The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (51 page)

“Derek, open your eyes,” she said gently
.

He did
.

“I love you.” 

This time his features relaxed
.
“You’re impossible,” he said
.

“You would know,” she murmured
.
He actually chuckled at that.

“Derek,” she said a third time.

“What Genevieve?” he said smiling
.

She leaned down and whispered in his ear, “You don’t have to say it because I know.” 

He nodded and even looked relieved
.
Before he could say anything she braced her arms and ramped up her movements again
.
Unfortunately, the more she pushed and wiggled, the more frustrated she became, though she was becoming impossibly aroused
.
No matter how she shifted herself around, she couldn’t hit the spot she needed to bring herself to a climax.

When her arms collapsed under her, she was forced to acknowledge that she really did need to get stronger
.
She propped herself up and tried again, riding up and down, growing close to frantic, but release kept eluding her
.

Derek was watching her struggle, his eyes bright
.
For the first time since she’d met h
im, he reminded her of Donal.

Genevieve narrowed her eyes. “You’d better not be laughing at me.”

“Never,” he said
.
He pulled her down against him and whispered in her ear, “Let me, angel
.
Let me bring you.” 

“I can do this,” she growled.

“Genevieve, let me.”  She’d never heard his voice so gentle.

“Oh fine,” she huffed
.

To her astonishment, he gripped her arms and pulled them behind her back
.
There was a click, and her wrists were attached together
.

“Derek!” she protested, unable to do anythin
g but collapse on top of him.

He gripped one of her thighs and pulled it up and hooked her knee under his arm, and then shifted her slightly to the side, changing the angle he entered her
.
He wrapped her hair around his wrist and forced her head back, giving him better access to her breasts
.
He took her left breast in his mouth, and then he began to move in small, subtle pulses that just brushed the spot she needed
.

Genevieve had never felt anything like it
.
Damn him and his inspection!  He really did understand her responses
.
And of course, it was impossible not to struggle against the bonds
.
Being restrained raised the stakes of her sensations, forcing her to new heights of urgency.

“Please Derek!” she cried
.

But his expression had darkened
.
Like Damian, seeing her struggle helplessly strongly fueled Derek’s desire—and his need to master her
.
He shifted again, thrusting harder
.
Genevieve screamed out, unprepared for how suddenly her body shot to ecstasy
.
With her arms bound behind her, she couldn’t brace herself or fight the climax
.
She felt like a bottle being tossed in the waves as
pleasure wracked her body.

Meanwhile, she could feel Derek tensing
.
He was getting close, but their position restricted his movements almost as much as the bonds did hers
.
He could only make small thrusts, which were badly testing his control
.
His face had twisted with frustration as he had to fight for his own release
.
Genevieve wanted to do something—touch him,
help him—but she was helpless.

Finally, she could feel that telltale sharpening in his thrusts
.
He let out a groan that grew louder as his climax took a to
rturously long time to arrive.

When it came it was explosive: he roared out, clu
tching her almost desperately.

When the tremors finally died off, he rested his forehead against hers, his eyes tightly closed as both of them lay panting, recovering
.
Genevieve was sure they were both feeling the same sense of shock at how intense that had been
.

As if echoing her thoughts, he said, “I’ve never felt anything like that—you make me insane.” 

“That’s funny, because you have the opposite effect on me,” she murmured
.

She felt his chest rumbling
.
He was actually laughing at a joke!

He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly
.
“I love you, angel,” he said smiling
.
He shifted her off of him and stood to pull his pants on
.
He made no move to unlock her hands, but instead walked towards the bathing chamber.

“Derek!” she squeaked
.
H
e returned with a damp cloth
.
“Derek, you have to unlock me!”

His smile was every bit as dangerous as Damian’s
.
“Is that so?” 

He flipped her onto her stomach
.
With her hands tied behind her back, it was next to impossible to move
.
She tried to kick her legs.

“Lie still, now!” he warned in his iron tone
.
When she struggled even more frantically, he crashed his hand down on her rear end.

Gods did it hurt when he did that
.

“What did I just say, Genevieve?”  He pushed her legs apart so he could rub the cloth along her sex, being every bit as thorough as he’d been during his inspection.

“Derek!” she screamed.

“I still have forty-seven minutes,” he said coolly
.

“What?” 

“You promised me an hour of complete obedience—
my inspection only lasted
thirteen minutes.

He flipped her onto her back
.
With her hands trapped beneath her, she was if anything more helpless. Genevieve groaned, wondering that she could become aroused so soon after one of the most wrenching climaxes of her life
.

