Chapter Seven #2
“So arrogant,” she murmured, but she shook her head. “This room is beautifully appointed, and this bath is luxurious. I’ve indulged in this twice since you brought me here. The treatment, for the most part, is sumptuous. Except for the locked door.”
He ignored that last bit. “It was a joint effort on behalf of the whole staff. I’d mentioned you were here because we were hastily engaged. They couldn’t wait to fit up a guest room since the lodge doesn’t have a duchess suite.”
“Why will you not go to your rooms and leave me in peace?”
That feisty attitude continued to feed his arousal. “I am doing what you asked—talking.” He glanced the fingers of one hand along her left shoulder and gooseflesh rose in his wake.
“Yet you’re doing that in addition to carnal activities.”
A chuckle left his throat; she’d been the only one to bring any sort of mirth out of him in recent years.
“I find your sense of humor both unexpected and refreshing.” As he proceeded to caress her nape, she shivered.
“Regardless, we are engaged, and I would like to know more about you… while I explore your delectable body.”
“Because you think you own me?”
For a second, his fingers stilled on her shoulder.
“No, because I believe you need the release as much as I do.” Once more, he resumed his caresses, and this time he drew his fingers along the side of her neck and upward onto her cheek.
“To help forget what we have both gone through, the secrets we don’t tell anyone.
” It was a guess, of course, but at least it would let her see they were more alike than not.
A tremble moved through her and transferred to ripples on the water’s surface. “Oh.”
“I want you to trust me,” he whispered at the delicate shell of her ear.
The scent of the lavender soap invoked a bit of calm within him.
Or perhaps it was merely her. “We are only beginning together.” He dared to give her lobe a light bite, and when she gave in to another shiver, he chuckled and stood.
“Where are you going?”
“I am undressing.”
“Why?”
“Don’t be coy, my dear.” Quickly, James removed his fine lawn shirt and tossed it in the direction of a nearby chair.
Then he toed off his shoes, kicked them out of the way, and finally took off his hosiery.
“Did you ever have a Season? Since your father was an ambassador, I’m sure he had a sponsor for you. ”
“I did not.”
“Why? You aren’t a great beauty, but you would have had offers.”
“Oh, what a romantic statement from the man who is supposed to be my fiancé.”
He couldn’t help another grin. “You still have looks, don’t think you don’t, at… How old are you?”
“Eight and twenty. No doubt very much your junior.”
“Perhaps. I just turned forty.”
“I suppose I’m quite a step down for you, hmm? You’ve probably had loads of beautiful women in your bed.”
“Not as many as you would like to think.” He leaned close to her ear again. “I do enjoy seeing you in bright colors, though. You remind me of the wildflowers in the meadows on my country estate.”
“Yet you have chosen to hide yourself away from the beau monde and London in the daytime. What good does an elevated position or lovely gowns do me when no one will see me? You know, if we are to go through with this engagement?”
“You will know.” When he put a hand on her shoulder, she flinched. “Society has already rejected me, but I would like them to accept you.”
“What does it matter? If they don’t want you, why should I want them?”
The answer gave him pause and he marveled at the sort of woman she was. “Do you truly believe that?”
“I do. Everyone worth knowing has a past. And I have seen enough of society to know that the perfection they chase is never achievable. People look how they do; there is nothing wrong with that.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you.”
Eloise gasped as he climbed into the bathtub with her and slipped into position behind her while still wearing his breeches. The water in the tub rose dramatically and sloshed far too close to the edge. Immediately, her body stiffened as his arms went around her. “What are you doing?”
“Preparing to pleasure you. I don’t care about my breeches,” he said into her ear as he rested a hand, splayed, on her torso beneath her breasts and pulled her backside flush to his front.
His knees were bent and resting at her elbows.
The whole of his body enclosed hers, and honestly, he rather enjoyed it, enjoyed the feeling of protecting her.
“You can beg off.” He nipped at the skin just beneath her ear. Did that arouse her?
“I don’t wish to.” When she turned her head, the blindfold made her even more fetching and that much more alluring.
“How long did you live in France?” As he talked, he brushed his thumbs along her ribcage, the sides of her breasts, her torso.
