The Runaway Countess (16 page)

Jane was completely bewildered by this whole conversation, one she would never have imagined having with this particular woman before. ‘Yes, of course.’

‘Keep your pretty sister away from Ethan Carstairs,’ Lady Marlbury said. ‘Unlike Hayden, who only pretends to be a careless rake out only for himself, Carstairs is the real thing. And there are rumours floating around town that he will soon be disinherited by his uncle into the bargain.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Jane said, surprised Lady Marlbury would even have noticed Emma, let alone Carstairs’s questionable attentions to her. ‘He will be gone as soon as I can manage it.’

‘Good.’ Lady Marlbury left, closing the door softly behind her.

As Jane rose from the side of the bed, she saw Hayden’s rumpled cravat hanging loose around his neck and had a sudden idea. She
wanted him to tell her Why he did this, why he slid back to his old ways when everything at Barton was going so well. Why he had to make her so angry, so confused.

She slid the cravat from around his neck and went to dig out another one from his valise. He mumbled in his sleep and Jane straddled him on the bed, holding his arms down with her legs. She took one hand, then the other, and bound them as tightly as she could to the bedposts as he twisted restlessly.

The effort made her tired. Even drunk and asleep he was strong. She laid down beside her husband’s bound body and closed her eyes, listening to his breath turn even and deep. Slowly, darkness drifted over her and she fell down into sleep. As consciousness slipped away, she smiled and thought that if only he was awake they might have had some fun, as they once did in their marriage bed…

‘Jane. Untie me. Now.’

‘What…?’ Jane pulled herself up out of sleep at the sound of Hayden’s voice. She’d been dreaming about him, vague, silvery images of him holding her in his arms, whispering
to her. Now she rolled on to her side to find that he was awake and still with her, his eyes open and bright blue, free of the vagueness of drink. But his hands were still tied.

She smiled and sat up slowly to swing one of her legs over his hips so she straddled him again. She couldn’t help it; suddenly she was feeling mischievous. ‘I’m so sorry, Hayden, but I had to tie you. You were drunk and thrashing around too much with your nightmares.’

‘I’m awake now,’ he argued, watching her with narrowed eyes.

‘Are you? I’m not quite sure…’ Jane slowly leaned over to kiss the side of his neck. She parted her lips and savoured the sweet-salty taste of him, the way his breath turned harsh at her touch.

His body grew tense under hers. ‘Untie me,’ he demanded. ‘Now.’

She laughed and reached up to loosen the cords around his wrists. ‘Are you sure you want me to let you go just yet? There’s so much else we could do. Don’t you remember, when we were first married…?’

Before she could say anything else, he
rose to meet her and his mouth swooped down over hers. Open, hot, hungry, as if he wanted to devour her, just as it had once been between them. The thought flickered through her mind that he must be still dreaming, but as always when she was with him, it awakened something deep inside of her, that flame of longing and pure need. When he kissed her, he swept her away on a river of fire, swept her away to her true self, and she moaned.

Jane opened her lips to his and drew her tongue over his. His taste filled her, brandy and darkness, and she moaned.

As they kissed, deeper, hungrier, their tongues entwining, she laid her hands flat on his hard shoulders and felt the damp heat of his skin. He groaned deep in his throat, and his passion made her feel bold. She slid her caress lower, so slowly, savouring the delicious way his nearly naked body felt against hers. So strong, so hard, so hot.
This
was what she craved, what she needed. It made her feel alive again at last. Alive as she had only ever been with him.

She traced her fingertips over his flat nipples
and felt them pebble under her touch. She scraped the edge of her thumbnail over one and he growled low in his throat. She pressed slightly harder, hard enough to give just the slightest edge of pain. His body shuddered, but he went on kissing her as if he was starved for the taste of her.

Jane slid her touch even lower, feeling every inch of his taut, damp chest, his bare skin. He felt like hot satin stretched over iron muscles and the light whorls of hair tickled her palms. She dipped the tip of her smallest finger into his navel before she moved even lower to the band of his trousers.

And suddenly she felt her newfound boldness, the temptress inside her, flee as his rock-hard erection brushed against her hand. She drew away.

