Chapter Five #2
But why? Was she afraid of him? The act of coupling?
It made for deeper curiosity that he didn’t have time for; what he wanted in this moment was her, wanted to drive into her lush body and lose himself.
“I don’t need your consent, Evvie.” He made sure to utter the nickname clearly.
“Your actions in the library as well as the carriage ride here gave me that and more.”
“I rather think that’s threadbare evidence.” Though her fingers curled into the lapel of his tailcoat, still she held him off.
One of his eyebrows rose in inquiry. “Do you have a man in your life who is your protector, then?” Had she not disclosed that fact?
Was it the damned Jackal? “Do you have a son?” When sadness flickered in her eyes, he couldn’t help but wonder about her anew.
“Who will come to your rescue rather than see you engaged to the likes of me?”
God, why wasn’t he considered a prize instead of an object of pity? Was it his looks society couldn’t stand or the man that he was?
“No.” She shook her head.
He frowned. To which question was she answering—the spoken or the silent? Then he shook his head. “No caring sibling, no friend of your husband’s who would defend your honor and sensibilities?”
As if he would allow that.
“What?” Evangline frowned. Confusion continued to hold her captive. “My husband’s best friend has come ‘round a few times since he died to visit with me.”
The fucking Jackal. “Does he wish to be your second husband?” Why the hell was there an insistent stabbing through his chest? He had no claim on her, no right to her time.
Unless it furthered his own ends.
“I wouldn’t know. That was never discussed between us, though my brother does wish for me to wed again. No doubt to cover his many vowels. Our older brother holds the title of earl, and he has essentially cut James off financially.”
“Ah.” When he glanced his knuckles over one of her pebbled nipples, a tiny whimper escaped her.
She was his. He’d rather die than let his enemy have her.
“Make certain you inform your brother of our engagement in the event he wishes to offer congratulations or a protest.” Then he grinned.
“I won’t have him bringing in a challenger, but I will fight if necessary. ”
For long moments, Evangeline gawked at him. Annoyance flashed through her expression. “God, you are quite the bastard, aren’t you?” When she attempted to tug up her bodice, he caught her hand.
“Hardly.” Damn, but her spirit buoyed his own.
“My bloodlines, unfortunately, are pure and sterling, which is why I’m a damned duke.
” Seconds later, he closed the gap between them, cupped her cheek and forced her head back as he peered into her eyes.
“And I grow weary of being relegated to the background because I have failed in all the reasons that matter according to society and the fucking government.”
Done with talking, Michael lowered his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Suckling hard on it, he rolled the other with the fingers of his good hand, and kept on until she uttered both moans and a soft protest.
There was something about this woman he couldn’t deny, and it went beyond keeping her close to get at the Jackal. Where would the engagement take them? He couldn’t answer that question in this moment. Perhaps after he fucked her he’d have a clear head and could think again.
As her breathing grew labored and she dug the fingers of one hand into his shoulder, she shook her head. “Stop, Your Grace. This isn’t going to help us come to an understanding.”
“Perhaps, but it will relieve tension.” And help him to remember why the devil he was doing this to begin with.
Remembering what she’d felt like and sounded like in the carriage, he shoved up the hem of her rumpled skirting to delve his hand between her splayed thighs. “I want to hear you scream this time.”
“Ha.” She snorted. “I don’t believe I’ll give you that satisfaction. You’re just like all the other men I’ve known—arrogant, selfish, and think the world belongs to you.”
“I have never been like anyone else for at least twenty years.” It aggravated him that she thought so.
When she shook her head, he uttered a low growl.
“Then I’ll need to show you.” Easily, he found the nubbin at her center, rubbed the pads of his fingers over it as he’d done in the carriage earlier.
“Oh, God.” A shiver racked her body. “Please stop, Darkemore.”
Suddenly, he wanted to hear her say his given name. “Michael.”
“What?”
“Refer to me as Michael when we’re alone, damn it.
” Needing more of an anchor for her, he removed his arm from the sling, held her shoulder even as his muscles protested with so much pain.
“I want to hear you say my name.” Over and over and over, he worried that slippery button while she made half-stifled sounds of pleasure. “Say it, Evangeline!”
