The Devil Rogue (15 page)

“Come
for
me, princess,”
he
said hotly in
her ear
.
“I want you to come
on
my
fingers
.”

His words
,
combined with what he was doing to her down below, released the floodgates
in a torrential outpouring of sensation
.
Blinding light burst behind her closed eyelids, and she cried out as wave after wave of ecstasy in its purest form flowed through her.

“That’s it, my angel,”
he
crooned as he gentled her quivering body
.
“Come back to me
now
.”
He rained light kisses over her face, and ran his hands over her body as though calming a
prized mare
.

“
That was wondrous!” Angela exclaimed once she’d caught her breath. “
I never knew
such a thing was possible
.
Is it always like that?”

Raising himself above her,
he looked down at her
.
“No, angel,” he replied huskily
.
“You just happen to be an exceptionally passionate woman, to my supreme delight
.
And there’s more.”

“More
?
Oh
!
But what about you, my lord
?
Is it the same for a man, as well?”

Chuckling softly, he said, “Yes, men also experience pleasure, and release
,
but in a different way.”

“How so?”
She wanted to know everything.

“I’ll show you.”

H
e
reached down, unfastening his breeches
.
His thick, hard member dropped heavily
between them
.
Grasping her hand, he placed it around
the shaft
, guiding it up and down as he’d
shown her
in t
he bath earlier
.
The skin was hot and velvety soft.
He groaned deep in his throat when she squeezed him.

“Did that hurt?”
she asked, hesitating.

“No, it was wonderful
,
”
he said in a
guttural
voice
. “
Please
. . .
don’t stop what you’re doing.”

“What does it feel like?”

“It feels like what my finger
s
inside you must have felt like.”

“Oh, my.”

“Indeed.”

He let go of her hand and allowed her to continue unassisted
.
“My God
,
don’t stop
.
” He gasped. “
F
aster
.
”
His breathing
came in harsh pants
.

He grunted as his shaft pulsed in her hand, and then ejected a creamy fluid in little spurts.
Angela
was
thrilled
by
the knowledge
that
she
’d
somehow had something to do with his pleasure
.
Her feelings about this man were
confused and wary
.
Her hand was wet and sticky,
his man-thing now much smaller and soft
.

“What is this wetness I feel in my hand?” she asked, unaware
h
er nightgown was still bunched up around her waist.

“It
’
s
called semen. It’s the fluid that
carries
a man’s
seed
.
He
sat up
, buttoning the flap on his breeches
, h
is gaze r
unning
along
her naked limbs
.

“
Oh.
”

“My penis goes in here
.
”
His hand cupped her mons, one finger dipping inside
.
“Like this.
And when I come, my seed is ejected deep inside.
”

Angela sucked in a startled breath, her heartbeat picking up again when he touched her there
.
“But your – p-penis is so
. . .
so big
. . .
and hard, except for right now
.
Will it fit
?
Will it hurt?”

“
Yes, my innocent princess.” His voice had turned hoarse, a familiar bulge appearing in the front of his breeches. “
It will fit, do not worry about that
.
A woman is made to accommodate a man
.”
He pulled her nightgown down, covering her legs
.
“Enough of this for now
.
I think you’ve had enough lessons for one day.”

When he made to rise off the bed, his hand pressed against her injured arm, causing Angela to cry out in pain
.
She’d forgotten all about it during their love
play
.
She cradled her arm with her other hand.

“What is it?” Ian asked, concerned by her obvious distress
.
“Let me see.”
He reached for her arm, only to have her jerk away from him.

“No,
its
fine
.
I’m fine.”

“Give me your arm, Angela,” he said sternly
.
She held it out to him and he pushed up her sleeve
.
He saw the bandage with a spot of blood on it
.
“What is this?”

“I-I cut myself
while helping in the kitchen.”

“It’s an odd place to cut yourself
.
What were you doing, hacking the heads off chickens?”

“I was talking, not paying attention to what I was doing
,
waving my arms
.
I’m really rather clumsy most of the time, I’m afraid.”

Her dismissive chuckle seemed strained.

She was lying again
.
What was she hiding
?
Angela Hopkins was the least clumsy woman
Ian ha
d ever met
.
In fact, it was her elegant gracefulness, along with her beauty that had most of the male population of the
ton
completely in her thrall
.
Deciding to let it drop for the moment, he said, “Just don’t attempt to polish my sword collection, will you?”

At
his
mention of swords, Ian thought of his own silken blade, thick and blunt-tipped, and he couldn’t wait to impale her with it, to make her cry out, not in pain, but in pleasure.
He’d already become aroused
again
from her innocent questions. It was difficult to
think with her lying there so temptingly, like a gorgeous nymph waiting for him to plunder her sweetness
– again.

