The Ties That Bind (2 page)

She glared at him, hating his arrogance, yet unable to deny the thrill of desire pulsing through her body. Why did he still have the power to attract her?
 
"When have your promises ever meant anything to me?"

He paused in the act of opening the door. "Surely that is the pot calling the kettle black. You haven't exactly kept your vows to me either have you?"

Arabella opened her mouth to reply and realized she had nothing to say. She bobbed him a curtsey and swept past him, her nose in the air. He could force her to receive him in her bed but she didn't intend to make him welcome. Her footsteps slowed as she realized he hadn't directly forbidden her to see her lover again either. Why was that? He probably intended to wait and find out exactly who she was sleeping with before he acted to separate them.

She shivered as she entered the cavernous hall. Perhaps she should warn Tom to be careful. As James' land agent, he would have to come into contact with her husband before long. Surely it would be better for him to know? She hurried into her private sitting room to write him a note.

After a last disgusted glance at the portrait of his father-in-law, James returned to the desk and sat down. He rested his head in his hands and shut his eyes. Arabella's dislike was not unexpected but it still hurt.
 
He'd walked away from her after their wedding night without a word of explanation and made no effort to explain his actions since. He hadn't dared. Her father's threats had served to keep him away.

At first, in his rage, he'd blamed Arabella as well as the old man, convinced she had been in on the plan to get herself a title in exchange for some hard cash from dubious origins. Her reaction to her father's death had changed that. It hadn't occurred to him that she might have been bullied into the marriage as well.
 
He'd thought she cared about him.

He rose to his feet as the clock struck eleven. He'd promised to take some of his guests for a ride around the estate. When he went to Arabella's bed tonight, he would have a chance to explain what her father had made him do. He hoped she would understand why he had been forced to leave her and forgive him.

"Good morning, my lord."

He smiled his thanks at the footman who opened the door into the stable yard for him and continued on his way. He was already dressed in his riding gear and eager to get out and explore the countryside around his house. A pleasure denied to him during his father-in-law's life.

Arabella was an excellent rider. He pictured her dressed in her tight red riding habit, her booted foot drawn up against the side of her horse, her black hair escaping from under the demure hat placed at an angle on her head. In the shadow of the stable wall, he took a moment to adjust his growing erection. The thought of slowly undoing all the buttons on Arabella's habit until she screamed at him in frustration was an enticing one.

He smiled as he recalled her stricken expression when he'd mentioned the possibility of her having a lover. Had his wife really used the word 'fuck' without blushing? If he'd done one thing right by her, it had been persuading Tom Lakeland to become not only his land agent but Arabella's lover. She deserved to be loved properly. James gave his cock another quick squeeze. And now, thanks to Tom's hard work and dedication, James was about to reap the benefits of her sexual education.

*****

"I got your note."

Arabella almost jumped as Tom Lakeland appeared at the door of her sitting room where she had gone to avoid some of the more annoying guests her husband had invited for a weeks hunting.

"You should've stayed away."

She held her breath as he shut the door and strolled toward her. His dark good looks and broad shoulders were the antithesis of her husband's golden hair and great height. He knelt on the rug in front of her, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Why? What do you think he is going to do to me?"

"Call you out?"

He grinned, displaying his white even teeth. "Trust me; I'm not worth the trouble. I'm his land steward. Lord Grayson would never stoop to killing someone in his service. It wouldn't be the gentlemanly thing to do."

Arabella shivered as he slid his callused hand under her skirt until he reached her knee. "I don't want you to get hurt."

His hand moved higher. "I won't."

She trapped his fingers beneath her own. "If you stay away from me until he leaves, you'll be safe."

He pushed her hand away and continued his advance until his fingers played with her sex. "And what will you do without this?" She moaned as he slid two broad fingers inside her and worked them back and forth.

"I'll have to survive without you."

He pushed up her skirts so that he could watch his fingers move in and out. "You'll let him do this to you instead?"

"I'm not sure if I have any choice. He is my husband. He has already told me that he expects me to bed him." She choked back a cry as he lowered his head and licked her clit. He added two more fingers and spread them wide inside her with each wet glide of his hand.

She came with a suddenness that left her gasping and clutching at his broad shoulders. He lifted his head, his lips gleaming with her cream, his fingers still inside her.

"I'd love him to see us like this and not be able to do a damn thing about it. I'd love for him to see you sit on my cock and fuck me while he watched."

Her body quivered in response, gripping his fingers, making him groan his approval. She studied his aroused face. "I think I'd like that too. "

He stood up and unbuttoned his breeches. His cock sprang free and she bent forward to lick it. He slid his hand into her hair and held her still.

"Will you let me inside you now?"

