Page 18 of A Lord in Want of a Wife (Daring Debutantes #2)

L ucy knew the moment Cedric gave in. He’d been trying to spare her, believing that he knew better than she did what she wanted.

He didn’t.

She knew she wanted his hands on her body, his tongue challenging hers and all the storm of feeling he created inside her. Nothing had ever felt as explosive as what he did to her now. And she never wanted it to end.

His tongue pushed against hers while her body tightened with the invasion. Heat burst across her skin and her head dropped back. She loved the way he dominated all her senses. He kissed across her jaw and down her throat. And when his hands found her breasts, she cried out in welcome.

Yes, yes, yes. Touch me there!

He squeezed her nipples and lightning pierced her womb, even through the dampening feel of her clothing. Always she had been afraid when someone touched her. She knew the dangers of such madness, but she knew him now. He would not hurt her.

And so she was the one who pulled open the buttons across her bodice. She unraveled the tie of her shift, and she shrugged her shoulders until dress and shift slipped down to bare her breasts.

He pulled back, his breath coming as fast as hers. His eyes were wild, but no more than hers. And while her heart beat fast in her ears, she could see the rapid pulse in his neck as he gazed down at her.

‘Perfect,’ he whispered. ‘You’re so damn perfect.’

His words sank into her heart. She felt perfect with the way he looked at her. And she needed to be perfect if she were to keep him. Her hand trembled as she caught his fingers and pulled them up to her breast. She wanted to feel his hands on her flesh with nothing between them.

He cupped her breasts. First one, then the other. She felt the new callouses on his fingers as he sweetly abraded her nipples.

‘You don’t understand,’ he murmured. ‘You think this is love.’

She barely heard him. She was so absorbed in the way he squeezed her breast, in the exquisite bite when he twisted her nipples.

She wanted it to continue forever. And she wanted more.

Her belly trembled and her knees softened.

If she weren’t leaning against the wall of the galley, she would collapse.

And still he tormented her. His left hand slid to her waist, resting atop the bunch of fabric there. It took only a slight amount of pressure for him to tug her hips forwards, her back arching as she lifted her breasts to him. And to her delight, his mouth soon descended upon her flesh.

He flicked her nipple with his tongue, and when she gasped in shock, he sucked it into his mouth.

Such skill he had, sucking and flicking. Did he bite her? She didn’t know. She was lost in a whirlwind of sensation that obliterated all thought.

She clutched at his shoulders, holding herself to him or him to her. Either way, she quickly began to want more. Soon she framed his head with her hands and brought his face up to hers.

‘Make me yours,’ she said.

Did she speak in Chinese? The shocked look he gave her made her frantic with frustration.

‘I want to be yours,’ she repeated.

He dropped his forehead to hers. ‘You don’t understand.’

‘I do.’

‘You don’t know how powerful lust is.’

She didn’t know that English word, neither did she care. She wasn’t a child. But before she could say more, he abruptly stepped back. She would have cried out, but he pressed two fingers to her mouth.

‘I’ll show you,’ he rasped. ‘But not here.’ He quickly pulled her gown up, but he didn’t tie or button the clothing. Glancing through the galley door, he whispered, ‘Come to my room when it is safe.’

She nodded, though she thought it safe now. Still, she would make sure her father and sister slept.

‘I will show you,’ he said one last time. ‘If you can promise to be quiet.’

She flashed him a smile. ‘I have always been quiet.’

‘Not to me, you haven’t. To me, you are a siren song. I cannot be rid of it.’

She grinned. ‘Good.’

But it wasn’t good to wait. He checked the hallway again. It was clear. So he gestured her on before he headed to his own cabin. She checked on her father. He was sleeping as was Grace on the floor beside him.

She woke her sister and sent her to bed. ‘He will sleep soundly now,’ she said. ‘You don’t need to lie here on the floor like a dog.’

Grace flashed her a sleepy smile. ‘I have slept in worse places.’

They both had, but there was no need to do it now. ‘Go on,’ she said, gently pushing her sister out the door. ‘I’ll stay with him a while. Maybe even take a walk up top.’

‘Can’t sleep?’ Grace asked after a huge yawn. ‘You should run the sails with me. That will make you too tired to think.’

‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘My leg won’t work well up there.’ Then she pushed her sister towards their berth.

