Silent Surrender (6 page)

She concentrated on his mouth as he spoke, and when she took his meaning, a spark animated her once again. “I like to watch the people.”

He raised an eyebrow and cast his gaze about the little park. There were plenty of people to watch, to be sure, but no one was doing anything particularly interesting. He turned back to her, tapping her arm to get her attention once more. “Are they going to box?”

Frowning in confusion, she extricated her hand from his to slide her closed fingers around a square shape before her, as if holding a box.

“No.” He couldn’t help his laughter. He held his arms up and mimed a quick jab. “Fighting?”

She nodded but still appeared confused. It was not, then, a matter of translation. She simply didn’t understand his humor. “What I meant was, they aren’t doing anything.”

Now she smiled, shaking her head slowly, as though she pitied him. She raised her finger and pointed brashly at a couple on the grass. The woman sat ramrod straight, hands folded primly in her lap, and the man lounged, hat off, looking smug and rich and exactly like the kind of man Esau would gladly punch in the nose.

“They’re step-siblings,” Honoria said, leaning up as if to whisper, though her words were loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby, including the couple on the grass. “But they’re secretly carrying on together. She looks guilty, he tries too hard not to look guilty.”

The woman’s face flamed red and she got to her feet, and the man followed, glaring at both of them.

“It’s…” Esau shrugged and smiled helplessly at the man. “She can’t hear. She’s…ah, never mind.”

“No.” She shook her head, a patient smile on her lips. “I know better. I shouldn’t say things I don’t want other people to hear. Sometimes, though, I like to cause trouble.”

They took a few steps, while behind them the outraged couple charged away. The spot they had vacated had been far too prominent for the conversation Esau planned. He drew Honoria to the side of the path and, leaning close, said, “Have your keen eyes observed any places…more private?”

She frowned at him for a moment. Taking his hand, she tugged him further along the path. The small plot of land was flat and featureless except for the tall hedges that had been placed artfully about. They offered privacy for picnicking and, if Esau was right in his guess that the upper classes were just as debauched and deviant as the lower, places for unobserved necking. It was into the cool shadow of two such hedges that Honoria led him and in immediate confirmation of his suspicions, she threw her arms around his shoulders and pressed close.

Shaking his head, he gently disentangled himself. “That’s not why we came back here.” He kept his voice low so they would not be overheard by the people still strolling idly about. “Jude, he asked me… I’m supposed to tell you not to be so loud.”

“Loud?” The very volume at which she uttered the word made Esau raise a finger to his lips. At least it helped him hide his grin.

“You are, a bit…when we’re in the bedroom.”

The flush that suffused her pale face was all the confirmation he needed that she understood him. Very low, almost too softly for him to understand her, she said, “Very embarrassing.”

“No, don’t be.” He smiled broadly. “I like it when a woman isn’t meek and silent. Lets me know I’m doing something right. But he’s got a point. We have to be more…he used a fancy word for it, but let’s just say, we need to be more quiet. Doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy ourselves.”

She nodded, but the flush didn’t fade, and she looked absolutely mortified. Her chin dipped and the brim of her black bonnet obscured her face.

That wouldn’t do. Not from the woman who was willing to approach him on a dock and ask him to spend some days fucking her. Her boldness was something he was quickly becoming fond of and he didn’t think he would enjoy the remainder of their agreement nearly so much if it disappeared.

“Don’t.” He reached beneath her chin and lifted her face. She didn’t meet his eyes. Whatever he had to say, she clearly did not wish to see it. “Don’t do that. You don’t have to be embarrassed with me.”

Something in him ached at the realization that she truly didn’t have to be embarrassed, of anything. There was no reason for her to want his approval. He’d never had to make a woman like him before. He’d never really had a use for a woman besides what all men used them for. He wanted to make her like him. Maybe it was his pride. Maybe he needed to think there was a friendship between them, to ease the sting of taking her money for something so base.

