Page 8 of The Courtesan’s Protector (About An Earl #4)

CHAPTER 7

R ipley’s breath was ragged as he stared down into Jane’s face in the flickering firelight of the warm, quiet room. Perhaps there was some part of him that had always known it would come to this. That they’d opened a door when he kissed her the day before that couldn’t be closed. That once they started, they’d be incapable of stopping the momentum of desire.

“I don’t want to take advantage of your pain,” he whispered.

She didn’t answer with words. Instead she threaded her fingers through his hair and drew him down to her. Her breath was sweet on his lips, a whisper of her heat, and then she kissed him.

There was no resisting after that. Not when she drove her tongue against his, making a shivering sigh of desire and relief that made his whole body ache like he’d been in a fight. A losing fight, at that, though when she arched against him it was impossible to consider himself anything but a winner.

He cupped her closer, letting his fingers clench against the cotton of her gown, feeling the shape of her beneath the fabric. He couldn’t help the low, possessive moan that followed and she bent her head back with a tremble.

He took the offering that created and pressed his mouth to her throat, tasting the delicate line there as she lifted against him, pulling herself ever closer. God, she tasted sweet, exactly as he’d imagined her skin would taste, dreamed about on nights when he woke rock hard and even his hand couldn’t satisfy him.

He slid his mouth lower, across the exposed flesh above the bodice of her gown. He traced her collarbones, down to her chest, the top of her breasts. She whimpered, lifting again in silent plea.

He pushed her back and they fell against the bed together. He was on top of her and she squirmed beneath him, opening her legs as far as her pinned gown would allow, gripping one calf around him as she rocked beneath him.

Leaning back a fraction, he pushed his hand between them and found the line of buttons along the front of her gown. He flicked each one free, parting the dress, revealing her chemise beneath. It was sheer and lacy and he lifted his eyes to hers.

She smiled down at him. “I wasn’t about to replace my underthings just because no one sees them anymore.”

He dropped his head back to her chest. “Thank God for that,” he murmured against her skin.

She pushed her dress aside and was working on the straps of her chemise when he closed his mouth around her nipple through the fabric. Immediately she jolted beneath him and let out a little cry that sounded like music to his ears. He sucked, loving the shape of her. Loving the sound of her pleasure.

Loving her even more than he had before, even more than he thought possible. He was lost now anyway, he might as well revel in every moment. Make memories to keep him warm later.

He slid his hands down her sides and she arched her back, offering herself up to him as he continued to lick her. She had the strap of her chemise off on one side now and she pulled it away, revealing the small, perfect globe of her breast.

“Christ,” he muttered before he swirled his tongue around her nipple again, this time with nothing between him and the taste of her. She was panting as she ripped the chemise away entirely, baring herself to him. She pressed her breasts together and he flicked his tongue back and forth between them, teasing each one, stroking his tongue through the valley between them. She rocked beneath him as he did so, harsh breaths the only sound in the quiet room.

He drew lower, pulling the dress and chemise away as he dragged down her body, tossing them both over his shoulder when he could free her from them. Then he stood up and looked at her.

God, but she was perfect. So fucking perfect that he feared he’d never want any other person quite the same again. She would be the unattainable standard.

She watched him watch her for a brief moment and then she opened her legs. She wore pale cream stockings with a red pattern stitched through them. Her garters were the same red, stark and erotic against her pale skin.

And between the thighs where those garters were tied? A slick, pretty pussy he couldn’t resist.

“What are you waiting for?” she murmured, reaching for him.

He chuckled. “I’m waiting because this is the point where I usually wake up.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you saying you’ve had erotic dreams of me, Mr. Ripley?”

He nodded without breaking eye contact. “Every night since the first time I saw you, Jane.”

Her lip trembled in response. “What did you dream you’d do to me? When you didn’t wake up at this most inopportune time?”

He untied his cravat, shrugged from his jacket, stripped his shirt. He tugged off one boot, then the other before he stepped toward her.

