His hands caught her hips and held her still, as with tantalizing delay he continued to mouth and tease that one button that separated her naked, vulnerable flesh from his seeking lips. He breathed in her scent, sucked at the fabric, and then, unable to stand it any longer, undid the button....
Besotted and drunk by his own handiwork, Nick was hardly even aware of Tess's low, excited moan when he was finally able to touch that intoxicating, secret flesh he had exposed. She was so sweet, so damn sweet, he thought dizzily as his mouth opened against her, his tongue flicking hotly against her slick warmth. Deliberately his hands slid lower on her hips, holding her thrashing body still as he explored and tasted deeply of the hidden delicate folds between her thighs. The fabric of the gown rubbed against his chin, preventing him from exploring as thoroughly as he wanted. Reluctantly abandoning part of his plans, he hurriedly undid several more buttons with one hand, opening the gown to her knees.
Her breathing suspended, all sensation centered between her legs, Tess hardly dared to move, afraid she would shatter into a thousand pieces. She had never dreamed ... never imagined ... The exquisite ache and frantic hunger he created with each carnal movement of his mouth and tongue were intense. Her head twisted from side to side, her hands reaching helplessly for him. She wanted to touch him, to caress him, to kiss him, but her restlessly moving hands could only touch his dark head. She had never felt such pleasure, never experienced such wanton emotions as were coursing through her this very minute.
His mouth buried in the thicket of curls at the top of her thighs, his tongue exploring and provoking the tiny bud he found there, Nick's hand slid up one thigh, and Tess stiffened and bucked up against him as one, then two long fingers sank deeply within her.
Oh, dear God! she thought wildly. What is he doing to me? The sensations were so incredible, so intense, that she couldn't control her body, and her hands tightened in his hair, her hips rising up eagerly to welcome his questing fingers.
He stroked her deeply time and again, his fingers moving slickly within her heat as he feasted hungrily on the succulent warmth between her thighs and his mouth and tongue brought her closer to the brink. His own body felt as if it would explode; just the brush of his throbbing shaft against the coverlet made him certain that he was going to disgrace himself. She was such fire. Such sweet,
sweet
fire....
Tess was certain she couldn't stand another moment of this exquisitely carnal torture. She was already trembling, shaking from the power of the primitive feelings he was creating, and she was certain that
nothing
else could ever feel like this. In utter astonishment she suddenly felt her body coil, felt the hot pressure build, felt the first tiny quiver of pleasure come sweeping upward, and then, like a tidal wave, ecstasy exploded through her. “Oh, heavens ... my dear God!
Nick!”
Against his tongue, he felt her flesh jump and quiver, and he groaned, the sweet sounds of her climax nearly sending him over the edge. He fought to control himself, concentrating on giving her that last little bit of pleasure, his fingers and tongue moving ever so gently now. As the storm gradually ebbed, he lifted his head and stared up into her stunned face. “Did you,” he asked thickly, “find it
illuminating?”
Her body still throbbing from the most spectacular sensations she had ever felt in her life, Tess blushed delightfully. With her eyes clearly dilated, in a shaken voice she mumbled,
“Very!”
He smiled. “And that, sweetheart, was just the beginning....”
She was dimly aware that Nicolas had not reached the same blinding pinnacle that she had, that his body was still aching for fulfillment, but at the moment she was boneless and too satiated to do anything about it. Positive that she had misheard him, she asked dazedly, “Beginning?”
“Hmm, yes. Beginning,” he said against her thigh, his lips just brushing the soft flesh.
She had not thought that passion could renew itself so swiftly, but not quite fifteen minutes later, as her gown lay completely open on either side of her naked body and Nick's hands and lips had once more worked their magic over every inch of her tingling flesh, she discovered how very mistaken she had been. He had completed his self-imposed task of unbuttoning the remainder of the gown, his teeth and lips traveling in a burning trail down to that very last silk button. From there he had gradually dallied upward, kissing her slim ankles, lingering along the way, his mouth teasing the spot behind her knee, brushing the length of her thigh, his hands seeking and finding every vulnerable spot, his lips and tongue following swiftly behind. By the time his mouth settled once more against her tight nipples, she was aflame, the demanding pull of her body drawing her deeper into his arms, her own seeking hands caressing and exploring him.
But Nick was too close, too needy, to endure very much of her gentle caresses, and when her hand closed around him, her fingers warmly stroking the swollen length of his manhood, he could bear it no longer. He caught her hands in his, and bringing them above her head, he slid onto her body, settling between her thighs. She twisted to escape his grasp, but he muttered against her mouth, “No, sweetheart. Another night I shall let you do as you will, but not tonightâI cannot wait any longer. I must have you
now
!” And he drove himself deep within her welcoming flesh, his mouth crushing hers.
She was so tight, so warm, so silky slick, that Nick trembled from the blatantly carnal pleasure that flooded through him as he thrust deeper into her. He groaned aloud at the feel of her hot little sheath closing snugly around his swollen shaft, his hands tightening involuntarily around her wrists, holding her a willing prisoner to his invasion. His tongue plunged into the wine depths of her mouth. Like a banquet before a starving man, her body was laid out beneath him, her soft curves meeting his hard planes, the silken caress of her warm bare skin teasing and arousing him, driving him closer to finding that precious release his body craved.
As aroused and eager for the same elemental sensation that consumed Nick, Tess arched up to meet him in near supplication. She was full of him, stretched near to bursting, and it brought her immense satisfaction. The sounds he made expressing his delight each time he sank deeply within her made her flesh tighten and tingle, made his possession all the sweeter.
Feeling that first sweet ripple of fulfillment sweep upward, she longed to touch him, to communicate her great pleasure. But all she could do as wave after wave of rapture burst through her body was to kiss him as fiercely as he was kissing her and to tangle her legs around his, pulling, drawing him even deeper within her.
