Eloisa James - Duchess by Night (24 page)

Im not sure

It wil , he said. He did a little hip dance that made her gasp. Please, can we try?

Yes, she said.

There was no dryness, no pinch, no pain.

He came al the way inside her and then stopped.

We fit, she said, rather dazed. We fit like puzzle pieces.

Jem looked a little agonized. Youre smal , he said. His voice was hoarse.

I know. My breasts are smal too. She smoothed her hands over his shoulder muscles.

Believe me, he gasped. Its not a problem.

And he thrust deeply. This was Harriets favorite part of making love: this part. It made her feel adored. Important. She wiggled a little, getting herself set to be a proper bed for him, a lifting platform for his work. The mans part seemed like work; Benjamins face always turned a light purple color. Im ready, she said.

Jems face wasnt purple. He was looking down at her, eyebrow raised. Im getting some very strange ideas about your marriage, Harriet.

He real y felt wonderful. She could feel her whole body relaxing, accepting, drawing him in. Hmmm, she said. Maybe we could discuss it later?

His chest was covered with muscles and just a dusting of hair. He was rubbing his lips against her forehead, which meant his chest kept brushing over her nipples.

Jem paused for a moment the way he used to when he was a young buck who couldnt always control himself. There was a problem here.

His lovely Harry may be a widow, but she didnt know how to make love. She looked about as engaged as a mattress, though she was giving him an adorable smile.

It would break his heart if she turned out to be one of the women who couldnt experience pleasure. Back in his wild days, before he married Sal y, hed found himself in a few beds like that.

He used to do his bestand he knew quite wel that his best was about the best there wasand if it didnt work, he gave up, took his own pleasure, thanked his partner warmly, and walked away.

But he didnt want to walk away this time. Harriets round little body was female in every respect, al cream and silk. He wanted it.

He wanted her to writhe in his arms. And damn it, he was going to make sure that happened.

It was painful, but he withdrew from the sweetest, tightest channel hed had the pleasure to visit.

Whats the matter? she said, blinking at him.

She wasnt nearly where she needed to be. Not nearly.

He gave her a sleepy smile, the kind an al igator gives its victim before he gobbles him up. I decided Im hungry.

Harriet looked total y confused. Her husband must have had a member the size of peapod, and the technique to go along with it.

He reached down and licked her on her cheek, which was as smooth and delicate as the side of a peach. A man! How on earth was he ever so stupid as to think she was a man?

It was shaming. He ran his tongue along the side of her jaw. Harriet had a strong jaw. Maybe that was it. She didnt have a receding jaw like so many ladies did, the kind who sat around and clucked over their embroideries. She had the jaw of a woman who knew her mind, who fought with a sword and did a damn good job, who He forgot where that was going because he had reached her lips. They were lush and rose-colored. He gave himself another two-second lecture about his own stupidity, and then let their kiss turn wild.

Just so she understood from the beginning, he took con trol of her mouth, and plunged into her, claiming her, naming her, making sure she knew she was a woman. No man. His woman.

The thought was dim in the back of his mind, but he knew it anyway. He hadnt waited eight years, ever since Sal y died, just to find himself another lover.

Whoever Harriet was, his own little widow, she was his now.

He pul ed back, propped himself on one elbow, and moved to her breast. Claimed it. Now she was responding. Her hands started moving restlessly over his shoulder, clutching him, sliding over his chest and down his back. She even touched the curve of his arse but pul ed back instantly, as if shed been stung.

In a flash he knew what the problem was. Harry had done a pretty good job of being a man. But shed been trained to act like a lady and talk like a ladyand make love like a lady.

Though she wasnt one.

She was an Amazon warrior at the heart, a woman who would meet a man on her own terms and demand what she wanted.

Touch me, he commanded.

Wh-what?

Those wide pansy-brown eyes of hers were starting to look a little dazed, which was a good thing. His Harriet thought too much.

What she needed was to be shocked.

And he was just the man to do it, Jem thought with a grin.

