Chapter 33

Despite Lorelei’s protests—which were interspersed with frequent, breathy sobs—Fast carried his weeping wife the rest of the way to the vicarage.

The whole time, her words echoed in his ears: I love you so much, Fast !

While he could have wished that she hadn’t been weeping and distraught when she’d finally decided to declare her feelings for him, he understood that the tears were from an excess of emotion—the strain of the prior weeks—and not directed at him personally.

In any event, they had the vicarage to themselves for the next twelve-or-so hours and it would be Fast’s particular pleasure to help ease her tension in every way imaginable. And he had an excellent imagination.

Smiling at the thought, he shouted for Mrs. Gerber the moment he opened the door to the foyer. The woman came scurrying into the small entry hall so quickly that he suspected she couldn’t have been far away. “Yes, my lord?”

“Have hot water sent up to the bridal chamber. You might as well have the girl bring up the cold supper Mrs. Simpson said you’d prepared.”

“You want supper now, sir?” Mrs. Gerber’s wide eyes swiveled from Fast to the window, as if to assure herself it was still daytime.

“Yes, send it up now. Her ladyship and I don’t want to be disturbed for the rest of the day. And night.” Fast gave the fussy servant a hard look, hoping that she took his meaning, which was that she and the maid should make themselves scarce.

“Won’t Miss Lori—er, my lady—need help with her gown?”

“I’ll see to that,” he assured her, amused by the faint gasp that slipped out of her.

She dropped a hurried curtsey. “Very good, my lord.” Her curious gaze slid to Lori, who’d wrapped her arms around Fast’s neck and tucked her face into the ruins of his cravat.

“We’ll want that water right away.”

The woman gave a startled jolt. “Yes, my lord!” And she hurried off in the direction of the kitchen.

“That was cruel,” Lori murmured as Fast carried her up the stairs. “She just wanted to get a good look at The King of the Rakes.”

He smiled, relieved to hear the teasing note in her voice. “Too bad all she got to see was The Most Perfect Husband in Britain, instead.”

Lorelei laughed.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” he scolded as he reached the landing and strode toward the room he knew belonged to the master and mistress of the house, but which they had kindly vacated for tonight. “Open the door, love,” he said once he’d stopped.

She fumbled for the handle and once they were inside, he hooked his foot around the door and pushed it shut before laying her gently down on the big four poster bed.

She caught his wrist and brought his palm to her face, the look in her eyes one he’d never seen before: almost worshipful. “Thank you for avenging me, Fast.”

He scoffed but kissed her palm before saying. “You should have let me shoot him. Or run him through with a sword.”

“But then you’d have had to run from England.”

“At the very least you should have allowed me to beat him a little.”

“I think nearly choking him to death sufficed.”

“ Hmmm ,” he hummed, the noise doubtful. And then he licked the spot he’d just kissed.

She giggled.

Fast paused his licking, his eyebrows almost to his hairline. “Did you just—”

“If you tell anyone I giggled, I shall write the most odious story about you and sell it to the scandal sheets.”

He laughed, and then slid her index finger into his mouth.

Her mouth opened but only a soft, “ urgh ” came out as he sucked.

“Oh, Fast…that is so…”

He removed her finger with a damp sucking pop. “So?” he prodded, moving to her middle finger.

“So very, very naughty.” She groaned as he suggestively stroked her finger with his tongue, letting her know what he was going to be doing to some other part of her body very soon.

It was his turn to groan—unhappily—when somebody knocked on the door to the adjoining sitting room.

He reluctantly released her finger. “I’ll go and deal with that. While I do, I want you to strip.”

Fast strode from the room while she was still struggling for a response. He shut the door behind him before letting the servants in.

“I’ll take that,” he said to the housekeeper, who had a ewer of hot water. “You can set the rest on the table,” he told the maid.

Once they’d deposited the cold supper, he bade them both a firm good night and shut and locked the door behind them before turning and striding toward the bedchamber. He’d seen the mulish look in his beautiful wife’s eyes. She wouldn’t have obeyed him about taking off her clothes.

That was fine; he’d enjoy stripping them off her himself.

He flung open the door and then stopped in midstride, gaping like a yokel at the sight that met his eyes.

It was his new wife lying utterly and completely naked on the bed. She’d assumed a modest pose—one leg crossed over the other to cover her sex and one arm draped across her breasts.

As he stared a flush crept up her body. She was…entrancing.

Her throat flexed as she swallowed. “Er, Fast?”

