Starlight (5 page)

Esther nodded breathlessly, astounded by the force of the elation she felt at finally having the Comte inside her. It seemed, for a moment, that she had been waiting for this – for him – all of her life. “You were right, Tristan.”

He laughed softly, still not daring to begin moving inside her as she gazed up at him with their faces mere inches apart. “I generally am,
chérie
; but about what in particular?”

She smiled at him, forgetting everything but how spectacular it felt to be with him. “How good we are together. I mean it, Tristan. Already I can find no words to express how wonderful it is to be with you like this!”

Her sincere words came straight from the heart, devoid of any hidden meaning or duplicity. Tristan was no stranger to words whispered in the height of passion, but always they were a part of the game of politics and intrigue in the French court he was accustomed to moving in. Esther, though, had no such veil of secrecy - no reason to flatter him untruthfully. He covered her lips with his own in a desperate kiss, surprising himself with the tenderness of it as much as he did her.

Esther clung to him tightly, winding her hands through his wavy hair as he broke the kiss and then slowly drew his cock out of her before thrusting deeply once more with a sharp hiss through his clenched teeth. His slow and steady strokes, deeply pleasurable though they were, were not enough. She needed more this first time with him – she needed him to take her in the way she sensed he so yearned to do. “Tristan?” she murmured into his ear.

He shuddered violently, the tantalisingly sensation of her warm breath against his throat pushing him ever closer to the climax he was battling to suppress. “
Oui
, Esther?”

“I am not some delicate French
mademoiselle
who cannot take all you can give, my comte.” With those electrifying words, she pushed him onto his back and straddled his waist before driving herself down onto his cock again with a loud, ecstatic cry. “May I?”

“Oh, yes!” Tristan stared up at her to commit every moment of this glorious woman riding his cock to memory, convinced he had never seen a more beautiful sight than the flush of her skin as she threw her head back and took him inside her again and again. Just watching her, though, was not enough. He had to touch her, to caress her, to bring her to her pleasure as soon as he could.

His face contorted as he captured her hands in his own and waited for her to grip him tightly between her slender thighs before he began to pump his hips, lifting them from the bed and thrusting into her with such force that she flew up into the air with each powerful move he made.

“Yes!” Esther eagerly met his thrusts, glorying in the desire etched so plainly upon the Comte’s face as he released one of her hands only to reach out and brush his fingers against her clitoris as she bounced wildly on top of him.       

“You are going to come for me, Esther, aren’t you?” Tristan demanded hotly, flicking his forefinger against her clitoris and tearing a fresh torrent of loud cries from her swollen lips. “I want to feel you come around my cock,
chérie
, to feel the pleasure I deliver to you!”

Tears of joy were streaming down Esther’s reddened face as she nodded desperately and rocked against him, each thrust that he made effortlessly pushing her closer to the release her body demanded. The way that he was so skilfully touching her clitoris was only hastening it. “So...so close!” she managed to gasp as a wild tremor shot through her body. “So close, Tristan!”

He groaned loudly as he slammed his cock into her with ever more ferocity, the tight grip of her muscles around his shaft threatening to steal his own climax from him just as quickly, despite his efforts to hold it back. “Then let it take you away, Esther – give yourself over to the pleasure I can give you!”

The desperate desire to obey his command was more than enough to send her soaring towards the brink. Esther tensed and then, when the Comte shifted the angle of his strokes and thrust into her once more, shattered into a million pieces of physical ecstasy.

She collapsed on top of him with a throaty, incredulous shriek as her climax ripped through her inflamed body, bursts of tingling and fiery pleasure exploding outwards from her core as the Comte wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, delivering frantic kisses all over her face as he momentarily held his cock still inside her.

“There, Esther, there we are!” Tristan crooned triumphantly, elated by the strength of the orgasm he had given to her as her walls contracted forcefully around his cock. “Was that not
magnifique
?”

Esther shook in his arms as she fought for breath, dumbstruck by the force of her climax – she had always enjoyed sex, whomever it was she was with, but with the Comte it was as if every sensation was heightened and intensified, far greater and stronger than anything she had felt before.

Taking her response as all the confirmation he needed, he smiled widely as the final throes of her orgasm faded away and he dared begin to move inside her once more. “So,
ma chére
, now it must finally be my turn, I think?”

Though exhausted by her explosive climax, Esther nodded eagerly and pushed the Comte onto his back again. This time, though, she laid down on top of him to rest her head against his chest and look directly into the dark eyes that had her so entranced as she matched his rhythm perfectly, pushing back against his cock every time that he thrust into her.

“I want you to come as hard as I did, Tristan,” she whispered, still staring intently into his eyes. “Am I enough to make you come like that, do you think?”

Tristan groaned desperately as she rolled her hips and took his head in her hands.  “More than enough, Esther! You are a goddess, an angel –
mon dieu, chérie
, you are perfection!”

