Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
M AUDE WASN ’ T QUITE sure what she was doing. Somehow the conversation had got away from her and somehow her control had got away from her, too. Somehow he’d taken it and he’d done it simply by existing. By being close. By telling her she could stay at Darkfell, that he wouldn’t sell it after all, and without demanding anything in return.
Her honesty, that was what she’d given him apparently, and that was what he’d been happy with, or so he’d said.
Except she didn’t believe him. He’d told her that he was a businessman and that he exploited every weakness, and yet he hadn’t exploited hers. He could have used her love of the forest against her to get her to do anything he wanted, but he hadn’t.
She knew what he wanted though, and a part of her wanted him to admit it. To test whether she actually had the power she thought she did, power over him. He’d tried to distance her with words, but he hadn’t meant them, she knew that. Not when she could see the blatant heat in his eyes.
It was bold of her to strip naked before him, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t done before. He’d seen her by the pool and, in the forest that night, he’d run his hands over every inch of her. So she felt no embarrassment or shame, even though perhaps she should have felt both.
She only wanted to see if she was as powerful as she felt in this moment. Prove to herself, and maybe to him too, that the power she remembered from that night in the forest was still hers. The power of a primal goddess.
She needed it. Needed to know once and for all that she could unsettle him as badly as he unsettled her.
Desire flared in his dark gaze now, like embers of a banked fire igniting into life, and it made her heart race. The heat of his body burned through the cotton of his shirt and into her fingertips where they rested on his chest. He smelled so good, like all the wild places deep in the forest, where she could lose herself if she wanted...
‘You shouldn’t do this,’ he said softly.
‘Why not?’ She lifted her other hand and placed that on his chest too, testing the hard muscle she could feel beneath his clothes. ‘It’s nothing we haven’t done before.’
‘Sex will...complicate matters.’
‘Really? I thought you were an infamous playboy.’ She stepped even closer, the tips of her breasts grazing the cotton of his shirt. ‘You’re not supposed to care about sex complicating things.’
The fire in his eyes leapt higher and yet still he didn’t move. ‘Consider the last time we did this.’
‘I am considering it.’ She ran her fingertips down the front of his shirt, to the waistband of his trousers. ‘What’s the problem? It’s not as if I’m going to get pregnant again.’
The breath hissed in his throat as her fingertips dipped lower, over the hard length of him she could feel through the wool of his trousers.
‘I have never been a possessive man.’ His dark voice had roughened. ‘But I should warn you that I’m feeling very possessive now. I’m not sure you would appreciate me wanting to own you.’
He was doing it again, trying to put distance between them. Trying to frighten her, she thought. Sadly for him, she wasn’t easily frightened.
She looked up into his eyes as she let her fingers trace the outline of his hard shaft, watching the flames in his eyes leap even higher. ‘I think you’re afraid,’ she murmured. ‘Is it me you’re afraid of?’
He bared his teeth. ‘I didn’t say you could touch me, nymph.’
It wasn’t exactly an admission, but he’d betrayed himself all the same. He was afraid, though what of she didn’t know. Because as she’d already told him, he was an infamous playboy and sex was the one thing he shouldn’t be afraid of.
Maude dropped her hands and stepped back. ‘That’s fine. I don’t have to touch you.’ She turned. ‘I’ll get my—’
But she didn’t have a chance to finish. His fingers closed hard around her upper arms and he pulled her around to face him. ‘I didn’t say leave,’ he growled, then his mouth was on hers in a kiss so hot and hungry, she almost lost her mind.
Then again, perhaps she’d lost it already, because the moment his lips met hers, she was up on her toes, sliding her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his as she opened her mouth to him, letting him take anything and everything he wanted.
Heat exploded between them, a conflagration burning high.
His hands came down on her hips, gripping her, turning her so that the couch was nearby and then he took her down onto it, crushing her beneath him. He was a solid, hot wall of muscle and there were too many clothes between them. She clawed at his shirt, ripping it open, and he cursed, grabbing her hands and holding them away from him.
‘No,’ he said roughly, black eyes molten. ‘If you want this, then I’m in charge.’
She sucked in a breath, her heartbeat wild, her body trembling with need. It hadn’t been like this between them in the woods that night. No one had been in charge then, they’d both taken what they’d wanted and it had been so good. But then that night they hadn’t known each other, hadn’t known what would happen and nothing had existed then but the moment.
They couldn’t have that moment again. It was gone. And her god of the forest was now hidden behind the mask of Dominic Lancaster. A mask he seemed very set on keeping.
