She swallowed around the lump of hesitation in her throat, but was unable to erase it from her eyes where he read it clearly. “What would those be, sir?”
He regarded her carefully. She trembled and he wished he knew if it were fear or excitement. Maybe it was both. “Complete surrender, Juliette, nothing less. I want you to go along with everything I say.” He skimmed his finger in a figure eight across the soft flesh of her inner arm. “No questions, just an utter yielding to me. “
She sent him a soft smile even as he felt the gooseflesh raising on her arm. “You must know that goes against my very nature.”
“Yes, I know.” The inside of her elbow was especially sensitive to his ministrations.
“Then why do you ask it?”
“Do you trust me?”
The words hung in the air between them as he brought her hand back to his mouth and suckled a fingertip. He half-hoped she’d say no, for he wasn’t sure he was trustworthy. At that very moment, hot bursts of lust seemed to be setting his blood on fire, threatening to consume him. And he had no compunction about bringing her down with him. None.
“It’s not about trust.”
“Isn’t it?” He let go of her hand, she didn’t seem to know what to do with it when it was back in her possession. “I want you to give yourself completely to me. Can you do that?”
“I’m not sure I understand what you are asking. I’ve already told you—”
“You explained that you would lie with me, yes. I’m asking you to let go of everything else. Everything but me. For the next few hours, I want to own you mind, body, and soul.”
Chapter Six
Mind, body, and soul?
The man sitting next to Juliette should have seemed a stranger. The Teddy she knew would never make such improper requests. It was as if he were a different person, a dangerous cad.
An exciting, deliciously iniquitous cad.
Wherever he touched her, he left a path of riotous sensation. She’d been kissed on the hand by many a scoundrel of her brother’s ken, but never before had she felt it shoot arrows of delight to her core.
“And if I say yes, what can I expect from this supplication?” she asked, knowing, of course, that the time for saying no had long since passed. She’d committed herself to this course last night. That her insides were melting didn’t change her intent. This marriage would be a blessing to this man. She would make sure of it.
“I’m going to change your mind about making love, fair Juliette.” Teddy hovered a breath away from her face for a second, so that she knew he was coming, and then his mouth moved over hers, gently and then less so. His hands, capable of so much, held her face as if she were precious. He suckled her bottom lip and a riot of tingles stretched straight to her heart, and then lower still.
She opened her mouth to tell him he was wrong, and Teddy took the opportunity to sweep his tongue between her lips. The kiss kindled the embers he’d left from the breakfast room this morning, and a yearning surged throughout her entire body. She clutched his shoulders in desperation. It seemed he was the only anchor in a room spinning wildly out of control.
Teddy left her mouth to rain hot kisses up her jaw so he could whisper into her ear, “Does that mean yes, Juliette?”
She hadn’t a clue what the question was any longer, so she nodded her head and angled her neck so that he might return to her lips. Instead, he stood and pulled her up as well.
“Turn.”
She did as he asked until she realized he was undoing her stays. “Teddy,” she admonished. “We’re not in the bedroom.”
“You’re not to question me, remember?”
“But—”
“Relax. We’re completely alone.”
It simply wasn’t done.
And now, neither was her dress.
While his nimble, quick fingers had cajoled the ties swiftly, his removal of her gown then became a slow, torturous event. He began with a searing testament of hot breath and warm tongue on her earlobe as his hand caressed the flesh under the neckline. “I’m going to make love to you slowly, darling,” he whispered and the sensation of his words and moist kisses weakened her knees.
She couldn’t grasp a single thought. He pushed the material over her shoulders, kissing the exposed skin on her back as he went. Juliette was going to make a fool of herself; she could barely stand, and yet still he went slowly, as if her skin were ambrosia to be savored.
Lost in sensation, she hardly registered the gown had settled onto her hips until Teddy’s strong hands caressed her breasts. She sucked in a startled breath. “Please.”
“Please what, my love?”
“I’m going to fall.” She was so ashamed. Her leg bones had turned gelatinous. “Please don’t let me fall.”
Teddy pulled her to his chest, allowing her to lean against him while he cupped her breasts from behind. “Oh, but I want you to fall, Juliette. I want to fall with you,” he ground out, his voice husky, graveled in a lust she didn’t understand.
His fingers teased her nipples and she couldn’t help but arch into his chest, the material of his shirt against her bare skin making her even more aware of how wanton her behavior was becoming.
“That’s it,” he bade her, welcoming her to this madness with his roughened voice and lithesome fingers. “Let us fall together, Juliette.”
The juncture between her thighs felt heavy and tingled as if there were corded filaments of desire attaching it to her breasts. She ached with an unknown longing that grew stronger as Teddy continued to manipulate her breasts. It wasn’t proper, this desperation that overtook all sense. And when her skirt worked itself off her hips into a pool around her feet, she stopped caring for proper all together.
