Wickeds Scandal (The Wickeds) (21 page)

The monkey blinked at her. A chirp of
sympathy came out of the animal’s mouth.  Suddenly the monkey screeched
loudly and disappeared into the foliage of the cage.   Disappointed,
Alexandra watched the monkey’s retreat, her heart aching.  She was so
immersed in her anguish she didn’t hear the footsteps behind her.

“Alex.”

Sutton resolved to stay away from Miss
Dunforth. Her association with Archie Runyon filled him with disbelief and an
angry possessiveness.  Jealousy.  An emotion Sutton had never felt
for any woman before, and he shied from it.  But then he saw her, walking
smartly into the atrium of the Royal Exhibition, in the company of his sister. 
Again, the Badger surprised him with her appearance in the most unlikely place.
   Miranda neglected to inform him she was bringing Miss
Dunforth today. 

 He waited before entering the
lecture hall, intending to sneak in after Bishop began speaking.  He would
stand during the lecture and avoid Miss Dunforth.  Then Alexandra had
burst through the heavy doors of the lecture hall, scurrying away like a
frightened mouse chased by a housecat.  He’d followed her.  He
reasoned that he trailed her only to make sure Alexandra made it safely to the
Cambourne carriage.   Not to accost her.  Not to demand an
explanation of her relationship with Runyon, though God help him, he needed
one.

He watched as she spoke to the
monkey.  The Badger’s voice, so lost and forlorn, undid Sutton.  The
very sight of her trim form, the overabundance of bosom and the curling mass of
hair, made every muscle in his body come alive.  He longed for her. 
There simply wasn’t another way to describe this deep, intense yearning for the
small, prickly woman before him.

Alex didn’t move or turn as he said her
name.  She looked straight ahead, as if frozen in place before the
cage.  Her voice quivered.

“Stalking innocent women again, Lord
Reynolds?”

“Perhaps. Or badgers.  I am partial
to badgers.”

“Are we back to seeing me as an irritable
rat again, Lord Reynolds?”  Still, Alex refused to face him.  The
pale blue gown she wore made her chestnut curls shine and the pale skin of her
neck gleam like a slice of moonlight.  Her outlandish hair struggled
mightily to escape its confines.  One shiny hairpin busily worked its way
loose as he watched.  His gaze fell to her waist, running up her back to
the long string of satin covered buttons.  Sutton had an unnatural
fascination for her back.  He longed to see the naked flesh hidden behind
the satin.

Sutton’s fingers wandered to the line of
buttons.  He rotated each one, wiggling the button just so as he imagined
undressing her. 

“Please leave me be, Lord Reynolds. 
I beg you.  I have not the strength of will to fight you.” Sad and
despondent, her voice shook as she spoke.  

He resolved to comfort her only. 
“Turn and look at me.  Tell me what is wrong that has you weeping on the
shoulder of a capuchin monkey.”

Her head shook in denial. The hairpin
fell to the floor.  A curl flowed down her back and fell on his fingers
where they touched the buttons.  His finger shook.  He determined to
just hold her.  To offer assistance. 

She shivered under his touch, arching as
he twisted the buttons.  “Why?” Her shoulders moved.  The satin
rippled underneath his hand. “Why do you care?”

Sutton pondered that difficult
question.  How to explain to Alex that he wanted her.  But it was
more than wanting.  He desired the whole of her for an inexplicable
reason.  She called to something deep inside of him.  The Badger
belonged to him. Just thinking about Alex with Runyon filled him with blinding
rage.  No amount of brandy, nor the charms of every beautiful woman in
London, not even the thought of returning to Macao drove thoughts of Alex from
his mind.   Seeing Runyon put his hands on the Badger, his
Alex
,
made Sutton nearly insane.  Sutton had many reasons for wanting Archie
dead, but he had found another.  Alex.

Afternoon sun peeked through the skylight
above their heads, casting shadows across the path through the exhibit hall. 
The silence was so complete he heard each breath she took.  His fingers
lingered over the buttons. 

“I wish you to call me Sutton.”  The
words hovered in the quiet.