His impassioned cry sent a fresh twist of fire searing through her veins. “And no man has the right to be as sinfully handsome as you are, Tristan!” Unable to help herself, Esther sought out his lips with her own as he shuddered just as wildly as she had done before him.

He lost all control whenever she touched him; the self-assured and cool Comte with such a fearsome reputation was helpless beneath her. It was a fact that thrilled her far more than it should.

Tristan ran his hands over the all-too-tempting curve of her rounded buttocks as she willingly parted her lips and welcomed the invasion of his tongue into her mouth, mimicking the way that he was thrusting so deeply into her with his cock. He could feel his climax building once more and no longer did he think he could hold it back, not when Esther was writhing on top of him and kissing him with such passion.

“Esther,
chérie
, I can restrain myself no more!” he said urgently as he tore his lips away from hers to gasp for breath. “I must come now or I will surely explode!”

“Then please, Tristan, do so!” she begged him, arching deeply as she realised from the reddening of his face how near his climax was. “I need you to come for me, my comte, I need to know that I have given you as much pleasure as you have given me!”

Her sweet plea was too much to resist. With a hoarse, incomprehensible shout that echoed around the bedchamber, he jerked his cock out of her with mere moments to spare, holding her tightly as his hot seed shot through the length of his cock to spurt over the inside of her thighs and he shook uncontrollably against her. Tristan rolled onto his side, still cradling Esther in his arms as his climax stole his breath and strength away from him with its ferocity.

Esther watched in awed wonder as his face contorted in the grip of the same physical ecstasy she too had felt just moments before – and, strangely, seeing it was as much of a joy as experiencing it herself. She nestled into him and allowed her mind to fill only with the thrill of the intimacy and pleasure they had shared.

When Tristan finally slumped back onto the pillows and found his breath returning to him, he realised how hasty he had been in taking Esther to bed once he had stripped her clothing away. His lust had been so great that he had paid attention to nothing but her pleasure, but now they were sated and lying in each other’s arms, he wanted to lazily examine every little intricacy of her bare body. To his alarm, though, he belatedly saw a jagged, silver scar running along the inside of her right arm. “
Ma chére
?” he asked slowly, lifting her hand in his and turning her arm towards the dim light. “Esther, what is this?”

Her eyes widened as her drowsy contentment faded away. “Something I do not wish to remember tonight, Comte.” Breathing in deeply, Esther tried with all her might to force away the painful memories simmering under the surface and threatening to erupt to torment her once more. “Tristan, please – surely you did not come to my bed to talk?”

He opened his mouth to protest further, his heart hammering inside his chest as a snarling fury at the thought of anyone harming her took root; but when she took hold of his hand to guide it towards her breasts with a low, breathless moan of desire, Tristan could think of nothing else but the way that his cock had hardened once more. “Again already,
chérie
?”

“As many times as possible, Tristan,” she whispered, resting her head on his chest to hide the tears that had sprung to her eyes. “I do not intend to waste my time in your arms sleeping when you can give me such pleasure, guilty pleasure though it might be.”

The distraction succeeded. He took her in his arms and they fell back into the sheets in a tangled mass of heated limbs and frantic kisses as they found their way together once more.

Esther’s breath quickened as she heard the footsteps outside her bedchamber. It was now the fourth night of the six that she and the Comte had to share before the christening – and she found herself able to think of nothing but him, even in the arduous daytime hours that they did not spend together and in which she had to conceal all signs of her consuming desire for him.

The nights, though, were a different story altogether. They had without fail stayed awake in each other’s arms until dawn, milking every last drop of pleasure from the other until the arrival of the new day forced them apart again in order that none would know what they were doing. Somehow, each time they were together seemed even better than the last, impossible though she would have believed that could be.

Tonight, the Comte had whispered to her as they bade each other a polite and emotionless good night after dinner not to undress when she reached her bedchamber, much to her confusion. Her pulse was racing in anticipation, wondering what it was that he had planned. It seemed her restless hour of waiting and wondering was at an end.

Tristan strode into the unlocked bedchamber, delighted to already see the little signs that betrayed the keenness of Esther’s desire for him; the deep flush of her skin, the quickening of her breath and the excited little moan that flew from her lips as he approached her.

Esther tilted her head to the side as she belatedly realised that the Comte was carrying a wicker basket on one arm. “Good evening, Tristan – dare I ask what you have concealed in there?”

The wary thrill in her voice did not go unnoticed by him. His cock hardened instantly, but he tried valiantly to ignore it – a glorious idea had come to him over dinner, one that he was determined to fulfil. Allowing his uncontrollable lust for the woman before him to distract him would not yet do. “Good evening,
chérie
. I noticed that you did not eat much at dinner this evening, Esther; I fear I was something of a wicked distraction seated next to you as I was. What say you to a midnight stroll to make up for it?”

