Forever Mine (28 page)

“
Sweet Jesus
, your tongue would tempt the devil himself,” Nick growled as he slammed into her.

The size of him filled and stretched her until the sharp, intense pleasure of it made her sob with delight. The strength of the pleasurable sensations rose up inside her much faster this time. The pace of his hard thrusts increased as his body pounded against hers, and the erotic experience set fire to her nerve endings. As Nicholas drove deep inside her, a blast of white-hot heat exploded and spiraled through her veins. Her body clenched around his erection as the first wild ripple of heat plunged over her. A cry of sheer rapture poured out of her as she hit a peak sensation. A fraction of a second later, her body shattered and tightened around him.

An instant later, he was pulling her to the next height of pleasure. Stroke after stroke, Nicholas brought her to the edge of the abyss then pulled her over only to take her back to the edge again. Suddenly, her body clutched hard around him in hot spasms that cascaded through her in a mind-numbing level of blissful satisfaction. A brief second later, Nicholas roared as he thrust into her one last time, and his cock throbbed violently inside her. Slowly they slid forward on the bed together. The warm pressure of him on top of her filled her with not only contentment, but a feeling that all would be well as long as she was in his arms. Nicholas kissed the back of her shoulder then rolled off her onto his back. Victoria reached out to stroke the top of his chest.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Nicholas turned his head toward her with a startled look on his face. His hand brushed a strand of hair off her brow.

“For what, sweet witch?

“Because that was even more amazing than the first time,” she whispered as she moved closer and kissed him. The heat of their kiss began to spiral into a fiery passion until Nicholas pulled away from her with a groan.

“God in heaven, woman. You’ll be the death of me.” He tugged her into his side and wrapped his arms around her. Snuggling into him, she laughed.

“I take it
now
would not be the time for me to indulge in dirty talk,” she whispered.

“No,” he growled with a soft trace of amusement. “I only have so many French letters available until Roberts can order more, and I need sleep.”

She smiled then yawned as she buried her cheek into the curve of his shoulder. With Nicholas she was safe, no one would harm her. It was the last thought she had before she drifted off to sleep.

§  §  §

A warm heat surrounded Victoria as her eyelids fluttered open. There was a blue sliver of light pushing through the thin opening in the drapes. It was a soft, lapis lazuli that signaled the night wasn’t quite willing to give way to the dawn. The weight of Nicholas’ strong arm was wrapped around her waist holding her close. Sleepily, she blinked several times to wake up completely. She’d spent the entire night locked in his arms. Victoria released a soft sigh of contentment.

Fully awake, she turned her head to see Nicholas studying her intently. She smiled and reached out to touch his mouth with her fingertips. The man’s lips had teased and tempted her last night in ways no other man had. He’d aroused a part of her that was completely unrestrained when she was in his arms. The man set her on fire with his words and caresses. When he didn’t respond to her touch, she frowned. Something was wrong.

“Is your leg bothering you?” she asked quietly.

“No,” he said in the soft voice. Green eyes narrowing with suspicion he frowned. “Where did you learn to do the things we did last night, Victoria?”

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.” Puzzlement furrowed her forehead.

“Where did you learn to suck on a man’s cock or use language designed to stimulate a man’s desire?”

The question made her stare at him in amazement. Out of all the things for him to ask, this was the last thing she would have expected. The man sure as hell hadn’t complained about her enthusiasm last night. She scowled at him.

“Well, it’s not like I’m inexperienced,” she said defensively. “I’ve had a couple of serious relationships.”

“Then you
have
slept with other men.” The harshly spoken statement made her draw away from him in anger.

“Are you telling me that Vickie is the
only
woman you’ve ever slept with?”

“My liaisons are of no importance.”

He casually dismissed her sarcastic reply, and she stared at him in astonishment. Had the man just said a double standard was okay? In the back of her mind, she understood it was how things worked in his time, but she sure as hell didn’t have to go along with it.

“Let me get this straight, your affairs aren’t important, but mine are?” She glared at him.

“You’ve asked me to believe you’re not my wife, but your behavior is no different than Vickie’s when it comes to other men.”

“My behavior is a hell of a lot different than your wife’s,” she snapped. “When I’m in a relationship with the guy, I don’t cheat on them.”

“But you don’t deny having been with other men.” The terseness of his declaration infuriated her.

“No, I don’t. Because all the men I’ve been with were
long
before I ever met you.” Indignant, she threw the covers off her legs. “And since we’re discussing
my
liaisons, exactly how many women have
you
slept with?”

“That’s irrelevant to this conversation.” The disdainful note in his voice made her pick up her pillow and swat him hard with it. The pillow muffled his oath of objection.

“
No
,” she exclaimed furiously as she scrambled out of bed. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s
very
relevant to the discussion.”

“Where the devil are you going?”

“Back to my room.”

The sheets fell down to Nicholas’ his waist as he sat up. Instantly her mouth went dry at the sight of his well-toned chest and arms. God, he was magnificent. She winced at how easily just looking at him could distract her thoughts. Desire flashed in Nicholas’s eyes as he studied her, and Victoria quickly shrugged her robe over her shoulders to cover herself.

Part of her wanted to fling herself into his arms, but she refused to give in to temptation. There were lines that had to be drawn somewhere. She hadn’t asked to be in this time, but she was damn well going to live here on her terms if at all possible. With sharp, jerky movements, she cinched the sash of her robe and glared at him. She didn’t know what infuriated her the most, the fact he’d compared her to Vickie or his judgmental inquisition about her past. Victoria decided it was the comparison to his wife that bothered her. She was nothing like his wife.