“A few years. After my mother was too sick and wished to spend her last years with her family and friends in that tiny village.” The words came sailing out on a breathless sigh of sorts.
“Twice a year, I would go back to England to visit with my father. A few times a year, he would come to France, when the war and travel allowed.”
“Do you have siblings?” There was something about having his body wrapped around hers that sent confusion into his brain again, but the second he pressed his lips to the side of her neck, his worries blew away like dust in the wind.
“No. It was always me and my parents.” The shiver she indulged in transferred to him.
“I envy you that tight-knit family.”
“You didn’t have that for yourself?”
“I did not.” He shook his head even though she couldn’t see it. “I had a brother, but he died when we were both in childhood. My parents were rather frosty toward each other. Once my father had his heir and spare, mother retreated to one of his properties and lived there until the end of her life.”
She slid her hands up his lower legs to rest on his knees. “I’m sorry. It sounds like a lonely existence.”
“Indeed.” As he spoke, James brushed his palms over her nipples. Those sensitive buds went instantly erect. “Tell me how you like to be pleasured, Eloise.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” Again, he nipped her earlobe. “Did you think I would merely throw you on the bed and have my way?”
A blush spread over her cheeks. “Haven’t you already done exactly that?”
“Mmm, be careful else I’ll employ that tart mouth soon.” As he spoke, he continued to rub his palms over her nipples. Over and over, he applied friction to those straining tips.
“I’m not certain, for this all new to me.”
“Do you enjoy the blindfold?” he whispered into her ear.
“Yes, but why would you waste time with one such as me? Surely, there are women better suited to your lifestyle.” She put her hands on the lip of the tub, no doubt to try and leave the tub.
“Cheeky.” James chuckled and took her breasts into his hands. “This time is not wasted. Besides, there is a special connection between us, regardless of where we both stand in society.”
“But… I’m merely the daughter of an ambassador.”
“And I’m a duke more accustomed to wallowing in darkness. However, we are both broken, and as much as we might not wish to admit it, we need someone. Why not start with a friendship?” Then he closed his index fingers and thumbs around her nipples at the root and rolled them.
“Oh!” Eloise’s back arched. “Except friends don’t usually do wicked things together—oh!”
“I adore when a woman is so responsive.” He dragged his lips along the underside of her jaw.
The silkiness of her skin worked to further arouse him.
“Let’s see what happens when I do this.” He strummed the pads of his fingers along the tips of the nipples.
Backward and forward, he kept on with the sensual caress, and when her back arched a second time, a gasp escaped her, and she clutched the lip of the tub.
A laugh escaped him. How long had he been truly delighted?
Not knowing, he pressed feather weighted kisses to her nape. “Like that, do you?”
“Yes…” Every time she squirmed against him, her backside brushed his engorged length. Tonight, he’d have her in a bed for the first time since meeting her.
For now, James continued with his erotic torture, and when her breathing became labored, only then did he change his approach. Giving her nipples a quick pinch, he suckled her earlobe at the same time. “If you wish to beg off, tell me and I’ll set you free.”
“Will you allow me to wander throughout the lodge?”
A slight pause as he considered. “Yes, as long as you promise to remain with me until we have concluded our discussions.”
She nodded. “You have my word.”
“Good.” Then he began the cycle all over again by using his thumbs and fingertips to tease those buds with more direct stimulation.
Eloise’s eyes closed. “A dark duke indeed. Perhaps I should concoct a spell so that I might keep you for my own personal use, hmm?”
His chest tightened, either in shock or arousal, he couldn’t say.
“Haven’t I already impressed myself upon you?
” When he drew his right hand down her torso but kept his left busy at her breast, gooseflesh popped on her skin.
Then he trailed that hand down along her abdomen and stomach, continued past her mons to delve that hand between her thighs.
“Shouldn’t you ask me for access?” Yet she splayed her legs as much as the tub allowed.
“Do I need to when you want this as much as I do?” God, what a tease. His pulse thrummed through his veins in anticipation as he slipped his hand between her thighs.
“Why must you be an arse—Oh!”