Love Redeemed (3 page)

“How singular.” Brennan shook his head and stood, extending her his arm.

Chapter Three

Surrounded by wood and leather, Serena grew certain her handsome host must have guessed the truth after her slip up about the brandy. His intense blue-gray eyes focused on her from across the room as the door clicked shut.

“I am sorry my friends had to leave so early. If you need to leave, I can call my carriage around for you.” He looked so earnest and yet all she could see was hope. Hope she would stay or hope she would go?

“Not at all. I thought you wanted a nightcap?” Comfortable in this pseudo-hostess role, she eased over to the decanter of cognac, or perhaps brandy? She lifted the lid. A delicate sniff told her the crystal contained the promised brandy. Excellent. She splashed two fingers of the amber liquid into a set of glasses and carried them toward her host who remained plastered against the study door.

She handed him a glass, transferring the smooth cool container to him before taking his warm free hand. A gentle tug got him moving so she could lead him to a nearby couch where they settled together. A heady, lightheadedness heightened the pulsing sensation of her blood thrumming as her body warmed to an uncomfortable temperature. Her breasts felt trapped by her corset and gown, and yet balanced in the most precarious way at the lip of her bodice. Serena had never experienced such anticipation before.

“Tell me, Mr. Whitling. How did you end up in the textile business?”

“Tell me, Miss Freemont. How have we not met before now?” He leaned in close and traced her ear with his fingertip.

Little shivers raced up and down her spine as though a breeze had stolen into the room. Tamping down the baser instincts demanding his touch, she focused on sipping her brandy. The dear man thought her a debutante. Not the practiced harlot that she was. He would be shocked were she to stand, strip, and proceed to manipulate both him and the situation with her usual finesse.

“I cannot imagine. Honestly, I am on Bond Street quite regularly. But—” She hesitated. “Well, I shouldn’t say it. It just isn’t proper.” She blushed.

“Please, you may say anything you like to me.” He set his brandy on a side table and took her hand in his to offer her assurance.

Unsure how to respond Serena bit her lip. The truth of her next words rang clearer than the voice of a choirboy. “Well, I am glad I ran into you.” She could at least be true to her feelings if not her story.

It took but a moment for her snifter to disappear under Brennan’s power before he swept her into his arms. The comforting band of bone and sinew surrounded her as his chest pressed against her sensitive breasts. Even through five layers of clothing, her nipples tightened and pressed forward seeking his heat.

Warm lips claimed her soft moist ones, and his tongue demanded entrance. She willingly opened to him, accepted him, and welcomed him into her body.

He probed her mouth and caressed her teeth with his tongue as his hands sought out her precariously positioned breasts. It took ever so little coaxing and the loosening of her bodice for her to spill out over the top of her dress. He treated her to more attention than she had known in recent memory.

Her pebbled nipples grew harder as his teeth worried one nub and then the other. He cupped her breasts and lifted them, leaving her to hang on to him as he licked and suckled. Heat and moisture pooled low in her belly and between her thighs. She reveled in the tingling ripples radiating out from her pussy to her breasts and down to her toes. Normally a man did not take the time to treat her to such pleasures.

A low groan escaped him as he pulled away from her glistening breasts. “My apologies, we should stop this immediately.” His voice rumbled with desire.

“No.” Her body’s demands left her legs like jelly and her mind fogged.

“Serena, this—” He leaned back farther, attempting to put more distance between them.

“I want this, Brennan. I want this with you.” She stood and unhooked the rest of her dress letting it pool at her feet.

Brennan’s mouth dried out as he stared at her breasts resting over the edge of her midbust corset. She wore the sheerest underclothes he had ever seen on a flesh-and-blood woman. They may as well have been transparent. Had he ever seen anything so erotic? He could never have imagined this moment when he invited her and her aunt to dinner. His cock gave an eager twitch against the fall of his trousers as a reminder of the matter at hand.