‘Jane, Jane—don’t stop now,’ he whispered darkly.

Jane smiled. Whatever else was between them, they still desired each other. Surely that was something. ‘Do you like this?’ She moved her hand lower and lower, a slow slide until she covered the hard ridge behind the
wool fabric. She slid her fingers down in a soft caress until he groaned.

‘Jane,’ he whispered darkly. Suddenly he freed himself from the cords around his wrists and pulled her chemise over her head, tearing her hand away from him. She knelt on the bed in front him, her body naked for a man as it hadn’t been in so long. Not since the last time they were together, before she lost the babies. A wave of sudden cold shyness swept over her as she remembered how she looked different now, thinner, paler.

When he just looked at her with those beautiful blue eyes, silent, she tried to turn away and reach for her discarded chemise. But his hands were already on her again and he spun her back into his arms.

‘So beautiful, Jane,’ he said roughly as his head lowered to her breast. ‘You were always so damnably beautiful.’

Jane smiled. Yes—when he looked at her and touched her like this, that strange shyness fled, and she felt beautiful again, in a way she hadn’t in so long. Desirable. Wanted, and not in that way she had felt her beauty used in gaming rooms, as a commodity, a
distraction. Truly beautiful. As his mouth closed hard on her nipple, drawing her in deep, her head fell back and her eyes closed. She felt the braid of her hair fall down her back and the heat of his lips on her aching breast. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. Her whole body, which had felt so frozen and numb, roared back to burning life again.

He covered her breast with his palm, his fingers spread wide to caress her. One fingertip brushed over her engorged nipple and a cry burst from her lips. She felt him smile against her, just before his teeth bit down lightly.

She reached desperately between their bodies to unfasten his trousers and push them down over his lean hips. His hard cock sprang free against her abdomen and as she held it naked in her hand at last he groaned. His teeth tightened on her nipple before he arched his head back to stare up at her.

Jane looked down into his eyes and saw that they were burning and dark, the blue almost swallowed in black lust. She bent to kiss the side of his neck, to bite at him as he
had with her. He tasted salty and sweet, intoxicating.

As she kissed him, she ran her open palm up his penis to its swollen tip. Hayden’s hands suddenly tightened on her backside, his fingers digging into the soft skin as he dragged her even closer. Her hand dropped away from him and He slowly pressed the tip of his manhood against the soft nest of damp curls between her thighs. He moved up and down, lightly teasing her.

‘Hayden,’ she whispered against his neck.

‘So sweet,’ he answered, in a voice so deep she didn’t recognise it. He pulled her flush against his hips and then suddenly they tumbled back together to the bed. He came down on top of her, his hips between her spread legs, his lips taking hers in another wild, desperate kiss.

Jane wrapped her legs around his waist and arched up into him. He was so large, so strong and completely overwhelming. She felt surrounded completely by his heat and power. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She tore her lips from his kiss and tilted her head back to try to gulp in a breath, to try
to find a particle of sanity. Her hands dug into his shoulders as if she would push him away—or cling to him.

Hayden seemed to sense something was wrong. His hands slid around her waist, and in one swift movement he lay on his back with her on top of him. She straddled him, her legs tight to either side of his lean hips. He stared up at her with an almost feral gleam in those extraordinary eyes, as if he was so hungry he would devour her. Yet he made no move; his body was taut and still with perfect restraint.

Jane braced her hands on his chest, letting him support her. She slid them down, a slow, hard glide over his warm skin. He felt so tense under her caress, as if he was waiting for what she wanted to do. It made her want him even more when she saw he would give her control like that.

She reached up and released the tie on the end of her braid to shake her hair free as she smiled down at him. A muscle tightened in his jaw, but his stare never wavered from her face. She took his hands and moved them from her waist to hold them to the mattress.
She leaned down and laid her open mouth on his naked chest. His hands jerked, but he didn’t push her away.

She tasted him with the tip of her tongue, swirling it lightly over his flat, brown nipple. It hardened under her kiss and she felt him draw in a sharp breath of air. She nipped her teeth over him.

