Authors: Michelle Woodward
Ania felt her own heart begin to hammer as she felt his hands on her. His actions were perfectly laced with danger, and yet, she knew that he would never hurt her. Her husband, this huge bull of a man who could shatter a man with a single blow, was surely exploring something dark with her. The span of his hand covered her entire chest, and its largeness was exciting her, even as her airway was gently squeezed.
“Then what?” Ania whispered, hardly daring to breathe for fear of ruining the moment.
Nicholas felt that whisper travel all the way down to his cock. His innocent wife was driving him crazy in the strangest of ways, he thought, but two could play at that game. “Then he leaned in towards her ear and spoke to her the words that changed the story of her life, leaned in very, very close so that she could feel his breath on the fine hairs there, and when he spoke, she shivered,” he said, leaning in close to Ania’s ear so that
she
could feel what the girl in the hood felt.
“What did he say?” she asked, her eyelids fluttering closed of their own accord as the pulse in her neck began to dance a merry little rhythm. Nicholas smiled, pleased to find her so responsive to his suggestions.
“He leaned in close and told her, ‘I am no wolf at all, I am the man brought here to make a woman out of you, and when we join, there will be no screams from you but screams of joy, and you will claim your womanhood in one single moment of possession; I will possess you, but you will unhinge me, too, for that is the way it always was, is, and will always be.’”
And with that, Nicholas, Duke Connols, closed his lips on his wife’s neck and drew from her a long, shuddering sigh.
“’Wolf!’ she cried, as slowly she was undressed,” Nicholas continued, sprinkling kisses down Ania’s delectable collarbone, feeling her melt into his grasp. “’Wolf, what big eyes you have!’ and the wolf man growled that it was the better to see her lovely shape with.” Nicholas allowed his tongue to travel up and down Ania’s tender belly and felt a small whimper of response; he was nearing a part of her that he particularly worried was going to be the undoing of him, but plundered on anyway. “’What big ears you have!’ she continued as the wolf man knelt before the valley of her sex, and he told her that it was all the better to hear her cries of pleasure with.” Nicholas lifted the hem of her nightgown up over her thighs.
“What a big cock you have!” Ania continued, laughing aloud, hardly noticing what her husband had done. That is, until he halted his exploration of her body and looked at her in complete and frank surprise. It was only then that she realized that she had said a word gently bred ladies were not supposed to use aloud. She held her breath, waiting for his response, for it could make or shatter the delicate moment between them permanently.
And then Nicholas let out a roaring laugh and Ania relaxed completely. “You, my dear, are a delight,” he said, kissing her on the mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, inviting him in. It was then that she realized he had removed her drawers completely.
“Nicholas! What have you done?” she cried, squirming to clamp her legs shut, feeling quite naked and vulnerable.
A naughty smile creased her husband’s face. “Why, I wanted to show you a little something, Ania,” he answered, lowering his mouth to the creamy tops of her breasts where they showed above her nightgown.
“And what is that?” she asked, unable to suppress a little noise as he nibbled gently at her neck and chest.
“Remember how you asked me if there was anything more?”
“After I got that funny aching feeling before?” Ania asked, wrinkling her brow.
Nicholas’s smile stretched. “Yes. Well, there is more, much more, and I would like to show you a little bit of what that something more can be. If you will allow me.”
Ania felt her heart hitch. She was finally going to learn! But it seemed her husband would require a direct cue, and so she nodded for Nicholas to begin.
At first, it was more kissing, and more sliding of her silk and ruffled nightgown up, until she was entirely bare from the waist down. She felt her cheeks heat, since nobody had ever seen her like this before, but instead of feeling embarrassed, Ania found that she was quite excited to be seen like this by Nicholas, who himself seemed to share in her delight. It was like he was unwrapping a lovely present, except that present was Ania herself. To her surprise, the kissing did not stop at her breasts like she thought it might. Instead, Nicholas kissed a tingling trail all the way down her stomach to in between her legs, and at first contact there, Ania almost bucked right up off of the bed.
Nicholas chuckled in between her legs, but kept her hips down. Sliding a pillow beneath her, he angled her up into his mouth, where he began an assertive lapping all over her nether regions. When he found the spot that made Ania thrash more than usual, he concentrated his efforts there, sliding the ribbed muscle of his tongue against her sweetness, and the noises that she was making cued him in that he had found a spot that was particularly enjoyable for her. She whimpered and grasped his dark head in her hands, pushing his face harder against her sex, and there was something building in her like music, like the rising tide of the ocean, and it was as wet as the ocean, and it built inside of her until her legs trembled, and how did he know this? How was it possible, but oh, she was not going to consider this now, not when this delightful feeling was building inside of her, plumping her breasts and pointing her nipples towards the sky, not when she was going to—
Convulse all around her new husband’s head.
Ania lost herself. She knew in that moment, what all the thrashing in the rosemary bush was about. She could feel her face screwing up, her mouth rounding out to a smooth O, and she could feel Nicholas drinking in the juices of her joy—was that even an appropriate term, oh who cared!—and knew that she could never feel this close to another person in all of her entire life.
When she was done, Nicholas lifted his head from her, and his lips shone. Rather than scandalizing her, she found the sight to be appealing, and when he lowered his mouth to hers for a kiss, he tasted—why, he tasted just like she did in her most secret of places, and the thought brought a smile to her own lips, for it was all just too deliciously wanton.
