Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
A fter waving goodbye to their guests, it seemed Ian and Cecilia were in silent agreement to return to her chambers as quickly as possible.
Ian shut the door to the bedroom, and immediately pulled Cecilia in closer.
She allowed herself to be pulled into him. Never before had he kissed her so passionately. It seemed that her teasing game had, indeed, had the intended effect, to whip him up into a lustful frenzy so strong he could not help but press her against the wall, pinning her with hands and hips.
When she reached up to pull him closer, he grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head before kissing her more deeply still.
“Keep them there,” he said darkly, his eyes twin pools of lust.
She obeyed, staying still as his hands roamed her body, tracing over the seams of her dress. He just barely brushed his fingers across the bits of exposed skin where fabric met flesh, at her bosom, her neck, her wrists, until she could hardly keep still anymore.
“If you are having difficulty figuring out how best to take off my gown,” she said, making her tone as sweet as possible, “I am certain I would be happy to give you some help.”
His eyes darkened even further at that. “I believe I shall manage just fine,” he replied, before all but tearing the fabric off of her. Layer by layer, dress and stays and shift alike, his dexterous hands nimbly untied and undid and lifted off of her body with such hunger, she found herself almost shaking with desire from the slight brushes of his hand alone.
The air was cool against her newly bared skin. She longed to do the same to him but remained mindful of his order to keep her hands above her on the wall. While she was happy to tease him in every other way available to her, it stoked the fires of lust high within her to see how far she could get away with teasing him so long as she followed that one command.
To that end, she looked up at him through her lashes. “This seems rather unfair,” she said. “Quite unequal. Am I not to be allowed to return the favor?”
“What makes you think that was a favor to you?” he said. “Perhaps it was entirely selfish. I want only to enjoy the sight of my ravishingly tempting wife as God made her, after a long and difficult day of being denied such a sight.”
“Oh, such a long and difficult day,” she cooed. “Was it really? The poor, unsuspecting Duke of Harwick, famed rake of London, tortured by the mere presence of one woman?”
“You underestimate your own power, it seems,” he said. “Greatly.”
“Not at all, my lord.” She sucked in a sharp inhale as he ran his hand up along her thighs, stroking up towards that most sensitive of places. “But I must say, I am enjoying your response more than I could have even hoped.”
God, but his hand felt good between her legs. Within a few moments, she found her thighs beginning to tremble; but every time she bucked slightly into his fingers, his other hand pressed against her hips, holding her in place against the wall. Above her head, her fingers twitched.
When he finally kissed her again, it was a great relief to be able to touch him at all. They mouthed at each other hungrily, lips and tongue exploring those of the other. Combined with the steady rhythm of his hand against her sex, it was only a matter of time before she was moaning, writhing against him, approaching that edge. When she was close, she lost herself for a moment, allowing her hands to drop to his neck and trying to pull him in closer.
His response was swift and devastating. Scarcely had she allowed herself to touch him, when he suddenly picked her up and tossed her gently onto the bed, where she was unable to touch him at all.
She let out a sound of protest. However, any and all words died swiftly on her tongue at the sight of him approaching, stripping himself of his shirt and breeches as he climbed up towards her.
He kissed his way across her stomach, worshipping her waist and hips with lips and tongue and strong, lustful hands before he moved down to continue teasing her thighs.
“You drove me near mad tonight,” he growled against her skin. “Do you realize that?”
Her fingers tightened in his hair. “I think that was rather the point. It is you who called it a game, after all.” She tugged, forcing him to look up at her, and a small smile rose to her lips. “Since you are behaving rather madly—does this mean I am winning? Is this my prize?”
Those deep, piercing blue eyes darkened further with unshakable hunger and lust. In a quick movement, so quick she almost did not realize what had happened until after he had already done it, he hooked each of his arms under each of her legs, so that her legs were over his shoulders, knees bracketing his head.
“I should think you deserve more punishment than prize,” he said, before burying his face in her heat.
He licked up the center of her, eliciting a moan as she felt the drag of his tongue against her aching core. It was half lick and half kiss, hot and open-mouthed, and she found her fists curling in the sheets when he stopped just short of the sensitive nub at the top of her sex.
She tried to buck her hips up into the movement, but with his arms around her legs and his hands gripping her thighs, he was able to stop the movement with ease.
“Where do you think you are going?” he said, pausing only briefly from his current task, so that she felt the words vibrate against her and reverberate all the way up through her body.
