Celeste felt the press of his tongue against her lips and opened her mouth in surrender, startled and unsure of what to do. He licked at her lips more gently, teasing them further apart to taste her. That’s what it felt like, as if he was tasting her. Tasting first, and then devouring.
She shivered at the notion and ventured to touch his tongue with hers. He groaned in response. The indulgent heat surprised her as she learned this new way of kissing, and the sensation of how it felt so she would remember for the next time. There would be a next time she prayed. In fact, Celeste hoped he would just keep on and never stop kissing her like this.
The softness of his tongue tangling with hers, claiming every part of her mouth with surety, made Celeste feel heated in places she’d never felt heated before. She clung to him, understanding only that—she…didn’t…want…him…to…stop.
James’ kisses grew more demanding until he found himself thrusting his tongue into her soft mouth with deep and forceful movements, mimicking another kind of thrusting he wanted to do. She curled into him, submitting, as he thrilled at the first experience of being inside her, even if only in this small way. It felt so good. Celeste felt so good.
She was perfect.
He repeated the claiming motion over and over again, holding her face firmly with both hands, plundering her until he didn’t know where his mouth separated from hers. Tongues, lips, teeth all crashed together, melding her into him until he couldn’t think beyond anything but taking the rest of her.
But I can’t—we’re in a coach, you cad.
He groaned into her mouth harshly and Celeste could sense frustration within him. But it didn’t surprise her at all because she felt the same frustration. She knew a deep unsettling within her body, and yet she also felt as if she might fly apart at the merest touch. Burning with heat, she could sense sweat settling at her crown and between her aching breasts tight inside her bodice. She fought the need to squirm, the urge to move against his hard body nearly uncontainable for her. What was happening? She needed more—of something, but she didn’t know what that was or how to get it. Celeste sobbed against his ravaging mouth in protest.
James abruptly stopped his kissing and pulled away, a frown sharpening his brow. He took a few heavy breaths and then pressed in until his forehead rested on hers and continued to breathe deeply. She realized her hands were gripping fiercely to each of his broad shoulders, clutching onto him for dear life.
“James?” she asked breathlessly, sliding her tongue out over her swollen lips to taste the flavor of him he’d left behind in her mouth. He put his tongue into my mouth! She could taste him still even now, although he was no longer there.
“Did that hurt you?”
“No,” she answered him with deep breaths of her own.
“Frighten you?”
“No, James. You’ve never frightened me, ever.”
“I heard you cry out.” He cupped one cheek and rubbed his thumb along her wet bottom lip.
“I don’t know why I did,” she offered lamely, “I feel as if I am going to burst—and it is so very hot.”
He grinned wickedly and nodded his head in a lazy circle as if he understood precisely her problem.
Celeste felt herself getting drunk on the sight and the scent of him. Dark and handsome, smelling of rich spice with hints of shaving soap and mint, he loomed over her and stared into her eyes. She leaned in toward his neck to inhale more of his delicious scent.
“You’re so lovely, Celeste,” he said, working his thumb further along the inside of her lips to press against her teeth, forcing her to open her mouth for him again. “You please me so very much.” This time he pushed his thumb inside her mouth instead of his tongue. “Suck,” he told her with eyes flashing dark as treacle.
She obeyed instantly, curling her tongue around his thumb and caressing it as if she were licking away a spot of jam. The sensation was a thrilling, and oddly, a very empowering experience because Celeste learned something new in that moment—James was taking pleasure in this as much as she was.
His eyes flared wide for an instant before growing hooded as he watched her do his bidding, further evidence that he liked what she was doing as much as she did. He pulled his thumb out part way and then pushed it back in, repeating the rhythm he’d used with his tongue only moments before.
Celeste sucked on his thrusting thumb as he pumped it in and out of her mouth, held utterly captive and under her husband’s erotic spell. Not by force, but by her desire to have more of whatever he was doing to her. She arched against him in an attempt to relieve the pulsing heat and fire flooding her nether parts, desperately needing more. “Oh, James, I—”
He groaned as if in pain and removed his thumb from her mouth, resorting to spreading the wetness along her bottom lip. She frowned in frustration at the loss and wondered what she’d done wrong.
“You liked that, my sweet?”
She nodded.
“Then why the frown on your pretty face?” he asked softly.
“You stopped doing it,” she explained.
His expression softened, and the hint of a smile reached his mouth as he drew closer to hers. She hoped he intended to kiss her some more and waited breathlessly for the trace of his lips again.
But before their lips touched he said, “I won’t stop tonight when you’re in my bed, sweet beauty. There’s so much to teach you, and I won’t stop the whole night long.”
Her belly did a flip and she shivered in his arms as he returned to kissing her once more.
CHAPTER 3
I’ll probably be dead before the night comes.
James was desperate to get his cock into her, but still cared to be sympathetic of her ignorance in the ways of being bedded by a man. Celeste had no idea what was coming. None whatsoever, he was certain. An image of her beneath him and taking him deep filled his head to the point he had to readjust his position on the seat or risk an injury to those parts he prized.