His hands were swift to find her bare skin and when one delved between her legs, they both moaned. He stroked her there while his other hand pinched gently around her nipple. “You’re so wet,” he managed, though his voice seemed strained.
She ought to be humiliated by the dampness. Juliette was sure it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but his fingers in her sex were caressing and coaxing her to an entirely new state of mind. And by God if he didn’t care, then neither would she.
How shocking it should be that he was still fully clothed while he touched her…everywhere. He seemed to be urging her onward, as if he could sense the that she felt she was ascending towards something. She writhed against him, feeling his manhood through his trousers, the sinfulness of it sent her even higher. She clutched at the forearm against her breast.
“Teddy,” she gasped. Something was happening. Something wild and wonderful, and he didn’t slow his movements.
“You’re almost there.”
He sounded pained and just when she was about to ask if he was well, he nipped the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder, and she saw stars. She cried out, vaguely aware he was repeating, “yes, yes, yes” as she tumbled about the universe.
Teddy swooped her boneless body into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. She rested her head on his chest, aware his beat in the same violent rhythm as her own. Settling her on the edge of the bed, he removed her stockings and then stood, undoing his cravat and while watching her.
His fingers shook but his eyes showed no sign of nerves. Instead, they were completely focused on her with a predatory look and no sign of mercy. She imagined it would be his turn now, to take pleasure from her body. She owed him that after the gift he’d given her. The embarrassing, aberrant, wonderful gift.
She’d allow him his pleasure with grace and charity for certain.
Off came his shirt and a pleasant warmth passed over her again. Well, it was a good thing she found him beautiful, wasn’t it? Her mother had been wrong. Intercourse may not be pleasurable, but everything else about her husband certainly was. It was like—having to eat peas in order to get trifle.
“Juliette, you’re smiling.”
She blushed and turned her face away, but he dropped a kiss on her head and s
at next to her to remove his boots.
She moved to the top of the bed and rest against the pillows. She would do this. She would even go so far as to allow him to think she enjoyed the act if that was what he wanted so badly.
When he stood again, this time to divest his breeches, the pleasant warmth turned into searing heat. She’d never looked upon a man, that part of him was still such a mystery.
She realized how ridiculous shyness was at this point. She’d been naked for quite awhile already, so she looked her fill of him. He was beautiful there, too. She didn’t know what she expected it to look like, but it didn’t appear unseemly or frightening—just captivating.
“Remember how I told you I was going to make love to you slowly?” he asked.
She nodded, returning her gaze to his face.
“I think I lied.” With that he was on her, pushing her onto her back, his body covering her.
The rush of his bare skin against hers set every nerve in her body vibrating. He was hard where she was soft, his skin unfamiliar yet wonderfully so. Already the flutters started again, the feeling that she was about to begin yet another ascension to the heavens.
* * *
He meant for a slow seduction, really it was his honest intention.
Teddy thought he did quite well holding back in the other room. He’d undressed her, stripped away all her defenses to him, and made her come apart in his arms until she couldn’t walk. It wasn’t until she looked at him with no more fear and an aroused curiosity that he thought he may embarrass himself. He’d been naked before, but never so exposed.
And now, on top of her, every inch of her silky, creamy skin touching him, he was sure he couldn’t bear it. He tried to focus on kissing her, pouring everything into her hot mouth, his longing, his aching need, and the desperateness she engaged in him when she began to use her tongue in the kiss. It was no use; he needed to be inside her. He needed it like he’d never required anything else before.
Teddy reached between them to ready her. His fingers slowly courted the curls at her apex while his mouth finally tasted the rouge tipped breasts he’d been teasing earlier. His heartbeat hastened and sounded loudly in his ears as he parted and stroked her. She dampened his fingers with her passion, her hot and sultry sex responding to him already, or maybe still. Juliette closed her eyes and writhed while he brought her higher and higher.
She looked like a goddess.
He felt like a god.
He replaced his fingers with the tip of his manhood and continued to stroke her until she cried out his name. It was then he entered her slowly, stopping when he felt her natural resistance.
Juliette wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him towards her for a kiss. Naked, skin to skin, he felt as close to heaven as he ever aspired to get.
Until she wrapped her legs around his back and drew his hips into hers, erasing all thought. He was too far gone to slow their fall into the welcoming abyss now.
This…this was heaven.
* * *
Teddy took her to that same wonderful place with his fingers again, and when she felt his manhood glide into her, a new need clawed from the inside. The rush of his skin, the taste of his tongue, and the musky smells of lovemaking surrounded her like a fog.
It was no longer necessary to protect his ego or feign interest. She needed him inside her. He played upon her need, building it higher and higher like a crescendo in a beautiful musical passage.
He grabbed her hands roughly and pinned them to the pillow on either side of her head, lost in the haze as she. He paused, filling her so completely, yet maddeningly still and contemplative. She glanced at their tightly clasped hands and then back at his face, tense with a war he fought with himself for patience. Beads of perspiration pooled at his temples, and she wondered what became of the well-mannered miss she used to be when she wanted to lick his skin.