Tristan pulled back the corner of the blanket tucked into the basket, holding his breath as he waited for her answer. The idea of spending time with Esther just talking and enjoying her company was one he found himself craving more with each hour that passed; and now, it was so intense a craving that he was willing to sacrifice the time in her bed just to do so. A feast in the gardens seemed to him to be the perfect opportunity for such a thing.

Though she was exhausted by the sleepless nights they had shared, Esther found she had a fresh burst of energy surging through her at the thought of the secretive picnic. She beamed up at him as he swallowed hard and slipped her hand through the crook of his arm. “Tristan, that sounds lovely. You are quite right – my appetite for food receded entirely whilst you were seated so near to me at the dinner table tonight.”

He exhaled deeply and matched her genuine smile as he steered her from the bedchamber, taking care to tread silently through the corridors for fear of awakening the rest of the household. “I too,
chérie
, found it impossible to concentrate on the food in front of me when I had such a delicious alternative at my side.”

Her blush spread down towards her throat as she saw the dark spark of lust in the Comte’s eyes, watching as his intent gaze settled upon her breasts and stayed there until the tautening of her nipples became evident through her gown. His smile widened as he impulsively pulled her to a halt at the top of the sweeping staircase and sought out her lips with his own.

Esther sighed and closed her eyes as his arm slipped around her waist to pull her into the heat of his body. She had never known it was possible to want any man in the way that she craved the Comte – and to her growing unease, far from purging him from her blood, every kiss that they shared only made her yearn for his touch all the more. Perhaps it was as well that the christening was only two days away and that they would soon part.

“Oh, Tristan,” she whispered when he ended the surprisingly tender kiss and led her down the stairs. “How is it that you can make me want you so very much when every logical corner of my once sharp mind screams out that I should flee from you?”

He brushed a stray tendril of hair away from her flushed face as they cleared the last step. “But that is the very last thing you want to do,
belle
, is it not?”

“Precisely. You are a dangerous man, Comte; but I want you more than I have wanted any man before. There is no way for me to deny the fact that you are quite spectacular.”

Tristan gloried in her praise and the desperate lust written so clearly upon her face. Other woman used their bed as a chess piece, inviting in the men who would best suit their aims and lift them to power, but not Esther. She was entirely artless and sincere in her passion, he was convinced of it – a fact that only made his adoration of her more complete. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it as he spoke. “Then allow me to tell you, my Esther, that you are by far the most beautiful woman it has ever been my pleasure to know. Now, shall we proceed to the gardens before I find myself unable to defy the urge to whisk you back to bed?”

She laughed under her breath and pushed her disquietude aside as they strolled side by side into the vast, winding gardens, finally coming to a halt under the shadow of an ancient weeping willow, the embrace of its trailing fronds enough to conceal them from view of the manor.

Tristan laid out the food in front of Esther and poured them each a glass of wine before allowing himself to pull her up against him as he lifted the glass to her parted lips. “To your health and happiness, Esther,” he said softly.

Esther’s heart skipped a beat. “Tristan, all the happiness I need for the moment can be found in your arms,” she owned with a low, quaking sigh. “It is more than it has been my fortune to have of late, so I will take this opportunity to thank you for it. Despite my reticence to be with you, I do not think I shall ever regret sharing myself with you as I have.”

His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, but an inexplicable lump had constricted his throat that made it near impossible to speak. He swallowed hard again as they turned to their food, Esther’s voice whirling through his jumbled thoughts.

Tristan tried to regain control of himself whilst they ate, but her words had sounded far too much like those of a parting for him to be able to ignore them any longer. He cupped her face in the palm of his hand to draw her attention away from the food. “We shall have to conspire to coincide our dutiful visits to our little goddaughter and steal a few more trysts like that which we are enjoying this week,
mais non
?” he suggested lightly.

Esther smiled tightly as she set her food aside, but the thought of going long and lonely months without seeing the Comte only to be re-united for nothing more than a quick and stolen moment of passion was strangely unsettling.

His face tautened as his heart pounded painfully inside his chest. “You – you do not wish to, Esther?”

“This was only ever supposed to be for the one week, Tristan.” She managed somehow to match the joviality of his words with her own. “Doubtless when we part you will find plenty more willing partners for your bed sport – you will forget me and move on, I am sure. After all, you promised me that none would know what we are doing, and that is just as it should be.”

“Your family.” Tristan was no longer smiling.

Esther drained her wineglass before daring to reply, desperately hoping that the waver of her voice would not betray her. “Of course. I have not forgotten what you did to my cousin, Tristan; merely set it aside so that the two of us can enjoy each other’s company and sate our inexplicable lust for each other.” She searched anxiously for something to say to distract her from the strange spark of thunder that was burning in his eyes as she spoke. “Did you…did you bring any dessert, Tristan?”