She glanced back at the door, knew he hadn't locked it. Wondered if any of her guests would feel an urgent desire to seek her company.

"Yes, oh yes, please."

He sat down in her vacated chair and lifted her over him. His cock grazed her clit. "I'll not stop even if that door opens."

She tried to angle her hips to persuade him to thrust inside her but he was too strong. "I don't care. I don't want you to." She gasped as he pulled her down over him in one smooth motion.

"I like the thought of you being full of my come when he tries to bed you tonight."

She climaxed again, helplessly, easily, enthralled by the strength and depth of his thrusts. He followed her, his groan buried in her neck as his seed pumped hot and wet deep inside her.

He kissed her throat. "That was selfish of me. I should have pulled out. He's bound to notice."

She smiled at him and smoothed his hair away from his brow. "I don't care if he does."

*****

James tied the belt of his green silk dressing gown and opened the door that connected his room to Arabella's. Despite his earlier efforts to relieve himself, his cock was already half-erect and eager.

A single candle burned by the side of the bed. James could just make out the shape of his wife lying on her back in the enormous bed. He walked across and looked down at her. She wasn't even pretending to sleep. Her hazel eyes met his evenly.

"I sent my mistresses packing."

She didn't move or pull back the covers to invite him in. "I know. I had the pleasure of waving them off."

He smiled as he reached for the thick linen sheet. "Then as I have kept my part of the bargain, you must keep yours."
 
He pulled back the covers to reveal her long white nightgown which buttoned from neck to hem. Her thick black hair lay in a single braid over her right shoulder.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

He knelt on the side of the bed, felt the mattress give beneath his weight. She made no effort to welcome him. Her face was averted, her hands fisted at her sides. James fought a smile as he stroked her cheek with his finger.

"You don't seem pleased to see me."

"Why should I be? The last time you touched me was hardly pleasant."

He moved to straddle her, keeping her legs trapped between his. "If I agree that on our wedding night I was a loathsome incompetent brute who deserved to be shot, will you forgive me and allow me to try again?"

She still refused to look at him.

"Arabella…"

"Will you just get on with it, my lord?"

He bit his lip against a strong desire to either shake her or kiss her. "Certainly, my dear. Now if you will just keep still, I'm sure we can get this done in a trice."

He thought her heard her snort but chose to ignore it, his attention fixed on the tiny buttons on her night gown. She might choose to play the virginal martyr but he already knew from Tom that she was capable of great passion. He was glad of that. He would've been horrified if his appalling display of brute passion had spoiled her for the pleasures of love. She deserved so much more.

He slowly opened the first five buttons to reveal the soft skin at the base of her throat. She shivered as he bent his head and licked the satiny flesh he exposed. He nibbled at her collar bone, followed it to the hollow behind her ear and licked her there as well.

He sat back and undid the next five buttons to expose the first luscious curves of her breasts. This time, he pressed his face against her, his nose settled in her cleavage and he inhaled the warm perfume of her skin. His cock hardened as he recognized the smell of sex. She'd been eager enough to find Tom and enjoy his lovemaking even though she knew James expected to bed her later. Her audacity intrigued and excited him. He slid his hands up to her breasts and cupped them, enjoying the press of her nipples against his palm.

Five more buttons and her breasts lay open to his gaze. He studied the taut pink peaks. "You are beautiful, Arabella. I had forgotten." He licked the tip of her nipple , felt her whole body tremble beneath him.
 

"You were too busy trying to force yourself on me to care about anything else."

He straightened and caught her chin in his hand, making her look at him. "I was a damned fool. I've already told you that. Let me make it up to you."

She tried to push at his chest. "I don't want you to. I'm quite happy…ah."

He latched onto her nipple and pulled it strongly into his mouth. God he loved breasts. He could happily spend another hour fondling, sucking and licking her. By then he hoped she might be begging him to fuck her as well.

Arabella tried not to whimper as James continued to lavish his full attention on her already swollen and aroused nipples. The clock struck the quarter hour. Would he ever stop? She almost wished he would move on and stop playing with her so sensually. A pulse throbbed incessantly between her legs and she knew she was wet and ready for him. Did he know? Was he expecting her to abandon her resistance and beg him to fuck her?

He still straddled her, the hard weight of his thighs keeping her legs pressed tightly together. His hips moved in the same slow languorous rhythm as his mouth. His erect cock nudged her stomach and was barely concealed by the wet green silk of his dressing gown. He sat up and surveyed her breasts. The hot heaviness of his balls settled over her mound and his thick shaft thrust up toward his waist.

She tried not to move as he slowly undid five more buttons and bared her stomach. His agile tongue dipped into her navel making her squirm. He rubbed his stubbled cheek against her skin and she gasped.

"May I kiss you now?"