He attempted distraction by looking out the window in order to judge the distance they had already travelled on their journey. He’d decided to bring his new bride to his country home, Baskerville Hall, in the Essex countryside where they could spend the beginning of their marriage in bucolic peace, away from the hard living of the city and the nosy gossips. Where instead, he would spend the nights, and hopefully the days, teaching her the delights of carnal pleasures and doing his damnedest to fulfill his duty to create the 6th Lord Blackwood.
But it wasn’t that simple to begin, as his conscience kept reminding him. He couldn’t very well just set her down upon his prick and instruct her to ride him until they were both fucked senseless, he thought grimly.
Could he?
No, he couldn’t, and he wasn’t an animal even though he felt a great deal like one at the moment.
They were also in a moving coach.
Celeste was a virginal maiden requiring all sorts of gentle considerations from him, he reasoned.
But the rock hard cockstand he sported surely wasn’t cooperating with his conscience now was it?
As James kissed his wife, an idea came to him of what he might do to ease her obvious sexual frustrations, and to temper the rampaging desires in danger of tipping him precariously over the edge. Now—before he did something he regretted.
She felt soft, so soft and sweet as he kissed her more boldly, pressing her down onto the plush velvet seat of the coach. He thrust his tongue into her, mimicking again the act of sex, showing her what he liked and needed from her. But it was just a taste. Meant only to teach her the merest edges of what awaited them later tonight in the master’s chamber at Baskerville.
Celeste moaned beneath him, pushing against his tongue with hers, meeting him stroke for stroke, letting him see she was ready for a bit more. He held her face with one hand and slipped the other beneath her skirts, sliding it slowly up the silky skin of her thigh. Her eyes flared and her breath hitched as she came to the realization of exactly where he was going with h
is hand.
“Yes, sweet beauty, I am going to touch your pretty pussy and show you something marvelous.”
“Ahh…James,” she gasped as he swept a finger through the folds of her slit and parted them. Velvet soft flesh met his finger, and something else, too. The slippery hot evidence of feminine arousal.
“Christ, you’re wet for me. For this, my darling, you are so very ready,” he told her as he found her clit and began to rub in circles.
Celeste thought she would die from the pleasure.
She didn’t think, she knew she was going to die from it, and James would be widowed before dawn broke tomorrow. The feelings his touch made were indescribable, distracting her completely from the shock of precisely where James had put his fingers. My cunny!
“Open your legs.”
“James—”
“Shhh, my sweet, let me. Something marvelous I want you to feel, remember?” he reminded gently, but kept his hand buried at her sex, his fingers circling and swirling in the most delicious way.
She drew in a ragged moan and obeyed, utterly captive to the feelings his rubbing fingers were causing. Then she felt a fingertip enter her and begin to slide slowly in and out of her passage. He added a second fingertip.
“So tight you are, sweet beauty. I want you to feel this right now and it will help prepare you for later,” he said while keeping up the glorious rubbing over her nub with his magical thumb.
It was too much to comprehend. Far too much of everything as she got lost in the commands he gave her along with the heat of his touch. Celeste writhed and arched like a wanton creature striving toward some undefinable end when suddenly an incredible rush of heat and strife burst apart at the very heart of her sex.
She threw her head back on the seat of the coach and rode out the sensation, completely enslaved to whatever it was her husband was doing to her. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes as James held her face to his, a determined gaze locked onto hers. Celeste squeezed her eyes shut, but before she did she recognized the expression upon his face for what it was. Triumph. James was triumphant at what he’d just done, more precisely what he’d just made her do…
When she was brave enough to open her eyes again, James was still there, looking down on her with concern, smoothing the hair at her temple and tucking it behind her ear. He pressed a kiss to her lips and moved down lower to nuzzle her neck, and then lower still to press his lips to the tops of her breasts. He moved his fingers out of her cunny and brought them up to his mouth, sucking the proof of her pleasure from his fingertips in a great show before dipping his nose and inhaling.
“James!” she squeaked in protest, mortified beyond belief.
“Celeste,” he purred back at her, grinning devilishly and nodding, his dark hair falling forward to brush along his jaw. “How did that feel?”
“I th-thought my heart would stop and I would d-die!” she stuttered, still breathing too deeply for proper speech.
“A painful death or a pleasurable one?” He was still grinning and looking entirely too pleased with the situation.
“I think…both,” she answered truthfully, feeling herself flush to the roots of her hair.
James continued to stare down at her with intensity, his eyes devouring but also admiring. Celeste wondered what he was thinking, and what he meant about preparing her for later. Was there to be more of this sort of thing happening later? The idea thrilled her as much as it alarmed her.
But he merely kissed her gently on the lips before pulling her up to sit beside him on the seat, tucking her under his arm in a comfortable arrangement, tracing lazily over the swells of her breasts with one long finger. She was coming to learn that James often just did things without explanation. He took liberties with her body, and yet was not in any way frightening to her because she trusted him. He’d saved her life after all. She loved him even if she didn’t really know him all that well. Her heart knew him, and that was enough for Celeste to let her trust lie with him.
