He gave a shout of laughter. “You were lucky. Mine was more likely to spank first and ask questions later. She might have a squishy bosom, but never ever did it embrace me. Come to think of it, never ever would I have wished for it to. Nanny Wishart was scary. I didn’t enjoy her spanks.” His gaze was speculative. “She did give me a desire to show how enjoyable spanking could be, however.”
Miranda gasped and touched her throat. That was indeed something that was of interest to her. Not giving, but receiving. She tensed her inner muscles to hold her juices back.
Really, he has me to a point where if I’m not careful, I’ll have to leave and help myself to climax. Drat the man
. Felix seemed oblivious to her state of arousal and continued with his narration.
“Although, if you wish to embrace me to your bosom, I dare say it would be different.” He sobered almost immediately. “Not that I can ask for that of course.”
The air seemed to stand still.
“Why not?”
Chapter Five
At her words Felix was surprised to find his cock pressing against his pantaloons as if there was an urgency for it to be noticed.
Why not? Well, because.
Felix realized his thoughts, and forestalled them. Miranda seemed not one whit abashed. Her insouciant attitude didn’t amuse Felix and he realized he needed to address the situation forthwith.
“Aside from the fact you are nothing like Nanny Wishart, who had hairs on her chin—her double chin? Let me see.” He flexed his wrists. It was as he thought, he would be able to slip the ties if need be. No doubt his ankles would also be thus. Someone needed to show her how to secure a bind properly.
No, not someone. Only me.
The thought shook him, and he wrenched his attention back to Miranda who waited patiently beside him.
“Firstly, I doubt she had a generous bone in her body or thought in her mind, and I have never known you to be unjust or unkind. Secondly, you are twenty years younger than me. When you are vibrant, exciting, and in the prime of your life I will be...” He hesitated. “Not old exactly, but heading that way. All that aside, I am a man who wants it all. Everything. I would never settle for anything else. I know what I enjoy, and don’t feel it would be fair to subject a young and impressionable lady to my ideals. You need a man who is younger, more virile and less...” He paused to find the word that fitted best. “Less extreme.”
Her eyes flashed and the finger she poked perilously near his cock hurt. “Balderdash. You are scared.” She shook her head and strands of her glorious hair slipped out of the knot it was in. With an impatient gesture, Miranda pulled out the hairpins and let her long auburn hair spiral over her shoulders to caress the top of the globes of her breasts. “Scared.” She repeated.
Her scornful tone stung. Never ever had someone accused him of that. Especially when he was doing his utmost to be chivalrous and not rush his fences with her. He was hurt she should think his caring attitude was thus.
“Unbind me and say that again.”
How dare she?
Felix had held out against his attraction for too long. Now he would show her.
Just once let me feel her. Let me bury myself inside her and experience how it could be. Before I acknowledge she may choose not to stay.
Miranda tilted her head to one side, in the pose Felix knew she used as she contemplated. “And if I do, you promise you will not overpower me and force me to desist?” She bit her lip and he wanted to shout at her to stop. To tell her that the only person to mark her skin would be him, and it would not be in that manner.
“If, after we talk, I demand you do something, I promise it will be in a different dynamic,” Felix said. “You see, Miranda, I have, for want of a better word, darkness in me. Something that people—some people—cannot accept.” He hesitated, not sure how to go on. “I have needs that perhaps other men do not. They are a part of me. A part I cannot deny. And perhaps not things any well-bred lady can accept. For one as young and sheltered as you, I fear they may well be too extreme. In fact maybe I should just say I am too old, too world-wise, and far too jaded for one so young, fresh, and innocent as you.”
He was surprised how those thoughts sent stabs of sadness through him. Never before had he felt so bereft. Miranda appealed to him on many levels, and he had long realized she was perhaps the one person who could bring light to his otherwise dull and lack luster life.
“Maybe you should tell me what is to happen next?” She cocked her head to one side. “I do not believe your so-called darkness is to follow the devil. Well, not the devil, as others see him.”
“No,” he agreed, pleased beyond everything she understood that. “But perhaps my own individual devil?”
