Once an Heiress (26 page)

Ethan chuckled and rested his forehead against hers, the tips of their noses glancing across one another. “Only you. You are the most magnificent thing I have ever beheld when you’re in a snit, princess. I shall have to concoct new ways to vex you at least twice a month.” He dropped a feather-light kiss on her lips. “If we had been sleeping together — ”
kiss
“ — every night as I wanted to do from the beginning — ”
kiss
“ — then I should never have had to ask your maid such a personal question.”

As he kissed her again, he untied the ribbon at the neck of her robe and slid it off her shoulders. It slithered down Lily’s back to land in a soft heap at her heels. He lifted his head and caught her face in his hands. The warmth radiating from his body was deliciously inviting. She leaned in a little and caught the faintest hint of roses on his skin. Her brow creased in confusion. “What is — ?”

“Listen to me.” The vehemence of his tone shooed away any thought of roses. “I want to know everything about you, Lily. I want you to tell me about your amazing bath-room, and Miss Cuthbert, and everything to do with your school, because it’s yours. It’s marvelous, and I am in awe of your goodness and generosity.”

A lump formed in her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Could he really mean this? Was he actually interested in her, Lily? Her head swam with a jumble of emotions.

Ethan’s hands splayed against the small of her back and over the globes of her buttocks, pulling her closer, molding her body to his. Heat suffused his words as his erection pressed into her abdomen. “I want to know everything there is to learn about your body, Lily. I want to see you and touch you and feel you. I want to know how many ways we can find to pleasure one another.” His hands worked into her hair, undoing the sad remains of the braid. “Don’t you want that, too?”

Even in the dim light, she was struck by the earnest pleading in his eyes. He craved her acceptance as much as he desired to take her to bed. And God help her, but she wanted him, too. Her heart leaped with hope, but fear still tugged at her. She worried at her lip while meeting his gaze. What if this was all a ploy on his part, a ruse to obtain her money?

The money.
Lily was tired to the tips of her toes of thinking and worrying about money, and whether or not her husband only wanted her for her fortune. How much energy had she expended in forbidding herself happiness, all in the name of keeping her heart and her money out of his hands?

Her lips curved up in a little smile and she nodded. “I do. I want that, too,” she affirmed. She was gratified by the soft crinkle at the corners of his eyes as he returned her smile.

“Very well, then,” he said matter-of-factly. “To bed.” His eyes scorched a path over the thin white night rail concealing her body. Without a word, he bent and gathered the hem. Lily raised her arms so he could pull it over her head.

The tips of her breasts grazed over his chest as he straightened, teasing her nipples to hard knots. His eyes went hazy with lust, but there was something softer there, too, and it fed her fledgling hopes. Forcing her fretful thoughts to the back of her mind, Lily took his hand and led him to her bed. It was smaller than his imposing four-poster, and dressed all in white sheets and coverlets.

She started to climb onto it, but Ethan nudged past her and sprawled on his back in the middle of the mattress.

“Come here,” he said, reaching out.

Feeling as nervous as she had the first time they’d lain together, Lily settled into his embrace. She rested her head on his shoulder. Her hand slipped across his belly to hook around his side. For several long moments, they lay entwined, clinging together. Lily welcomed the silence and the opportunity to reacquaint herself with the sensation of his sturdy, masculine frame against her own body. She closed her eyes and breathed him in, savoring the spicy hint of cologne.

His fingers brushed her hair away from her temple; her eyelids fluttered open. The somber look on his face quite took her by surprise. “Tell me why you’re afraid,” he said.

Lily felt her hackles start to rise.

“No,” he said in a commanding tone. “I see you starting to put walls up again, Lily, and I won’t have it. I just won’t. Not when you and I both know this could turn into something … ” His lips turned up in a slow smile while he looked away. “Spectacular,” he finished.

Her breath hitched in her throat. Exhaling a soft laugh, she shook her head. “You always say exactly what I don’t expect you to say.”

His grin deepened. “Good.” His arms tightened around her middle and he rolled onto his back, pulling a squealing Lily on top of him.

