Nash's Niche (Behind Closed Doors) (2 page)

"Well then
, My Lord, it is up to you…" She paused and smiled. It was a smile of enticement. "If you succeed."

Chapter One

How long did it take for a hackney to be summoned, arrive, and set off? Too long, Nash decided. It seemed like hours, but a glance at his fob watch showed it was a scant ten minutes before he climbed into the carriage and felt it rumble away over the cobbles. As the vehicle turned the corner, he rapped on the roof for it to stop, and opened the door.

"Wait here," he said to the jarvey. "I will be no more than five minutes. There will be a guinea in it for you." In the dim light he saw the man nod. A guinea was a lot of money. Nash swung down onto the road and walked toward an entrance in the wall of a nearby house. As he reached it, the door opened and his lady slipped through the gap.

"Good girl."

"Of course."
She sounded cool and composed, not at all as he thought a lady about to embark on a night of debauchery should be. He had a momentary qualm. Did she know what he intended?

"You do know what will happen when I get you alone?" he asked.

She nodded, and let him help her into the carriage. In the gloom, her eyes were bright behind her mask. He instructed the coachman on their direction and sat back against the side of the vehicle. She moved on her bench, and the rustle of her skirts made him wonder what he would find under them.

"I know what will happen, but I
don't
know if you understand me," his companion said in a breathy voice that made his body heat up and his prick perk up. "But I want to. I want to lie with a man and feel him inside me. For this, my first time, I wish that man to be you. Don't worry My Lord; you will not coerce me in any form. If need be I have been taught how to shoot straight and emasculate a man." She moved her hand and a pistol appeared as if by magic.

Nash held his own hand up in supplication
. The arousal he felt when she wanted him to introduce her to the joys of sex faded rapidly. "I'm one of the good and just here, my lady. Remember, you asked me for help, I didn't coerce you. I promise we will do nothing you do not want and everything you do."

The pistol didn't waver from his heart. Until that moment, Nash had never thought about his invincibility. To all intents and purposes, he'd led a charmed life, and sailed through the scrapes and excesses of
his existence so far. His stomach heaved, and he was fairly sure his balls must have retreated into his body. Nash swallowed, and didn't move his gaze from hers. To his amazement she seemed as cool as if they were conversing at a soiree. He smiled, waited for her to reply, and hoped none of his thoughts showed on his face. Eventually she nodded.

"That then is all I could ask." She didn't put her pistol away.

Nash dropped his hand and shifted on the seat as if to settle himself. That tiny movement brought him within touching distance of her. Happy now with regards to the fact his life span was no longer in jeopardy, he stared at the gun and chose not to show her how he could easily disarm her in one move. This night was turning out to be so much better than he had thought possible. "Perhaps I should ask, my lady whom?"

For a moment he thought she wasn't going to answer. Then she laughed.

"I think perhaps you may call me Madame Felice."

And if that were her name, Nash would eat his beaver. However it was not in his mind to disagree with her. Not when it looked as if his cock might get some exercise that didn’t involve his hand on it. "Then
, Madame Felice, we are here." The carriage had stopped. Nash got out and paid the jarvey, not forgetting to include the extra guinea, and held his arm out to the lady now standing at the top of the carriage steps. She put her hand into his and descended onto the cobbles. The hackney moved off and Nash watched as Madame Felice took her in her surroundings.

"A mews? Which one?"

Nash chose not to answer directly. If she chose to remain incognito and have secrets, then two could play at that game. "Behind my house. I can only be thankful my family insisted I keep it ready at all times. We can go in through the garden. The servants will all be abed. I told them not to wait up." He opened the gate into the tiny garden behind his townhouse, and blessed his father for insisting each of his children had a bolt hole. If he'd had to stay with Peregrine, his visits to the capital would be even fewer and far between.

Felice—he thought of her by
that name—let herself be ushered toward the house. Once inside Nash turned toward the hallway, where a lamp burned low, awaiting his return.

"Would you like to leave your cloak?" She shook her head.

"Your mask? Your dress?"

She laughed. "No, no and no, not here."

He slung his cloak over a chair. "Then after you, it's to the right at the top of the stairs." He lifted the lamp to show them the way.

Madame Felice nodded and gathered the hem of her cloak and dress up, which gave him a perfect view of pair of trim and shapely ankles.

"If you raise your skirts further, perhaps I could see your arse as well as your feet?" he said in a deep voice. "It would appeal to my baser instincts."

She took the first three steps and turned to look over her shoulder. "I wouldn't have though you were so jaded as to need titillating
, My Lord."

"Minx." He couldn't help but admire her retort. "I don't need stimulating, but your arse does need tanning. I will take great pleasure in watching it turn the color of your lips."

Her lips parted and a soft sigh escaped. Her face suffused with color. "What?" She turned away and continued up the staircase. Nash noticed a little more of her legs were now visible, and then a quick flash of a garter. His lady was teasing. They would see just who teased whom before long. He took the stairs two at a time to catch her up, and then opened the bedroom door, to usher Madame Felice inside.

"We won't be disturbed until I ring," he said as he put the lamp down and lit another one. He wanted to see his lady in all her nakedness. "Now strip."

Would his crude and blunt demand appeal or repulse her?

She smiled and undid her cloak. "You will need to play ladies maid
, My Lord. I didn't expect to undress without one."

That was something Nash could do. His cock protested
that it was ignored and hardened to such a degree that he wanted to take it to hand and give himself some relief there. Instead, Nash stroked his lady's neck and rejoiced in her tiny erotic quiver as he began to undo a row of diminutive buttons, which stretched from the nape of her neck to the enticing cleft in her arse. The dress undone and in a swirl of silk at her feet, Nash began on the ties of her petticoat, pleased her body was such that she didn't need a corset. When he reached her chemise, Madame Felice shivered.