Though it clearly pained him to remain still, he bent his head and suckled her breast. She arched her back and moaned his name as the stars returned. Her urgency spurred Teddy and he drove into her, hard and fast. There would be no more waiting, no more patience.
Juliette reveled in his loss of control. She found herself repeating his words to him, yes, yes, yes. With a final shudder, he emptied into her, his climax pushing her over the edge once again. And together they fell.
Just like he said they would.
Seven
The numbers in the ledger in front of Teddy blurred into incomprehensible nonsense like they had every day since they’d been back from his wife’s nabbing.
He wished he could blame Juliette, but the third time last night had been solely his idea. It was his own damned fault that he didn’t get enough rest at night to sustain him through a day anymore. He smiled. What a shame that was.
She was a constant surprise to him, his Juliette. It was hard to imagine that he ever cursed his brother for the impromptu wedding.
As if on cue, Derek strode into the library, looking oddly serious. That never happened. Teddy stood immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you happy, Teddy?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I mean really, really happy?”
“Derek, you look unwell.”
His brother went back to the doors, locking them. Without a word, he poured them each a drink. As he handed one to Teddy, his hand shook. “So you don’t hate me for the wedding? You don’t hate her?”
Teddy looked into the amber liquid for an answer, aware that many men looked at the bottom of the glass for theirs. “I love my wife.”
There, it was out. Immediate relief followed the confession. He’d already admitted to himself that the match had made him unreasonably lucky. What he’d been slow to accept was that his heart was more involved than his head. Juliette blessed him with her body every night, her humor and intelligence every day—dare he hope for her heart for all of eternity?
Derek slanted his head at an angle. “Did you just say you love her?”
“Yes. I guess I did just say that.”
“I’m astonished, Teddy. Astonished and very pleased. I was worried…but now I see everything is unfolding the way it was meant to.”
Derek was up to something. What worried Teddy was there was no unabashed giddiness in his current machinations. Derek never did anything without an unsavory amount of glee.
“What the devil is going on?”
His brother drained his glass before he answered. “I’ve been in love for a very long time, Teddy.” Foreboding chilled the marrow of Teddy’s bones. “You’re very fortunate to be able to admit to yours in public.”
“Derek…”
“You know I’ll never marry. You’ve always known I’m a confirmed bachelor, yes?” He directed a knowing gaze at Teddy. In it, a lifetime of things unsaid. Things unheard of.
Teddy wanted to tackle him, make him stop. He didn’t want to hear the words, didn’t need to. His brother was irresponsible, yes…but he loved him. There were suspicions, of course, bandied about the ton, but no one dared accuse Derek because he was a duke. A very rich one.
“I haven’t been with a woman since I was seventeen years old, brother.”
Teddy met his gaze at that. “Cherice?”
“My mistress is kept very well for her only duty…discretion.”
“I don’t want to hear this.” Teddy drained his own glass, the poison burning his throat like he’d like to burn the words coming from Derek’s mouth.
“Peter and I—”
Teddy hurled the glass against the fireplace. “Do not continue!”
Derek clenched his jaw, an unrelenting reminder of how this none of this seemed real. Derek was never serious.
“Tomorrow, we are leaving for an impromptu trip of debauchery to Italy. Along the way, we will meet our untimely demise in a terrible fire. Our bodies will never be found amongst the chard ruins of the inn. All reports will give an accounting that we went as we would have wanted to go, drunk and in the arms of whor
es we’d acquired that night.”
“What the devil are you saying?”
“I shall miss you, my brother, but I can not tell you where we are really retiring to. I don’t trust that you’d leave well enough alone, and I can’t risk you losing everything you’ve worked for.”
“Well enough alone? Are you mad? You’re faking your own death?”
Walking to the mantel was a man Teddy had never seen before. A tired man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He leaned on one arm to brace himself. “There is no other way. Sodomy is a capital offense.”
“So you’ll just run.” The thought of never knowing where Derek was or if he was well sliced Teddy’s soul.
“We’ve been discreet—but the talk becomes louder.”
“What about Juliette? I won’t let you do this to her.”
“Juliette has been thought of well in advance, I can assure you. The plan to bind the two of you has been in the works for years. We would never have left her unprotected—that you love her is the biggest gift you could have given either of us.”
“Given you?” Damn it, he wished he had another glass to hurl. “Your selfishness has no bounds. This will destroy her.”
“And what would it have done if instead we were found out? Tried and hanged? Would that be easier? At least this way there will be no mar to her reputation, nor yours.”
“Can’t you just…not…?”
“Not love Peter? Surely, brother. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Think of all these years I’ve wasted living in disgrace, burning with the knowledge that I could never be who I really am.”
Teddy looked away, shame flushing angrily on his cheeks.
“What if someone told you that you should not love Juliette? That you should be able to see her across a room and not ache to be at her side. That she should marry another? Make a life with someone else—anyone else—but not you?”