“More,” she said breathlessly. “I need more.”
“Oh, so now I am not allowed to tease you?” He chuckled against her, and she moaned again, louder than before. “I should think, after your little performance tonight, that you would welcome having your behavior reciprocated in kind.”
“Oh, come off it,” she said, snarky even as her voice shook from pleasure. “You were teasing me every bit as much as I teased you. You know how to play this game much better than I do, my lord.”
“Yes. Yes, I do.” He pressed a kiss to one thigh, and then the other, before licking her core again. “I seek only to remind you of that fact, my lady. To quote yourself: I do not seek out games I do not intend to win.”
In spite of her breathlessness, Cecilia scoffed. “I only said that you were more experienced. I do not recall ever ceding victory,” she said indignantly.
Ian smiled. “Not yet,” he corrected her. “But have no doubt, II will have you begging in surrender by the time the night is done.”
With that, he set to his mission once more with aplomb.
Using every bit of those dexterous fingers and experienced tongue, he played upon her body with all the ease of a master musician playing pianoforte. The sensations built within her. His mouth held fast on her. His fingers, moving and curling to hit every sensitive spot within her. His other hand, roaming her body, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake wherever he explored, running a thumb across her breast to tease at her peaked nipple.
Holding her hand, when she reached down in search of something to grab onto.
When she was so close to reaching her peak, she squeezed his hand tighter. “Wait,” she said. She almost hated herself for saying it, but it felt important. There was something she wanted even more.
He raised his head. The sight of him in the candlelight, looking wild and almost as dazed as she felt, a slick smile cutting across that darkly handsome face, nearly brought her past the edge just to look at him. “What is it?”
“I want to feel you inside me,” she said.
Still holding her gaze, he slipped two fingers inside her, pressing them once again at the spot that had her toes curling. “I am inside you.”
She shook her head, though her hips twitched with pleasure. Her thighs trembled with the effort of holding back her climax, after having been brought so close. “You know what I meant.”
“Perhaps I would know better if you were to ask nicely,” he said, his tone teasing, verging on cruel. Not truly cruel, but playfully so. “Perhaps I would know better if you were to beg like a good girl.”
Her heart beat in her chest, spite warring with lust as he continued to move his fingers in and out of her. “I have told you, I will not beg.”
“And I have told you… You will.” He leaned down, and pressed another kiss to her inner thigh, still not looking away from her all the while. “Of course, if you do not wish to yield, I suppose we could stop for the night.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “You would not.”
“Oh, I assure you, I would.” He kissed her other thigh, nipping lightly at the sensitive skin there. “After all, what was it you said this morning? Ah, yes—we have all the time in the world to indulge in the marital act. And a thing is often sweeter to have for the time you spent wishing for it, no? Delayed gratification, sweet wife.”
“How dare you.” She couldn’t help but sound impressed as she said it, however begrudgingly. To hear him parrot her words back at her like that—to know he had been truly listening to her—stoked higher still the twin flames of lust and frustration. “You cannot truly mean to deny me when we have come this far.”
“Can’t I?” He hooked his arms beneath her legs more firmly. “If that is the case, then I will simply need to find some other way to punish you for your earlier mischief.”
“And how exactly do you plan to—oh!” Cecilia exclaimed as she was flipped onto her stomach. Ian left from between her legs and sat up; she felt the bed shift beneath her as he moved them both so that he was sitting upright, and she was draped across his lap, her bare backside open to the air.
There was a sharp, delicious impact against her bottom. She nearly jumped at the unexpectedness of it, then squirmed against his lap when he rubbed his palm soothingly against the stinging stretch of skin.
She noticed with pleasure his sharp intake of breath at her movement. She shifted again, being sure to press her hip against the still hard length of his manhood.
“Are you trying to earn another punishment already?” he asked, trying badly to hide his lust with amused condescension. “We have barely even begun the first.”
“I have no idea to what you are referring, my lord,” she said sweetly, before repeating the movement once more, smiling to herself as he gritted his teeth.
“Then perhaps I shall have to make myself clearer,” he growled.
When he spanked her again, it was hard enough to make her yelp, with pleasure as much as with pain.
“Too much?” Ian murmured, running the flat of his palm soothingly against the tender spot.
She shook her head immediately. “No.” It was true; she had reacted out of surprise, more than anything else.
“Shall I continue with this? Or shall I continue with my earlier promise to stop our activities for the night entirely?” he said. His voice, low and husky, melted straight into her core.