Shaking his head to clear it, he rose from the bed
.
Looking down at her flushed face, her kiss-stung lips, and the overall dishevelment of a well-ravished woman, Ian had to forcefully remind himself that she could be someone he would ultimately come to hate
.
It didn’t seem possible, but the fact remained she was somehow involved in her father’s criminal dealings, and John’s murder.

He leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips
, unable to resist one more
.
“Go to sleep
now, angel.”
She smiled up at him, and he left the room thinking that maybe he should put an end to th
ose
nightly baths.

Angela stretched like a contented cat
.
This entire day had been full of new experiences, pleasurable sensations, and lessons in heretofore taboo subjects
.
Her own behavior had been nothing short of sinful. The way he had touched her had made her want to be naked, to feel his naked skin against hers. She wasn’t embarrassed in the least by what had just happened,
au contraire
, she wanted to experience everything Blackridge had to offer in the way of pleasure.

She wondered why he hadn’t taken her
virginity
when he
’d
had the chance
.
She’d certainly been ripe for the plucking.

A
pparently,
T
he Devil Rogue
was more of a gentleman than he let on.

5

Villarreal / The Devil Rogue
                                     

Chapter
9

ROSEMARY STOOD WITH
her hands on her hips.
“Don’t tell me that you were with
The Devil Rogue
, himself
. A
lone
. I
n his
bed
room
.
W
hile he bathed
.
And he didn’t do anything?”

“No. Well, I didn’t . . . I mean he . . . we never
—
”

“I don’t believe it
!
The man’s practically a legend.
Why, he has the reputation as the
most notorious womanizer and debaucher of innocents
in
London
, maybe even all of
England
.
And I hear h
e’s quite
a
skilled lover
.”

Angela barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes.
“
Where do you hear these stories?”

“From other servants, of course.
And the word is he’s been blessed with certain
attributes
, if you know what I mean,
enough to
make any decent woman faint.
Did you faint?
Is that why nothing happened?”

Angela knew exactly what Rosemary meant by
attributes
.
She’d seen them with her own two eyes.
“No, I didn’t faint,” she said with exasperation. “
I don’t think all those tales are true, or at least they’ve been blown out of proportion.
He had the chance to er – debauch me
–
but he didn’t.
He did
do other things
, however
.
”

“Wh
at other things?” Rosemary asked, rushing over to sit on the bed next to her
.

“We kissed.
I touched his
–
back
–
and chest.”

Rosemary’s eyes were bright with curiosity. “Was he naked
at the time?”

“
Well . . . y
es
.
” Angela
wondered how
much
she
should tell her
friend.

“Oh, this is too good
.
What else did you touch?”

“Rosemary
!
Aren’t you supposed to help me
keep
my virtue, not encourage me to give it away to the first rogue who crosses my path?
” Angela
suddenly grew suspicious
. “
And
you don’t seem very squeamish about this particular subject. Care to tell me why?
”

“Servants aren’t under the same constraints as gentry.
I’ve had a few experiences of my own.”

“Rosemary!”

“Don’t be so shocked.
Once you get past the pain of the first time, it’s very enjoyable.”

Angela experienced a
sharp
stab of hurt that her friend hadn’t confided in her.
“
When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Oh, love,” Rosemary said, putting a hand on Angela’s shoulder. “It happened several years ago. I didn’t want you to worry, and it wasn’t a subject to be blathering on about to a young, unmarried girl.”

“Excuse me,” Angela said
indignantly
, “but you’re the same age as me.
”

“Yes, and you’re also the daughter of a baron, and I’m a servant. You don’t just go talking about sexual relations to the daughter of a baron.”

But I may
not
be the daughter of a baron, Angela thought.
“Well, a
nyway, I ran out on
Blackridge
before anything could happen.
I-I didn’t want him to see my scars.”

“Oh, sweetheart!
You shouldn’t worry so much about it.
Those scars are
n’
t so bad
as you think
.
They’ve lightened
up
quite a bit over the years and there’s only a few of them across your back.”

“And the one on my stomach from where the whip came around,” Angela said bitterly.

“That one is
n’t
so noticeable, either.
You
’
re a beautiful woman, both inside and out, and don’t
you
ever think otherwise.”

“He came to my room last night.”

“
W
hat?”

“I told him the gowns in the trunk
had been
ruined by mold, but he obviously didn’t believe me.
He waited until I was asleep, snuck into my room, and found the shredded dresses.”

“What happened?” Rosemary asked with concern.
“
I swear, i
f he hurt you in any way, I’ll tear him limb from limb!”

