His Wicked Wish (16 page)

She caught hold of his wrist to still the delightful action. It was impossible to think coherently while he caressed her. “Yes. Yes, I do. It's just that … I'm not accustomed to this. I've never done it before.”

His dark brows lifted. He looked truly puzzled. “This? It?”

A blush warmed her cheeks. “I've never lain with a man. The auction was for … my virginity.”

He straightened up to stare down at her from his superior height. His gaze probed into her, his chiseled features fraught with stunned skepticism. Maddy felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny, and embarrassed by the need to make such an intimate admission. If only the wedding hadn't been so rushed, if only she hadn't been so distracted by the turmoil in his family, perhaps she'd have come to this realization earlier.

All at once, his thunderous disbelief cleared and his mouth twisted in wry irony. Much to her astonishment, he threw back his head and laughed. “Of course. I see what you've been about tonight, why you're acting so shy and missish.”

His mirth mortified her. Did he find her innocence amusing?

She yanked a handful of flimsy bodice back up over her bosom. “Jackanapes! I should hope you understand since I just
told
you why.”

He chuckled again. “You're practicing your new role, that's what. The model of ladylike behavior … refined and circumspect … the epitome of propriety. But you needn't playact with me, Madelyn. Not when we're alone together.”

Her eyes widened. How could he have misunderstood her so completely? “That isn't what—Oh!”

In a swift move, he snatched her up into his arms. His smirk gleamed down at her. “However, if you wish to retire to the bed, my lady, then so be it.”

Maddy clung to his neck as he carried her across the room. Her head nestled in the lee of his shoulder, her cheek to his hot neck. For a moment, she couldn't form a clear thought. Her senses swam with his masculine aroma of sandalwood, the beat of his pulse in her ear, the feel of his strong arms cradling her to his chest.

With great fanfare, he laid her down on the mattress. The coverlet felt cool beneath her bare back, while the front of her burned from the torch of his skin. Nathan loomed over her, his arms braced on either side of her waist, as he brushed an intoxicating kiss over her lips. The taste of him was a dizzying effervescence that bubbled through her veins.

“I may just change my mind,” he murmured against her mouth.

“Change…?”

“Indeed, I see how it can be stimulating for you to play the fair maiden, untouched by any man. So I will do my part and be the lusty conqueror, intent upon ravishing you.”

Maddy snapped to attention. He didn't believe her. He still thought her virtue was a pretense, that she was concealing her expertise at lovemaking for the purpose of some erotic fantasy. It irked her that Nathan would brush off her honest confession—especially one that had so flustered her to admit.

The rat!

She parted her lips to blister him with a reproach.

But he chose that moment to step back from the bed. He unfastened the sash at his waist. The green dragon robe slithered down his body and dropped to the carpet.

Her eyes widened at her first view of a naked man. Without conscious thought, she pushed up on her elbows, the better to see him. Candlelight glowed on the sculpted muscles of his arms and torso. Across his wide chest, a light furring narrowed to a thin line on his flat abdomen. It led her gaze on an irresistible downward path to his loins. There, in a nest of black hair, his manhood jutted in all its glory.

She stared, transfixed by that virile thickness, the ropy veins, the smooth head. Never had she imagined a mature man could be so imposing. A heated dampness softened her nether region, and she trembled inwardly. How was it even possible that he would fit inside her?

He stepped closer, affording her an even more spectacular view. “There's naught to fear, my lady. You may touch me if you like.”

Maddy averted her face. A blush swept through every crevice of her body. Her fingers curled into fists to keep from doing as he suggested. “Coxcomb!” she chided breathlessly. “Have you no shame?”

“None at all,” he said, amusement in his deep voice. “But I imagine the sight must be quite shocking for an untried innocent like yourself.”

He spoke teasingly, a nod to the game he assumed she was playing. The game that was utterly, frustratingly false. But how was she to convince such a pig-headed man?

