Chapter 14
Nicholas was tired and tense, but that was no different than he’d been on any other day since he’d done his best to stay away from his home in the last week, at least during times he’d known his lovely wife would be up and about and within reach.
I am a busy man. I can’t simply lounge in my home like most of the dukes of the ton. I have an empire to protect.
That’s what he told himself, at least. But home was beginning to feel too warm and comfortable. Even in the day before he’d left and the brief moments he’d experienced since, his house felt like it had never felt before. And that frightened him to death.
“Go home,” Darren had told him that evening. “It’s time. I’ll handle things the rest of the night. Go home and see that beautiful wife of yours.”
And now he was there. It was now midnight, and there would be no chance of seeing her now, which he was grateful for.
Seeing her would only make a sort of lift rise in his stomach, a stupid hopefulness that she would beg for him right there and then, and he could put this desire for her to bed. Literally.
I could wake her. We could have a lovely little argument, and I could watch the redness cover her cheeks and watch a fire go up in her eyes.
He shook his head at himself as he gave up on that idea and entered his bedroom, undoing his cravat as he did. But once the door was shut, he paused where he stood, staring at a Cordelia he had never seen before. His whole body became alight, and every fiber tensed and hardened.
Cordelia was in his bedroom, alone, apparently waiting for him.
He wanted to rub his eyes to see if he was in a dream.
She wore her long, dark hair down, and it glowed in the firelight.
Her long, silk turquoise robe was wrapped tightly around her narrow waist, but her nightgown was not so high that he could not see a hint of the rounded tops of her lovely breasts.
She was sitting on his bed, but as soon as he’d seen her, she jumped up, looking surprised.
A slow grin spread on his face. “I thought you would be asleep, Cordelia, but it seems you have a different game you’d like to play this evening. I would be happy to oblige of course.”
He pulled off his jacket and stepped forward, but she took a step toward his fireplace. He dropped the jacket over one chair and followed after her.
“I come in after a long day, and you are sitting on my bed awaiting me. I couldn’t think of a better treat at the end of an evening.”
Cordelia swallowed, and he could tell she was nervous, but she was feeling bold too. Her eyes sparked with their usual fire, and it only made his arousal heighten.
“I am not here to play a game, Nicholas,” she said with that lift of her chin that she so often used around him. “I am here because you have broken the rules I set before our engagement. Rules you promised to agree to.”
“If this is about me going to the club, then I told you that is not a rule and I never agreed to it.”
“No, not that.” She let her hands fall, and she faced him fully. “It’s—”
Nicholas stopped her when he noticed her legs shaking a little as she stood in front him. He could tell she was nervous, but this wasn’t nerves. In a moment, he had stepped closer and gripped her hand, leaning down a little to look into her eyes.
“What is it? Why are your legs shaking? You have nothing to fear from me, Cordelia. But this doesn’t seem like nerves to me.”
She looked down, but she did not pull her hand away. “Oh, it’s nothing. It must just be because I’ve not eaten since teatime. I was busy with the children and all other matters pertaining to them. While you were away, I might add,” she said, looking up at him again with her usual fierceness.
“You must eat, Cordelia,” he replied seriously. “I will wake the cook.”
He turned to go, but she grabbed at his arm, and slowly, he turned around to face her, relishing the feel of her tight grip on him. It made his heart thump, and his blood rush again. He was already hard for her, but this only made it worse.
“No! Please don’t. I already refused dinner at the table, and they sent a tray, but I didn’t have time. She is a busy woman and needs her rest. Don’t wake her.”
“You are also a busy woman and look a little exhausted by it all.” He narrowed his gaze at her, but she lifted her chin in defiance.
“Very well, then, you must eat here, with me, now.” He pulled her to a chair, and she sat, and he grabbed his tray of cakes the cook always left for him every evening.
“Here.” He handed her one, and she hesitated before taking it in her hand.
“Why do you have these?” she asked.
He shrugged. “The cook is the same cook my family has had for many years. She is kind to me and wants me to have some sustenance when I return. She says the club will not feed me half as well as she would.” He smiled, and to his surprise, he saw the ghost of a smile on Cordelia’s face.
