other full breast.

Esther struggled against him, desperate to touch him, but still he kept her restrained beneath him. “
Non
, Esther!” he muttered hoarsely, lifting his head to stare down at her. “Did I not tell you earlier that I want your pleasure above all else?! I want to kiss and pleasure your lovely tits,
belle
, and you will not stop me!”

Helpless to prevent him from doing so, Esther sighed and then cried out again as his caresses became rougher and more forceful, alternating long and gentle strokes of his skilled tongue with sharp little bites that had her rocking against him and wrapping her long legs around his waist to pull his hips down towards her own.

“Tristan – oh, Tristan, please!”

Her breathless pleas betrayed how much enjoyment she was taking from his mouth all over her breasts and they only excited Tristan further. “Are you going to be a good girl, Esther, and keep your arms above your head if I let go of them? I need to touch you with my hands as well as my mouth, you see.”

The promise of his words wrenched another loud moan from her lips as she nodded urgently, her nails digging into the palms of her hands in a futile attempt to relieve the tight knot of tension in her core as the Comte released her wrists and cupped both of her breasts in his hands, groping firmly and capturing her nipples between his fingers before resuming his kisses to them.

Her vivid reaction to him was an exquisite joy. Already she was proving to be just as fiery and responsive in the bedchamber as Tristan had hoped she would be; and, of course, there was so much more to come. He relentlessly maintained his attentions to her breasts until the loud moans streaming from her lips were constant, filled with desperation – desperation for his cock.

He nodded decisively. With no warning, he wrenched her gown down past her hips and tore it away to leave her clad in only the thin silk undergarments covering her most intimate area. As he sucked in a sharp breath and moistened his suddenly dry mouth, he stood back up and offered Esther his hand. “Return the favour now, Esther. I think I asked you to undress me before you distracted me so spectacularly. Do so now.”

Obeying his command was all she wanted to do. She submitted to the rush of desire singing inside her veins and tugged his shirt away to fall forgotten to the floor before slipping her fingers underneath the waistband of his breeches as he hastily kicked his boots across the bedchamber.

Tristan clenched his jaw and rocked his hips as she ran her fingers across the skin stretched across them. He was consumed with lust, thrilling in the dazed awe he saw in Esther’s eyes as she fell to her knees in front in front of him and tugged his breeches and underwear away to leave him entirely naked and ready for her.

He was
glorious
. Esther fought for breath as she gazed up at him, amazed by the sheer force of the breathtaking desire she felt for him. Her lips parted as she rested her shaking hands against the toned muscles of his broad thighs, caressing the light curls of hair that covered them and thickened as they led up towards where his cock stood proud and fully erect between them.

She could not help herself. Cupping his balls in the palm of one hand as he cursed under his breath, she leaned forwards and gently kissed the pliant tip of the Comte’s cock, encircling it with her tongue and devouring the glistening drops of pre-come already gleaming there.

“
Jésus
, Esther, are you attempting to drive me wild?!” Tristan demanded hoarsely, staring down at her with desperate hunger in his dark eyes as she moved her lips along the length of his shaft.

His reaction to her only urged her on. Esther tilted her head back to smile up at him as his cock twitched impatiently against her parted lips. “Do you like that, Comte?”

Her innocent words were belied by the spark of mischief in her wide eyes. With a low groan, he jerked his head and stretched down to pull her back to her feet. “”As you well know, wicked woman, that was delicious – but if you had kept it up, you would have sent me crazy with my desire for you. I would not have been able to hold myself back.”

“I think that I like the sound of that.”

Tristan chuckled as he slid the silken undergarments down past her rounded hips. “As well you might, but I do not want to rush this, not when we have all night to ourselves, Esther. I am not yet quite as hot-headed as you made me in the library earlier, so I hope I shall be able to control myself somewhat – you are so very beautiful, though, that I can make no promise.”

His gentle words and crooked smile effortlessly aroused her even further as he took her by the hand and led her towards the bed. She could not bear to relinquish the sensation of his skin against hers for even a second. Keeping her fingers wound through his, Esther gazed into his darkened eyes as together they climbed onto the bed and wordlessly laid down next to each other.

Tristan wound his free hand through her tousled hair and began to kiss her once more as a shiver passed through her bare body, deliberately now holding himself back and waiting for her to take the lead.

Esther could not find any words to comprehend or express the conflict in her jumbled mind; but all she knew was that she needed the Comte more than she had needed any man before, no matter what he had done. She allowed her inflamed body to do the talking for her. Insistently deepening the kiss and parting her lips to allow his sweeping tongue entrance, she draped her leg possessively across the slender line of his hips and pulled him nearer.       

Breathing heavily, he eagerly accepted her direction and allowed his cock to push up against the soft curve of her stomach, the heat of her skin against him driving his raging desire ever higher. Tristan broke the kiss with a loud groan and began to hungrily caress her breasts again, certain that she was already ready for him to take her but wanting to ensure that it was so.

Esther cried out and arched her back, pushing her breasts into his hands and writhing down against his cock in an urgent attempt to          position herself for him to take her. She reached down to stroke his cock and ready it against her entrance, amazed and no little overwhelmed to find that her fingers did not even close around the breadth of the rock hard shaft.

Correctly interpreting the flicker of unease that passed through her wide eyes, Tristan gently kissed her forehead. “We will fit together perfectly,
chérie
, I am convinced of it.” His hoarse words were drenched in a strange mingling of lust and tenderness that Esther had never before experienced. Her husband had never wasted any time on assuring her comfort or ease.

She joined the curves of her body up against the hard lines of his with a shuddering moan as he pushed the barest tip of his cock into her. “Then prove it. Take me, Tristan. I need your cock inside me and I need it now!”

Her husky, lust-laden demand was impossible to defy. He held his breath and slowly eased his cock into her as she tensed, shaking from head to toe as the full length of his shaft filled her completely. Tristan did not stop until he had buried his cock into the tight heat of her muscles up to his balls, awestruck by how very right it felt to be inside her. “Ah,
chérie
, you have captivated me!” he murmured, kissing her lips again as he fought to hold back the climax already building inside him. “You will forgive me if I take this slowly, but I want this moment to last forever.”