She wanted to ignore him, keep tearing at his clothes until she’d uncovered the man he was behind the mask, all raw heat and primal power, nothing but glorious essence, but there was iron in his black eyes. He wasn’t going to yield. If she wanted this, she was going to have to surrender to him.
It wasn’t a choice. She wanted him and if this was the only way he could give himself to her, then she’d take it.
So she nodded, the resistance bleeding out of her.
He shifted, rising up to his knees. With calm, deliberate movements, his black gaze not leaving hers, he undid his tie, pulled it off then leaned forward, looping it around her wrists and pulling it tight. Then he lifted her hands and took them up and over her head, pressing them back down onto the couch cushions.
She took a gasping breath as she lay there, looking up into black eyes full of flames. He stretched himself over her, his big, long body all muscled power and heat, and, really, she should have been frightened by how helpless she was. He could hurt her, he could do anything he wanted with her, and she could do nothing to stop him.
Except she wasn’t afraid and she didn’t feel helpless. He wanted her, his desire bright in his eyes, and that was where her power lay. In surrendering to him, in giving him her trust.
A strange thing to think about a man she didn’t really know. Then again, it wasn’t Dominic Lancaster she was surrendering to, but the man he was beneath that. The man she’d met in the forest that night.
That man hadn’t hurt her, hadn’t done anything she hadn’t wanted. That man had given her everything she’d demanded and then had demanded the same of her. There had been nothing between them that night, nothing held back, nothing hidden. Trust given and pleasure received.
He still hadn’t moved, searching her face. ‘What are you thinking about? Are you afraid?’
‘No,’ she said truthfully.
‘Why not? Some women would be.’
‘They might, but...I trust you.’
His body tensed, something moving in his eyes, gone too fast for her to read. ‘And why would you do that?’
‘That night in the forest. We were strangers and yet there was trust between us. And you gave me no reason to regret it.’
His black gaze was pinned to hers. ‘But we’re not in the forest now.’
‘I know, but I think you’re still the same man.’ She shifted beneath him, watching the flames in his eyes leap again. ‘You don’t need to hide him. Not from me.’
He stared at her silently, his gaze boring into hers and he didn’t move. Not even when she lifted her bound hands and looped them around his neck. Not even when she pulled him down and kissed his beautiful mouth, giving him everything the way she had that night, holding nothing back.
Perhaps it was then that the mask of Dominic Lancaster slipped, because he made a sound deep in his throat, and abruptly his tongue was in her mouth, exploring, tasting, devouring, his hand between her thighs, stroking, exploring.
She gasped as his fingers slid over her slick flesh, teasing her as his mouth ravaged hers. There was no finesse to it, no art, but she didn’t care. They hadn’t had any the last time in the forest and they didn’t have it now. But she didn’t need it. She needed only him.
He paused long enough to open his trousers and then he was down on her again, holding her hips down on the couch cushions as he pushed into her in one deep, hard surge.
She groaned, wrapping her legs around his waist, her hands gripping hard to his shoulders, nails digging into the fabric of the jacket he still wore. He slid a hand beneath her rear, tilting her, sliding deeper and she made another sound, pleasure spreading through her like a wild, dark fire.
He didn’t speak and neither did she. It was as if they couldn’t talk again until this chemistry or need or whatever it was had burned itself out. She could only gasp as he rocked deeper and harder, her legs tight around him as the pleasure climbed higher and higher.
He kissed her neck and she felt the sharp edge of his teeth against her skin. It made her shudder. Made her remember that night again, and how they’d connected. At a base level, at essence, the both of them animals in the dark, their civilised skins left far behind.
She wanted that again so she turned her head to find his mouth, kissing back hungrily and hard, and then he was moving faster, and the pleasure was tightening, the net it had caught her in constricting around her. She didn’t want it to end so soon, and yet she wasn’t going to be able to last, she knew it.
His hand was down between them again, giving her that last bit of friction, and then the ecstasy caught her, dark and hot, and relentless as the tide.
Maude cried out as it hit, shaking and shaking, feeling his movements get wilder and almost out of rhythm until he lowered his head and buried his face in her neck, a groan of release escaping him, too.
Dominic lay there, knowing he was likely crushing her, yet utterly unable to move. It had been a long time since an orgasm had stunned him like that, if one ever had. But no, that night in the forest he’d been stunned, he remembered. Apparently being stunned was a theme with Maude.
Aftershocks of pleasure pulsed through him, the sweet, musky scent of sex and her filling his senses.
He hadn’t meant to break like that so completely and maybe he should have been worried about how easily he had, but with the most blissful post-orgasmic sense of satiation filling him, he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care.
