Secret Pleasures (15 page)

“She really took to the ewe milk
.
I’ll get some more
at
first light.
”
Darien paused over the sleeping Melody
.

“I shall need you to help me undress. I don’t have a maid and I can’t unlace the dress without one.
”
She showed him her back and her feeble attempt to attack the lacings herself
.
The move might have been more seductive if she did not still have on her creased traveling gown, ripe with sweat and sour milk
. 

“Of course.
”
Darien’s husky voice warned her that he hadn’t noticed anything but being asked to help her undress.

She kept her back to Darien, hoping what she felt she must say would be easier
.
The intimacy of their shared efforts to make his rustic cottage semi-livable seemed more dangerous than silk sheets and champagne.

“So this appears to be the only bed?
”
She allowed an inviting purr to creep into her voice
.
This was Darien, after all.

“I had it made for us
.
I intended to surprise you with it on our wedding night.”

“What
?
My God, Darien
.
And you kept it!
”
She turned abruptly, clutching the gown he had recently unlaced to keep it from falling to the ground
. 
Good Lord, seduction could never be simple and uncomplicated with Darien
.
“Do you still love me?”

She blurted the question she had been too fearful to know the answer to before she could stop herself
.
Though she had meant to be more delicate, Darien of all people would appreciate her brutal candor
.
Unfortunately, she was not sure if she was ready for his.

Instead of revealing what was in his heart, he turned and strode to the door
.
“It won’t be the first time I’ve slept on the kitchen floor
.
It used to be the only dry place in the house before I fixed the roof.”

“I want you, Darien
.
For all the reasons I shouldn’t.
”
Ivy should let him go for both their sanity, but she couldn’t.

“I’m just glad that you want me.
”
He stopped at the door and slowly turned, half-grinned, half-leered
.
“I don’t care why.”

Ivy laughed a bit hysterically, but sobered instantly
. 
She forced all her sincerity into her gaze, allowing him to read in her eyes what she didn’t understand herself
.
“Do you still love me?”

“Yes,” he paused
.
“And no.
”
He
walked back to her, then
brushed her cheek as if he intended to comfort her, which was not what Ivy had expected at all
.
She lowered her gaze slightly taken aback by the tightness in her throat
.

“I’m not the same man I once was.
”
He slid his hand around to the back of her neck and kissed her gently on the jaw.

“Nor am I the same woman,” she said more stiffly than she intended
.
“But I’m sure you’ll never be able to forget that.”

He loosened the dress from her hands
.
The gown formed a cotton pool at their feet
. 
Darien wrapped an arm firmly around her lower back and guided her against his chest in a full-bodied hug that seared past her remaining corset and petticoats
.
Ivy slipped her arms around his waist
.
He removed his coat and she could feel the strong muscles of his back through the thin cotton
.
His heart thudded and her nipples hardened with each beat
.
And he hadn’t even properly kissed her yet.

“You are even better than I once imagined,” he said huskily into her hair
.
His erection grew against her hip, and she could not resist slipping her hands lower but stopped herself before she grabbed his muscular flanks
.
Instead, she balled her hands in his shirt and yanked him more tightly against her
.
She wiggled her hips against his, then turned her face to his, ready to be ravaged
.
Suddenly,
their
emotional bondage seemed to matter little compared to the immediate need of her body.

“I have been waiting ten years for this
.
I don’t intend to wait much longer.
”
He stared at her mouth but still didn’t kiss her.

Every time he mentioned their shared history, Ivy could not stop the shock of a loss she had never come to accept
.
She touched his face
with her fingertips
, his full lower lip.

“Darien, we cannot carry on exactly where we left off.
”

“It won’t be the same.
”
He grabbed her wrist, pressed his mouth against the tender center of her palm
.
“But having you even for a night is proving so much more enjoyable than the ghost of what was
.
I know the difference, Ivy, if that’s what concerns you.”

She nodded
.
But did she know the difference between what they were and what they could still enjoy in the present
?
For this one night, she didn’t really want to contemplate all she had lost with her first and only love.

But then he cupped her bottom with both hands, lifting her slightly off her toes
. 
His warm fingers seared through her sheer summer underclothes, forcing her to cling to him
.
He maneuvered her against his hard cock and covered her mouth with his
.
His tongue entwined roughly with hers and a husky moan escaped from the back of his throat
.
The pure hunger in his kiss made Ivy’s knees weaken.

Darien abruptly broke the kiss, setting her on her heels, a respectable distance away
.