In fact, in private he was altogether different from the James she’d met that first fateful night. Gone was the serious gentleman rescuer with the solemn demeanor, and in its place someone a great deal more…intimate and unbound…and bold.
A shiver rolled through her body as he held her against him on the seat.
“Delicious, by the way,” he said softly at her ear.
“Delicious?” She lifted her eyes up in question, once again stalled by how handsome he looked when he wasn’t being solemn.
“Oh yes, sweet darling, you taste like a delicious spiced cherry tart,” he said wickedly.
Her belly did another flip and she couldn’t hold back the slight moan that escaped from her lips.
CHAPTER 4
Baskerville Hall’s stone towers and Gothic arches loomed majestically over the courtyard as the coach pulled up the drive. Twilight had descended and the evening stars were beginning their nightly show. The stars appeared much brighter out in the countryside as opposed to the night sky of the city, he thought as he lifted Celeste down from the coach. James was struck with the surprising notion that he hoped Celeste liked the house. Where on earth had that idea come from? He must be going soft in the nob even considering such nonsense as to whether or not his new wife liked his ancestral home. Did such a preference even matter? It was very strange for James to be pondering such thoughts at all, but he had to admit that Celeste’s happiness did matter to him. A great deal. He very much wanted to see her happy. Strange indeed…
“Welcome home, Lord Blackwood, and may I offer congratulations upon your nuptials.” Hudson greeted him upon the steps with all of the staff on display, much to his annoyance. James went through the motions of introducing Celeste as his new countess to the most senior staff members with barely contained forbearance. What he really wanted was to be alone with his bride and didn’t intend to put up with any more interruptions from anybody, either.
“Inform Cook to have ready a hot supper to be delivered to my chambers when I ring for it. Lady Blackwood and I will be dining en suite this evening,” James informed his butler. “And, Hudson, no disturbances of any sort other than the assistance of Lady Blackwood’s new maid when requested. I’ll have no need for valeting tonight, either,” he said pointedly as he handed off his coat and Celeste’s cloak to Hudson.
“Very good, my lord. As you wish.” Hudson bowed his head stiffly, probably appalled at the deviation from protocol.
James took some enjoyment from the obvious surprise his orders had just given the old man. He hoped Hudson survived the scandalous gossip sure to be flying in the servant’s hall tonight about the master and new mistress on their wedding night. As long as they all stayed away and left him alone with Celeste he didn’t give a toss what the help thought.
Celeste was quiet as he led her up the great stairs and into the suite of rooms they would share, her hand clasped tightly around his. He could feel her trembling through their handclasp and realized this whole ordeal of being thrust into her new home had to be daunting especially when all eyes were upon her. He hated it himself and he’d been master for over two years already.
“Your rooms are here, and you may have them changed to suit your tastes as you decide upon what you’d like to have for your particular comfort and enjoyment. I want you to make them your own, Celeste.”
Her eyes were wide as she looked around the bedroom, accompanying bathing chamber, and dressing room before returning back to him. “Thank you, James, these are beautiful rooms just as they are right now. I am sure I will be very comfortable here,” she told him quietly, “and your offer is extremely generous. I think I will be a very spoiled wife.” Her pretty blue-gray eyes fluttered down.
“I hope so, my sweet darling. And it is my job to spoil you—something I intend to do quite thoroughly,” he said teasingly, hoping to get a smile from her.
But Celeste stayed quiet, only nodding in response and keeping her eyes downcast.
James had to tilt his head dow
n to find her lips in order to kiss her. Which he did slowly and with great care, sucking on her bottom lip and nibbling gently on the top one with his teeth.
After a moment he grew a little bolder with her, holding her captive by her cheeks. He cradled her face in his hands and deepened the kiss, tonguing her suggestively with forceful plunges in and out. Celeste yielded, but he definitely felt light tremors coming from her velvet-soft lips and realized his sweet virgin was positively feeling anxious and skittish again.
And James knew precisely what needed to be done to take care of that little problem.
“My darling, my rooms are right through that connecting door,” he told her, pointing the way so she would know. “But for right now I’ll put you into the capable hands of your maid to assist you in preparing for our first night together. We’ve had a long day and it is time to make ourselves at ease so we might relax and have our supper in comfort before we go to bed.”
She snapped her head up. “You wish for me to come to you in your rooms…for bed and to sleep?” She seemed surprised at the request and he wondered if her parents ever shared a room. He knew one thing, and that was his desire to have Celeste sleeping in his bed where he could reach for her in the night if he wanted her. That idea was decided already. She wouldn’t be leaving his bed very much at all in the next days if he could help it.
“Yes, of course. Sometimes I will come to you here, but for tonight I wish us to be together in the master’s chamber. Just come through that door when you are ready and I will be waiting for you on the other side of it.” He gave her a smile, wanting to ease her nervousness because he could tell she was unsure. “I cannot wait another moment to make you mine completely, Celeste,” he said softly.