Derek rubbed one of her breasts thoughtfully
.
She’d never seen him like this before, and she had a feeling no one ever had
.
In the cave, he’d been driven by desperation, but now he seemed to be enjoying himself
.
It was a side of himself that he’d kept locked away
.
It was both terrifying and exh
ilarating to see it released.

He leaned down and roughly tongued her left breast, sucking hard, until she screamed out, feeling herself spiraling out of control
.
He examined his handiwork and then took the other in his mouth and repeated his treatment
.

“Derek!” she shrieked
.

“Much better,” he observed, squeezing them both
almost to the point of pain
.

He reached between her legs and began fondling her sex
almost casually
as he said, “It’s almost time for dinner
.
I seem to remember warning you would eat tied
to
your chair if you gave me trouble over your meals
.
But I’ll settle for you on your knees, hands bound behind your back.”

“Gods Derek…
.
”
She was close to coming
.

“My only question is whether I should blindfold you
.
I haven’t forgotten how aroused you were by my description.”

“Derek please…” she pleaded.

“I love it when you beg, angel,” he murmured as she screamed out another climax
.

Four weeks later

The weather that evening was stormy, but summer was so well established, they could sit out in the conservatory, enjoying the patter of the rain on the glass without any fear of damp or chill
.

Genevieve was seated at the pianoforte, trying to recreate a variation she’d improvised earlier that day
.
Though these improvisations usually unfolded effortlessly at the time, they were far more difficult to recapture later
.
But Donal had particularly liked this one, saying it perfectly captured the mood of a summer rainstorm, so she was determined to get it down on paper this time.

It took her forty-five minutes, but she was pretty sure she’d succeeded
.
She got up to fetch her composition book so she could record it when she noticed that Donal was reclining on the lounge chair
.
Since dinner ended, he’d changed into his linen pants and removed his shirt
.
Thankfully, he appeared relaxed after what had undoubtedly been a trying day
.

She’d been so desperate to get in a visit to town before Damian got back from a five-day absence, she’d managed to wheedle Donal into riding down with her, despite the threatening skies
.
The visit to Sally and Peter’s had been as
enjoyable
as
always, the visit to her parent
s
’
less so
.
Mama had been unusually fretful, first about the rain, then about how tan Genevieve was getting
.
Genevieve’s temper had begun rising, her tan turning to angry
scarlet
, until Donal stepped in, diverting her mother’s focus to Roderick and their ongoing exchange of recipes.

Predictably, during the ride back, the skies had opened up drenching them
.
Equally predictable, Derek had been livid when they got home, beginning an argument that had lasted through half of dinner, until Genevieve had finally burst out that if Derek didn’t stop, she would ask
him
to accompany her to Sally’s instead of Donal, after which there was finally peace
.

She efficiently jotted down the notes in her book, only needing to replay two passages
.
She always wondered how Donal could bear listening to her bang around when she was working out a piece, but he claimed it was fascinating
.

As soon as she was finished, however, she began improvising on one of his favorite tunes
.
She’d been growing worried about Donal and was always trying to come up with ways to show him how much she appreciated him
.

As it happened, none of the problems they had worried about had come to pass: there had been no conflicts between the brothers
.
Damian’s fears that she would be overwhelmed by male demands proved completely unfounded
.
She’d even learned to canter on Mist
.
She adored her life with all three of them
.

But Genevieve knew she had Donal to thank for much of her comfort
.
Today had been the perfect example of the problem: his easygoing nature meant that he was the one who most often gave up what he wanted for the sake of others—most often her
.

Though Damian had boasted that she was free to spend her days as she wished, in fact he ruthlessly monopolized her time the days he was home
.
Derek was not quite as bad, but there were only certain activities one could do with Derek
.
Those
included
riding lessons,
practicing her crossbow,
trying
(and generally failing) to hit
something (anything!)
with a
throwing knife
,
or
“
hunting
.
”
  (
Genevieve
refused to participate in
killing animals, so
“
hunting
”
was another word
for tramping through the woods, teasing Derek whenever he complained about all the game they were letting escape.) 

She didn’t mind any of this, but it did mean she was especially desperate on Donal’s days to pay visits in town or go to the fortress for a cooking lesson or any of the other activities that she could only do with Donal
.
Donal, of course, knew this and steadfastly refused her offers to do something he’d prefer, though she suspected he’d much rather lounge about the garden making love
—
or at least sit quietly at home instead of riding around in the
pouring
rain.