Courtesan's Kiss (29 page)

“Yes, yes, I see your point.” He admitted it with annoyance, sure she would preen over her minor victory. But she didn’t.

“You know, I’ve always thought Alan Wilson was so much more than he seems. Perhaps he is the heir to property in Scotland and was kidnapped at birth. Or he has family in Bermuda that thinks he was lost at sea.”

“Wilson is a groom and happy to be one.” He was not jealous of the boy. Mia cared about everyone she met. Even him.

She shrugged. “Maybe I should find a pet to keep me company like Wilson has Magda, perhaps a poodle. I’ve
always thought them cute, and they do not shed their hair on everything. Janina would hate a pet that sheds.”

So she was not done comparing herself to the loveless groom. Did she really think herself so alone? Mia went on about different breeds of dogs as he thought back through their time together.

And cringed. He was so busy trying to suppress his attraction to her that he had made her feel less than welcome and succeeded in convincing her that she was just another task he must complete before he could do something much more important.

“A poodle, I think.” She finally ended her discussion.

“I will give you one at Christmas.”

“A poodle? Next you will be offering me a necklace.” With that suggestion between them they were silent the rest of the way to the house.

The front hall was amazingly quiet. For his part he hoped that their fellow guests were abed—alone or together, he did not care; nor did he want to see them again tonight. Or tomorrow, either.

She followed him up the stairs. At the double doors that led to the owner’s suite, he stepped back and waited for her to brush past him. He loved to watch the way she moved, as if the next adventure lay around the corner or beyond the door. And always she would do as she did now, turn to see if he would join her.

Would letting her into his life be such a big mistake?

God help him, he would at least wait until she was twenty-one. He would. It could be that when they were
apart the attraction would fade to nothing. Waiting was the sensible thing to do.

“Mia.”

She turned to him as though she had no idea what he wanted. He closed the double doors, took her hand. He knew that look. Her lips pressed together lest she laugh out loud with excitement, her eyes amazed and full of anticipation. She could hardly wait.

“One more kiss. We go on to Pennford tomorrow. Let’s call the kiss a farewell to this adventure.”

Her laughter disappeared. Her eyes flashed with anger.

“It’s all we can share,” he insisted. “You know it as well as I do.”

She said nothing but stood very still, so he pulled her closer, lifted her chin with his finger, laid his lips on her mouth, and waited for a response.

He could feel her shaking as if she were upset or afraid, and he stopped. She raised a hand and would have slapped him if he had not grabbed her fingers before they landed on his cheek.

“I hate you, hate you, hate you,” she whispered, though there was no missing her anger. “You think you can play with me, with my feelings, with my fears, with my plans.” She drew a deep breath but before he could say a word she went on. “No. No. No. You cannot kiss me
one last time.”
She said those three words like they were a joke. “Why won’t you make love to me?”

“Because I would be taking advantage of your youth
and curiosity. It would hurt Elena and by extension the duke, and I would sooner die than hurt any of you.”

“Oh, you would rather die. Then where is your knife?” She felt around his waist. “I know you carry one.”

“I don’t carry a knife with me when I’m in evening clothes.” Thank God.

“Then I will go to the kitchen and find one.”

“You sound like a child, Mia. Act the adult you are.”

“I assure you this is not the anger of a child. Just because you find it easy to dismiss my upset because I am a child does not mean I am one. Soon, very soon, I will start making my own decisions.”

She whirled around as if she would carry out her threat.

Let her leave. It’s the right thing
.

David grabbed her around the waist, lifted her, and carried her into his room, for once not caring what was right.

“Listen to me. You will stop this tantrum and go to your room.”

As if further proving his point she kicked his shins with her heels and, in the end, he tossed her on the bed.

“The only thing you care about is your cotton mill!”

The cotton mill. The cotton mill. He thought the words like a chant, hoping it would distract him from the only thing he
did
care about. Holding her, feeling her all around him. Sharing an adventure with her that would be worth the risk. He could lose everything.

Mia rolled off the bed on the other side and looked
across the rumpled expanse. Her anger disappeared and she smiled at him as though she knew what he was thinking. She reached up and pulled a few pins from her hair so that it fell down her back. She dropped the pins in a cup on the table by his bed.

In that moment she was not a girl, but a woman.

Her beautiful hair fell halfway to her waist. Its dark color showed black and brown and auburn. He felt drained by the constant battle.

He could lose everything, he reminded himself, but what of value did he actually have? At this moment nothing mattered more than she did.

She came around the end of the bed, right up to him, as close as she could come without touching him. He thought she was going to try to seduce him, but she stood a moment, watching him, her smile as sad as a smile could be.

“Is there anyone, anywhere who will ever care about me as much as I care about them?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“I know,” she said, misunderstanding him, her eyes filling.

“But only because you do everything with such intensity.” He could see it so clearly.

“Please make love to me. I am begging you.” Mia blinked back the tears, but the longing remained.

He had not been drinking, so he could not blame his decision on spirits. He did not forget for a moment that he was supposed to protect her. He had not lost sight of what
this would mean to him and to her, possibly to the rest of their lives.

What changed his mind was the look on her face and her words.
Please make love to me
. As if he would be doing her the greatest favor in the world. As if her life would not be complete without this night together. As if he was the answer to all her prayers.

Ettie’s words still echoed in his head.
“Stop lying to yourself.”
So he did. And in that moment of freedom there was no doubt in his mind that wanting Mia more than anything was a truth he had ignored for much too long.