“Feast,” he growled, and pressed his hands into her thighs. She gasped as he bent between them, burying his head there and drawing a deep whiff of the sweet smell of her desire. When he stroked his tongue across her, the taste was even better. She jolted and her fingers came into his hair, holding him against her as she began to rock against his tongue.

They worked together at pleasing her. He tasted every inch of her slick sex, then put his focus on her clitoris. She arched it in time to his tongue, moaning and gasping so he knew what made her ache. Time slipped away, meaningless as he brought her closer and closer to the edge of madness.

When she found it, he smiled against her, reveling in the way she twitched and fluttered while he sucked her clitoris with merciless drive. He wanted to draw all the pleasure from her. He wanted her to be liquid and boneless beneath him. He wanted her hoarse from her cries. The same gorgeous cries that echoed in the room. Probably echoed in the hallway for the other guests to hear. But who gave a damn? This moment was theirs and no one else could ever take it.

When she went limp on the bed, when her hands fell away from his hair, when the jolting of her body calmed to mere flutters, he lifted his head and looked at her.

She was pink from pleasure, her dark blue gaze foggy from release. Gone was the pain from the day, gone was the fear for her sister. For a moment, at least, he had freed her from all that. And it would be enough.

Only when he began to roll away from her, she caught his shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He smiled. “Did I fail to please?”

“You pleased beyond anything I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “But you’re not finished. Not by half.”

She was temptation embodied, but he did his best to resist her. “You’ve been through a great deal today and I?—”

She sat up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, forcing him to be face to face with her. “Campbell Ripley, if you don’t fuck me right now I will challenge you to a duel at dawn.”

His brows rose and he laughed. “A fight to the death?”

“Just a little one,” she whispered, and then kissed him deeply all over again and pulled him back down over her.

* * *

I n her vast experience, Jane hadn’t met many men who gave a damn about her pleasure, let alone her emotions. But Ripley was not like other man. Not like any man. Here he had her splayed out naked beneath him, still quivering from the most powerful orgasm she’d ever experienced, and he was ready to back away to give her respite. Even though she could feel the heavy steel of his cock pressing to her belly. He wanted her and he would refuse his own needs for hers.

What a thing to have her well-being mean more than someone else’s wants. Only what she needed, what would make her better, was him. Him inside of her. Hers, even if it was just for tonight.

She wasn’t about to let him walk away from that. From her. From this.

She wrapped her thighs around his hips and he pushed against her, his cock nudging her pussy even though he was still wearing his trousers. She nipped his lower lip and he growled, his expression growing even more heated, feral. He looked like he did when he was in the ring, focused and powerful. When he kissed her, there was no more hesitation or gentleness. He devoured her, sucking her tongue, driving inside.

She glided her hands down his sides, shivering at the muscular thickness of his body. How many times had she wondered what he’d feel like? He was better than any imagining.

She crossed her hands over his flat stomach, tracing muscle with her palm, and notched her fingers into the waistband of his trousers. His kiss deepened further, moans lost in her mouth, as she unfastened the fall front and let him bounce free into her palm.

She flattered her other hand against his chest and pushed him back so she could look between their bodies. Look at him. He was thick, hard, the impressive length of him curling toward his stomach in a proud display of desire.

She stroked him, loving how he dropped his head back with a grunt of pleasure. This man was always in control. He was powerful and steady. She wanted to be the one who made him tremble, turned him animal.

She smiled up at him, knowing she was being wicked, watching his pupils dilate until his eyes were almost entirely black. “I want this,” she whispered. “Let me have it, Ripley.”

He caught her thighs, his fingers digging in, and tugged her to the edge of the bed. She sat up, winding her arms around his neck, tracing the muscles of his shoulders with the very edge of her nails. He spread her wide, stepping between her legs. When he kissed her, he put his hand between her thighs, stroked his fingers across her wet sex. He opened her, fitting the head of his cock against her. She lifted and he glided deep inside.

She shuddered with the feel of him, the weight of him, moving through her. He seated himself fully and then drew his face back, meeting her eyes.

