Simply Wicked (34 page)

“So you’d be quite comfortable with me fucking any man I want?”

He grabbed the tip of the whip, drew her hard against his body. “If you were mine, you wouldn’t need to fuck any other man.”

“Because you’d be fucking them for me?”

He stared down at her face, absorbed her pain and his own, allowed the emotions inside him to solidify and condense, and sent them outward to her. “Marguerite, I love you, don’t you understand that yet?”

“You are infuriating!” She tried to kick his shin, but he pulled her even closer.

“I would only fuck another person if you ordered me to. In truth, I would probably like it if you did. And only men. I wouldn’t want another woman besides you.” He kissed the top of her head. “And you’re right. I mustn’t be selfish. If you asked nicely, I’d let you join in.” He hesitated. “And, of course, if you asked me not to touch anyone else but you, I’d try to do that as well.”

“You mean that after all you’ve just said, you’d be prepared to give up all your sexual interests for me?”

He sighed. “I’d certainly try. I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what I crave and what I can do without.” She tried to move away from him, but he held on. “I’m trying to be honest here, Marguerite; can you at least give me credit for that?”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

290 /
Kate Pearce

“Help me? Explore all the possibilities with me?”

She looked up at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

He bent his head, licking the spot she’d gnawed on, tasting her blood. She moaned as his tongue slid into her mouth, took possession of it and dueled with hers. She pulled back, her breathing as short as his.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to? Because you care about me?”

“Anthony, I’m not sure I am the right woman for you. Perhaps you need to experiment more before you make any decisions.”

“Because I’ve only made love to you?” He released her and took two steps back, let her see his already tented breeches.

“Perhaps I am a man who finally knows what he wants.”

“But you just told me you didn’t know.”

“What I
know
, Marguerite, is that you are being a coward.”

He pointed at the door. “You’d rather I went out there and spent the next six months trying everything the pleasure house has to offer. Then I suppose you’d like me to run back to you with a list, so that you could make up your mind if you could bear to love me?”

“You don’t understand; I can’t risk another mistake. I can’t . . .”

“Can’t risk loving me.” Anthony bowed. “I have to go and speak to my father now. I’ve decided to take up his offer and become his land manager for at least the next six months. It might not work out, but at least it will be valuable experience if I decide to branch out on my own again.”

He picked up his coat and waistcoat and headed for the door, his mouth uncomfortably dry as he swallowed down his agony. “Good-bye, Marguerite. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Anthony . . .”

He heard the riding crop clatter to the floor, but he couldn’t turn back. He’d risked all and he’d lost, but he’d also learned SIMPLY WICKED / 291

something. Despite his heartbreak, he wasn’t going back to the life he’d led before. He grimaced into the darkness of the stairwell. Perhaps he should follow his own advice and start on a career of true debauchery. As long as he fucked women, his father wouldn’t mind.

He came to an abrupt stop on the first landing. But he didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want any other woman but Marguerite. Briefly, he closed his eyes. A morning spent with his father was the perfect cure to any emotional display he might be tempted to make. But it wouldn’t cure his heartache; he doubted anything ever would.

Marguerite stared at the bare floorboards until the sound of Anthony’s retreating footsteps disappeared completely. She’d lost her nerve, frightened herself, doubted herself and finally succeeded in pushing Anthony away. She swallowed hard. He loved her? She drew her shawl closer around her body.

God, she needed to think. Could she bear never seeing him again, never touching him, never waking up with him moving over her? She shivered just at the thought of it. Had she just made a colossal blunder? Was Anthony right? Was she a coward?

She made her way back to the door and crept out into the deserted hallway beyond. This had all happened too fast. She’d known him only a few short weeks. After the disaster of her first marriage, she was right to be cautious, wasn’t she? She stared out of the window. Anthony would be halfway to his father’s house now, ready to start his new life—without her. Oh God, what had she done?