She stood still, waiting. It never occurred to him to step back, much less push her away. He was done lying to himself. He wanted her.

He gentled her with little kisses at her temple, and felt her pulse, faster than usual. Was it the residue of anger or passion waiting? He kissed her neck, and the pulse there beat stronger and quicker. She drew a long breath but it sounded more like a sigh than a thrill.

David touched her cheek and then the corner of her mouth and felt her lips turn up in a smile. That was much better. His relief was so profound that he picked her up and whirled her around.

She gasped, then laughed. When he stopped and she slid down, he kissed her mouth and found everything he had ever hoped for in her response.

Her throat worked as he kissed her there and she laughed. “Oh, that feels so wonderful. Do not stop.” He was happy to comply even when she would keep talking. “I love the feel of your tongue, the way your lips feel so
soft and full.” He ended her comments with his mouth on hers. She did not need words to convey her delight, but wrapped her arms around his neck and fell with him onto the bed, both of them still fully dressed.

“Do we need to take our clothes off? I do not want to stop for anything.”

“Yes, part of the fun is the anticipation.”

“
Dio mio
, David, we have had enough of that!”

She had a point.

“And my dress is already ruined from when I jumped on you.”

He rolled her over so that she was on her stomach, and with a hand on the first button pulled at the material so that it ripped along the buttons all the way to her waist. She laughed in surprise as he held her down and began to kiss his way down her back.

“Oh there, again, right on that spot, or there. Oh, this feels so good that I will not let you stop.”

He slapped her lightly on the buttocks and then pressed a kiss to the spot, though it was still covered by her shift and a petticoat that was tied at the waist.

He massaged the spot he had spanked and kissed, then rolled her over so that he could watch her face as he caressed her from neck to waist and below. She lay very still until he touched her breast with his fingers.

“Oh,” she said, “I thought it would hurt.” She sighed again, a sound he was beginning to love. “If you stop I will beat you with a pillow.” She raised her hips and he knew she was as thoroughly aroused as he was.

Moving his hand ahead of his lips, he trailed caresses and kisses over her breast to her stomach, and then felt for the entry with his fingers to be sure she was ready.

She writhed against him and with her eyes closed begged with sounds that were not words but which needed no translation. When he stopped she cried out, a quiet scream, but he dearly hoped that Janina was sound asleep, across the corridor and two doors down.

“Why are you stopping? That cannot be all there is.”

“Take your clothes off or you will be going back to your room naked.” He was pulling off his boots and breeches. She struggled to kneel behind him.

“I could wear one of your shirts.” Her hand was at his neck and then he felt her rip his shirt down the back. “Oh dear, I guess I can’t use this one.”

Mia began to do what he had done to her. Only she used her hands as well to knead the muscles at his neck. How did she know that was his favorite sort of foreplay?

With his clothes in a pile on the floor, he turned to her and with a deft movement pushed her onto her back. Her breasts were full, her stomach flat and even her navel a perfect little circle. “Do you wish you had some whipped cream?” she teased, then promised, “Another time.”

“I told you once that I am not gentle with women.”

“I am
soo
afraid,” she said, laughing at him.

“I will try not to hurt you.”

“Oh, David,” she said, “it’s very hard not to love you.” With that she pulled him to her, arching her body to entice him. He should have waited, he should have made
sure she understood what he was doing, but the feel of her hand on his erection left no other choice but to slide into her. He felt the moment of resistance that marked her virginity, but she did not seem to notice as he filled her body as completely as she filled his mind.

“It’s so perfect,” she said in short gasps as she began to move in time with him. It took less than a minute, he hoped more than five seconds, before he spilled his seed into her, before she arched against him to take it all, before he did not care about anything but the feeling of triumph and completion that spun in his head and ensnared his heart.

Lying entwined he heard her sigh again.

“Listen to me. Let me satisfy you, too.” He kissed her sweetly and then began to move inside her again. He was not as aroused as he had been, who would expect that, but it was all the better as his manhood eased against her most sensitive spot and her sigh turned to a gasp.

“Oh, please, if you stop I will be so unhappy. I will—” Finally she stopped talking. Her body tensed and he could feel the pulse of her pleasure. David gathered her to him, holding her tight against his own body, his own arousal renewed by the throb of her own. With Mia this close the world was his, no bigger than this bed and the woman with whom he was one. He wanted no more than this. And no less.

When they separated but were still in each other’s arms, he kissed the top of her head.

“You must have lied about being a virgin.”

Mia smothered his chest with kisses and then sat upright, dragging the sheet with her, turning to face him. “I consider that the most wonderful compliment in the world.”

“As I meant it to be.” He pulled the sheet away from her breasts, but looked into her eyes.

Mia leaned closer so that the tips of her breasts touched his chest. He was almost sure she did that on purpose, and was even more certain she knew the consequences.

M
IA LEANED CLOSER
and pressed her breasts fully onto his naked chest. She wanted to make love again. And again. And again. How long before he would want her? She moved on top of him, acting on instinct, fitting her body to his. “Oh, I can feel you grow hard.” It was amazing to have that effect on a man. She felt powerful and protective at the same time. Most of all she was hungry for him to give her, to share, the glory of that overwhelming feeling that became her only thought.

She raised herself on her knees, but before she could touch him, he grabbed her hips and pulled her to him so that he penetrated her in an instant. A gasp was all she could utter as she began to rise and fall as if riding a horse.