The soft curls on his chest crushed under her breasts, tickling and teasing her aching nipples, while his hands roamed her back and thighs. Every touch was joy, each caress more arousing than the last. Lily’s dark hair tumbled over her shoulder and pooled beside his face on the snowy pillow. Ethan’s fingers tangled in her tresses and he guided her downward until their mouths met.

Like a spark on dry tinder, his kiss set her aflame. Her lips slid across his, parting to tease him with the tip of her tongue. A low groan escaped his throat as his mouth opened to hers. His hands swept down her sides; his fingers kneaded her bottom, then dipped into the cleft, stroking along her sensitive folds. She arched her back and whimpered. He explored more, slipping a finger inside her wetness and whispering erotic endearments as she moved on top of him.

Unable to maintain her position for all her own writhing, Lily’s thighs fell open and her legs slipped down his sides to straddle his hips. His blunt tip pressed against her damp entrance. Could she — ? Startled at the idea, she lifted to look at him in unspoken question.

“Yes,” he whispered. “You’re in charge, princess.”

Lightheaded with arousal, Lily pushed herself up to sitting, with her knees sinking into the coverlet on either side of his torso. Gently, he guided her back. She rose further, poising herself above his penis. She cast him another questioning glance. He nodded in encouragement. “Go on, then,” he said through tight lips.

Lily bit her lip, aroused at the realization that she had him on tenterhooks. He was as desperate to couple with her as she was to be with him — and there was not a damned thing he could do about it, pinned beneath her as he was.

Her lips curved up in an impish smile as, inch by inch, she lowered herself onto the head, rose up, and then sank down a little further. As he stretched and filled her, she inhaled deeply, tensing and easing in turn as her body melded with his. Between her thighs, she felt him shudder. When she’d taken him in to the hilt, Lily regarded her lover with a heavy-lidded gaze. “Now what?” she asked.

Ethan gave her a hazy, lopsided smile. His hands skimmed up her thighs, squeezed her waist, and continued on up to cover her breasts. “Whatever suits you, princess, anything you — Christ!” His eyes rolled back.

Lily chuckled with delight as she released her tensed inner walls. She’d wondered whether she could willfully clamp herself tighter around him, and was very gratified to know she could.

“There’s my princess,” he managed. “Always thinking, my clever girl.” He grabbed her hips and drove upward. Lily cried out and tumbled forward, her fingers digging into his chest to steady herself.

“You said I was in charge,” she scolded playfully, clenching her muscles around him again.

“Then take charge,” he whispered hoarsely. “Take your pleasure from me as you wish — I want you screaming before this is over.” He pulled her down for a scorching kiss. She sensed how he held himself in check, allowing her to guide their intercourse. A thrill shot through her at the realization of her own power. As their tongues tangled, she rocked her hips back and forth.

He moaned his approval, and Lily exulted in knowing she was pleasing him. She straightened and continued rocking — and was startled by the change in sensation. He was so deep — filling her more than she knew she could be filled.

Ethan’s hands rested on her haunches. He watched her with lust and need and warmth. Lily’s heart lurched when she saw that look in his eyes. In such a moment of raw intimacy, surely he couldn’t hide his true feelings from her. And there was something there to hope for — something worth reaching for.

Coherent thought flew from her mind as the mounting pressure between her legs overshadowed everything else. There was just the two of them, and the molten bliss emanating from the place where they were joined.

Lily increased her pace, driving them both to the brink. Her breasts bounced against his chest in time with her movements; he gripped them and held tight while she rode. Even though he’d begun their mating urging her to take her own pleasure, Lily was determined to make him climax — she
needed
him to do so, to prove that she could please them both when she was in control. Despite her own orgasm building deep inside, she kept her eyes trained on Ethan — her Ethan. Hers. She didn’t hear her own cries and gasps, so focused was she on ensuring his release.

Her name tore from his throat in a guttural growl. He took her hips and yanked her down, over and over while he rose up to meet her. She felt a flood of warmth and still he drove on, pushing her right over the precipice where light exploded behind her eyes. Distantly, she heard herself crying out — words tumbled over her lips, interspersed with primal screams.