She waited for a time. Long enough that she was sure that her father slept deeply. Long enough that Grace would be sound asleep. And long enough for her mind to question her choices.

Did she truly want to give her virginity to Lord Domac? It was a rarity that one such as her would still have such a prized thing. But she had been quick and careful for most of her life. And she’d also pretended to be a boy.

She truly ought to wait, but she wanted it to be her choice. She wanted the man to be her choice. She knew nothing was assured in her future. Why not give in to what she wanted now? And if it bound Cedric to her, then so much the better.

When she judged it time, she crept the two steps to his cabin and slipped inside the darkened interior. There was little room between the spice crates and his cot. Just the narrow crack as she crawled into his bed.

‘Shut the door,’ she heard him whisper.

She did, startled to realise that she was so distracted that she’d forgotten so elemental a thing.

‘Take off your clothes,’ he commanded.

There was barely room to kneel on his bed, much less strip.

But he had been living in such a state for months now.

She could hardly complain. And besides, it made her pulse race to hear commands through the dark.

She imagined such things, and it was all the more thrilling—terrifying—exciting to unbutton her gown and push it aside.

Her shift came next, her nipples tightening painfully in the cooler air.

And then, awkwardly, her slippers. It was too hot to wear stockings, and so very soon, she knelt on his bed completely naked.

‘I wish I dared light a candle,’ he murmured.

‘I can’t see you,’ she said.

‘I am here, backed into my little corner.’

‘Are you…’ She didn’t know the word naked in English. ‘Are you like me?’

His snort was filled with derision. ‘I am nothing like you, my dear. I am as corrupt as they come.’

She knew that wasn’t true. She knew corruption, had seen the men who took and destroyed. He was not such a man.

‘You know very little of ugly men,’ she whispered. ‘I do. And I have chosen you.’

He was silent for a long moment. And then she felt his fingers stroking across her arm. ‘Thank you for that,’ he whispered. ‘No matter what happens between us, I will cherish your gift until my dying day.’

‘I do not give it lightly,’ she said.

‘I know.’

He drew her forwards into the dark alcove. She could see nothing, but that only made the sensations all the more overwhelming. She felt the tug of his arm as she maneuvered her way in. She felt him twist her shoulders and struggled to move where he wanted.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, confused as he faced her back towards the door.

‘You,’ he answered. ‘And your sister’s dowry.’

She winced at the mention of money. That was not why she was here.

He stroked a hand up her back and she shivered at the caress. ‘I must have that, Lucy. I cannot marry you.’

‘We will find a way. I can make you a lot of money.’

This was old ground between them. Indeed, she was speaking by rote as she felt his lips kiss a trail across her shoulders.

‘I can give you this,’ he said as his teeth scraped across her neck. Then his hands slid around her ribs to cup her breasts. ‘I can show you lust.’

She still did not know that word, but it hardly mattered.

His hands were shaping her breasts, tweaking her nipples, and pulling her back against his front.

He was as naked as she. She felt the heat of his chest, and the rough brush of his hair against her back.

And she felt his thick, hot organ throbbing against her spine.

Her mind focused on that place. On the way his cock pressed against her bottom. On the pulse and slight wetness she felt there. And she worried for a moment if it would fit inside her.

Then he chased those thoughts away. He kissed along her shoulder, and he pulled at her nipples. And then he let one hand slide down. Down across her belly, which quivered against his large hand.

He surrounded her now, completely capturing her against him. She could not run if she wanted to, and her breath caught a moment in fear.

‘Lucy?’ he whispered against her.

‘Yes,’ she said, answering a completely different question. Yes, she wanted this. Yes, this was frightening but also thrilling. Yes, please keep going.

‘Tell me to stop,’ he said as his hand moved lower. His smallest finger teased the top of her curls. ‘Tell me no.’

In answer, she widened her knees. She dropped her head back against his shoulder. She opened herself up to him for whatever he willed.

‘So be it,’ he said against her neck. And then his finger slid lower.

She bucked when his finger slid between her folds, but she kept her cry inside.

Never had anything touched her there except a cloth held by her own hand.

His finger was so alive as it pressed there.

Moving and teasing while her body strained forwards and back, away and closer.

She didn’t know what she wanted. It was too much and too little.

‘Shhh,’ he said against her ear. ‘You must be quiet.’

She knew that. But how could she contain her voice when every part of her was focused between her thighs? Even as he spoke, his finger pushed and explored.