She raised her chemise a bit more and straddled him on the couch. Between her black hose and white chemise, her creamy thighs were exposed. He placed his hands on either leg and caressed the irresistible delicate skin there. She shivered, whether in reaction or anticipation he remained unsure. He no longer cared as electricity shot through his fingers and down to his painful erection. Need pulsed deep in his groin as he hauled her against his chest and plunged his tongue into her mouth.

Heaven. Her warm wet tongue caressing, exploring. Her hands skimmed down his neck and chest to push his jacket off his shoulders. Next, she peeled away his shirt and let her delicate fingers trail little patterns over his flesh. It seemed he would expire of want. Not to be out done, he reached up, took the tip of each breast between his fingers, and rolled the points to hardened tips. She moaned and ground her mound against his cock.

Uninhibited
. She was naturally uninhibited. It was the only explanation he could come to in the fog of lust.

He drifted away from their kiss and turned to ease her down on to the sofa. Levering himself up, he shed his pants. Ever eager to join the interlude, his cock sprang out and stood at attention. A drop of clear fluid leaked from the tip. Serena stretched out and wiped it off with a finger she then sucked between her full pink lips. Brennan’s body shook as he worked to control the lust coursing through him. Where had an innocent learned to do such a blatantly sexual thing?

“Please,” she said, her voice a breathy whisper reaching out and caressing his tortured nerves. Innocent or not, he needed to be inside her warmth.

He kneeled between her legs and spread them wider. The urge to savor her, to see if she tasted as sweet as she seemed was driving him to the edge of madness. But his body ruled the day. Resting the tip of his cock at her slick entrance, he pushed onward in slow agonizing bits. Her hips lifted to try to meet him, but he pressed her into the couch with his weight. “Let me do this, love. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Confusion flitted across her face but disappeared with a small nod. Relieved, he surged forward again. Seated to the hilt, his balls against her ass, the realization dawned there had been no barrier. She felt tight, but he was larger than the average man. Again, something eluded him, but when she ground her pelvis against him, moaning, he lost all ability for critical thought.

He drew back and plunged again. Pleasure engulfed him as his cock slipped out of her tight sheath. A gasp escaped her only to be followed by a sigh. He set a steady pace as he pumped in and out of her body. With her legs wrapped around his hips, she settled her hands on his arms. Her skin a living flame as the heat radiated off her body. He braced her hips to give him the leverage he needed to fuck her properly. Determined she enjoy their joining, he stroked a fingertip over her clit. She sucked in a sharp breath and her eyelids flew open. Their gazes locked as he continued to stroke her with both his cock and his finger.

The shudder racking her was of an intensity he had never experienced before. Not even with the one mistress he kept for a short time the previous year. She cried out her pleasure as her channel rippled around his throbbing erection. Picking up the pace, he pistoned into her without a thought as to how he used her body. Her noisy orgasm ended as his own release gripped him. He withdrew from her heat and stroked his cock with his hand coming on the nearby pillow.

The languorous afterglow of sex still enveloped them as Serena sat up. Brennan seemed a little abashed as he sorted out his trousers and her dress. She decided he needed to relax. “Brennan, are you all right?”

He stopped and turned to her clutching their clothing. “I-I should apologize for taking you like this.” He flailed his arms in an attempt to encompass the whole room, but ended up waving their clothes around instead.

Forcing down a giggle, Serena rescued her dress. “Brennan, stop. I wanted this as much as you.”

He pulled on his pants. “Yes, but here? On the couch? What kind of man am I that I could not control myself long enough to at least take you to a proper bed, much less wed—”

“We could correct that oversight now.” She cut in, desperate to avoid the awkward conversation. Her blood heated as her gaze swept his muscular arms and chest. She needed to feel those arms wrapped around her and wanted nothing more than to be beneath him again. One more time before reality intruded.

“Get married? Yes. We’ll need a special license….” He paced, no longer speaking aloud.

“No,” she shouted. Her heart pounded as fear swamped her. The situation called for a diversion. Her tone turned seductive. “I meant we could go upstairs.”

“Won’t your aunt wonder where you are?” He looked worried as he drew his shirt over his head.

“I am sure I will be in all kinds of trouble when I get home, so I may as well make it worthwhile.” She flashed her naughty leer, the one always sure to excite her clients.