Angela
laughed
.
“There’s no need for that, Rosemary.
He was angry at first, but then his anger turned to
—
”

“What?
Turned to what?
Tell me
.
”

“He looked at me
. . .
well
. . .
like I was
the most
delicious
confection he’d ever seen
, and he had a desperate need to feed his sweet tooth
.
”

“Oh, my.”

“Then he began to touch me
,” Angela whispered
.
“
M
y breasts
–
under my nightdress
.
We kissed.
He laid me back on the bed and touched me
down there
. A
nd it was wonderful.”

“
He may not have done the deed completely, my girl, but you have, nonetheless, been thoroughly ravished.”

“Do you think so?
Because I wouldn’t mind being ravished again
.” Angela grinned. “
I wouldn’t mind ravishing
him
again, either.”

Rosemary’s eyes narrowed.
“What else
happened
, exactly
?”

“
O
nce he
finished
ravishing me, he was
,
he had not
. . .
you know
. . .
so he asked me to sort of
. . .
help him.
So I did.”

“Miss Angela!
” Rosemary choked on her laughter. “
You are a wicked, wicked girl.
I suspect this
Devil Rogue
may have met his match.”

“I doubt that very much.
He’s an experienced man, as you said, and I’m just a clumsy innocent destined to live out my days in a small cottage
filled with cats
.”

“I don’t believe that, Miss Angela,” Rosemary said fervently.
“There are great things in store for you, I think.”

Angela’s mood turned somber.
“I have a feeling there
is
something in store for me, but not so great, I fear.”

“You just wait and see if I’m right.”

IAN
HAD
DECIDED
to
allow
Miss Hopkins her week to recover
, having
rescinded his order that she bathe him every night
.
The
way
that first attempt
had played out
,
and the subsequent encounter in her room
,
had him rethinking
his ridiculous scheme to ‘punish’ her
.

Punishment indeed
!

It was a
fiasco
guaranteed
to torture him
,
is what it was
,
and
would have ultimately resulted in her total and utter ravishment
.
And since there were her recent injuries to consider, it would
n’t
be very good of him to abuse, or rather misuse
,
the woman before she
had
fully recovered.

He
did find
it odd that
someone
with
the kind of
poise and grace
as Angela Hopkins possessed,
would succumb to so many injurious accidents in such a short period of time
.
Oh, she claimed to be clumsy, but he didn’t believe
that
for one minute
.
W
hat other reason could there be?

For the entire week, he
’
d spent most of
his
day
s
away from the house, visiting his club and tending to estate affairs
.
He had also decided to absent himself from dinner, preferring not to subject himself to the far too tempting
allure
of
Miss Hopkins
.

The bolts of material had arrived and he assumed
she
and her maid were fast at work manufacturing new gowns
.
There was an upcoming ball he planned
for them
to attend in
two day’s time
.
He would have to inquire if she’d finished a suitable gown
.
If not, then he would have one made for her, regardless of her feelings on the matter.

Everything was
coming together
, h
is plan already in motion
.
Word was out
about his arrangement with Miss Hopkins,
spreading with the swiftness of a winter gale at full force
.
It was as he
’d
predicted – and intended
.
At
his
club, he’d already been clapped on the back by several
of his associates
for his newly acquired
acquisition of
the
heretofore
unattainable Miss
Angela
Hopkins.

It was a well-known fact among the
ton
that the woman was a difficult
, if not impossible,
one to catch
.
The very idea
that
Ian had
procured
her as his mistress
,
no
less,
had them all smirking over their brandy glasses
.
Several toasts
had gone
’
round, lauding
The Devil Rogue
for a job well done
.
It had been commented upon, that i
f an
yone could have toppled the ice queen
from her lofty perch, it was the most reputed rake in
London
.

As it stood, with her reputation most assuredly in a state of total ruin, Ian had successfully accomplished the first of several goals
.
He ignored the nagging feeling that he was dealing with forces beyond his control – that somehow this was
all
going to backfire on him
.

He also refused to acknowledge his conscience
, which intruded with aggravating regularity
of late
,
warning him
that maybe he was wrong about Miss Hopkins
.
It
couldn’t be possible
.
The evidence was there, tangible and irrefutable
.
There was no way she or her father were innocent
–
o
f blackmail
–
or
of
murder.

The next phase of his plan was to take place at the
Iverson’s ball
.
S
he would be exposed for the conniving, grasping bitch that
she really
was
.
He would enjoy her delectable body for the next several weeks, and then wipe his hands completely of her
.
She and her father c
ould
then
take the twenty thousand pounds to hell with them
.