His voice grew fierce, the need to make her his again threatening to consume him in the face of her words. “Ah,
ma belle
, you are my dessert. I would feast upon you all night long – and you, you will not deny me, is that not so?”

Esther knew that her sense of heady intoxication had nothing to do with the wine, but everything to do with the consuming and insistent lust that Tristan could awaken in her with mere words alone. She could not deny him. “But what of my dessert?”

Tristan recognised the look in her eyes – and it was perhaps the only thing that could tear his attention away from the way that his stomach was churning at the thought of soon losing her. “Did you have something in mind, Esther?”

“In mind?” She sucked on her lower lip in a way that already had him at a full cock stand even before she lowered her gaze. “In sight, certainly.”

He groaned as he leaned back against the trunk of the tree behind them and watched hungrily as her hands went to the waistband of his breeches. “Then Esther, please feel free to indulge yourself,” he urged her, already rocking his hips against her even before she freed his cock to spring up towards her waiting mouth.

“Oh, I shall – I must.” To his thrilled delight, though, Esther tugged her gown down past her shoulders to allow her full breasts to spill out from their coverings before she knelt between his thighs.

With a loud moan, she teased a gentle line around her stiff nipples, already feeling herself growing wet and ready for the Comte’s cock as she lowered her head and took the tip of it into her mouth.

Tristan cursed and dug his nails into his palms to stop himself from uncontrollably thrusting into her sweet mouth, the soft moans she continued to make as her tongue darted around his cock only increasing his pleasure tenfold. She was still playing with her breasts as she grew bolder, sucking firmly as she steadily drew more of his long shaft into her mouth before slowly pulling her head back and beginning all over again.

He could not stop himself from pushing into her mouth and encouraging her to take the full length of his cock, but she nodded eagerly and tilted her head back, remembering all the little ways that her husband had taught her to pleasure a cock. Andrew had been a bastard in every way, and using the tricks that he had taught her for his selfish pleasure to instead pleasure the Comte seemed, to Esther, to be the perfect revenge.

She briefly broke away from the Comte and threw her head back, her delicate little fingers still toying with her own breasts and driving him wild with lust as he stared at her in incredulous delight. “I love it when you touch me like this, Tristan,” Esther whispered, her voice low and unsteady. “The touch of your fingers upon my breasts is beyond exquisite.”

“And how I adore seeing you touch yourself in such a way,
chérie
!” Tristan shuddered as she reached out for his hand and pushed her breasts into it before arching her back and resuming her attentions to his throbbing cock. “Ah, Esther, if you carry on like this then I will surely come in your mouth,
ma chére
– perhaps you should save this for when we return to the bedchamber…”

He trailed off with another hoarse cry when she shook her head from side to side and began to caress his balls as her tongue danced around the pulsing head of his cock, coaxing him ever nearer to the climax he now realised she was intentionally driving him towards. If she was determined to make him come in her mouth, then he would more than willingly do so.

Tristan rolled her nipples between his fingers and groped firmly at the pliant breasts he so loved to caress, revelling in the startled gasp she gave that sent a rush of night air into her mouth and around his cock. “Just like that, Esther, that is wonderful – ah,
Jésus
, yes!”

As he urged her on, he felt his balls tighten in preparation to unleash the forceful climax he yearned for. The fact that she was so evidently delighting in bringing him such pleasure only increased the force of the rapid little thrills shooting through and inflaming his veins. Tristan tensed and thrust deeply into her mouth once last time before his breathtaking release shot through the length of his cock and sent his hot seed spurting into her as she continued to greedily suck on his cock, clearly glorying in his climax as much as he was.

 He jerked uncontrollably, filling her mouth with his come as she pulled back to caress every last inch of his cock with her gentle tongue, kissing his cock and taking every drop of his seed into her before he collapsed to the ground and pulled her to lie with him. “
Ma belle chérie
, you are so very wonderful!” Tristan affirmed between frantic gasps of air and kisses to her flushed face. “To have just two more days with you can never be enough, Esther!”

His words reawoke that agonising knot of tension that contorted her stomach every time she thought of leaving Fleetwood Hall and the Comte behind her. Esther turned her face into his chest as hot, bitter tears began to sting at her eyes – but this time, she was too slow to evade the Comte’s penetrating stare.

The brief flicker of pain that had flashed across her face grieved Tristan deeply. Still fighting for breath, he caught her hands in one of his and, with the other, tilted her face up towards his. “Esther, darling? Whatever is the matter?”

His gentle words sent a solitary tear snaking down her cheek, but she shook her head evasively. She did not want to own the cause of her agitation even to herself, let alone to the cold-hearted and notorious Comte who had so inescapably captivated her. “I am t-tired, Tristan, that is all. You have barely allowed me a moment in which to sleep, after all – I think catching up on my lost beauty sleep will be my first priority when we part ways.”