“Are you—are you sure you are ready to do it again?” Brennan’s brow creased.

Serena stood, reached over, and stroked his growing cock through his pants. “I’m quite sure. Come, take me upstairs and ravish me.” She leaned in and kissed him, gliding her tongue deep into his mouth to taste his warm brandied flavor. He slid his arms around her, lifting her into the air, and relief rushed through her. Hopefully he’d forgotten the wedding plans.

She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist while he unlocked the door and exited the study. Grateful she still clutched her dress in her hand, she hung on as he broke the kiss to dash up the stairs and down a hall. She tucked her face into the crook of his neck as another door opened and closed behind them. He pressed her down into a soft mattress. Cold air assailed her when he disappeared to step over to the washbasin. She heard water pour and a rag dip in just to be wrung out.

Brennan returned to the bed. “Don’t be nervous. I am going to clean you a bit from our earlier encounter.”

Serena thought she might swoon there on the bed. Most of the time, she cleaned and fussed, always the perfect mistress. Never did her clients take care of her the way Brennan did. The attention more alluring to her than anything else he could have done. She spread her legs with the knowledge he would not find what he expected. His gaze narrowed for a moment, but he said nothing. Perhaps he chalked it up to horseback riding? Nevertheless, the coolness of the cloth came as a shock against her heated, swollen flesh. He wiped her with gentle swipes before setting the rag aside.

After helping her to sit up, he set about unlacing her corset. In a matter of minutes he had the restrictive garment loose and off her small frame. Its absence left her with naught but a sheer chemise. Next, he gripped the hem of the fabric and raised it over her head fully exposing her. An attack of shyness seemed ridiculous, all things considered, but nonetheless she found she had to resist the urge to cover herself. It dawned on her she could count on one hand the number of times she had appeared fully naked in front of a man despite her profession.

“Beautiful.”

One word uttered with such reverence. Serena’s heart melted around the edges. She had been called beautiful more times than she could count, and by some of the most experienced men in London. But never, not once, had it been said with such heartfelt emotion. His sentiment more than she could take, a single tear slipped down her cheek leaving a cool, damp track. “Thank you for making me feel beautiful. Now come and make love to me.”

Brennan shed shirt and trousers to join her on the bed. He laid her back and kissed her with an unmatched thoroughness before tracking down over her breasts and across her belly. Still moving lower, he parted her thighs and looked at her pussy. Most men took from her, but this one was different.

He gave.

A single finger traced her labia, sketching over her skin in a chill-inducing sweep. Then he let it glide straight up her center and over her clit. The worshipfully erotic gesture caused her body to grow wetter and more demanding. As though he could read her mind, he slipped his desire-inducing finger into her body and worked it in and out in a gentle pumping, a wonderful sensation and yet not enough.

He added a second digit causing her to moan with need. Lightning shot through her body when he flicked her nub with his tongue. “Yes, Brennan.” She encouraged him until he used the flat of his tongue to full devastating effect. Her orgasm broke over her with the impression of shattering into a million pieces. Despite her certainty the flood of sensation was more than she could stand, somehow he knew she could take it. He replaced his fingers with his tongue as she came back together, merely to be overwhelmed again. She cried out and ground her hips against his mouth as he devoured her. His gentle licks and strokes eased her back down to earth, to him.

He rose up over her, his lips slick with her juices and kissed her, long and deep. The desire to take advantage of the moment and roll him over rocked her control. She wanted nothing more than to kiss her way down the hard planes of his chest and stomach and find the target of her interest. To take his cockhead into her mouth, swirl her tongue around it, and sink down his length until he moaned and buried his hands in her hair. Draw back then sink down again, allowing her lips to stretch around his girth and her throat to relax. Finally, he would grip her head in silent command and pump into her warmth.

Instead of allowing her to act on her desires, he leaned away. “I want to bury myself inside you again.” For a second time, she straddled him, but this time with far greater success. “Rise up and lower yourself on to me, love, like you’re riding a horse astride.” His gentle guidance sent a jolt of desire pulsing through her body.