25

Marguerite knocked hard on the door to Captain David Gray’s lodgings and tried to look more confident than she felt. She hoped he was home but knew from experience that naval offi-cers were at the mercy of the tide and the winds and sometimes had to leave far too promptly.

“Lady Justin?”

She fixed a smile on her face.

“Captain Gray, may I come in?”

“Of course, my lady.”

To her relief, he managed to conceal his understandable sur -

prise behind a mask of calm courtesy she could only envy. She walked into his sitting room, noticing again how clean it was and how empty of personal belongings.

“How may I help you?”

Marguerite sat down. She’d spent the last three days trying to decide what to do about Anthony and had finally found the courage to act. It was time to forget her notions of ever being conventional and of fitting in. Her family might be unusual, but at least they loved and supported her. The least she could SIMPLY WICKED / 293

do was to be proud of them and embrace her unusual heritage.

She could only hope Captain Gray would be amenable to her remarkable request.

She cleared her throat. “I need your advice about Anthony Sokorvsky.”

“Mine? I’m not sure if I’m the best person to ask.” He relaxed back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. “Have you spoken to his brother or Mr. Peter Howard? They know him far better than I do.”

“I need a very
particular
kind of advice, the kind that you are an expert in.”

His eyebrows rose. “I’m not quite sure I understand you.”

“May I be honest with you, sir?”

“Of course, and please, call me David.”

“I’m trying to understand Anthony’s sexual needs.”

“Ah.”

“He says he doesn’t know what he likes, that his tastes have been formed for him and that he needs to experiment to find out his own desires.”

David nodded. “I can see how he might feel like that. Minshom tried to control him, and as far as I am aware, it wasn’t until quite recently that Anthony realized there were other ways to gain sexual release without subjecting himself to pain, humiliation and complete domination.”

“He wanted me to help him.”

“But you are afraid you won’t be able to provide what he needs?”

“I’m afraid to let him down, to prove unworthy of him.”

And why hadn’t she said that to Anthony’s face instead of appearing to simply give up on him?

David studied her, his expression considering. “And how can I help you with this dilemma? Are you also afraid that he will hurt you or make you hurt him?”

294 /
Kate Pearce

“Yes.” Marguerite bowed her head. “He called me a coward, and he might just be right.”

“I don’t think you are a coward. You have a right to protect yourself and him.” He leaned forward, his large capable hands clasped together. “But if it helps, I don’t believe Anthony will miss the extremes Lord Minshom put him through.” He shivered. “I’ve met men who need to be dominated, and Anthony isn’t one of them. He wouldn’t inflict pain on you either; it’s just not in his nature.”

Marguerite nodded as relief shuddered through her. She already knew in her heart that Anthony would never harm her, but it didn’t hurt to have her thoughts confirmed.

“Do you think it would help if I experienced some of the things he likes? He asked me if I would do that for him.”

“Well, you certainly might understand him better. Is that why you came to me?” David smiled. “I did offer to teach you how to tie Anthony up, and I’m more than happy to do that.”

“Actually, I was hoping you might tie us both up.”

David’s smile was slow and full of respect. “You, as well?”

“Do you think Anthony would like that? I want to help him, I really want to try, and I trust you. My mother said you were the perfect man to help me.”

“She would know. What is it with the Delornay family needing my services?” David stood up and grinned at her. “Thank you, my lady, I’ll strive to be worthy of your expectations. And I think Anthony will be in heaven.”

Anthony took off his hat and knocked on the door of David’s lodgings, trying to shake off the slight sensation of a headache lodged deep in his temples. He hadn’t realized what managing a complex estate required and was still struggling to keep up with his father’s immense knowledge. In the last few days, his respect for his father had increased tenfold. He could only hope he hadn’t displayed his lamentable ignorance too often.

SIMPLY WICKED / 295

“Anthony, come in.” David welcomed him inside with a bow and a friendly pat on his shoulder. Anthony took off his hat and gloves then slowed as he saw a familiar bonnet and cloak draped over the same chair.

“You invited me over, didn’t you, David?”

“I did.”