Why didn’t she say something?  Move
away? 

Sutton blew a puff of air on her neck,
unable to resist the tiny curls at the base.  The curls swayed as if
buffeted in a breeze.  He tugged the long curl that fell over his hand.

The Badger moaned softly.  She
arched her back, lowering her head slightly to give him access to her
neck. 

Sutton’s heart thudded. He pressed his lips
to her skin and nibbled, teasing a path with his tongue.    He
wanted to devour her. 

Her hands grabbed the bars of the cage in
front of her, as if she would fall without support.  She gasped.

Sutton thought of throwing her skirts up
and taking her here, in the exhibition hall while she grabbed the cage.  A
growl escaped his throat.

“Please.” Alex gave a smoky whisper.

“Please what, Alex?  Please take you
here?  Please kiss you? Tumble you until you are senseless?”

He heard her intake of breath at the
crudity of his words, but she didn’t flinch.  He was nearly blind with the
lust he felt for this woman.  Sutton wanted nothing in his life as much as
he wanted Alex.   His bookish badger from Hampshire.

Alex made a small cry like a trapped
bird.  She turned slightly as if to flee him.

“No.”  His lips whispered against
her neck.  His arm wrapped around her waist.  “I want you.”

“Lord Reynolds.”  She panted. 
“Sutton,” she implored.  “Please let me go.  We cannot. I
cannot.
” 

“Don’t be afraid of me.  Badgers are
fearless, are they not? Certainly not afraid of peacocks.” Sutton swiftly
turned her to face him.  

Gray eyes, full of trepidation and want,
looked up at him.

His eyes fell to her breasts, her
magnificent breasts, and he imagined he could see the nipples tighten beneath
his gaze.

“Come with me, little one.”  His
arousal was uncomfortably hard in his breeches.   He pulled her
against him and brushed a kiss against her lips.  “Please, Alex.”

A gloved finger reached up and ran down
his face.  Like the kiss of a butterfly.  Fear warred with desire. He
could see it in her face.  

She gave a hesitant nod.

Sutton’s mind chided him for taking undue
advantage of the Badger in her distress.  He didn’t care.  His hand
closed around her wrist tightly, giving her no opportunity to flee. 
Sutton pulled her down the exhibit hall to a small door he noticed
earlier.  A maid’s closet.  Grabbing her by the waist, he nudged her
into the small space ahead of him.  He pulled the door shut, plunging the
closet into darkness.  The room smelled of lye and beeswax.  Sutton
kicked a pail aside with his foot and hauled Alex up against him.

***

I have lost my mind
.  Alexandra wondered at her
actions.  A bit of light filtered underneath the door, enough so that she
could see Sutton’s outline, if not his features.  She could smell
lye.  He’d pulled her into a cleaning closet.  She should open the
door and run as fast and as far from this man as she could.  But she
hadn’t the strength or the will.  She wanted him.  Just for a moment. 
Before she faced reality.  Mr. Runyon.  Betrothal.  Marriage.

Strong hands moved down her arms from her
shoulders.  Heat shot out from his fingers as he caressed and molded her
flesh.   

A shaky breath escaped her lips. 
She must tell him.  Tell him the thing that now hung around her neck like
some ill-gotten albatross.  “I shouldn’t be here with you, Lord
Reynolds.”  

“Sutton.”

“Sutton,” she pleaded.  “I will be
missed.”

“You won’t be missed for a time.”

“There are circumstances that you may not
be-“The rest of her sentence was cut off by the warmth of his mouth.  His
lips pressed against hers, insisting and demanding a response.  Tenderly,
he forced her mouth open.  The tip of his tongue touched her own. Her lips
responded as her tongue twined around his.

Sutton groaned in satisfaction. He
enveloped her in his arms.

Cinnamon. He smells of cinnamon
.  She clutched at him
tighter.  Her hands worked up the muscled chest and around his back to lie
against his shoulder blades. She imagined the dragon on his back sensuously
moving against her palms. 

One large hand moved from the small of
her back to cup her breast. 

An unladylike moan came from her lips.