He’d thought binding her hands would give him some control over the chemistry that had burned white-hot between them, at least until she’d told him that she trusted him. And then proved it.
It had been a gift, that trust. It had reminded him of that night with her, where they hadn’t needed anything but each other. No rules, no barriers, and no reason not to give each other everything.
There had been such simplicity in that, and he’d realised as he’d looked down into her eyes that he wanted that simplicity again.
And she’d given it to him with no deals, no quid pro quo. She’d offered him pleasure, given him all her passion, holding nothing back, and, yes, it had been simple.
But he could feel the hard swell of her stomach between them, where his child lay, and that made this whole situation anything but simple.
He shifted off her, gathering her in close so that they were lying on the couch with her half on him, and then glanced down at the rounded curve of her belly. She said nothing, her eyes still half closed.
Feeling oddly hesitant, he reached down to trace that curve, touch where his child lay. It was a strange feeling to know that between them they’d created this little life, who now lay still, waiting to be born. Then, as he was wondering that, another feeling swept over him, the knowledge, sure and deep, that he would do anything to protect that little life. Anything at all, even give up his own.
He’d always been a selfish man. His father had taught him that selfishness was the only way to get ahead, and that was a quality Dominic had had to cultivate if he’d wanted to be the heir Jacob had wanted him to be.
It had never been something he’d questioned... Until now.
His child was more important, he understood. More important than anything else in the entire world, and certainly more important than he was.
Did your father ever feel this way about you?
The thought crept through his head before he could stop it. And of course, he already knew the answer. No, Jacob hadn’t felt that way about Dominic. Because if he had, he’d never have made Dominic’s life such a misery.
Maude shifted and put her hand over his, moving it slightly, and to his utter amazement he felt something flutter against his palm. He looked at her in shock. ‘Is that...?’
Her lovely mouth curved in the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. ‘Yes. I felt him kick for the first time a couple of days ago.’
Instantly Dominic sat up, cold all over. ‘I was lying on you. I could have hurt—’
‘No,’ Maude interrupted. ‘You didn’t hurt him.’
‘Him,’ Dominic heard himself repeat stupidly.
She nodded. ‘I had a scan last week. I wanted to know the gender. I...was going to ask you if you wanted to know, but...’
He. Dominic was going to have a son.
Yet another feeling washed over him, colder this time and full of doubt. This baby was getting more real by the moment and he hadn’t once thought about what kind of father he’d be. The baby had been only a thought, an abstract, but now...
It hit him then, like a thunderbolt straight from heaven, the certainty that he would never be the kind of father his own had been. His son would not be left alone, his son would not be handed an itemised account of the cost of his upbringing. Like Jacob, Dominic had never wanted children, but unlike Jacob, he would embrace being a father. He would give his child everything he’d never had growing up, attention, protection, tenderness and care.
This would be the purpose of his life now, because this was the thing he’d been looking for, the next challenge to throw himself into, and he would not fail. He couldn’t.
‘I’m sorry,’ Maude said.
Dominic looked at her, for a second not processing what she’d said, his head too full of the epiphany he’d just had. ‘For what?’
‘For not telling you that we were having a boy.’
He blinked, her face suddenly leaping into focus. Delicate features, tawny gold brows, warm honey-golden skin, dark gold hair in soft waves around her face. His nymph.
Your child. Your woman.
The power of the thunderbolt was resonating inside him, spreading out from the baby, spreading wider, becoming possessive and intense. Part of him wanted to deny it, because he never felt that strongly about anything and never wanted to, except it was there in his heart, as relentless and inevitable as the tide.
This woman and the child she carried were his now, and it was time for him to claim both of them.
Maude was looking at him with some concern. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, sitting up slowly, her hair falling around her shoulders.
She was astonishingly lovely, naked like this, with the beautiful swell of her stomach beneath her full breasts, and his breath caught.
She was why he’d been so restless and tense. She was why he didn’t want any other woman. Which made her the answer to the problem.
If he wanted any peace at all, he needed to be sleeping with her. No longer resisting her, but indulging himself fully and to the utmost, and with no one else but her.
It felt foreign to think that, to limit himself that way, yet, instead of feeling constrained, he suddenly felt as if he’d been given a freedom of sorts. As if it had been the resistance that had constrained him rather than the other way around.
‘I’m fine.’ His voice sounded rough even to his own ears. ‘But I have decided something.’
Her gaze flickered and he could see the apprehension in it. She thought he was going to demand again her presence in London, that was obvious. Well, she was wrong. He’d already made that demand and she’d protested, digging in when he’d threatened, and he didn’t want to make that mistake again.