“ Hmmm ?” he asked, setting down the water so clumsily it almost fell off the table.

“You’re staring.”

“I am,” he agreed, yanking off his cravat and tossing it aside before going to work on his coat and waistcoat.

“You have a strange look on your face,” she said, her own expression nervous.

“Strange?” he repeated, shrugging off both his coats at once and throwing them off to the side without looking.

She laughed at his deliberately careless gesture—which had been his intention—some of the tension draining from her face. “Your valet isn’t here to tidy up after you, you know.”

He grunted, not taking his gaze from her luscious body as he toed off his Hessians in a rough way that would have Bixby scolding him, kicking them off to join all the other clothing strewn across the floor.

He shed his pantaloons and drawers on the way to the bed only pausing to bend and push down his stockings. When he stood, he was naked.

Her smile had disappeared, replaced by a hungry look that made his already hard prick throb even harder.

Fast gripped the base of his shaft and slowly pumped himself, reveling in the heat in her darkened gaze. “You like watching me stroke myself, don’t you?”

She nodded, her big eyes huge.

“I’d give you a proper show if I didn’t think I’d shame myself in less than a minute,” he said, reluctantly releasing himself and climbing onto the bed. “Oh, no you don’t! Where do you think you’re going?” he growled when she tried to scramble to the other side of the bed. “I want you right here.”

Here was beneath him and he straddled her hips. She’d moved both her hands to cover her breasts, so he caught them easily and then held them above her head with one hand.

“Fast!” She squirmed beneath his greedy gaze.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured, drinking in the sight of her full, firm breasts and their large pink nipples. “It embarrasses you that I’m staring, doesn’t it?”

She pursed her lips and her eyes—which had been fixed on his mouth—jumped up to meet his. “No.”

Fast laughed. “Liar.”

“You enjoy making me blush and squirm, don’t you?” she accused, doing both to perfection as she hastily looked away.

“I love it,” he admitted. “Especially when you are naked. Eyes on me, Lorelei.”

She obeyed immediately and her lips parted, either in surprise at her own behavior or because his commands aroused her. Or maybe both.

“I’m going to release your wrists, but I want you to lay your hands above your head and keep them there. Understood?”

Fast loved watching the struggle that took place within her, the independent bluestocking at war with the sensual young woman, the former fighting to bring the latter to heel.

What she needed was a bit of taunting to make the struggle even more entertaining…

“You like submitting to my commands, don’t you?”

She exhaled shakily—which caused her lovely breasts to tremble in an entrancing fashion. “I don’t know what is wrong with me.” Her eyelids lowered until her eyelashes were fanned against her cheeks. “But I do like it, Fast.”

“Look at me, Lorelei.”

She raised her gaze slowly, something that looked like mortification flickering across her face.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of, love. You can obey me in the bedchamber and still be a strong, intelligent woman. What we do in private is our concern and ours alone. I love having you at my command. And I love that it arouses you. All too often the women of our class are told to stifle their urges and fantasies while their husbands are encouraged to look outside of the marriage bed to satisfy their sexual appetites.” Holding her gaze, he leaned low enough to take a nipple between his teeth, nipping and tugging the sensitive bud until she hissed, her eyelids fluttering and her back arching. Fast was pleased to note that for all her squirming her hands remained in place.

He released the tightly puckered bud and gave it a gentle kiss before saying, “I want you to be my sexual slave in the bedchamber, Lorelei.” He moved to the other nipple. “And I want to be yours, as well.” He smiled when her breathing quickened. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? Making me kneel before you. Making me obey your every command and beg for my release?”

A shiver wracked her, but her voice was coolly defiant when she retorted, “I believe I might.”

Fast gave a triumphant laugh. “I imagine you will be a deliciously cruel mistress.”

She bit her lip but could not retrain her scandalized laughter. “You are absurd!”

He grinned, pleased that she felt relaxed enough to laugh and jest with him. “I am, darling. And I am all yours. Now, keep your eyes on me.” He moved back a foot and then gently nudged her clenched legs apart before kneeling between them. He firmly caressed the long taut muscles of her thighs, sliding a hand up and up. “I like it when you watch me, Lorelei.” His questing finger traced the seam of her sweet, pouty lips.

She gasped and raised her hips when he parted her folds and circled her slick, engorged nub.

“This is what good girls get, Lorelei.” Her nostrils flared at his patronizing words, but the way she spread her legs wider without his urging told him how much she liked it.

“You’re so wet and eager,” he breathed, increasing the pressure of his caress.