Finally, panting, trembling, she returned to her senses. Ethan gave her that lopsided smile, his eyes still brimming with those good things that made Lily feel like she might float away with happiness.

Her thighs quivered in protest of being clamped around his middle for so long. She collapsed in an exhausted, happy heap into his welcoming embrace.

“Well done, my girl,” he murmured as she burrowed into his arms. He kissed the top of her head. She kissed his neck, damp and salty with perspiration. Beneath her palm, his heart gradually slowed from a gallop to a more sedate trot. Lily bit her lip, grinning as she thought how
she
had brought him to this sweaty, sated state. Feeling mischievous, she pinched his bottom and was rewarded with a surprised, “Oi!”

He snatched her wrists and pulled her mischievous hands away. “Aren’t you the saucy one tonight?” He pinned her wrists with one large hand and tickled her ribs with the other.

Lily squealed and squirmed until he released her. Then she turned on her side and let him pull her close, her back nestled against his chest. She still smiled as drowsiness tugged at her. As her mind relaxed, the negative thoughts she’d pushed away began creeping back in. Could she really trust him — trust this tenuous feeling between them? Her throat clenched in fear. What if —
no
, she scolded herself.
No more what ifs.

He’d said he wanted them
both
to be happy. Ethan deserved happiness, and so did she. The way there was uncertain, but maybe if they took the journey together …

“Lily,” he said against her temple, “I’ve something to say to you.”

She shifted onto her back. Ethan propped up on an elbow. Her hand went to his cheek and stroked from his jaw to his hairline and down again. “What is it?” she murmured.

“Two somethings, actually.” His brow furrowed. “No, three.”

She poked his chest. “Out with it, before you’ve thought of thirty-seven somethings to tell me and I’m kept up all night while you declaim them one by one.”

His lips pressed together in false severity. “Very well, madam, thing the first: You acquitted yourself tolerably well just then.”

She swatted his shoulder and laughed. “Just tolerably well?”

“More than tolerably,” he said with a wink, “but I don’t want to feed your conceit.”

Lily snorted. Ethan’s blue eyes were full of mirth. His happiness fed her own; for so long, she’d seen nothing in his eyes but hardness and bitter sarcasm.

“Thing the second … ” He turned to look around the bedchamber before returning his attention to her. “I don’t like your room,” he said, shaking his head. “Everything in it is small and feminine, and I worry even now that I’m going to break the bed. It doesn’t do for you, either.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re far too tall for that ridiculous little stool at your vanity. You’d do better dressing in my room, using furniture more suited to your frame. From now on, that’s where we’re sleeping.”

Lily felt her hackles rising at being dictated to, but she pressed her lips closed again. The truth was, her father had bought her bedroom furniture when she was fourteen — lovely trappings for a fashionable young lady. However, she’d continued growing until she was eighteen, and had been uncomfortable in her things ever since. She’d never breathed a word of complaint to her dear Papa. But Ethan had known right away that it wasn’t right for her anymore. She relented with a nod.

“Good.” He kissed her lips. “Thank you.”

Lily’s fingertips played in the hair at his nape. His breath quickened just a bit, and she felt her own arousal stirring low in her belly. “What was the third thing you wanted to say?” she asked.

Ethan took one of her nipples in his fingers and squeezed. Lily gasped and arched into his hand, desire flaring to life at his touch. “Thing the third,” she heard him say as he parted her legs with his knee, “I’m in charge this time.”

Lily awoke the next morning as she’d not done since the morning after their wedding — with her husband gloriously naked beside her and snoring softly. Joy flooded her to see him so content. Lightly, so as not to disturb his slumber, she brushed his stubbled cheek with the back of a finger.

I love him,
she thought. She grinned with delight at the light, giddy feeling around her heart.
Can I make him happy?
A few of the previous night’s doubts still worried her, but fresh determination rose within her with the new day’s sun.

So far, Lily hadn’t been a good wife to Ethan, but now she was determined to do better. If only there was something she could do, an olive branch she could extend …

Her brows shot up as an idea clapped her over the head. Slipping out of bed, she kept a wary eye on Ethan to make sure he still slept. Hastily, she donned her dressing gown and padded downstairs to his study.