Mistletoe and Mayhem: A Regency Holiday Romance Anthology, page 95
Her heart bloomed with such joy she held in the scream of affirmation. He was not getting off that lightly. “And when did you realize you were in love with me?”
“When you told me I was a coward. And I was. I always knew I wanted you as my wife. I just couldn’t face the reason why in case you said no and crushed my heart again.”
“I would never crush you heart. I love you.”
“You could if you say no to my proposal. The fragile beat of my heart is in your small hand. Once you’ve had your heart broken, you lock it away in a fortress inside your chest. But that night when you challenged me in the library, I realized I hadn’t been in love. All that had been hurt was my pride. I’d made an error in judgement. I chose the wrong person to shower affection upon. You are not the wrong person. In fact, you’re definitely the right person, the only person I could trust with my heart.”
“Yes,” her words were so soft he almost didn’t hear.
“Say it again.”
“Yes. Your Grace, I will marry you. I love you so much it hurts.”
He swept her into his arms and kissed her with such passion, longing and need she knew this man truly loved her.
“Now I’m going to unwrap my Christmas present and prove how much I love you.” He carried her to the bed and lay her down as if he couldn’t believe she was his.
Blade leaned over her, surrounding himself in her scent, and he could barely take in the fact he’d undressed her.
He wanted to rip the robe and nightshirt from her body; he wanted her so much, but he took his time. This had to be special. Harriet’s first time with him would be unforgettable, that’s if he could get his raging need to possess her under control. He pressed little kisses to every inch of skin he revealed, and he loved the astonishment and eagerness he read on her face.
Only when she lay before him naked did he step back. He stood looking at her and in the shadow cast by the canopy. He could not read her features. He noted that as he stood staring, she grew self-conscious and her hands moved to cover herself, but he reached out and stopped her.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.
She took a deep breath and her nipples quivered deliciously. Her hands moved to lie flat on the bed.
She was a vision. Innocence and sin packaged and presented just for him. The perfect Christmas gift and one he would cherish forever.
In a trice he pulled the towel from his body and came down to the bed, running his hands over her silken skin, starting with her long and beautiful legs. He nuzzled her throat, nipped at her collarbone and licked the soft indentation at the base of her throat.
At first she lay stiff beneath his touch, but like an unbroken colt, his soft touch and endearments saw her relax. He stroked her hair, then ran his fingers through the untied locks, silk against his skin.
“You have beautiful hair,” he muttered, lifting a handful of the ebony silky strands and brushing it against his cheek. He took a deep breath and prayed he’d have the strength to wait. He wanted to teach her the dizzy heights of anticipation. How good it felt to be touched and to return that touch.
“You’re trembling,” she whispered.
“I want you more than my next breath, but I’m conscious that this is your first time and you deserve my patience when all I really want is to bury myself in you.”
Her face flushed with color and he balanced himself on his arms above her. She was a woman made for loving, and his desire to claim her was making him dizzy.
“The feeling is utterly mutual, I assure you,” she almost purred in his ear.
He kissed down her body, paying homage to her breasts and rosy, pink nipples. He suckled one deep into his mouth, laving it with his tongue until she squirmed beneath him.
The delightful little gasps she made saw his control balance on a knife’s edge. He kissed down her stomach and pushed her legs wider so he fitted between her thighs.
“Blade, what are you doing?”
He softly and slowly ran his hands over her stomach, circling lower and lower towards her womanhood. He brushed her mons and she tensed. Then he brushed again, this time lingering in the task, tracing little swirling patterns over her hips, pelvic bone and then lower, and lower still, until his fingertip caressed the most sensitive part of her, gliding smoothly, finding her little hardened nub.
“Dear Lord. What…”
He looked into her flushed face and said, “Sssh, my beauty. The first time is all about giving into the passion, just let yourself experience the sensations. The second time is all about finding answers to your questions.”
“Second time?” she asked in wonder.
“I’m not letting you out of this bed until the sun rises.”
Her pupils sparkled and her lips parted on an “Oh!” of wonder and delight as he ran a finger down over her woman’s lips, which were already wet for him.
He couldn’t wait to taste her.
“Look at me, Harriet.”
Harriet couldn’t look away if she tried.
She raised herself to her elbows to see the dark hair on his head so close to her private place. Her breath jumped in her throat. The sight was indescribably erotic, so deliciously sinful, and when his tongue licked her, she almost came off the bed. Awareness pulsed in the tips of her breasts and between her legs where she lay.
He looked up at her as he ran his tongue over her a second time.
“You taste like my favorite dessert.”
Her eyelids slid half closed. She shivered as she felt his hot breath and tensed, waiting for the next contact of his tongue on her.
This time he suckled her nub, and she let out a cry. She panted a little, closing her eyes to better give herself over to the wicked sensations created by his tongue.
“Lie back,” he commanded harshly, his breathing becoming ragged.
The urgency in his voice saw her comply. Besides, her arms were shaking so much she could barely hold herself up.
His large hand cupped her bottom, his fingers now joining his clever tongue, and Harriet wondered if she’d survive the bombardment of sensations wracking her body.