“Not so fast, Miss Templeton,” he said
,
out of breath. He lightly gripped her fingers as if he were leading her onto the dance floor
.
“Let’s see what you have under all that cotton and whale bone first, shall we?”

He guided her out of the
puddle
of her crumpled gown
on the floor, then
twirled her while managing to free the ties of her petticoat
.
The garment dropped to the floor and she turned to face him
.

“Impressive.
”
Holding his gaze, Ivy sauntered toward him
.
He tugged his shirt from his breeches and pulled it over his head
.
When she casually reached to help him with the buttons at his waistband, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

“Don’t,” he said with unmistakable anger in his voice.

She straightened and blinked
.
“Don’t what?”

He stared down at her, his gaze hungry, his nostrils flared
.
He had not changed his mind about wanting her, that was for certain.

“You don’t have to seduce me.
”
He slowly let go of her wrist as if he hadn’t intended to do such a thing in the first place
.
“I’m sorry
,
but I don’t expect you to ply me with your talents. You are not on retainer.”

“I never thought I was.
”
She turned away, not only hurt by his words
,
but the truth in them
.
She reminded herself that h
is father was indeed paying her to be with Darien
.
“Perhaps this is a bad idea.”

He came up behind her, brushed her hair aside and
pressed his lips to
the back of her neck
.
The kisses he trailed across her shoulder melted her false show of resistance
.
He smoothed his rough hands down her arms and
then
found the lacing of her corset.

“I want to seduce you
.
And perhaps I fear I’m just a wee bit over my head.
”
A playful brogue slipped into his words
.
He could speak the King’s English better than she
.
Nor was he a simple country fool, no matter how much he
seemed to like
playing
the part.

She kept her back to him, fearing her hesitation would show on her face
.
What in God’s Name was she doing
?
He would never forget her betrayal
.
Ivy feared their purely carnal mating would leave her hollow in the morning, tarnishing the memory of what had been
.

He efficiently removed her corset then slid his hands around her waist,
then cupped
the fullness of her breasts with both hands
.
Ivy leaned against him hoping he wouldn’t notice how she trembled
.
He must not know her at all if he thought she was apt at playing
the
role of seductress, especially with him
.
He kneaded her
breasts
and her traitorous body ached with need, despite her lingering reservations
.
She grew wet and bit her lip to keep from moaning
.
H
is fingers
brushed her nipples
,
but
only
teased with light caresses.

“Am I supposed to act like the timid virgin?
”
Her heavy breaths pressed her breasts more fully against his light touch
.
Each inhale sent erotic jolts down to her tightening sex
.

“I don’t want you to act like anything at all.”

He snuggled more intimately behind her and she could feel the heat of his erection against her backside
.
He slid his hand over her stomach and cupped her mound, pushing the hard ridge of his palm against her clitoris, massaging her in rhythmic circles
.
He did not discover that slick transition herding sheep on a lonely Devon moor.

Ivy melted against him. She arched her back slightly and rubbed against the hard ridge nestled against her bottom.

“I never stopped craving you, Darien.
”
She pressed her hand over his and guided his long fingers in between her thighs, her heat apparent
.
She could feel the cloth growing damp.

“Show me what you like.
”
He nibbled on her ear.

With her hand on top of his, she guided his long finger to touch her wet heat, penetrate her swollen lips
.
She
leaned
her head on his shoulders, springing to her toes to help him move in and out with testing thrusts
.
Her inner muscles tensed to grasp his shallow strokes.

Ivy had always imagined Darien’s amorous experimentation over the years had been less than her own
.
When with t
he duke
, he
had always done everything in a rational, intellectual way
.
There wasn’t a noted book on the art of sexual pleasure Ivy had not read, and few experiences she had not tried
.
Darien had always been blatantly sexual
, the way she remembered,
but too loyal
to have trifled with many women
.
If he had a woman of his own over these years, he’d no doubt have married her
.

Ivy warned her mind not to think and just allow this to
…
Then
Darien touched a
sensitive
spot on the front of her pelvis
that
even Ivy had trouble finding
,
and she exploded around
his
finger
s
in a thousand convulsions
.
She gasped against the intense pleasure, only just swallowing a harsh cry of release
.
Darien held her while she trembled and slowly returned to her tingling sense
s
.
He eased his grip from around her waist and drew his wet fingers from her body, setting her on her feet
.
As she recovered from her shocking and unexpected undoing, he at least had the good grace to
wait,
breath
ing
heavily against her neck.