She tried again. “Nathan, truly, you must believe me—”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

As he joined her on the bed, the thread of her thoughts unraveled. He pressed her back against the coverlet, crooking his knee over her legs to pin them in place. She was keenly aware of his member resting hot and heavy against her upper thigh. He bent his head and his hungry mouth sought her bosom, tasting one peak as if it were a rare delicacy.

Unable to resist him, she stroked the black silk of his hair. The pleasure he ignited in her was so seductive she felt on the verge of swooning. Honeyed lava coursed through her veins, flowing downward to her loins. He blew lightly on her dampened nipple and a feverish shiver swept over her skin.

As he applied the same ardent attention to her other breast, she gave up trying to persuade him of her purity. Let Nathan believe what he willed. It didn't matter anymore. She wanted only to satisfy the gnawing ache inside herself, to experience more of the irresistible sensations he'd awakened in her.

With his knee, he nudged her legs open. Somewhere, she'd lost her nightdress and she couldn't remember how, perhaps when he'd carried her here to the bed. The fleeting thought vanished as his hand glided downward, over her smooth belly and lower still, to play with the silken thatch at the apex of her thighs.

She tensed, her fingers gripping his shoulders, her entire being focused on that one spot. His fingers probed her with light strokes, feathering over the place that no other man had ever touched. A sigh arose from the depths of her being. “Ahhh,
Nathan
.”

He seemed to take pleasure from her response, rubbing his raspy cheek against her bosom. He kissed her throat, licking the hollow there, nuzzling her neck, nipping at the tender lobe of her ear. But it was the masterful caresses below that drove her half mad with desire. She closed her eyes, the better to appreciate them. Her hips strained toward his hand, seeking more of the delight.

He moved his mouth downward, his kisses leaving a trail of sparks over her bare abdomen. As he neared her privates, she opened slumberous eyes to gaze down at his dark head. A dim awareness of his intention seeped into her passion-beleaguered brain.

He couldn't … he wouldn't … yes, he
would.

He parted her soft folds and blew lightly on her dampness. That one simple action unleashed a torrent of intense pleasure. It was so unexpected, so darkly alluring, that she gasped and tried to squirm away. Her hands pushed at his hard shoulders. “You mustn't…!”

He looked up over her naked form, a fierce passion on his chiseled face. “Enough pretense, Madelyn. You want this. You know you do.”

He bent his head between her open legs again, and at the first lap of his tongue, she was lost. Her insides clenched with a heat so powerful that she melted onto the bed. Nothing in her tame fantasies had prepared her for the wicked joy of his mouth on her. With panting whimpers, she strove for something beyond her reach. She teetered on the verge of a precipice, and her fingers grasped at the satin coverlet to anchor herself. Then a sudden series of rapturous spasms flooded her. She felt herself being swept away on a wave of pleasure so deep, so intense that it blotted out awareness of all else.

As the ripples ebbed, Maddy came back to herself. Dazed and blissful, she lay sprawled in the bed, her heartbeat slowing. She blinked up at the canopy overhead, trying to grasp what had just happened. So
that
was the pleasure she'd heard whispered …

Nathan slid his heavy body over hers. A few strands of his black hair had come loose from the fastening at the nape of his neck. The angles of his face looked taut and strained, his green eyes glittering with unquenched passion. Through her languor, it struck her that he had not experienced that ecstasy. Wanting to soothe him, she reached up and cupped his cheek in the palm of her hand.

At the same moment, she felt a burning pressure between her legs as he pushed himself partway inside her. He stopped and frowned, his jaw rigid as he stared down at her with an uncomprehending look. His harsh breaths filled the silence.

Growling deep in his chest, he gave a quick, hard thrust. A flash of pain wrenched a cry from her. She clutched at him, gasping, aware that his heated length had penetrated fully into the depths of her body.

His eyes went unfocused, the black lashes lowering slightly as he began to move inside her. He bent his head close to her, burying his face in her neck. Heat came off him in waves. In a guttural tone, he whispered her name, “Madelyn.”