David was in his shirtsleeves and breeches, his hair tied neatly back from his face, as usual. Anthony gestured at the bonnet.

“But you already have company.”

“I know.”

Anthony gave his friend a quizzical look. “Is this some kind of game? Am I missing something?”

“It’s not so much of a game as the beginnings of your tuition.

Why don’t you come into the bedroom, get undressed and then we can start?”

Anthony followed David down the narrow hallway to the bedroom. “I don’t know what you are talking about, and I’m not in the mood for riddles. Perhaps I should go.”

He abruptly stopped speaking as he saw Marguerite sitting on the side of David’s bed. She wore her muslin shift, and her hair hung down her back in a single braid.

“What is going on?” He stared at Marguerite and tried to disguise his shock behind a dismissive smile. “Have you decided to take David as a lover?”

“No, she hasn’t. Now get undressed so that I can begin.”

Anthony remained in the doorway, one hand braced on the door frame. “I’m not doing anything until Marguerite tells me what is going on.”

“But
I
told her not to speak unless I allowed it.”

“You told her?” Anthony swung around to look at David, who was taking something out of the tallboy drawer. “What in damnation are you talking about?”

David straightened up, two sets of
shibari
ropes in his hands.

296 /
Kate Pearce

“A lesson, a shared experience—if you would shut up and take your clothes off.”

Anthony stopped talking and obediently started to strip, his mind a tumult of chaotic emotions. He still wasn’t quite clear what was going on, but he wasn’t a complete fool. And if Marguerite was willing to try this for his sake, he was not going to disappoint her.

David gestured at the bed. “Anthony, go and sit on the bed, cross-legged, your back against the headboard.”

Anthony walked over to Marguerite, climbed on the bed and took up his position in the center of the bed. His cock was already erect, his body humming with anticipation. David brought the red
shibari
rope over and trailed it over Anthony’s shoulder and chest allowing it to pool on his stomach.

“We’ll start with you, Anthony. Lean forward.”

David anchored the rope through the back of the headboard and brought it over Anthony’s shoulders and around his torso.

Marguerite watched intently, her hands gripped together in her lap, her nipples already showing through the delicate muslin of her shift. Anthony exhaled as David crossed the rope over his chest in an X and brought the ends around his waist.

“Put your hands behind your back.”

Anthony tensed as David looped the rope around his wrists.

He flexed his fingers as they were drawn inexorably into the small of his back. The rope reappeared in front of him again, this time anchoring his hips. His cock jerked as David slid the rope beneath it.

“As you can see, Marguerite,” David said, “The rope isn’t very tight yet. The skill comes later, in determining how tightly to bind a person, how much they can stand, how much they enjoy being restrained.”

David crossed the thin red linen below Anthony’s balls and under his thighs, crossed it again and brought both strands up SIMPLY WICKED / 297

between the valley of his arse cheeks before separating them again at his hips.

“We’ll wrap his cock up later, but I want you to tighten the ropes now, and see how Anthony reacts.” David brought Marguerite to sit in front of Anthony and transferred the ends of the rope into her two hands. She bit her lip and stared into his eyes. He held her gaze and nodded slowly.

“Do it, Marguerite. Tie me up as tightly as you want, make me beg.”

He tried to brace himself for the inexorable constriction but was still unprepared to have his whole body from arse to neck gradually slammed back against the headboard, impaled there, held immobile like a butterfly pinned to a wall. His breathing shortened and the blood pumping through his cock increased.

He could no longer look down, but he knew he was dripping with pre-cum from the wetness on his stomach.

Would Marguerite see the possibilities? Enjoy having him there at her mercy?

David murmured, “Tighten the ropes a bit more.”

Marguerite obliged, and Anthony moaned her name as the bonds around his wrist tightened and his knuckles drove into his spine, shoving his groin forward. David tied off the ropes on the corner of the headboard.

“God, Marguerite.” Anthony’s chest was so constricted he could hardly get the words out. “Suck my cock. Own me.”