Now, Harry, he said, making his voice into a drawl, you know what sort of man I am, dont you? Just so she had a vague idea, he started rubbing her nipple with his thumb. Like the sweet little angel that she was, her back arched a little.

But that annoying brain of hers was obviously stil working, because she opened her eyes again, and said, I know what kind of man you want everyone to think you are, Jem. Im not so sure about the real you.

Obviously she wasnt quite at the mindless stage she needed to be at yet. Im a libertine, he told her, pul ing back so that her body was before him like a delicious meal. Then he bent down and kissed her breast until he could hear soft pants. She liked little bites, so he moved to the other breast and gave it some special treatment. She was twisting under him now.

Debauched. A whoremonger. A voluptuary, he told her.

But he underestimated her, because those eyes of hers popped open and she said, Nonsense. Youve never slept with a whore in your life.

He opened his mouth and then he realized that given his extreme dislike of exchanges of coin for intimacy, he could hardly win that argument.

Instead he went for the kind of argument he knew best. The kind he knew he could win. We voluptuaries want everything when we make love, he said, moving down her body. Open your legs, sweetheart.

She was peering down at him, desire warring with alarm. Do you want toto look at me?

Yup. Youre so pink and soft down therehe pushed her legs openI wish you could see what Im seeing. Sleek little leaves like rose petals. And the sweetest little door that a man ever saw. In fact, it was getting hard to speak because his body wasnt used to al this wanton talk, and thought action would be a good idea.

Instead he pushed her legs wider and went for the kiss that turned every woman into an Amazon.

Natural y, Harriet was more resistant than some. Sal y, for example, had just sighed and said, Thank God, and laid back.

But Harriet had her legs out of his way and was scram bling to her knees before he managed to catch her. Now, Harriet, he said, youre simply going to have to go along with my depraved desires. I cant do this otherwise.

What?

I cant make love to you otherwise, he said patiently, as his entire body signaled perfect wil ingness to do whatever was necessary. I have to taste you.

Nonsense! she said. You were perfectly ready to bed me just a moment ago.

Not anymore, he said sadly, rol ing over a little so she couldnt see the fact he had an erection harder than hed had since being fifteen. He kept up the gentle rub over her nipple, and he could tel she was a breast woman.

Ive never heard of such a thing, she said suspiciously. But he could see her eyes going soft again.

You cant expect that making love to me would be the same as toto that country squire you married, he said.

She opened her eyes and he knew hed nailed her husband. Of course he was a country squire. It was the only thing that made sense. She hadnt been sheltered by some overprotective mamait had been a hidebound country squire instead. Maybe he was one of those gentleman farmers.

I suppose you have different demands, she said, looking down her own body dubiously. I just dont think Dont think, he said. Then he planted himself between her legs and started to give her little bites on her thighs.

Just like that, Harriet started making soft sounds. His erection was pulsing against the floor, begging him, but by then hed reached her core, his tongue sliding over her sweetness, driving her to arch her hips again and again.

She wasnt being too incoherent now, though words kept flying from her lips. No, and Yes, and Jem, and a few things he couldnt understand.

I love the way you taste, he told her, just in case she didnt know that by now. You taste like sugar and spice and lemon Lemon soap, she gasped.

He took another few minutes on a particularly delicate spot, just to punish her for having been rational enough to mention lemon soap.

Then he stopped. What did you say? he asked, keeping his tone innocent.

She raised her head, eyes wild. He knew those eyes and loved them: that was the look of a woman who was about to strike a man.

Sorry, he said innocently, did I lose track of what I was doing?

She had her fingers in his hair, and she was panting.

Al good.

A few minutes later, he raised his head again. Lemon soap?

She looked down at him, dazed. Please

Please what? He couldnt help grinning. He let his fingers play a bit, though he knew it wasnt the same. She writhed under him.

Please, she said.

Say kiss me , he commanded. His Amazon needed to put things into words, to own them.

Please, she sobbed, kiss me, please. A lady to the end.