The discomfort of his entry had subsided to a slight sting. She instinctively tilted her hips, the better to feel him inside her. His plunges increased in intensity, and a sheen of sweat made his skin slick. The rub of his chest hairs against her breasts fanned the embers inside her. She wanted to experience that bliss again, yes, she craved it with unladylike fervor.

But it was not to be. With one last fierce thrust, he gave a hoarse cry. His powerful body convulsed in the throes of release. Then his weight settled heavily over her.

*   *   *

She had been a virgin, after all.

Nate pushed away the intrusive thought. He didn't want to reflect on his blunder. Not while he was still sheathed inside Madelyn, his body relaxed and replete in the aftermath of their coupling. Not while he lay with his face tucked in the fragrant disarray of her hair. Beneath him, her skin felt as smooth and warm as melted candlewax. Everything about her was feminine perfection, from the soft globes of her breasts to the shapeliness of her legs entangled with his.

She had been untouched. More insistent this time, the thought pulled him back to cold reality. He had only realized the truth upon meeting the resistance of her maidenhead. Even then, he had been too caught up in passion to absorb that fact.

But he did now. Fully, completely, gallingly.

No wonder she'd had that charming hesitation about her, the shy reluctance to touch him, the qualms when he'd caressed her intimately. Looking back, he could see that she'd behaved exactly as one would expect of a virgin. But he'd convinced himself she was acting.

Blast it. He felt like a cad. To make matters worse, he'd lost control at the end in a fit of madness. He should have taken the time to pleasure her again. That, at least, might have compensated for his mistake.

He rolled onto his side, separating their bodies. Glancing down, he spied the rusty smear of blood on her thighs, proof of her plundered innocence. She gazed at him, her eyes big and blue in the perfect oval of her face. Her blond hair was rumpled, her lips moist and rosy from his kisses.

He wanted to kiss her again. To make it all up to her.

The notion irked him. What the hell was he thinking? He had nothing for which to atone. Madelyn was his wife, bought and paid for. He could use her as he willed.

He pushed up onto his elbow. Without preamble, he said, “If you'd told me you were a virgin when we first made our bargain, I'd have been gentler with you.”

She turned toward him, and he tried not to ogle her beautiful breasts. “I thought you
did
know,” she said. “I'd made it clear in the invitation to the auction that I sent to the other gentlemen. But then, just a little while ago, I realized I never wrote one to you.”

It annoyed Nate all the more to think of her sending out invitations as if to a party. “How the devil did you word such a note?
Please submit your bid for the chance to plough my virgin soil
?”

A pink blush swept over her cheeks. She drew the covers up to her chin. “Of course not. I put it more delicately than that. The gentlemen knew, anyway, because I'd spurned every one of them in the past. I had a reputation, you see.”

“A reputation.”

“Yes, for being chaste. Apparently everyone knew it but you. And I
did
try to tell you, Nathan.” Her expression softened in a dreamy look. “Nevertheless, I can't say that I have any regrets. Being with you tonight was truly … sublime.”

Her lashes were half lowered, her lips tilted in a heartfelt smile. His cock stirred. The rest of him recoiled. He didn't want Madelyn to look at him that way—as if she adored him. As if she hoped their mating meant much more than just satisfying a raw sexual need.

Rising from the bed, he yanked on his dressing gown and secured the sash firmly at his waist. “As I said, you should have made certain from the start that I knew that you were a virgin. I might have offered you a larger sum for your services.”

As he'd intended, the warmth in her eyes cooled at the reminder that she'd sold herself to him. She stared at him a moment, then lifted her chin. “I'll be the Countess of Gilmore someday. And you'll be long gone from England. So tell me again, who has the better end of our bargain?”

A chuckle stirred in his chest, but he stifled it. Dammit, he didn't want to trade wits with her. She was supposed to be offended, to blister him with one of her colorful curses.

He bade her a terse good night and strode out of her bedchamber, firmly closing the door on temptation. Madelyn had turned out to be quite different from his initial assessment of her. She wasn't the vulgar strumpet, free with her favors, opening her legs to the highest bidder.

No. She
had
opened her legs to the highest bidder. She had married him in order to further her social-climbing ambitions.