Then he set about showing her exactly what his talented tongue and fingers could do. His arm lay across her hips, holding her in place. She could do nothing but lie back and get swept away by a tidal wave of sensation.
Her hips rose of their own accord, intuitively seeking more. One knee fell to the side, blatantly opening her completely to his ministrations.
She let the sensations feed her love. She could not help it. The intimacy of his kiss, and touch, made her heart take wings.
His finger entered her, and her ability to think fled.
His finger was joined by another. Her head spun, the earth whirled, and her eyes opened seeking him, finding eyes as dark as sapphires riveted on her face, a sheen of moisture making his skin gleam like polished marble.
She saw the need shining there, but still he held back.
He moved back up the bed, positioned between her thighs. “It will likely hurt the first time, but I’ll go slow.”
Held speechless, she almost forgot to breathe. His flat stomach gave way to rippled muscles round his sculptured hips but what gave her the first cause for concern was the thick swollen member straining proudly erect at her groin.
She swallowed and tentatively reached out to touch him. She ran her finger down the magnificent length of him and it jumped. She grew bolder and she wrapped her hand round him. He was hard and it pulsed in her hand, but the skin was silky smooth. She saw a drop of liquid at its tip and she rubbed her thumb over it and Blade groaned. She let go.
“Did I hurt you?”
“Yes, and no. I’m barely controlling myself by letting you explore me. It feels so good it hurts.” He reached for her hand and brought it back to his body. “I love how you explore.”
He watched her as she indulged her fantasy. She cupped his sacs and watched sweat form on his brow as she gently squeezed. When she caressed his buttocks, he looked as if he wanted to devour her, or consume her. She worked her way back to his enormous erection and her trepidation grew, along with her desire.
He read her like a book, his half smile lifting the corners of his mouth, his dimples adding to the air of cockiness. When she wrapped her fingers back around his erection, his smile widened with a hint of purring masculine self-assurance in it.
He knew he was a magnificent specimen of manhood.
And he was oh, so right.
He didn’t give her time to do any more thinking. He nuzzled her back until she lay flat on the bed. He let his body press her into the mattress and she reveled in the feel of naked flesh to naked flesh. His hardness to her softness.
He found her hands and locked his fingers with hers and drew them up over her head. It made her breasts press into his chest and her nipples ached where his chest hair abraded them.
She waited as he used his knees to spread her wide beneath him and his erection probed between her thighs.
“I love you,” she said, and she pressed a kiss to his lips.
He held still above her, and they simply stared at each other. “I love you more than you will ever know.” As he uttered the words she loved to hear, he took her lips in a bruising kiss while his fingers found her woman’s nub and soon she was squirming beneath him, all thoughts gone. All she could focus on was the sensations gripping her body.
Her hands sunk into his thick curls, holding his head exactly where she could deepen the kiss, battling for some control.
She dug her feet into the mattress, lifting her hips to demand, nay beg for what she was not sure.
All her body recognized was that she wanted him in her.
As if reading her mind she felt his cock, like a brand of heat and incredibly hard, probe her entrance where his fingers had suddenly left her.
Please God, let him take me now. And she almost cried out in frustration when he kept kissing her but did not enter her.
She sent her hands flowing down his back, savoring the solid steel of muscles bunching beneath her palms, to grip his buttocks, trying to drag him closer.
“Patience, my beautiful mermaid.” But he grasped his hard shaft and slowly, teasingly moved the swollen head between her slick folds, swiping it several times over her sensitized nub until she thought she’d faint with need. At the same time he sucked one nipple deep within his mouth and as he bit down lightly her world exploded behind her eyelids. She cried out, and as her body was swamped with delicious, exquisite ripples of pleasure, he thrust deep inside her.
She bucked and drew in a deep breath as pain sliced through her pleasure.
He held himself still and showered her face and chest and breasts in kisses.
The pain subsided and it was only when her eyes flew wide open that she realized she was gripping his hair, almost pulling it from his scalp. She quickly loosened her grip.
“Tell me I still have hair,” he joked.
“That did not hurt that much, the pleasure you gave me helped. When can we do it again?”
A chuckle rose from deep in his chest. “We haven’t finished, my sweet.” With that, he pulled himself out and then slowly pushed back in.
He was still as hard as rock and her body welcomed him into its heat.
“Raise your hips to meet me,” he whispered harshly.
She obeyed gladly, and a cry of discovery broke in her throat. The sensation of him moving in and out of her made her body soften, made her seek his hardness, and the pleasure rose deep within her once more.
Her body knew what to do in this dance that was as old as time. Each thrust and counter thrust drew a tightening response from her body. Soon her eyes had to close as sensations bombarded her once more.
Blade played her body as if a maestro. Each thrust and counterthrust in perfect accord. His thrusts grew deeper, more powerful, and her body was at fever pitch. She greedily reached for some point in the tunnel ahead, beckoning, urging, and promising more magic.
Her eyes flew open when he grasped her leg, hooking her knee above his hip. She needed no further encouragement as her other leg rose and gripped his flanks as he increased the depth and tempo of his possession. She turned her head to stop herself from screaming out his name. His muscles bulged in his arms, the veins prominent, and his skin flushed with exertion.