Miranda nodded. “We all have one. Even I do, and each is our own. As you can tell, perchance. I find I have discovered that although I may have you at my so-called mercy, I feel you call the shots.” It didn’t sound as if it bothered her overmuch. “My one desire is to be yours as
you
so desire.”
“Then I can only be glad you have realized and accepted that.” Bound to the bed, albeit with ties he could easily escape, Felix accepted his body quivered with anticipation and his cock was primed and ready to go into immediate action. How to proceed? He took a swift glance toward Miranda who, he decided, looked both adorable and flustered. “Is it talk or action? Or neither?”
He realized it was perhaps time to stop procrastinating and see where their ideas took them. Whether they would mesh or not remained to be seen, but any young lady who could pull off a stunt such as this deserved to be given a chance to explore her inclinations. As long, he allowed, as it was with him alone. There was no chance he would permit her to ply her ideas with anyone else.
It seems I am about to give in with a vengeance and say to hang with our age difference. If she is prepared to tie herself to a man twice her age, why am I still dissembling? Anyway, once I show her what I need, she may change her mind.
Felix decided he would go for what he wanted. He had nothing to lose. Slowly, he smiled.
“Waiting.”
He didn’t have to wait for long. With a grin that was part urchin, part houri, Miranda took hold of the silk ribbons that tied across her bosom and oh so slowly pulled on the ends. As the ties loosened and the tiny sleeves began to slip down her arms the smooth skin of her breasts showed ever more over the top of the material.
Felix had never had his mouth go so dry, so suddenly, as at the same time his skin became damp and his cock wet. The sight of Miranda’s nipples as they appeared over the edge of her gown, and the tiny nubs puckered to his gaze, almost became his undoing. It took all of his willpower not to move his hands, and with one swift gesture release them from their bindings. He wanted—no needed— to see what she intended to do.
“I want to be with you, my lord, in every way possible.” She stroked one elegant finger over the swell of her left breast, and touched the tip of the nipple. “Believe me, this isn’t a short-term need, or a shallow one. Do you not think I’ve thought long and hard about any pitfalls? Pondered over the negative and gloated about the positives? My lord, I’ve done little else since I came to live here and was encouraged to take my place in society, albeit as my father’s ward. It may not be the season in London or Bath, but even here I’ve been forced to dance with chinless wonders. Been made to go for picnics and rides in the country with egocentric self-absorbed so-called gentlemen. All as my father’s ward. It is unbearable. All the time it has reinforced who and what I want; which is not to go to London for a season. My desire, my lord, is to be yours. Can I say why it’s you and no one else? I can not. I have no way of knowing why it is so, or persuading you it is so, but believe me, it is. I ache, and only you can assuage it.”
Somehow, watching the way she caressed herself Felix doubted that. He smiled and she blushed. He was fascinated to see the gentle shade of red spread upward from her breasts to her neck and then her face. “Assuage it in a way other than by myself, I mean,” she added, and then gasped. “Oh grief, did I really say that?”
“Oh yes, and I look forward to watching.”
Had he gone too far? If so, it was best to find out before they progressed further. Felix was amazed at the sharp sting of hope that he wouldn’t be disappointed.
Can hope sting? It seems so
. It was something new to his tired palate. He watched the ripples over her skin as she swallowed and almost visibly gathered her courage.
Come on.
He urged her on silently. Felix decided he’d no longer back away. If Miranda was this determined, then maybe he should see how things worked out. There was no doubt life might become complicated, but surely he could take anything thrown at him? He was renowned for the way he took things in his stride. But that was when Miranda wasn’t in the mix. He suppressed his doubts. There was time enough to think of that.
Or is there? Would it be fair to give us both hope, knowing I wouldn’t be happy to settle for less than I know I require?
“I can see you thinking.” Miranda reached out and ran one warm finger across his cheek. Her touch left a trail of fire across his skin. “Does that mean I do not have the ability to engage all of you?” She ran her tongue across her lips in the way that sent his cock to hard, and his pulse to fast. Then she gave a soft giggle. “Then either I need to try harder or you need to show me how. I assure you, my lord, I’m a very willing student.” She moved back an inch.