So he bent his head again and this time he let his fingers wander everywhere, because those Nos just kept being swal owed up by Yess.

And then he final y took her home.

It took al he had not to slip into her. But he coaxed her and commanded her and ignored her protests until she started curling her toes, and uttering little screams.

And he had hershe cried again and again, and her sweet body curled toward him, convulsing with pleasure.

Thats it, sweetheart, he said, Gogo!

Harriet stared at the ceiling of the picture gal ery. It was far away, and seemed to be swinging slightly. It was as if the whole world had tilted a bit on its axis and dropped her off the side.

Oh.

Jem was above her again, arms braced. Would you mind if we made love now?

She looked at him, unable to form words.

He nudged his hips toward her. A strangled sound came from her throat. Her knees slid up of their own volition.

Il take that as a yes, he said. And then he stroked forward, hard.

It was unlike anything shed ever experienced before. The pleasure shed just experienced was in her bones, but it turned instantly into a clinging kind of joyful fire. She lifted her hips toward him without even realizing what she was doing.

Thats it, Jem said, his voice deep.

He was the most beautiful man in the world to her. She started running her fingers over his cheekbones, over those fierce, intel igent eyes, over his strong jaw. Down to his shoulders, hips, the muscles responsible for her little cascades of shivers.

He thrust again, and like magic, her hips rose to meet him.

And again. Do you see how? he said. His teeth seemed to be clenched. His face didnt look purple, but there were little beads of sweat on his forehead. And his shoulders.

She tasted themthey tasted like salt, clean salt and Jem.

He kept stroking forward, long and strong, and she couldnt keep her mind on her exploration of his body. She was starting to feel unmoored, as if her whole attention had narrowed to the fire caused by his movements. Long after Benjamin would have col apsed onto her, Jem just kept going, smooth, indomitable, as if he would never stop.

She couldnt breathe. Al she could do was fol ow him into the storm, her fingers clenched on his shoulders, little cries coming from her throat.

Thats it, he said hoarsely. Thats it, Harriet.

Her hands slid from his shoulders, clenched onto his arse. It was smooth under her fingers, muscled and strong. She could feel his body as if it were her own, throbbing, plunging, thrusting deep into her.

She didnt even hear Jem because her world shattered and flew, remade itself into a different place, a place in which a kind of deep pleasure was possible that she never imagined.

Could never have imagined.

The Scandal! A Woman in Breeches

D inner was an odd affair. Jem wasnt expected to join the company, but he suddenly appeared.

Harriet choked.

Povy flew into a flurry of activity, rushing to get a chair and put it at the head of the table.

Dont worry so much, Povy, Jem said. Il slip in next to the Duchess of Cosway. If you dont mind, Mr. Cope.

Harriet hastily moved her chair to the left and al owed Povy to slip a chair between herself and Isidore.

Im upsetting our dinner symmetry, I know, and I do apologize for my late arrival, Jem said, smiling around the table. I simply couldnt resist the chance to speak with the duchess.

To her left, Nel was excitedly pinching Harriets arm. Does he know? she whispered shril y into Harriets ear.

Jem sat down and his leg instantly pressed against hers. Harriet snatched up her napkin. Jem accepted a plate of food and began talking to Isidore, on his right.

Nel pinched Harriet again. Did you give him the entire poem? That must be why he came down to supper. He almost never joins the company for supper!

I did give him the rest of the poem, Harriet whispered back.

Nel took a deep breath and clasped her hands together. I am going to marry him, you know. Ive quite made up my mind.

Harriet discovered that she no longer felt this wish was as humorous as she thought a few days ago. Real y, she said, a bit coldly.

He must not be certain who wrote the note. Please, Harry, can you do something?

I am no bawd she cleared her throat that is, I am certainly not a brothel-keeper, Nel . I cant arrange your liaisons.

You already have, Nel said, her eyes sparkling with deep excitement. And I wont charge Strange a thing. I never do that.

Nel had a disconcerting lack of subtlety.

Can you at least introduce me as the author of the poem? Nel breathed in her ear.