Nick shuddered as her thighs tightened around him. Feeling the soft shocks that went through her body as she found that place they both sought so urgently, he finally loosed the iron hold he had placed on himself and let all the passion that was within him flow free. Releasing her hands, he let his own hands slide down to her hips. Holding her tightly to him, he drove fiercely within her, finding at last that sweet ecstacy he yearned for. A low, triumphant growl burst from him as he emptied himself into her.
Certain she would never move again, Tess lay limply beneath him, stunned by the intensity of the sensations that she had experienced in his arms. For the first time she realized how powerful a force, how fiercely demanding, passion could be ... why some women risked everything for it and why some men killed for it.
She sighed with pleasure when Nick pulled her next to him and dropped a lazy kiss on her temple. His body was warm against hers, and she was content just to lie there, wrapped gently in his strong arms, her head resting on the hard plane of his shoulder.
There was silence for several moments, and then Nick said, “I much prefer you as my wife than my mistress....”
“Oh? And why is that?” she asked drowsily.
“Because,” he said huskily, dropping another kiss on her temple, “I don't have to leave your bed and seek out my own lonely one anymoreânow I can make love to you whenever and wherever I wish.”
Tess stiffened slightly, some of her soft glow fading. His words were not what she wanted to hear, but they didn't surprise her. That Nick wanted her had never been in doubt....
Unwilling to dwell on the circumstances of their marriage, she wrested her wandering mind away from painful musings and smothered a sudden yawn. She was his wife and she loved him, and she would cling to that knowledge and hope that bearing his name andâa funny little thrill went through herâeventually his children would be enough to satisfy her in the long years ahead.
Nick was thinking of their children, too, and Tess would have been astonished to learn that he'd just realized he didn't want her to get pregnant right away. It was an incomprehensible turnabout for him. After all, he admitted reluctantly, the whole reason he had been looking so urgently for a bride had been to sire an heir. But I don't, he realized with a shock, want to share her with anyone just yetânot even my own flesh and blood!
For the first time, it occurred to Nick that what bound him to Tess might be something more substantial and lasting than mere passion for her body. He might, he decided uneasily, have committed that fatal act and fallen in love with her. . . . It was an incredible thought and terrifying, too. Love made one weak and vulnerable; made one totally helpless to the whims of another. And if it was not returned . . . He swallowed. He never again wanted to go through the agony that had been his when Maryanne had married another man. And while there was no danger of Tess becoming another man's wife, was he strong enough to endure unrequited love for the rest of his life? He didn't think so. His face hardened. He would
make
Tess love him. And what, he wondered sickly, had he done to make her love him? Nothing. He had ravished her. Declared her a liar. Abducted her and kept her prisoner for his own carnal needs.
But I love her, he thought savagely, knowing that it was true. He
did
love her. Had loved her from almost the moment his eyes had met hers across the room at the Black Pig. How else to explain his determined, single-minded acts since then? Only a man in the grip of powerful emotions would have done as he had done.
He shifted slightly so that he was able to look down into her sleeping face. His own features softened, and he was conscious of a fierce pleasure in just looking at her, in knowing that she was his, his bride, his wife. After brushing an almost reverent kiss across her brow, he eased back down beside her and drifted off to sleep.
He woke just before dawn, his body hard and hungry for her. He reached for Tess and brought her slowly awake with gentle, persuasive caresses that soon had her fully alert and eager to continue down the path he was leading them. When he finally took her, their bodies merging together, there was such passion, such demanding tenderness in his possession, that Tess could only marvel at the utter sweetness of this joining. He must, she thought hazily as sleep claimed her once more, feel something more than lust for me. He must!
When she finally woke again some hours later, she was disappointed to find herself alone in the lovely silk-hung bed. A dreamy smile on her lips, she stretched like a cat and was startled to discover that she ached pleasantly in certain parts of her anatomy and that she was still wearing the purple gown and gauzy peignoir. Remembering explicitly the manner in which Nick had undone each button, and what had followed, she blushed and giggled and hugged the garments tightly to her, imagining his lips moving over her again.
Shaking off her decidedly erotic thoughts, she used the velvet bell rope hanging by the bed to ring for a servant. Her ring was answered almost immediately, and for quite some time afterward Tess was preoccupied with the morning rituals of bathing and dressing.
The morning was half gone by the time she descended the wide, sweeping staircase in half-shy, half-eager search of her new husband. Her red gold curls were expertly caught up in a silk ribbon the exact shade of her lavender muslin gown, and with a warm glow fairly radiating from her, roses blooming in her cheeks, and her eyes sparkling like jewels, she was a vision to behold.
Nick certainly thought so when she poked her head around the door to his study a moment later. His heart leaping, he wanted nothing more than to capture her in his arms and kiss that sweet mouth of hers, but he cursed her untimely arrival. The last thing he wanted her to see right now was Alexander's bruised and battered face! Nor was he particularly enthusiastic about giving her the explanation she was sure to demand. Hoping to forestall her, he hurried forward to greet her, but he was too late.
Already three steps into the room, Tess stopped abruptly as she spied her two uncles seated on comfortable black leather chairs before Nicolas's large desk. It wasn't the sight of her uncles that brought her to a dead halt so much as the sight of Alexander's face. He had obviously been in a fightâand gotten the worst of it, if the cuts and scrapes and the black-and-blue purpling that marred his handsome features were anything to go by!
Her eyes huge, she rushed over to Alexander. “What happened to you? Who did this?” she asked breathlessly.
Alexander looked uncomfortable, almost squirming on his chair as he fumbled for an answer. He threw Nick an apologetic glance and then muttered, “Someone broke into the gatekeeper's cottage last night and, er, attacked me.”