“Oh Nicholas, what a wonderful mouth you have,” she sighed, and heard his deep and hearty chuckle low in his throat as he scooped her up into his powerful arms, where they both lay content for several very long minutes, savoring the moment together as he had just savored her.
There were many beats of silence before Ania ventured, “Penny for your thoughts, wolf man?”
Nicholas smiled. “I was just thinking,” he said, stroking her hair, “That although I have done this before, I have never quite felt so close to someone while doing so.”
She did not like that he was bringing up past paramours, but she did appreciate his honesty. For in that moment, he was more than just Nicholas Connols, her husband. He was also her friend, willing to share anything.
And if he was willing to share anything, so was she.
“Nicholas?” she breathed softly, stroking his soft dark hair. He murmured against her chest where he had laid his head and she swallowed hard. He was still roused; she could feel desire for her body emanating from his entire being as he attempted to nuzzle awake her own lust once more, but she was far too preoccupied with her newly born monumental decision.
“Nick, I need to tell you something.”
He looked up, and there was a note of alarm in his brown eyes. Well, she could hardly blame him. What husband wanted to hear those words from his wife?
“You hated this.”
“No. No!” she cried, tilting her face up to give him a kiss. “I loved this. I-I can’t imagine wanting to share this with anyone else.” His face went slack with relief and he scooped her up in his arms for a tight, warm hug.
“Then speak and be not afraid.”
Ania swallowed hard. “Nick, I cannot tell you how amazed I was that you read the serials of the Illustrated Lady.”
Amusement crossed his dark features. “I suppose it is unusual for a gentleman of fine society,” he replied, peppering her neck with small, soft kisses. Ania squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to concentrate.
“No, Nick, that’s not it,” she said, still stroking his head. “I was amazed because...well, because I have never met one of my aficionados in person before.”
Nicholas chuckled again, but his kisses were slowing as her wording began to sink into his brain. “Ania, you mean
an
aficionado.”
“No,” she answered him, her heart in her throat. “I mean one of
my
aficionados.”
At this, Nicholas lifted his head from Ania’s body and looked her in the eyes. His gaze was stern, and Ania could see her own slender fingers poised above his head.
“What are you saying?” he demanded.
“Well, it’s just that... you shared something so... so intimate with me that I felt like I could share this with you. Those serials you like so much by the Illustrated Lady?”
He nodded.
“I am she.”
There were several beats of silence as Nicholas’s eyes widened and his body grew cold. The desire that had only moments before allowed Ania to believe he would be receptive to this information faded, and she felt his demeanor stiffen. As she reached out for him, Nicholas drew away, stood from the bed, gathered his dressing gown, and left her bedchamber.
For good.
* * *
It had been a week of stone-cold politeness between the Duke and Duchess Connols when Margaret Cromwell burst into their dining room, eyes rimmed with red.
Ania was buttering her freshly baked bread and Nicholas was perusing the latest paper—a bold choice, given the stony silence between them after that fateful night when Ania had revealed her secret; their manservant had barely had time to announce that the Duchess Connols’s sister had arrived when Margaret had pushed open the French doors and heaved herself crying into the chair beside Ania.
There was momentary confusion and chaos as Ania dropped her bread and attempted to console the weeping figure beside her. But her sister’s slender shoulders and curls continued to shake, so much so that it was difficult to make out a single word she was saying.
“Margaret,” Ania finally said firmly, “I am sorry to see you so upset, but for heaven’s sake, you must tell me what is wrong so that I may help!”
Margaret lifted her swollen, wet face, and blubbered out something incomprehensible. Ania shook her head. “Again, Margaret.”
“He-he doesn’t love me!” wailed her sister, and buried her face again in Ania’s shoulder.
“Who doesn’t, darling?” Ania asked, although she well suspected she knew; however, she did not want to be presumptuous of the recipient of her sister’s attentions. From the muffled depths of her shoulder, Ania heard her sister mumble a name. “Hmm?”
“L-lord Turnquist,” came the faint reply.
At this, Nicholas put his paper down and forsook the pretense of not noticing that there was a weeping lady in his breakfast room.
“Why do you think he does not love you?” he asked.
“Oh!” cried Margaret, realizing for the first time that she and Ania were not completely alone. “Oh, Duke Connols! I had not realized you were here. Please forgive me for intruding on your morning in such an improper way. I will go—”
“You will stay and finish your story,” Nicholas replied evenly. “If it is important enough to interrupt my wife’s breakfast, it is important enough to be dealt with.”
Ania’s heart soared at the mention of herself as his wife. Ever since she told him of her secret, she had not been entirely sure that he would want her to continue on as such. “It’s all right, Margaret,” she said, hardly daring to tear her eyes away from her seductively imperious husband. “Nicholas knows of my relationship to Lord Turnquist.”
Margaret’s eyes widened, and then she heaved a huge sigh, understanding that everyone in the room was now aware of her rather delicate situation. Seeing no other way out, she began to unfold the tale. “Everything had been going so swimmingly as of late. I would deliver Ania’s installments and we would talk for the better portion of two hours, about love, philosophy, and music. I was sure, I was so sure! And then he announces—he announces—” Here, Margaret ended on a hiccup. Ania watched Nicholas register the new information, although his face remained impassive at the news of her sister’s involvement in the entire scheme.