"I can finish
. I feel distinctly underdressed here."

"The mask," he reminded her.

Her hand went to her face. "The mask stays," she said firmly. Nash decided it wasn't worth arguing over. He'd undo it later. Once she was in the throes of passion, she wouldn't realize what he was doing.

He bowed, and pressed a series of nipping kisses to the nape of her neck. She shuddered and moaned.

"My Lord … ah … that sends such feelings through me."

"Good. Take of
f your chemise and get into bed whilst I disrobe. Then I'll show you what other feelings I can give you." He'd never shrugged out of evening wear so fast, and even used a jack for his boots. By the time Felice had slipped her chemise off, and he'd had a brief glimpse of rounded thighs and a perfect globe of her arse, he was naked alongside her. "Wait," he said hoarsely. "I need to taste." Before she had a chance to ask what he meant, Nash held both her hands in one of his, bent his head and suckled each nipple in turn. Her keening cry was enough to make his juices gather at the tip of his engorged cock.

He lifted his head with reluctance. "On the bed, lie on your back and spread your legs for me. If you don't want this, now is the time to say so." He waited, his body tight with anxiety less she did say 'no more'. She didn't.

Instead she clambered onto the high mattress with elegance, and did as he asked. "What now?"

He threw a towel down to her side and followed her onto the bed. Then he knelt between her legs, and bent his head to her quim. "This." He licked the soft flesh between her nether lips. Felice arched up toward him. Her hands were tight in his hair, and she panted as he alternately sucked and nibbled. He moved his tongue to push into her channel. It opened to him like a flower in bloom, and she screamed and shook as her climax hit her. Nash held his arousal in check, licking and soothing until he felt she was sated. Then he lifted his head.

"I'm going to fuck you with my cock now. Are you ready? There will be a short pain, but it will soon be replaced with such pleasure as you will not imagine. You enjoyed my tongue. My prick will increase that pleasure tenfold." At least he hoped it would. To his knowledge Nash had never deflowered a virgin before. He felt both honored and apprehensive. It was a responsibility, and he wanted to do all that was right for his lady to enjoy herself.

"Do it, show me." Her voice was not much more than a whisper. "I need to feel you in me. I need to know what it should be like."

Pressure indeed. Nash grinned. If there was ever a reason why he was unsuited to be a cleric, this was it. He moved and gradually pushed his willing cock into her. His partner was having none of it. Even as he judged it time to enter further, she wrapped her arms around his back, legs, around his waist, lifted her hips, and pushed herself toward him.

His cock slid inside her, as smoothly as a knife entering butter. In the lamplight he saw her eyes widen and the sheen of perspiration on her skin became even more pronounced. He withdrew almost to the tip and thrust again. She gasped.

"More, I need more…"

Nash was too absorbed in watching her to reply. He used one arm to hold his body up and with the other rubbed the tiny nub between her nether lips. She began to shake harder and faster th
an before. The tremors increased and as she thrashed her head from side to side, Nash felt his climax fill him. He sped up his thrusts as Felice gripped his head, her fingers tight in his hair. She screamed and after one more forceful push, he withdrew to spill over the towel.

"Noooo," her disapproval went through him. Had it been so bad? He felt as if he had climbed mount Olympus and she wasn't happy?

"Why did you leave me?“ Her words were slurred. "I wanted to feel you shudder in me."

Nash rolled to the side of the bed where he hadn't left a sticky mess, and pulled her on top of him. Her mouth formed an 'O' but she said nothing. "I withdrew because I'm a gentleman, who would not wish to saddle you with a child
," he told her. She paled.

"The first time? Do you not need to practice to create a child?"

He stroked her back in soft circles. "My seed are my seed, be they in you once or ten times. If the time is right, we make a child. If I spill outside your body, the risk is less. I want to protect you, to show you how important you are. This may have been the first time, but there will be many more." He knew in that instant he couldn't let her leave him.

She bit her lip. "Then I thank you." She lifted her head and looked around the room. Then she waved her hand toward the nearby table. "I meant to ask earlier, but I was somewhat preoccupied.
" The giggle she gave was full of lightness and yet still sensual and arousing. If Nash hadn't felt so spent, he'd be inside her once more. "That intrigues me. What is it?"

Nash looked in the direction she was pointing. Set on the table was a leather pouch, around seven inches long, and a mere one or so wide,
with several bulging pockets. "An inking set. To mark skin."

"For people?"

He inclined his head. "Or animals. To show to whom they belong. You pierce the skin and add ink to where the puncture is. That leaves a permanent marking. My animals are valuable, and this way I can prove they are indeed mine. There will be no thought of disputed ownership." He knew he sounded grim, but he had been duped once, when he'd first set up his pack. It would never happen again.

Madame Felice knelt up and stretched over him to lift the leather pouch. Nash had left it there the night before to remind himself to take it back to Rutland with him.

"So can we use it? On us? To celebrate tonight? For even if it matters little to you, it has shown me what lovemaking should be. If I never feel like this again, then I'll have something to remind me." She looked so eager, his heart jumped. It had meant something more than a fuck to him as well.

"Why will this be the only time? We have other nights," he told her, and watched her eyes cloud over.

"But this is our first." Her gaze skittered away from his. "However, if you feel differently that is fine."

His decision made, Nash lifted her from him. "Stay there whilst I get what we need." He collected cloths and water, scissors and razor, in short shrift. "So where shall we mark? I thought here." He ruffled the curls that covered her quim. "As close to heaven as we can make it."

She nodded and sighed. "How beautiful. Will you mark yourself the same?"

He shook his head and she went ashen. "No, I won't mark myself
. You'll do it for me. I will however do the shaving. I'm not sure how well you would operate a cut throat and strop, and I need my cock and balls to fill you again."