“God, you feel good,” he said, his voice low and rough in the quiet. “I want to take you hard and fast, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smiled. “I’m not some virgin made of glass. Take me hard and fast. Show me how much you wanted me all this time. Let me show you the same.”

He cupped the back of her neck, his fingers teasing into her hair. She tilted her face, watching him as he withdrew a little from her body, then thrust forward again. The slap of their bodies meeting made her arch as pleasure ripped through her. How could he do that so easily? Was it just wanting this so long that made her weak? Or was it him?

She feared she knew that answer.

But she pushed it aside and ground against him, squeezing tight as he thrust again, again, harder and faster each time. His mouth found hers and there was nothing but sensation as he pounded into her, one hand cupping her backside, the other holding her head, taking her with his tongue and his cock at the same time.

She pushed her hand between their tightly pressed bodies, brushing her fingers against the wet length of him when he withdrew once more. He jolted faster at the sensation, his teeth scraping her lower lip with just enough pressure that she gasped.

She moved her hand against her clitoris, riding her fingers and his cock all at once. The pleasure mounted, edging even higher this time as she gripped against him. When she came she buried her mouth into his shoulder, crying out his name.

Well, she tried to call out his name. His first name, but all she could manage was a broken, “Cam—Cam—Cam!” as her body flexed out of control.

He cried out with her and then withdrew, the heat of him splashing against her skin, leaving his mark on her even if it would be wiped away far too soon.

She collapsed back, dragging him beside her. His arms came around her, their panting breaths echoing together in the warmth and peace of that room. Peace. What a concept. One she’d not had much in her life and yet she recognized it somehow, lying in this man’s arms, his breath stirring her hair whenever he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.

Only there couldn’t be peace. Even if her life allowed it, her current situation didn’t. Her thoughts and focus had to be on Nora. This was a brief respite, nothing more.

“If my sister didn’t go to my mother…” she whispered.

She felt him stiffen and then he eased up on an elbow to look down into her face. “You said she stopped writing some time ago. Do you know her friends?”

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t want what I am…was…to taint her, so I didn’t visit. I never met any girls she might be close to at the school. The ones who might be helping her, or know more about who might have taken her.”

“Then it sounds like our next step is to go to the school. How far is it?”

She sat up. “Ripley?—”

He touched her face. “I liked it when you called me Cam. When you’re naked in a bed beside me, I want you to call me that.”

How could a man be so hard, with his slightly bent nose, with the scar across his eyebrow, with the stern line of his mouth and the harsh ridge of his jaw…and yet be so gentle at the same time?

“Cam,” she tried, testing it and finding she liked it, too. Liked having that special name for him like he did for her when he sometimes called her Janie. She fought to retain focus on the matters at hand. “I said it to you in the garden—I can’t put you into this mess any more than you have been.”

“You aren’t putting me anywhere,” he insisted. “I’m not a man to be put .”

“No, I suppose not,” she agreed. “But?—”

“I’m going with you,” he interrupted. “And I’m finished arguing about it.”

Now his face really was hard, a reflection of his apparently immovable statement. And though she knew she ought to fight him more, force the issue, the idea of him being by her side as she searched, by her side if she found out the terrible things that haunted her, that was a relief. She had never needed anyone in her life, but she needed him right now.

“Fine,” she said. “She has been going to the Knightly Seminary for Young Women. It’s in the country about two days north of London.”

“So we’ll need to go back through the city either way,” he said. “Good. That will give you a chance to gather some things for the road and let me arrange for a more permanent travel situation.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” she said. “I hadn’t even thought of it.”

“See?” he said with a sad smile. “You do need me after all.”

“I never questioned that I needed you, Ripley. Cam.” She touched his face and then let her fingers glide down. He shivered, but caught her hand and lifted it to his lips.

“Do you want to go downstairs and eat? Or rest alone?”

She shook her head. “No. No, what I want is right here.”

He held her gaze steady and then pulled her in for another kiss, shifting onto his back and tugging her over him. She let all other thoughts drift away, lost herself in him, knowing that at some point that decision would come back to haunt her.