Succumb to Me (11 page)

His brows rose, as if he was surprised at her
honesty. “If you continue to please me, Winter, I promise, you will
enjoy your time with me.”

CHAPTER TEN

The following day preceded much the same as
the first had. The butler would bring in a tray of tea, cakes, and
sandwiches, and Logan would compel her to feed him.

By the third day, strangely enough, she began
to look forward to it. The erotic pull of his mouth on her fingers
acted like a strange aphrodisiac on her, suffusing her with unnamed
desires, replacing her initial nervousness with an entirely
different, but equally troubling, tension.

She wondered if this would be the extent of
her servitude.

Winter would not get off so easily, however,
she soon discovered.

She’d arrived at his study at her usual time,
wearing her afternoon dress and pelisse to combat the wintry cold.
Even in the South, there were times when the temperatures dropped
to a level of discomfort.

Winter watched the cheery fire burning in the
hearth, feeling her bones thaw from her excursion from the carriage
to his quarters. She appreciated the warmth of the room and removed
her muff and bonnet, waiting for Logan to say something to begin
his next method of coercion.

Logan watched her from behind his desk,
saying nothing as he swirled brandy in a glass.

He seemed to be preoccupied with something,
if the dark look on his face and the haphazard way he’d tied his
cravat were any indication. Try as she might, she could not become
used to seeing a gentleman in such a state of dress.

She wanted to maintain propriety as much as
possible, but he made it difficult to remain aloof. She shifted
nervously on the edge of the brocaded high back chair, wondering
why the butler did not come in as he had her previous visits.

“Are we not having tea today?” she asked,
watching as he sipped his brandy.

He set the glass down. “Not today. I’m ready
for something new. Are you?” he asked, his voice rough from the
alcohol.

“I suppose I must be.”

“Good. You are learning. This will go much
smoother with your cooperation. I want you remove your clothes,”
Logan said, his eyes glittering with some indefinable emotion. “I’d
like to see how accurate the artist was in capturing your
beauty.”

Winter heard only the sound of his voice,
soft and calm on the surface, but cold fire beneath. His eyes
locked with hers in an unwavering stare that shook her to the bone.
There was no doubt in her mind that she had to do exactly as he
said and only a split second to decide whether to fight him or
not.

Winter’s heart seemed to skip a beat. When it
started back, it was at a gallop, nearly choking the life out of
her and fluttering as some caged bird. She felt light-headed, dizzy
as she stood, her decision made more difficult by his continued
watchfulness.

“I…I’m not sure how to go about this.”

A smile turned up the corner of his mouth,
but it did not meet his eyes. “Surely you have undressed before,
Miss Stevens?”

She swallowed and nodded. “Never before a
man.”

“As well you should not. You are a maiden and
unmarried. I would be quite surprised if you had done so before
now,” he said, watching her steadily.

Slowly, she pulled the fingertips of her lace
gloves up and withdrew one glove and then another. She set the
gloves down on the chair she had occupied, then removed her shoes
and unrolled her silk stockings. Next she unbuttoned her pelisse.
The pelisse was easily removed and joined the gloves on the
chair.

Her burgundy afternoon dress was a little
more difficult to remove, but she’d lost weight since it’d first
been made for her, and she was in the habit of dressing herself
these days, so it was not with any hardship that the thick, gold
trimmed dress came off.

Logan said nothing as she removed her dress,
merely sipped his drink and leaned back in his chair. Once her
dress was laid across the high back of the chair, she stood before
him in her petticoats. She drew the first petticoat over her head
and then the second. By the time she stood before him in her corset
and chemise, her hands had begun shaking and she had difficulty
commanding her fingers to work.

She’d thought at some point, he would have
mercy on her and tell her to stop, but it seemed he intended on
taking this to the furthest point that he could.

The buttons of her corset made a slight
popping sound as she pulled them free of their buttonholes.

Her nerves jangled, her fingers unsteady as
she worked the tight buttons loose and finally had her
under-support removed. The moment the corset came free, she felt
her breasts settle heavily in the fine cotton of her chemise. Her
nipples puckered as they always did when the tight nuisance was
removed.

She stopped, trying to gather her
courage.

“You can turn your back, if that makes it any
easier. Or do you require my assistance?”

The last thing she wanted was to give him an
excuse to come and help her undress. The very scandalous idea of
him being so close to her while she was naked set her blood to
racing.

She shook her head, gathering her fleeting
courage. “I’ve been dressing and undressing myself for quite some
time now,” she said on a tight, shaky breath.

No, she thought it would be better for him to
remain seated and behind his desk, as far from her as possible
whilst she was in such a vulnerable state. But she would take him
up on his offer to turn her back to him.

She loosened her hair and allowed it to fall
down her back, hoping the tendrils would provide some measure of
shielding to her naked flesh when it was finally revealed. Grasping
the hem of her chemise, she hauled it up her body and over her
head, dropping it in the seat of the chair and quickly covering her
breasts and sex with her hands before anything could show.

She kept her eyes closed in mortification,
but she heard the sharp intake of his breath when she stood before
him, at last completely naked.

Just because her back was to him did not mean
he couldn’t see her assets or that she would brazenly show herself
off to him.

Her skin tingled in the air despite the
warmth of the fire in the hearth.

“Turn around,” he said, his voice strangely
husky.

Winter squeezed her eyes shut and slowly
rotated. A shiver of cold wracked her body. She shuddered,
practically feeling his eyes roaming over her.

His chair scraped on the hardwood.