“Of—” All of a sudden he found it hard to speak. Miranda’s gown had cleared her breasts and sat bunched around her waist. The sleeves were tight as they circled her wrists and pinned her arms to her sides. He cleared his throat. “Of that I have no doubt. I can find no fault in the way you are showing me how much you know so far. If you continue in this way, I’m sure we’ll both be happy.”
“Hmm. Then what next?”
“Pull off my pantaloons and take me?” He made sure it was a suggestion not a demand. Not yet.
“My hands are immobile.” Miranda’s eyes twinkled at him, the shards of silver that showed in their depths hinted at her arousal, and his body responded as it always did to her unspoken invitations. The difference was that this time he intended to respond to them in the affirmative.
“Oh, how sad. Do you know just how arousing that sight is?” he asked. “I wonder what you’re going to do without loosening them. My dear, now’s your chance.” He waited until her breathing sped up and her breasts moved. “It’s time for you to improvise.”
Chapter Six
It seemed Felix intended that she follow through to her proposed conclusion.
Well, if this is to be my only time with him, why should I not do as I choose? If only he was clearer about what was acceptable and what was necessary.
She had no idea what this deep darkness he hinted at was, but if it was going to bar their happiness, then Miranda was determined to feel him inside her before he made his ultimatum. Nothing she had heard about him seemed dark. Unusual, different, and perhaps extreme, but not darkness. More enticing, exciting, and arousing.
It seems he wants it to be difficult for me. To be unable to use my hands? Then so be it. And if I graze his cock with my teeth then it is no one’s fault but his own.
The thought of running her mouth over his prick and tasting him brought a fresh trickle of juice down her thighs. She may only know the rudiments of what to do, and only by word of mouth, but Miranda knew if it was what Felix wished, she would be his eager pupil. She accepted the idea of that would take little to bring her to climax. Miranda was glad her dress hadn’t slipped far enough for the tell tale signs of how aroused she was to be on display. Her bravado only went so far, and to visibly show what she was experiencing might perhaps be one step too many.
She could feel Felix’s gaze on her as she grabbed the edge of her skirts with the tip of her fingers. They were the only part of her hands not surrounded by material. Eventually she managed to lift the material high enough to maneuver first one leg and then the other to the top of the mattress. Finally, she knelt back on her heels on the bed next to Felix. The expression on his face was enough to make the hairs on her arms stand on end. He looked, she decided, both aroused and pleased. A swift glance toward the bump in his pantaloons reassured Miranda that Felix
was
still very aroused. It reassured her that innocent as she was, she seemed to be attempting to seduce him in the right way. Her lessons were paying off.
Going on instinct—Molly hadn’t covered how to undress a man when your hands were fastened per se—Miranda shuffled across the coverlet until she knelt between his bound legs. A swift glance toward Felix made her breath hitch. There was something more than admiration in his expression. If she hadn’t thought it impossible, she would have said it was love, and it gave her hope. She dipped her head and took the knitted material at the top of his pantaloons into her mouth then pulled it upward. By accident she touched the top of his shaft with her chin, and his cock jumped against her skin. It was warm and smooth, and Miranda hurried to pull Felix’s pantaloons below it.
His groan made her freeze. With the waist of his clothing in her mouth, she lifted her head to look at him.
“Don’t stop,” Felix almost moaned. His voice was husky. “I might explode, though I hope I have enough self control to hold back, but if you stop now I will be bereft. Perhaps it would be easier for you if you let your dress fall completely away? And it would please me to see you naked.”
Both relieved and apprehensive, Miranda let the now damp material of his pantaloons gently drop from her mouth and rest across his tumescent cock. In truth, the cloth tasted most unpleasant and she was certain there must be a better way of removing his clothing.
Well of course there is, once I can use my hands.
Nevertheless, she was proud of her innovative approach. Now all she had to do was be brave enough to show her all, and that included the evidence of her desire for him, which still coated her skin.