 Fingers slowly circled the
nipple.  He flicked the hardened peak.

A spurt of warmth rushed down between the
apex of her thighs.  The sensitive peak of her nipple throbbed
deliciously. 

He pulled his mouth from hers.  The
tip of his tongue blazed a trail up her neck to her ear, lightly skimming the
lobe and laving the inside with tiny, darting strokes.

Alexandra felt taut, wild, and trapped in
too many layers of chemise and petticoats.  Her entire body ached with
need, a need she didn’t understand.

Sutton pushed against her, gentle but
demanding, forcing her to bend to him.  He twisted sensuously, so she
could feel the hardness of his arousal.   Cool air ran across her
breasts, the skin puckering as the buttons popped on her bodice.  
She jumped in shock as the warmth of Sutton’s mouth closed over her
nipple. 

He suckled, nipping at the peak with his
teeth.

Alexandra thrust her breasts up to
Sutton.  She behaved as a wanton.   Her fingers wrapped
themselves in his hair, urging him to suckle harder.  All rational thought
flew from her mind.   A low moaning sounded in the closet and she
realized with astonishment the noise came from her.  Boldly, Alexandra
nipped Sutton on the neck, tasting the cinnamon of his skin.

Sutton made a primal noise. His mouth
moved from her breast.

“No,” she begged.  

“Shush.” Sutton’s large hands cradled her
head. He leaned forward. 

The pad of his thumb ran over her swollen
lips. 

Alexandra panted lightly.  She
didn’t want him to stop.

“Alex.” Sutton carefully put his nose
against hers, rubbing them together gently.  The gesture was so intimate, so
loving, she came undone. 

“Sutton, please, I must tell you…..”

“Shush.  Not now.  Not
here.  Later.”

He brought his large body down in one
fluid motion, his hands around her waist.  One hand strayed from her side,
reaching beneath the layers of silk and petticoats to run up her leg.  Her
calves tensed, the cool air of the closet a tickle against her hose. 
Something brushed against her thigh – his mouth

“I want to bury myself in you. Wrap your
hair around my wrist and bind you to me.”  The words, possessive and
sexual, flew from his lips in a harsh whisper. 

The pressure between her thighs
mounted.  The ache intensified at his words.  In the darkness it was
easy to imagine the dragon’s tail winding around her and Sutton, binding them
together.

Warm fingers traveled to the middle of
her thigh, stopping at her garter.  The other hand let go of her
waist.  Taking a grasp of her skirts, he twisted them and threw the folds
of fabric over his shoulder.

“One day soon I will have you spread
before me,” the dark, husky voice intoned,  “with your hair spilling
around you, clad in nothing but your stockings and garters.  Your very
essence open to me.”

Aroused at the image his words brought to
mind, Alexandra almost fainted.

His fingers glided over the thin cotton
of her drawers, seeking the opening.  Fingers, warm and sensual, plucked
at the fabric.

Her mound thrust against his questing
hand.  The warm mist of his breath scorched her drawers.  He pulled
the string of his drawers gently with his teeth until they fell away. 
Intimately exposed, she shied in embarrassment.

“Mmm.  No.”  His thumb prodded
at her slit, parting the folds of flesh to massage the hidden nub. Sensations
shot through her.  The thumb ran back and forth over the tender
peak.  

“Oh, God,” she gasped.

One large finger slid inside her folds,
inside her, while his thumb continued to put pressure on the nub.  
The pleasure was intense, excruciating, forbidden.

“Does that feel good ,little Badger?”

“Having seduced many women,” she panted,
“I would assume you know it feels good.  Arrogant p-pea-peacock.” 
The pressure inside her built. 

Sutton sucked in his breath.  “Yes,
but none I wanted to pleasure as much as you, my Badger. Put your hands on my
shoulders.”  His voice was rough.  Demanding.

She complied, grasping the fabric at his
shoulders.  The dragon nipped at her fingers.

She was immediately rewarded for her
compliance as another digit joined the first.  Her inner core expanded,
stretched wickedly to wrap around his fingers.