“Move your hands. I want to see all of you.”
His deep voice sounded close. She couldn’t bear to open her eyes
and look at him like this.

Winter thought her heart would explode from
nervousness and fright. Reluctantly, she removed the shield of her
arms and hands, allowing her limbs to drop by her sides.

“I thought you were going to make me remove
them myself,” he said. His voice by her ear startled her. She
jumped and her eyes flew open to see him standing in front of
her.

He looked down at her, his expression
unreadable. Winter stared straight ahead as if she were awaiting
death by a firing squad.

“The artist’s imagination was quite…vivid,
but I can see the limitations of using only the mind to capture an
image. You are more breathtaking in the flesh, Miss Stevens,” he
murmured, walking around her and examining every inch of her
body.

He raised a hand as if to touch her, but
merely skated the air inches from her skin, as if imaging what it
would feel like to rest his hand on her bare waist, the small of
her back, and her buttocks. As he came around to stand in front of
her again, Winter couldn’t help the jolt of pleasure that rocked
through her core at the heat in his eyes.

God forbid she enjoy him looking at her, but
she did. If ever she was in doubt of her reckless, wanton nature,
she could no longer deny it. Curse him for awakening forbidden
desires in her, for forcing her to his will and confusing the state
of her mind.

For a brief moment, Logan couldn’t seem to
catch his breath as he stared at her lush body finally revealed to
him by her own hand. She was everything he’d ever imagined, and the
urge to crush her against his body was so great, he nearly swept
the contents off his desk with one hand so that he could lay her
down upon it and take her as he’d always wanted.

Excruciating desire tightened his groin,
making his balls and cock ache as never before. Blood thudded dully
through him, making him feel sluggish and hot.

He’d meant to break down her resistance, but
all he felt like he’d accomplished was prolonging his own
torture.

From the top of her white golden hair, the
graceful arch of her neck, to her full supple breasts tipped with
tiny pale rose nipples, he could not stop staring. He ate her body
with his eyes, imaging her twisted around him, writing in ecstasy,
calling out his name and begging for him to fuck her. The hollow of
her flat stomach begged for the trace of his tongue down to the
thatch of pale blond hair that marked the triangle of her sex.

Indeed, the artist had not captured her. Not
in the slightest. And he was glad of that. He’d kill any other man
for daring to look at her like this.

Logan’s body leapt to life as desire, hot and
unbidden flooded him. Blood rushed to his groin, making his cock
harden unbearably. He reveled in the sensation, the longing to take
and taste, devour and conquer. How would it feel to sink into her
uncharted depths, to feel her tight wet heat envelop him?

He stopped his circle in front of her,
staring at her downturned lids. She had her head ducked in
shame.

He knew he shouldn’t touch her. Knew that to
give in to the impulse would only enflame him further.

He couldn’t help himself.

Logan reached to take her into his arms. The
moment he felt her warm, soft skin, he was lost to sanity.

Winter whimpered as his hands met the bare
flesh of her back, pulling her closer while he lowered his mouth to
nuzzle the silky flesh of her neck.

“No,” she said, remaining stiff against him,
resisting the draw of his lips on the shell of her ear. Goosebumps
dimpled her skin in reaction to his touch.

She tasted even better than he’d thought.

“Put your arms around me, Winter,” he
commanded in a voice hoarse with desire.

She obeyed him quietly, her eyes squeezed
tightly shut as her trembling arms encircled his neck and he could
feel the heat of her flesh close around him.

He caressed the firm flesh of her buttocks,
cupping each to press her tightly against him. He groaned to feel
the weight of her buttocks, the soft, untouched skin. She shuddered
in his arms, an admission of weakness, and it nearly drove him
insane to possess her.

“Kiss me,” he demanded roughly.

Winter thought she would faint from the
feeling of his hands on her bare skin. She felt hot and
light-headed. She couldn’t catch her breath, and the feel of his
cock digging into her lower belly made her tremble so hard she
thought she’d shake into a million pieces.

Hesitantly, she pressed her lips quickly to
his, keeping her mouth closed and tight.

His dark eyes burned into hers with an
intensity that made her shudder. “Again. Like you mean it,” he
ordered savagely.

“I don’t know how,” she whispered.

“Like this,” he growled as his lips covered
hers.

Warm and demanding, he forced his tongue past
the barrier of her lips into her mouth. His tongue sought her own,
setting off explosions of warm pleasurable sensation that she
struggled to fight off before she could lose her mind any more than
she already hand. He smelled cleanly masculine, tasted of warm
brandy.

Maybe it was the raw touch of his hands in a
place she’d never been touched—she didn’t know. But feeling his
hands cup her buttocks and the hard dig of his cock into her
woman’s place set off a flash fire within her blood that was nearly
impossible to ignore.

Weakness pervaded her limbs, melting her
against his body as if he had every right to hold her thus. She
moaned into his mouth, feeling her excitement build at the
forbidden.

He tore his mouth away from hers as suddenly
as he’d begun. His breathing ragged, he released her from his arms,
moving back around the desk as if to put distance between them.

Winter was left panting and shaking. She
covered her breasts with her arms and her nether region from his
probing gaze.

Shame filled her every pore. If she’d been a
weaker woman, she might have cried. As it was, she felt the sting
in her eyes and blinked them hard, willing herself to remain calm
and cool. It didn’t matter that he rejected her. What mattered was
that he’d stopped before she could do something foolish.

Winter found her voice at last. “Are you
satisfied? Might I get dressed once more?” she said through gritted
teeth, feigning an outrage that she didn’t quite feel.