An Heir of Deception (28 page)

“Alex—”

He came closer, standing inches before her. With both hands, he grasped the hem of her nightdress and oh so slowly inched it up.

“Why must we deny ourselves when it is so obvious how much we both want it?”

Charlotte placed her hands on his shoulders, intending to get some distance and clarity but he released her nightdress and his hands were now caressing her calves, moving higher and higher.

She whimpered and then her breaths came in the form of pants.

We?
It hadn’t been she who’d wanted to deny them the physical pleasures of marriage. But this wasn’t the right time to correct him of the facts.

Past her knees, one hand continued the climb along her inner thigh. Another whimper emerged and her breathing turned ragged and labored. Oh Lord, his hands felt so good. Thoughts of stopping him were fleeting at best, so quickly were they squelched by the sheer pleasure of his touch on her too-long-dormant passions.

Pale yellow muslin draped over his arms, the full length of her legs revealed. With a quick tug, he pulled it over her head, with barely any cognizant aid from her, to leave her without a stitch. Charlotte let out a gasp, her hands flying to cover her breasts, then realizing she was still bared to him, she slapped one hand over the nest of hair between her thighs.

Alex smiled at that, but it wasn’t a smile of real amusement. No it was too hungry for that as his gaze scorched her bared breast. He then quickly removed his remaining garment, watching her narrowly as she watched him.

He was bigger was her first thought. Her second had her almost reaching out to stroke him—an inch closer and it’d be in contact with her belly. But it had been years since they’d made love last and as much as she wanted him, she suddenly felt shy.

“Beautiful,” he whispered. He ran the tip of his finger over her ruched nipple and the areola surrounding.

Pleasure zigzagged through her like a lightning bolt, her knees buckled as the room tilted wildly. She wasn’t sure if she reached out to clutch his shoulders to steady herself or whether the lure of his tanned flesh became too much for her to resist. Or perhaps it was both. Regardless of which, she was suddenly in his arms, the heat of him burning her.

He groaned long and low when their torsos met. She felt his erection, hard and hot on her belly and her body reacted accordingly, her center clenching in eager anticipation of his possession.

“This is what you want isn’t it?” he whispered in her ear, his arms firmly around her waist while hers encircled his neck. “This is what you wanted from the start, isn’t it?”

She sincerely hoped he didn’t expect her to respond. After so many years of dreaming of this moment, the moment when she’d finally be back in his arms, her body’s demands made speech impossible.

Instead, Charlotte tugged his head down for a kiss. But he would not relent and held himself back, his neck taut in resistance. Miffed, Charlotte retaliated by rubbing herself firmly against him, her breasts against his chest, her hips against his hard male member.

He inhaled sharply, his eyes closing as if he suffered the seven hells of agony and torment. “Don’t,” he groaned. “It’s been too long and I don’t want to be rough with you.”

Now
he decided he wanted to take it slow? After he’d barged into her chambers, stripped himself not only of his clothes, but her of hers as well and pulled her naked in to his arms?

“Kiss me.”

His eyes blazed down at her. “We will have this but that is all.”

At the moment, Charlotte ceased to care about the meaning of his words. She wanted one thing and one thing only, and that was to have him inside her. It had been so very long since she’d experienced this sort of pleasure, where her body had pulsed at the touch of a man’s hands on her.

“Kiss me,” she repeated, sifting her hands through the silky strands of his hair to press insistently down on the back of his head.

The speed at which his mouth came down on hers left her gasping. He kissed her like a man deprived of a woman for years. And Charlotte’s mouth opened, welcoming the thrust of his tongue.

His hand cupped the back of her head, tipping it back as he fed on her lips like the greediest of lovers.

Charlotte closed her eyes as she clung tightly to him, helpless to stop the relentless surge of desire that coursed through her body. Their tongues traded thrusts and parries and then tangled in a kiss that worked like a drug running through her. Senses reeling, she rose on the tips of her toes and ground herself against his hard member; the head of it briefly touched the slick flesh of her center. She gasped and began to press against him in earnest.

Tearing his mouth from her sweet lips, Alex grasped her tightly by her bottom, blindly kneading the smooth, soft flesh as he stilled her movements before she sent him hurtling too soon and too fast to completion to satisfy her.

He buried his face in the floral-scented notch between her neck and shoulder, his breaths harsh and loud. “Stop. I don’t want to come yet.”

“Alex.”

It was a plea that nearly undid him. But he wanted to do this right. To at least satisfy her first. It was clear he’d have to be quick for he didn’t think he could hold on much longer. His cock demanded entry to her snug, slick center.

“Hold on,” he said hoarsely. In a surprisingly smooth movement given his shaky control, he hooked his hands beneath her knees, hefting her up as he walked them to the bed. But this position pressed his cock directly into her wet core. At the contact, he hissed and nearly dropped her.

“Damn it, Charlotte.”

Her eyes were half closed and her mouth looked sweetly ravaged. When his upper thighs hit the edge of the mattress, he dropped her onto the bed and quickly lifted her legs up and apart. The sight of her, pink and wet, nearly undid him then and there.

With his finger, he traced the moist folds of her center. Excited, he parted her and found the engorged nub at the hood of her sex. He proceeded to toy with it, causing her back to arch off the bed as she moaned and bit her lip.

Alex simply lost what little control he thought he’d had. “I can’t wait,” he groaned, barely able to speak. With one hand holding her open at the knee, he used the other to guide his cock inside.

The first probe locked his jaw. His chest shuddered as he saw the head disappear. He caught her other knee in his hand and bore down with his hips. Charlotte’s moans became pants and then whimpers. He slid into her until he was wholly and fully lodged. She felt like heaven, her sex clenching around him tightly.