Sparks formed before her eyes, sensations, glorious sensations spiraled around her, until she was giddy with the joy of unbridled pleasure. A pleasure almost too intense. He surrounded her. Was in her. Was part of her… Was with her…
This is what she assumed love felt like.
The giving of oneself, giving everything down to her soul.
Waves of sensations coiled tighter and tighter, and she wanted to look into his eyes. To see herself as he saw her in this moment.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he once more found her nipple and suckled.
She could not take any more and she let go, let her body become one with his. Sparks flew and pleasure rolled like thunder through every inch of her body. Wave upon wave consumed her, streaming molten satisfaction and filling her heart until she could barely breathe.
She screamed his name. “Blade!”
Through her haze of pleasure she heard his cries, her name on his lips and it was the most wonderful sound and another ripple of pleasure hit.
He planted his hands on either side of her and rose above her like a powerful god of war. Dark, dangerous, but so intoxicating that she almost wept. He drove himself fully into her, his seed shooting deep within her as his shout of release echoed in the dimly lit bedchamber.
He slumped to the side of her and reached for her hand. The room echoed with their heavy breathing. She closed her eyes and savored the joy flooding her body. “That was wonderful. I can barely find the words. Is it always like that?”
He rolled to face her. “I used to think so, but now I understand that when it is with someone you love, it’s so much more.”
“I think I’ll have you tell me you love me every day.” She hesitated, but then asked the question curiosity would not let her forget. “Why did you make a list to find a wife?”
“What is it with you and lists? I like lists as my life is so busy I often forget things. But I swear on my father’s grave I did not make a list to find a wife. I always knew I would propose only to you.”
“I found a list that fell out of your greatcoat. The Duke must have—”
“Ah, that explains a lot.” And he started laughing. He laughed so hard he almost fell off the bed.
“What is so funny about finding a list of attributes you require in a wife, because I’ll tell you now, obedience is unlikely.”
Her impassioned words only made him laugh harder. Through his laughter he managed to say, “All will be revealed later today when we join the others to open our gifts. Trust me.”
When he looked at her with those eyes filled with love and desire, she knew she could. She would trust this man with her heart. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. “How about you show me just how much you love me one more time before I sneak back to my room?”
His smile lightened the darkened room. “See, I knew you were the perfect woman for me.” And he set about proving, once again, just exactly how perfect they were for each other.
Chapter Ten
Christmas Day
Harriet looked around the room and had to pinch herself. Never in her wildest dreams, well perhaps she had always had this dream, did she imagine she’d be this happy and content—and loved.
She fondled the large ruby ring gracing her finger. Ariane had already started planning their joint wedding. She hadn’t the heart to tell her that Blade and she were heading to Gretna Green as soon as the weather cleared. Blade didn’t wish to take the chance of her already being with child. Nothing caused a scandal more than a baby born within 6 months of a wedding. He didn’t want anyone to assume Harriet had to marry him. Then he confessed he didn’t want to sleep without her for too much longer either.
She looked around the cozy drawing room. The roaring fire protected them from the cold outside, the brandy and wine were flowing freely, their stomachs were full, and the large Christmas tree with the presents underneath filled the room with a fresh outdoor fragrance. She’d made use of each sprig of mistletoe Diane had spread around the house as an excuse to kiss Blade without her father and brothers causing a stir.
Life was perfect. She had her family here, Diane, Thomas and Trello. Her father slept in the large chair by the fire, his snores reverberating around the warm drawing room. Ariane and Kingsley were also here, and last, but most definitely not least, was Blade. He stood leaning against the doorway. From the look on his face, it appeared he was up to something. He’d disappeared for several minutes.
“The meal was magnificent, I could sleep for a year,” Thomas uttered.
“Well, you shouldn’t have eaten half of the food, I was worried there would be none left for anyone else,” Harriet teased.
Blade spoke up. “I’m sleepy too. Maybe we should leave opening the gifts.”
Both Ariane and Diane cried out, “No.”
Blade laughed. “All right. I’ll go first.” He leaned out the door and whispered something. A servant entered carrying a large basket with a cloth over it. The servant placed the basket at Harriet’s feet. She could see something wiggling and heard a little whimper. She lifted the cloth and a little black furry face, so cute she instantly fell in love, looked up at her and gave a high-pitched bark. She reached in and pulled the puppy into her arms, and it immediately started licking her face. “She’s gorgeous.”
Blade came and crouched at her feet, love shining from within his eyes. “Yes, she is. She is of good breeding. She won’t grow too tall and she won’t be too short. If you train her well, she will be obedient. You can see from her eye’s that’s she’s intelligent and her breed are renowned for their even temperament.”
Harriet blushed and burst out laughing. “Your list. Your list was attributes for selecting this puppy.”
“As if I’d ever expect my little mermaid to be obedient.” Blade’s seductive smile saw her body explode with heat. “I know you love Sir Lancelot, but I cannot have cats near me. When you become my Duchess, he will have to stay behind. I’m hoping that little Marley will make your move to my home a little less strange.”