Slowly he drew the ribbon of her bonnet open and pulled the silly thing from her head. Women like her shouldn’t be afraid of the sun. He tossed the hat to the ground and swept her into his arms, pressing a finger to her lips. That got her attention, enough of it anyway to bring her eyes to his face. He took his finger away and touched it to his mouth in turn, saying, “We’ll practice.”

“Practice?”

“We’ll practice being quiet.” He spun her in his arms, bringing her back tight against his chest. Just like they’d stood the day before when she’d been so afraid, standing there in her soaking wet nightgown. She trembled now as she had then, but this time he didn’t worry he would frighten her. She seemed to like being frightened, anyway.

He eased his hand beneath the little cape she wore over her shoulders in spite of the warmth of the day. He trailed his fingers over her collarbones and across the bare skin above the neck of her dress. He was hard, pressing against the front of his trousers, and he eased her hips back with one hand splayed over her mound. She gasped, a perfectly respectable sound to make behind a tall hedge, so he continued. When he slipped his hand into the top of her dress, to stroke her straining, confined breasts where they swelled above her corset, she whimpered, a soft, mewling noise that broke into a full-throated moan the moment his fingers freed one nipple.

Immediately, he pulled his hands away, and she swayed on her feet, turning her head to ask him, “Why are you stopping?”

He turned her again, and he couldn’t help the masculine pride he felt when she melted helplessly against him. “Because someone will hear. You keep quiet, and I’ll keep going.”

“That sounds evil.” She stuck her tongue out at him and the sight proved too tempting. He kissed her gruffly, gave her slap on the behind he doubted she could feel through all her petticoats and whirled her in his arms again, burying his head in her neck until she squealed. The moment she did, he drew back, and she stamped her foot. When he returned to her neck, her breath hitched but she made no sound and his hand ventured lower, over the curve of her breast to her waist, feeling the rigid boning of her corset beneath her dress. His fingers fumbled against the black cotton lawn and the scores of petticoats beneath, bunching them to lift her skirt higher and higher until he could slip his hand beneath and feel the muslin drawers and the slit in them that mimicked her own. Her bottom ground against his erection as his fingertips encountered the crisp curls and hot, damp flesh between her legs.

If anyone happened upon them now, there would be no denying their impropriety. The constables would be involved. The only thing disguising their tryst was the hedge, and while it was nicely grown in, chances were high that another gentleman might pull another lady behind it with the same intentions.

Not the very same intentions, of course. Esau wrapped his free hand around her jaw, covering her mouth, at the same moment he brushed over the sweet bud nestled between her cunny lips. She stiffened and moaned behind his hand, and though it took surprising effort, he drew his fingers away.

There was a trick of this game he hadn’t counted on. Not touching her was as much a torture for him as it was for her. He wanted to keep stroking her, to keep her moaning and writhing against him. He flexed his fingers and she whimpered, then she went very still and quiet.

What a good girl she was, a quick learner. Silently thanking her for being so merciful to the both of them, he sought out that button of pleasure again and rolled over it with the pads of two fingers. Her hips swayed against his, and if they had been anywhere even just a shade more private, he would have thrown her down and fucked her then.

In fact, that was all he wanted to do. He wanted to leave this silly park, go back to her dreary house and fuck her all afternoon, all evening, all night. Let her silly tutor take his dinner alone, knowing what they were up to. If the man didn’t want her, if he wasn’t tortured with need for her night and day, there was no hope for him anyway.

Honoria’s breath grew louder and she mewled against his hand. He worked her faster, his teeth finding her earlobe, her jaw, her throat, and he wrenched her chin up so he could suck the taut flesh there. He kissed her until it became a bruise, bright and red-tinged purple on her neck. There was a thrill in marking her.

She pushed her hips back and forth, rocking on his fingers until her body stiffened and she gushed against his palm. He eased from her and hurriedly adjusted her skirt. She sagged against him, her heart beating so that her clothing trembled with each pulse. He set her on her feet and stooped down to meet her hooded gaze. “You all right then?”

She blinked at him, a slow smile spreading across her mouth as she nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the fine linen handkerchief and wiped his fingers on it before tucking it away again. “I suppose we should get back to our walk.”