Surprised though she had been, Cecilia knew one thing with certainty: whatever he wanted to teach her in the bedroom, she wanted to learn.
“Please do not stop,” she said. “Whatever you do, just don’t stop.”
“Very well,” he murmured, and spanked her again on the other side.
He alternated sides, as well as pressure, being certain never to spank her so hard that the pain would outweigh the thrill. All the while, Cecilia continued to tease him back, relishing the way she was able to get a reaction out of him even while lying prone across his lap.
“Is that the best you can do?” she said, after one particularly hard slap, trying to keep a light tone. “I am beginning to suspect you will tire of this punishment long before I do.”
She was rewarded with an even harder slap, which she took with relish. The stinging in her backside had turned into a pleasant tingle, which only made her all the more aware of how delicious it was to be where she was now—naked, aroused, in the arms of a man who wanted nothing more than to show her all the different ways of experiencing pleasure.
“Perhaps you are right,” he said finally, sounding a bit breathless himself. Cecilia found herself rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. To her surprise, he did not climb atop her, as she had suspected. Instead, he lay on his back besides her. “Come here,” he said, tapping her hip with his hand.
She acquiesced, allowing him to maneuver her so that she straddled him, with a leg to either side of his hips.
“I do find myself growing weary,” he said, looking up at her with those blue eyes so piercing they could drive any woman mad with lust. “I have toiled away trying to teach you how to behave more properly, and my efforts have been in vain. So here, it is your turn. You wanted to be in charge, after all. You want your pleasure? Take it.”
Taking her hand in his, he showed her how to line up the head of his length at her entrance. Removing his hand, he nodded at her.
Cecilia sank down on his length slowly, enjoying the way it filled her from this new angle. She felt him even more deeply this way, she was surprised to discover. Once she had taken him to the hilt, she was forced to stop for a moment, allowing herself to grow accustomed to this new feeling.
As she did so, she ran her hands across his chest, lightly scraping her nails across. He seemed to like that, growling in approval, and his hands similarly explored her body. His hands ran up her waist to cup her breasts, and his eyes greedily dragged across every inch of exposed skin with a ravenousness that made it impossible for her to feel even the slightest bit of embarrassment.
“You are ravishing,” he said, hips shifting slightly below hers. She rolled her own hips in response, allowing him to move in and out of her, setting a slow rhythm.
She could see from his face how much he longed for her to move faster. She longed for it, too, but there was a wicked sweetness in making him wait longer, in continuing to push him up to the edge in the same way he pushed her.
He soon caught on to what she was doing. “This is meant to be a punishment, wife,” he growled, his hands clamping onto her hips, trying to encourage her to move more quickly.
“You continue to claim that,” she said tauntingly, though she did pick up the pace a bit. “And yet, here I am, entirely unrepentant. It would seem you have little talent for doling out punishments, husband. I suppose tomorrow I shall simply have to repeat my behavior from today.”
Suddenly, she found herself on her back.
Ian thrust into her so deeply she could not help but let out a low, guttural moan, legs wrapping around his hips and arms wrapping around his back to claw at his shoulders.
Finally, it seemed she had reached a breaking point.
He pounded into her with increasing speed and force, hitting spots deep within her that delivered her more pleasure than ever before. It was as though she was seeing stars with each thrust.
“What have you to say now, wife?” he said, his breath hot against her ear, chuckling when she could do nothing but moan in response. “Any smart quips? Any biting remarks?”
“D-do not stop,” she managed, clinging to him with all her might as she neared her edge. “Please do not stop. I am close, Ian, I am close—please?—”
“Don’t finish,” he said, redoubling his efforts. “Not until you have learned your lesson.”
“I have,” she begged, “I have. Please. You are close, too, I can—I can feel it— oh ? — ”
Finally, she tumbled over the edge. He continued to thrust into her as her pleasure peaked, growing harder still as he neared his own completion.
He shuddered, spilling into her, before the two of them collapsed, clinging to each other like two people who had just been through a great storm.
“You are right,” he admitted “I could not have left you wanting, though I was sorely tempted. You are entirely impossible to resist, Cecilia. I can hardly be in the same room as you without wanting to touch you. It is pure torture. You maddening creature, you beauty, you vixen. I want you more than I have wanted anything in my life. I would do anything to have you like this.”
“I feel the same,” she finally murmured into his shoulder, trying to steady her breath even as her muscles twitched with the aftershocks of pleasure. “I feel just the same.”