Surely she would always remember this, no matter what came tomorrow. It was like a dream, a lustful fantasy before she had to go back to her real life. His taste, his smell, the way his body felt as it slid against hers—she would remember it all. This had always been so right between them.

She licked at the indentation along his hip, that enticing masculine line of muscle that dipped towards his erection. She breathed softly over the base of his penis, touched him once with her tongue and sat upright atop him again.

‘Jane,’ he groaned. ‘How do you do this to me?’

‘What do I do to you?’ Jane closed her eyes and laid her hand lightly between her bare breasts. Slowly, very slowly, she traced
her touch down her own body, over her abdomen, until her fingers lay over the place that was so wet for him she ached with it. She slid one fingertip downwards and then his perfect stillness shattered.

‘Blast it, Jane!’ he shouted. Her eyes flew open as his hands closed hard around her hips. He pulled her body up along his until his mouth closed over her womanhood just where her hand had been. She knelt over his face as his tongue plunged deep into her.

Jane cried out and grabbed on to the scarred wood of the bed as his mouth claimed every intimate part of her. His fingers dug into her buttocks as he kissed her, licked her, tasted her so skilfully. She was no longer the one in control, but she didn’t even care. She only wanted his mouth on her, his touch.

His tongue flicked at that tiny spot high inside of her and she moaned. One of his hands let go of her and he drove one long finger into her as he kept licking. He moved it slowly in and out, pressing, sliding, until she cried out his name over and over.

‘Oh, Hayden,’ she moaned. ‘How do you do this to me?’

‘Just let go,’ he whispered against her. ‘Let go for me…’

Another finger slid into her and she felt the pressure building up low in her abdomen. He had done this to her in that warm, dusty hut, too—it didn’t seem to matter where they were, who they were, only that they were a man and a woman drawn together by a deep need. That heat built and built, expanding inside her like a fire out of control. Her whole body seemed to soar upwards. Hayden’s tongue pressed harder as his fingers curled inside her and she shattered completely. She screamed out loud and clutched at the bed to keep from falling.

But he wasn’t done. He lifted her off of him and pushed himself up to sit against the bedpost. He drew her body down until she straddled his hips again and was spread open over him.

‘Ride me, Jane,’ he commanded.

She could hardly focus through her pleasure-dazed mind. She stared down at him as she held on to his sweat-slick shoulders. His eyes were still dark with lust. It made her want him, need him, all over again.

She raised herself slightly until she felt his tip nudge at her opening, then she held on to him tightly as she slid down. Lower, lower, until he was completely inside of her. His head fell back as his hands closed hard on her waist.

‘Jane,’ he groaned. ‘You’re so perfect. I can’t…’

She raised up again and sank back down, over and over, faster, until she found her rhythm. His hips arched up to meet hers and they moved together, harder, faster. Until she felt her climax building all over again.

She leaned back and braced her hands on his thighs as he thrust up into her. She closed her eyes and saw whirling, fiery stars in the darkness, exploding around her in showers of green and white as She cried out his name. He shouted out a flood of incoherent curses as his whole body went rigid. She felt him go still deep inside her as he let go and soared free with her.

Jane sobbed and let herself fall to the bed. Her legs were too weak to hold her up any longer. She trembled as she let the bone-deep exhaustion claim her. The ceiling above her
spun around and around as she tried to catch her breath, to make sense of what madness had just happened.

Beside her, Hayden had collapsed on the pillows. They didn’t touch, but she could feel the heat of his body close to hers. His breath sounded rough and uneven, and suddenly she remembered the injuries that had brought him to her door in the first place. She sat up to frantically examine him, worry replacing the languor of sexual pleasure. Had she hurt him? What craziness had come over them to do something like that?

But he looked well enough. His leg was still bandaged in clean white linen and the cloth wasn’t spotted with blood. His eyes were closed, his hair falling in damp waves over his brow. She gently brushed it back and he caught her hand in his to kiss her palm. Jane felt a sudden wave of unwanted tenderness wash over her. Tenderness—for her husband of all people! After he got drunk with his friends again! Her head was spinning, as if The reality of what had happened could hardly sink in. She had never felt quite that way before. The heat of sex and need was all
tangled up with the past and she didn’t know what would happen next.