She shook her head, an emphatic “no”, and signed something to him, her fingers flashing fast before she got her wits about her and spoke instead. “Home. Take me home.”

Chapter Four

There was no doubt in Esau’s mind what he would do to her when they got there. While he would have liked to throw her over his shoulder and sprint back to her house, he guessed that would be frowned upon. So instead they eased back onto the path and strolled as though they were unaware that their clothes were disheveled, their faces flushed and his cock was hard as iron, held back only by the tight waist of his trousers. Once they left the little park, she walked faster and soon it was all he could do to keep up. He was glad she knew the way back, for he had forgotten it. All the blood had rushed uncomfortably to his cock, his brain focused entirely in the tip of it chaffing against the inside of his trousers.

At the door, the little rat-faced butler greeted them with a grumble, his wiry eyebrows raised. Honoria dragged Esau through the vestibule and into the parlor, where she slammed the big doors before launching herself into his arms. They tumbled to the floor, already breathless from the walk, panting by the time Esau shed his coat and Honoria pushed her drawers down. The fine linen tangled around her boots, and he ripped the garment in half with a growl, pushed her skirts up as he climbed between her legs. With her starched petticoats constricting her movement, he could barely prise her thighs apart, and in utter frustration he pulled her legs up high, hooked her knees over his shoulders and drove into her.

She muffled her shout with a fist to her mouth, and some part of him that wasn’t solely concentrated on her sopping cunt squeezing all around him thought,
Well, she learned that lesson quick enough.

Sliding his hands beneath her waist, he urged her to rock against him and soon they were going along nicely, skin slapping together as their bodies met. She couldn’t contain her cries for long. Her hips moved faster and faster, her breasts heaving beneath her dress. She clung to him as if she was dying, as if she could not let him go for fear of being swept away. Her hands were still gloved and she cupped his jaw with the soft silk. Not touching her skin was a particular torment, and such a strange contrast, with her bare calves brushing his neck and her hot cunny sliding back and forth around his cock. There was no way to prolong things. A quick, hard fuck, clothes still on, that was familiar enough to him, far too familiar to hold himself back. Only after he’d exploded inside her, his vision going all black-and-stars for a moment, did he remember the brandy and the sponge, and that he’d made a mistake.

“Oh fuck me,” he groaned, slipping from her body. “I forgot. I’m an idiot, I forgot—”

She reached her hand up to cover his mouth and ground against him, whimpering. She hadn’t had her release. A pang of guilt hit him. This wasn’t supposed to be about him fucking her when and how he felt like it. It was supposed to be for her. He disentangled himself from her legs, thinking to sink down and take her into his mouth, but her hand was there first, her glove whipped off in an instant before her fingertips moved in a flurry over that hard, red bud. Esau could only watch, fascinated, as her back arched and she came under her own hand, his seed leaking out of her.

He was sure he’d never seen anything so beautiful, and he was damn sure he would never forget it.

She lay on the carpet, breathing hard, a cat’s smile bending her mouth as her eyes danced behind closed lids. Still splayed shamelessly before him, she caressed herself with a limp hand for a moment before slowly smoothing her skirt down. When she opened her eyes, he could only smile back at her. There was nothing to say at a time like this, he supposed.

Still, his guilt assailed him. “I won’t do that again. I’m sorry.”

“Do what?” Her voice was a loud shock in the silence of the room. He hadn’t realized until then that he’d spoken with reverence, as though the parlor had been made a holy place by what he’d just witnessed.

A flush crept up his neck. It seemed strange to be embarrassed speaking of it, when they’d just done it. “I…went off. In you. I won’t do that again. I don’t want a shame following you to France.”

She shook her head, still smiling. “I wouldn’t be ashamed.”

“You couldn’t live at a girl’s school. Not if you’re a fallen woman,” he reminded her. “And I shouldn’t have done, before you were…finished.”

She shrugged and sat up, then climbed to her feet. The expression on her face told him that they were done with their talk, done with their encounter altogether. She had donned her strange armor and become a lady once more.