Page 60 of A Gentleman's Wager

“Ripe for it, aren’t you?”

She was, but not through his doing. Again, that was something he didn’t need to know. His purpose here was as a distraction. The goal some relief from the itch Vaughan and Lucerne’s actions had painted in her mind. She lifted herself over him and watched as she slid down upon his cock until he’d all but vanished inside of her and the dark thatches of their hair kissed. Only then did she release her skirts, so their bodies were hidden beneath a blanket of cloth.

Mark grasped her arse beneath the skirts and began a cautious rhythm that in no way satisfied her desire. “Do you imagine I’m made of porcelain? Fuck me like I’m one of the wenches you normally relieve yourself with.” When he barely increased the pace, she fought against him, performing a rising trot. “More like this. Ain’t you ever galloped before?”

“Clearly you have.”

Bella flexed her inner muscles around him.

“Fuck!” he swore and dug his fingertips into her thighs in a desperate attempt to slow her down. “If you do that, you’ll—”

“I’ll what?” she teased, riding him harder, but the answer arrived not with words, only a grunt and then the softening of his cock. Irritably, she lifted herself off him. So much for his fabled prowess. The ache of arousal clawed at her body as she slumped into the hay; now she was at least thrice as frustrated as when she’d arrived. Evidently the only relief she’d find was courtesy of her own efforts.

“Minx. Come back here.” Mark felt around blindly for her.

“Obviously, I’m too much for you.” She gazed disdainfully at his limp cock. “That wasn’t worth a farthing, let alone a guinea.”

Mark hitched himself upon his elbows, his gaze fastening upon the same point. “He’ll limber up again in a moment.”

Who did he think he was fooling? In his present state he’d be useless for at least half an hour, and probably longer. Bella hitched up her skirts and set to rubbing her nubbin. It was what she ought to have done in the first place.

A wolfish grin spread across Mark’s face. “A proper fine lady you are. And here I was thinking duchesses didn’t polish their own kettles.”

“I’m not a duchess,” Bella retorted. “Nor have I ever met one, but I imagine they’d do the same if they were constantly let-down, and it was the only guarantee of satisfaction. And since neither am I acquainted with any dukes, I can’t predict if they’ve any more aptitude for satisfying their lover’s than stable hands.”

“I’m a groom, not a stable hand.”

“You still failed in the one and only task I’m paying you for.”

“Did you ever hear that patience is a virtue?”

“Aye, and tickling one’s crack is a crime.”

He picked up a tuft of hay and tickled the skin of her thigh. Bella irritably swiped it from his hand, making him bark with laughter.

“What’s so damned funny?”

Mark tugged off his breeches and chucked them at her.

“What?”

He knocked the breath clean from her lungs, as he landed upon her. Bella drummed her fist against his shoulders. “Get off me, you oversized oaf.” Instead, he wrestled her underneath him using a move she suspected he usually reserved for bouts at the village fayre. “I was almost there.”

That was twice he’d thwarted her pleasure.

“The hell you were, but I’ll see to it that you go.”

Bella laughed. “That would be more believable if you weren’t already spent.”

“Aye, Miss, but a good man never stays down for long.”

Mark pressed his cock to her belly. To her astonishment, he was hard again. “Gonna give you the proper swiving you’re asking for, but this time, we’ll do it my way.”

He pinned her arms and straddled her. Bella wriggled, but he just gripped her harder and kneaded her button with a callused thumb. The hay prickled her legs, while the weight of him on top of her made the ache in her cunny more pronounced. He slicked her up inelegantly, his touch rough, but it did the trick. Her body soared in response.

Mark kissed her neck and face, making her whimper. When he thrust into her, there was no resistance to his entry, only a glib susurration as their bodies connected. “Yes,” she encouraged. “Yes. Dammit. Yes. Take me.”

“Is this what you came looking for?” he growled low in her ear. “Do you think I don’t know how to bring a woman off?”