“You’re not leaving until we settle this matter,” he growled.

“Watch me.” She sniffed with derision.

With the speed of a panther, he was out of the bed and blocking her way out of the room. Instantly, her body was like a needle pointing to the North Pole at the sight of his naked, muscular form. Every cell in her body was on alert. Her gaze flitted over him and drank in the beauty of him.

As she looked at his bad leg, she drew in a sharp breath at the badly scarred limb. She’d seen it up close last night, but things had gotten out of hand before she could ask him what terrible thing had happened to him. And now certainly wasn’t the time. She flinched and shook her head as he stepped toward her.

“There’s nothing to settle, Nicholas. My past isn’t yours to judge. And it sure as hell doesn’t even come close to Vickie’s behavior,” she said bitterly. “I say we just forget last night happened.”

“
God damn it
, Victoria that’s not what I want, and I—”

“What
you
want
is irrelevant,” She flung his words back at him.

“Damn it Victoria, I’m willing to forgive you.”

Dumbfounded, she stared up at him slack jawed. He was willing to forgive her. For what? The only thing she’d done wrong was land up in a time period that wasn’t her own with a man who believed she was his wife. A man who had rocked her world last night in bed and was now willing to be magnanimous and forgive her for her past. Her thoughts tumbled one over the other as she eyed him with cold anger.

“
You forgive me
?” she sputtered as her outrage kicked up another notch. “What the hell for? I’ve not done anything wrong.”

“You’re not listening to me,” Nicholas said in a resentful tone. “I don’t care who the men were, I’m willing to put all of this behind us.”

“You are
definitely
not helping your case here,” she said in a caustic voice. “I don’t recall asking for your forgiveness, and I’m sure as hell not about to apologize for anything either. I suppose I should appreciate the irony of the whole thing. You admit how different I am from Vickie, and yet you still think I’m just as much of a slut as she is.”

“I didn’t say that,” he snarled as he grabbed her arms and shook her slightly.

“No, you didn’t have to,” she said as a sliver of pain and disappointment pierced her heart. “But the fact that you have this need to forgive me says everything.”

Victoria jerked free of his grasp and headed toward the door that led to the corridor between their rooms. Nicholas’ hand curled around her arm, and he firmly halted her departure. She stared up at his handsome face, and her heart was suddenly weighted down by the confusion she saw there.

“Victoria,” he paused. “God help me, when you look at me like that it’s as if nothing in our past matters.”

“But it does matter to you, doesn’t it, Nicholas.” She rolled her shoulders and released a resigned sigh. “I understand why it matters to you, but in my mind my past shouldn’t even be a part of what we shared last night.”

With a quick tug she pulled free of his grasp and left him where he stood and walked out of the room.

R
ain hit Nicholas’s office window with increased force as the wind blew harder. There was a cold bite to the wind that combined with the rain made his leg ache. He reached out to wipe the condensation off the glass pane to improve his view of the wet landscape. The gray weather suited his morose mood. This morning he’d managed to bungle his way through his argument with Victoria like a clumsy oaf.

Last night had been incredible. The way she’d responded to him had fired his blood. No woman had ever aroused him to the point he’d completely lost all control of his faculties. The fact that he’d made love to her without protection was proof of that. He could only pray he’d not sired a child. And the way she’d sucked on his cock. She’d seemed to understand exactly what he needed and when.

The way her tongue had stroked every inch of him made him believe she’d cared as much about his pleasure as she did hers. But it was her naughty manner he loved the most. With just a few words, she had managed to fill him with a powerful need to possess her.

Then in the morning’s cold light, he’d realized just how experienced his wife was and why. The knowledge had stirred feelings deep inside him that were alarming. The thought of her with another man twisted his gut with anger. It was a territorial emotion that made him want to eviscerate any man who had even dared to look at her, let alone touch her.

That possessive feeling is what had driven him to question her about her past. He should have realized before he spoke how Victoria would react. Since her return she had acquired a number of different habits and social behaviors that could have predicted her reaction to his queries. She was right in thinking that the past shouldn’t matter. But it did matter to him. Just not in the way she thought.

What the hell was happening to him? He’d told Victoria last night that she had bewitched his entire household staff. What he hadn’t told her was that she was bewitching him too. Now he had to consider how to set things right with her. Victoria hadn’t been just angry with him. There had been a disappointment and sense of defeat about her. He had injured her greatly by implying she was just like Vickie. He knew better, but his poorly made argument had only erected a brick wall between them. A wall he wasn’t sure how to bring down. A knock on his office door made him turn around as Derek Elrod, his estate manager, entered the office.

“Good morning, Elrod.” Nicholas walked to his desk and sat down. He gestured to his estate manager to take the seat opposite him.

“What do you have for me this morning?”

“Just a few things, my lord.”

Seated behind the large desk, Nicholas watched his estate manager sit down across from him and open a leather folder. Elrod retrieved several documents and passed them across the desk. Accepting the paperwork, Nicholas quickly flipped through the documents. He put three documents to the side to review in detail at a later time. He then returned to perusing the remaining paperwork, asking questions as needed. When he’d finished signing the necessary documents, he handed them back to the estate manager.

“I’ll review these other documents and have them back to you by the end of the week.” Nicholas nodded to the papers he’d set aside. “Is there anything else?”

“A few items came in the post this morning. They were included in the paperwork you just reviewed. However, there is an odd piece of mail I wanted to bring to your attention.”