She’d thrown back her head with her eyes nearly closed. “No.”
Oh, the woman would prove trouble, but if she was stubborn, he was even more so.
Renewing his efforts to make her fly, Michael circled that tiny piece of flesh, strummed his fingertips over it, found a rhythm she particularly enjoyed.
When she bucked against his hand, he knew he was close, knew she was close.
Her panting breath warmed his chin, then her body went taut.
Before she could utter a sound, he claimed her mouth, but she wrenched her head away, and a half-stifled scream tore from her throat.
“Damn you, Michael.” Yet she hung onto his shoulders merely to keep herself on that bolstered end of the sofa.
“I don’t think I can take anymore tonight. Already, it’s been far too much.”
“Or not nearly enough,” he murmured and once more kissed her. Hearing his name in her emotion-laden voice had sent shivers through his shaft.
She pushed him away. “You’ve had your fun, now let me go.”
“Not just yet. Unless I’ve missed my guess, you enjoy carnal play.
” What was more, he rather thought she’d enjoy it further once he introduced her to his world of toys, restraints and blindfolds.
“And because of that, I’ll wager your husband never saw you as thoroughly satiated as you are right now. ”
Yes, it was arrogant of him, but he was beyond caring.
A tired sigh escaped her. “Surely you wouldn’t dare. After everything that has already happened between us tonight.”
He couldn’t help his chuckle. “Where my carnal needs are concerned and where my life is, I would dare anything.” Then he surprised them both when he pulled her off the sofa arm.
Before she could protest, he turned her about, pushed her upper half over the bolstered end so that her arse tilted slightly upward.
“Stop this at once, Darkemore. There is no reason for such handling.” Again, fear threaded through her voice, but as much as she wriggled, she couldn’t right herself.
“Ah, my dear Evvie.” As he spoke, Michael wrenched up the skirts of her much-abused gown.
Seconds later, he admired the pale globes of her arse as he parted her legs.
“I may be many things, and I don’t deny any of the rumors or accusations circulating through society, but I always have good reasons for what I do. In time, you’ll see that.”
And once she did, he hoped she didn’t think him a monster, that she might see every situation from his point of view.
“Please don’t,” she asked in a soft voice much like a drowning kitten.
While his pulse pounded in his ears in time to the rush of blood throbbing through his prick, he manipulated his frontfalls. “I must,” he answered in a barely there tone, because there was no going back from this. For either of them.
Once his hardened shaft fell heavily out of the evening breeches, he took himself in hand, priming the pump so to speak then fit the head to her wet opening.
Having her in this position was both erotic and visually stimulating, for he’d be able to watch himself moving in her body.
Already, the pink flesh he was moments away from breeching added fires to his lust.
Gripping her hip with his good hand, he rested his other on the small of her back and in one powerful flex, he thrust into her honeyed heat, didn’t stop until he was fully seated. And damn, it was everything he’d hoped for and more.
When she cried out, he gave her arse cheek an experimental smack. “Michael, please don’t. You are better than this.”
He snorted. “I’m truly not.” Pulling out just for the wild sensations of stroking back into her body, he began to move, claiming her hard and fast without thought to what she would think of him afterward.
Over and over, he worked her body, shoving into her as if she alone could drive away the darkness he lived in.
With a growl, he banished those thoughts and concentrated on sending himself over that edge.
With her arse practically in the air, and with her body at an angle that she couldn’t easily get away from him, he grinned and increased his drive.
He needed that control, to get his head back in the game if he wished to finish his last mission.
If he could find pleasure along the way, give her the same whether she wanted it or not, where was the harm?
The whole of England was based on, as well as operated on, deceptions and power.
Why couldn’t this also be? She would be well compensated.
Soft sounds issued from Evangeline as her fingers scrabbled for purchase on the crushed velvet of the sofa.
Was he acting like a monster since he looked like one?
Perhaps, but he didn’t care. He would do anything this time around to put an end to the Jackal, and she was the one who would help him in that endeavor.
Just one last mission to complete; it was his legacy.
He needed to restore his good name, gain gratitude from Prinny as he should have had during the war, and he wouldn’t fail this time.