“I suppose it’s also true I have a sweet tooth and can’t resist taking a bit of something delicious. ”
He winked, and after rolling her eyes, Cordelia took a bite.
His gaze went straight to her mouth, watching with interest as she chewed and swallowed and took another bite.
When a slow moan of delight came out of her, Nicholas clenched his jaw, and his one hand gripped the arm of his chair tightly enough so that his knuckles turned white.
This woman is going to kill me. Could David and Helen have ever predicted this?
“These are wonderful,” Cordelia said. “Why doesn’t she serve these at dinner or tea?” She licked a dollop of frosting that had formed at the corner of her mouth, and Nicholas tensed.
“They’re a special recipe from when I was a child, and my father never had a taste for them when he was alive.
I will ask her to make them for you, if you like.
” His voice was tight. He could barely take this anymore, but she seemed utterly carefree, not even noticing the pain she was putting him through as she licked a bit from her finger.
“I would like that,” she said, and finished off the second cake, and a brightness came over her again.
“That has certainly helped me.” She rose to her feet, brushing her hands from crumbs. “But we must get to the matter at hand. I came in here for a reason.”
“Do tell me what it is.” He got to his feet as well and stood close to her, one hand reaching out to brush against the belt of her robe, which was still tied tightly around her waist.
She shivered, but this time, it was not her legs. Her breaths turned shallow, and he grinned, looking down at her. They were close enough that she needed to lift her chin to look up at him. The rosebud scent surrounded him completely. He decided it was now his favorite scent in the world.
“You mustn’t abandon yourself again, Cordelia.
You have to take care of yourself, and that means eating when it’s time to eat.
” He brushed a knuckle under her chin and was delighted to hear a slight gasp from her lips.
“If I need to stay home to make sure that you eat properly, then that’s what I’ll do. ”
Her eyes narrowed, and her hands moved to her hips, but oddly, she did not look unhappy at this turn of events.
“Why?”
He was glad he’d taken off his cravat or else he would have had to loosen it. It was getting hot in there, especially when she looked as though he was giving her just what she wanted. He didn’t like when her expression softened when she looked at him. It made him itch.
Why on earth does she want me home when she spurns me at every other turn? This woman will drive me mad!
“Because having a starved wife looks poorly on a husband, especially a duke,” he parried, smiling again, moving away to more certain ground.
Her expression fell ever so slightly. “Just that?”
“Just that, love,” he said with a nod. Stepping closer, he took a strand of hair between his fingers and felt its silken touch. “Now, you should know that shaking legs should only come from pleasure, not exhaustion or hunger.”
Cordelia’s beautiful deep brown eyes widened, but she didn’t step away. He would turn that to his advantage.
“What do you mean?” she asked, near breathless. He noticed the quick thump of her pulse at the base of her neck, and he brushed a thumb against it, making her shiver yet again.
He leaned close, brushing his cheek against hers.
“When a man and woman are in bed, they can bring one another such pleasure with their lips, tongues, fingers, and of course, what lies between their legs. When a man pleasures a woman properly, she reaches to new heights of pleasure, her muscles tightening, her breath shortening, until she cries out with the ecstasy of it.”
He kept his voice low, savoring every word that dripped from his mouth into her ear.
She breathed harder and faster, but she stayed where she was, nearly chest to chest with him.
When he lifted his hand from her cheek, he brought his thumb to brush against her lower lip, and his eyes followed the movement.
“I can show you what I mean.”
She blinked at him, and then he saw it, the slightest nod of the head. He was not going to wait any longer, and pulling her close, he crushed his mouth to hers. She responded instantly, her arms wrapping around him, pressing her body against his as if she too had long awaited his kiss.
He slowed it a bit, not wanting to rush it, to rush her, and as he gently deepened the kiss and felt the tip of her tentative tongue against his own, he plunged fully into her mouth, pulling a moan of pleasure from her again.
Nicholas was certain he had never been harder in his life as he kissed her for what seemed like ages, wanting to taste her fully, to feel the softness of her lips as well as the sweet taste of her tongue.