“Char. Dear God,” he groaned, briefly closing his eyes.

“Alex, please.” The look in her eyes, blind with passion, and her quivering pink mouth started him thrusting. He hissed out his pleasure with every stroke.

“More. Oh, do it faster,” came Charlotte’s breathy command. Her hands, unable to reach him where he stood, feet braced apart on the floor between her legs, clutched fistfuls of the counterpane. She let out a low gasp every time he came into her and whimpered when he pulled out.

He spread her knees farther apart as his stokes grew faster until he was pounding into her. His release coiled in his belly. The incoherent sounds coming from Charlotte grew louder until she screamed, her hips high off the mattress, her back arched and taut as a bow. Her orgasm set off violent contractions of her inner muscles around his member. With three more hard thrusts as her sex continued to quiver around him, he roared to completion, spilling into her on a wave of ecstasy, eclipsing anything he’d ever experienced before.

Charlotte lay insensate under Alex’s weight, the hairs on his chest abrading her breasts and belly. It felt divine.

It took another minute for her to resume normal breathing, which is when Alex rolled from on top of her. He pulled out of her and she immediately missed being connected with him in that way.

But he didn’t go far. He moved her from the edge of the mattress and arranged her so she was lying flush against him, her back against his hair-roughened chest, his member against her bottom.

“I’ll make it better for you next time,” he said, his heated breath next to her ear.

She laughed lightly and pushed the tangle of her hair from her eyes. “I don’t know I’d survive if you made it better.”

A low laugh rumbled from his throat as he ran his hand over her long, tousled locks. The years apart hadn’t changed
this
between them. In fact, their lovemaking had only gotten better, more intense.

“May I ask a question?” he asked after a minute of contented silence.

Angling her head around to regard him, she replied, “But of course.”

“What was Nicholas like as a baby?”

Charlotte shifted in his arms until she faced him. Clasping the narrow indent of her waist, he pulled her until their hips were flush, his member lying just above the nest of hair of her sex. He was already semi-erect.

“He was a good baby. At four months he was sleeping through the night. By seven months he was crawling and he took his first steps at eleven months.”

A faint smile curved his mouth; not in anger or sadness, it appeared to be more one of regret. Charlotte looked deeply into his gray eyes and her heart ached for him.

“And when did he begin to speak?”

Charlotte found herself laughing softly, remembering the sweet sounds of Nicholas’s baby babble. “The moment he came into the world it felt like. But if you’re speaking of words one could comprehend, I believe that occurred when he was nine months. It’s difficult to remember exactly when.”

“He’s a wonderful child,” Alex said after a pause.

Her heart swelled and then lodged itself in her throat. In terms of compliments, it was the greatest he’d ever given her. “Yes he is. And Alex, he thinks you are wonderful too.” Nicholas thought his father hung the sun, the moon and the stars. It did not hurt that Alex was making every attempt to win his son’s affections. Two days ago, he’d begun to teach him to fish.

Alex swallowed and inhaled a prolonged breath. “Tell me about your life in America.” He spoke quietly and watched her beneath a hooded gaze.

Lonely and wretched without you
, she’d have said was she to be completely honest with him. But burdening him with her feelings of desolation given the circumstances would not be fair.

“Life there was very quiet. There was always much to do so Jillian and I shared the household chores. I became quite proficient with a needle and learned how to stretch our wardrobes by darning our garments.”

“Were you happy?” he asked.

“I could not truly be happy being away from you and my family.” It had taken some time, but eventually, she learned to bury her longings for him—at least during the daylight hours. A daily struggle, to be sure. But it was how she learned to cope.

“Did you not have close acquaintances? You do not expect me to believe that you, a beautiful, young widow, did not have gentlemen callers.”

Charlotte wasn’t fooled by the lightness of his tone or his not-so-subtle approach to seek the answer he craved. His gaze was fierce and probing. Possessive.

Her thoughts went briefly to Lucas. More than anything, she wanted Alex to feel secure in her affections. To that end, the mention of another man, regardless of the platonic nature of their relationship, wasn’t likely to help at this particular juncture.

“I discouraged them. In any case, I had Nicholas, who required constant attention.”

Alex’s chest fell beneath her hand and the sound that whistled past his lips closely resembled a sigh of relief. His hold on her tightened as he rolled onto his back. She adjusted by resting her hot cheek on his chest. The steady drum of his heartbeat was loud and comforting in her ear.

In whispered tones, they spoke under the veil of darkness, discussing her and Nicholas’s life in New York. At one point, he asked if she needed to return. She told him she’d recently written to the leasing agent to inform him she’d be giving up the flat. The furniture could be sold but she’d requested he have her personal items shipped there. This could be achieved with minimal fuss since, uncertain as to when or
if
they’d be returning, Charlotte had boxed up the remainder of the things she wasn’t taking with her before she left.

Alex spoke not at all about his life during the same period and Charlotte was wise enough not to ask, fearing the topic would spoil the budding intimacy between them.

Eventually, their murmured voices gave way to silence. Alex broke it a minute later.

“Tonight I was careless. I did nothing to prevent pregnancy.”

Charlotte’s gaze flew to his face. She found it impossible to read his expression. However, she did remember his words, which were like a sharp nick on a not-yet-healed cut.

Oh, I want more children, I just don’t want them with you.

The hurt was momentary. She’d not permit it to be anything more. It was much too soon for him to have a complete change of heart on the matter. In time, she prayed he would.

She looked at him questioningly. Barring abstinence, the only preventive methods she’d ever heard of were French letters and Dutch caps.