Demanding things from her didn’t feel right, not after what she’d given him just now on the couch, the gift of her trust. And it was a gift. She’d given him the same that night in the woods back then, but he hadn’t realised its value until now. And now he knew...well. He wasn’t going to throw that away.
‘I understand why you don’t want to come to London,’ he said. ‘In which case, I’ll come here.’
Her eyes widened. ‘What?’
‘I’m tired of London. I’d rather be here where I can keep an eye on the baby, and where I can have you.’
A flush crept through her cheeks. ‘Have me?’
He held her gaze steadily. ‘I’ve been thinking about you for months, nymph. Thinking about that night. I tried to put it out of my head when I woke up and found you gone, because I thought I wouldn’t see you again. Then there you were, swimming in the forest pool, and I knew it was you instantly.’ He paused, letting her see that he was telling the truth. ‘I haven’t had a woman since you and I find I don’t want one. The only woman I want at the moment is you.’
A shocked expression rippled over her face. ‘But...why?’
‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever met, and perhaps it’s only physical chemistry, but... What I do know is that it’s been impossible for me to think of anyone else.’
Her lashes lowered abruptly, veiling her gaze, but she didn’t move. ‘So...what are you thinking?’
‘No, don’t do that,’ he ordered softly. ‘Look at me.’
Her lashes lifted and she met his gaze, apprehension in it.
‘You don’t want me here?’ he asked bluntly. ‘Because if so, that might be too bad since I own this house and the grounds.’
‘It’s not that.’ Her chin firmed in that stubborn way he was beginning to recognise. ‘I’m not your girlfriend or your wife, and I don’t want to be either of those things. And I won’t be your...’ she made a gesture with her hand ‘...brood mare that services you whenever you’re in the mood, either.’
Strangely, now he’d made a decision, the restless tension that had been gripping him receded. Perhaps it was merely the aftermath of his rather stupendous orgasm, but he felt lazy and sated, and the sight of her pretty golden eyes sparking with temper amused him rather than annoyed him.
‘A brood mare,’ he said slowly as if tasting the words. ‘Yes, you’d look very pretty with a halter on, in a stall. Though I think you’d bite so maybe you should have a muzzle.’
She scowled. ‘I wasn’t joking.’
He let his amusement go. ‘I know. So how about this? I will live in the manor and you live in the cottage. We will have our own lives. But at night...I could sleep with you or you could sleep with me, I don’t mind which.’
She sniffed. ‘You’re assuming I’m going to want to sleep with you.’
Dominic moved his hand slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away, sliding his palm beneath one round breast and cupping it gently. ‘You don’t want to sleep with me?’ he asked casually, stroking his thumb back and forth over her nipple in a lazy movement. ‘Because of course, if you don’t want to, I won’t make you.’
She swallowed, her eyelashes falling again, a soft breath escaping her. ‘I... I...might not want you.’
‘You might not?’ Very gently he pinched the tip of her nipple, making her gasp and shudder. ‘You’d better be clear about this. I wouldn’t want to make any mistakes.’
She’d begun to press herself into his palm, arching her back slightly. ‘I mean...there might be times when...I don’t want you at all...’
‘Of course,’ he murmured. ‘In which case I’ll respect your wishes. But you’re a passionate creature and I think those times will be few and far between.’ He bent and gently circled her nipple with his tongue, before drawing back and blowing gently on it, making her shiver all over. ‘Don’t you?’
She gave him a frustrated look from underneath her lashes. ‘You’re manipulating me.’
‘Yes,’ he said, unrepentant because he was getting hard again and all he could think about was being inside her. ‘But all you need to do is say no and I’ll stop.’ He took his hand away. ‘Shall I stop?’
Her chin jutted as she glowered at him. ‘Did I say stop?’
She looked adorable just then, pink with arousal, golden eyes glittering with desire and frustration, and he couldn’t help but take her hand and guide it down to the front of his trousers. ‘Just remember that manipulation can go both ways,’ he murmured. ‘And what works on you, also works on me.’
Her expression changed, becoming thoughtful, and he couldn’t stop the heated rush of anticipation that flooded through him in response.
You want her to have that power over you?
Not exactly. But he wasn’t averse to it either. She had no guile, this woman. She wasn’t going to use it against him, not the way he would. And it was odd to think that even as she’d given him her trust, he was giving her his.
‘Try it,’ he invited. ‘Try it on me and see what happens.’
She didn’t need to be asked twice and soon proved his point, much to their mutual satisfaction.