His hands roved over her back, pulling the belt of her robe loose, and moving down over the slope of her sweet bottom. She gasped into his mouth as his hands squeezed the flesh, pressing her hips against his own so that she could feel his desire.
“By God, you will be the end of me, woman,” he breathed as he kissed down her neck, pulling at her nightgown so that her shoulders were revealed.
He kissed the soft skin there, and then he pulled more, pulling back to look at the tops of her breasts.
He grinned when he saw that her blush extended there too.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a soft voice, and he looked into her eyes.
“I want to see more of you, if you will let me. For example, this pair of perfect breasts deserves to be seen and to be treated with kindness and tenderness.”
She took a breath and then, with a bite of her luscious lip, she nodded at him.
Taking his time, Nicholas lifted both hands to pull at the soft garment until it fell further, revealing, as he’d predicted, the two most perfect breasts any man had ever seen in the whole of his life.
For a few seconds, he was merely dumbfounded, until she began to lift the nightgown again to cover herself.
“You don’t like me,” she said, blushing deeply. Nicholas came to, grabbing at her wrists to stop her.
“Don’t you dare cover yourself, love. You are perfect.”
“Perfect?” she asked, and smirking, he pushed her slowly back towards the bed, lifting her up and onto it so that she laid back on his pillows. She looked glorious.
“Will it…hurt?” she asked warily, and Nicholas softened, moving on the bed over her until he looked down on her. He kissed her softly on the lips.
“Tonight is about your pleasure, Cordelia, and only yours.”
“You will not enjoy yourself?” she asked tentatively, and Nicholas wanted to burst out laughing.
He grasped her hand and pressed it to the front of his trousers, where his cock threatened to burst forth. When she gasped, she looked up at him but did not pull her hand away.
“You are giving me more pleasure than I know what to do with, love. Now take yours.” He leaned over her and pressed a kiss between her breasts before taking on in his hand and turning his mouth to the other, flicking the tip of his tongue across the pert, pink nipple.
He listened to her gasps and her fists grasping the bedclothes and then he drew the nipple fully into his mouth, suckling deeply.
“Nicholas!” she cried, and Nicholas’s pleasure grew. He had dreamed of this moment for a while now, at the sound of her voice panting his name, and he couldn’t believe it was actually happening.
Dream or not, I will savor every taste.
He moved to her other breast and could feel her shaking beneath him as her breaths grew even shallower. Slowly, his hand drifted down to lift her nightgown up from her legs. Slowly, he moved his hand up her thigh, and then he moaned against her breast as he felt just how ready for him she was.
“What is it?” she asked. “The wetness, is it-?”
Chuckling, Nicholas nipped at her breast before kissing her on the mouth again. “It is everything a man wants to feel when he touches a woman. That she is willing, that she is ready, that she desires him too.”
“So it means…”
“That you want me, love.” He smiled with a cocky air, and he could tell she was desperate to roll her eyes but too aroused to do so.
“Don’t worry. I will help ease your distress.
” At the first brush of his fingers against her center, she cried out, gripping the bedclothes even tighter.
He moved softly at first and then sped up, savoring the sound of her growing cries of pleasure.
When he slowed a little, her little whisper of, “Don’t stop,” nearly undid him and made him spill in his trousers. He sped up again and then when he dipped a finger inside, his thumb on her sweet nub, she came, crying out and shaking as pleasure coursed through her.
The satisfaction of seeing Cordelia Debrett fall to pieces under his skillful movements was one of the greatest Nicholas had ever experienced.
She was still breathing quickly as her body’s shaking slowed, but then she closed her eyes, and in seconds, he could hear the soft movement of her breath, and her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Smiling, Nicholas leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before he slid out of bed and lifted a blanket over her.
She must have been so tired.
He might have been offended at any other woman falling asleep after coming so hard in his arms, but not Cordelia.
She had been angry at him, hungry, spent with busyness and grief, and now he had the delight of putting her to bed in his own room.
He had a feeling now that she knew what pleasure was like, she would be begging for him more often from now on.
“Good night, love,” he said, and without wanting to disturb her, he left to find another bed to sleep in.