She tensed and made soft whimpering sounds, her hips pulsing by the time he slid a finger deep inside her.

“What a beautiful cunt you have,” he praised,

A broken moan tore from her lips at his crude compliment and she shuddered.

His naughty wife loved his vulgar tongue and Fast did not hold back. “You’re so tight,” he whispered, watching his finger slide in and out of her body, rapt. “I have been dreaming about fucking you for weeks.” Fast smiled at her sharp gasp and the sudden clenching of her inner muscles and eased a second finger in alongside the first, the sight of her body stretching to accommodate him excruciatingly arousing. “Good God! I wish you could see yourself, sweetheart.” He circled her bud, his touch purposely too light to bring her to climax.

A whimper of frustration slipped from her mouth, and she bucked her sex against his fingers. “Fast… please.”

“As you wish,” he said.

And then he gave her what she needed.

“That’s right,” he murmured as she cried out and came apart. “Come for me, darling.”

***

Lori decided that making love to her husband was her new favorite pastime.

Not only was Fast skilled and generous, but he said the most wonderfully naughty things Lori had ever heard.

And then there was the way he seemed to see right to the core of her—to those uncomfortably erotic thoughts she’d always kept locked away. Somehow, he had not only found the key, but he made no bones about unlocking the door and exploring her every hidden desire and secret fantasy.

It might not be entirely comfortable, but already she could see theirs would be a much richer marriage for his erotic prying.

“Are you sleeping my beautiful lover?”

Lori forced her heavy eyelids up and smiled up at her new husband, who was once again on his knees, stroking himself as he gazed down at her.

Her eyes opened wider. “I am awake now.”

He chuckled. “I love the way you look at me.”

“And I love you.”

His hand stopped moving and his eyes widened.

“What?” she taunted, “did you think I had misspoken earlier?”

“No, not at all. I just didn’t expect to hear it again without some, er, provocation.”

She snorted. “I don’t need to stop you from killing a man to tell you I love you, Fast. I’ve felt it for a while—since you first confessed your feelings for me. I was just too…”

“Cautious?”

She gave him a wry look. “I was going to say cowardly . But thank you.” Her gaze dropped to that most fascinating part of him. His hand hadn’t moved again, and he’d lost some of his tumescence while they’d talked. Lori cut him a shy glance. “May I touch you?”

“You never need to ask. I am yours to do with as you please.”

He said the most intoxicating things! Lori had always thought herself articulate, but he disarmed her with his direct honesty.

He groaned when she wrapped her fingers around his shaft, his big body swaying toward her as she caressed the impossibly silky and rapidly hardening length of him. The small slit produced a fascinating bead of liquid that was mute evidence of his desire for her.

Being with Fast was so different from the dry, furtive, and painful couplings she’d had with Dorian that there was no comparison.

“What is it, darling? You are giving my cock the most accusatory look.”

Her face heated at the word cock , which was ridiculous given that she currently had her hand wrapped around it. “That’s what you prefer to call it… cock ?”

He shrugged, his hips pushing against her hand which made her realize she’d stopped stroking. “Cock, prick, jack, Adam’s dagger, Sir John, shaft of delight—any of those will do and all are more interesting than penis in my opinion.”

“ Sir John ?” Lori laughed so hard her eyes teared up. “Those cannot be terms that are actually in use.”

“Indeed, they are—I would never jest about such an important matter. Surely, you’ve heard such terminology in your dealings with newspapermen? I’d always understood them to be an earthy lot.”

“I don’t know what you think my days and nights were composed of, but I scarcely associated with any other journalists.”

“Ah, so your education in this area is my responsibility then.” He rubbed his hands together with exaggerated glee. “I cannot wait to teach you all I know.”

“There are more terms?”

“Ramrod, nature’s delight, stallion—”

“ Stallion ?” She choked on a laugh, but then recalled that she still held his, er, Sir John in her fist and resumed her pumping.

Fast gave an appreciative purr and then said. “Tighter.”

She firmed her grip. “Like this?”

“A bit more— ahhh , perfect,” he sighed when she complied.

“Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?” she asked doubtfully.

“Quite sure,” he said, his voice rough, his lids drooping low over his eyes. “Oh, yes. Just like that.”

“Could I make you, er, e-ejaculate this way?” Lori asked, disgusted that she couldn’t spit out the word without stumbling over it.

“There is no doubt in my mind—and rather speedily, too, I’m afraid.” He set a hand on hers and Lori stilled her erotic labor. “I am very close,” he explained at her questioning look. “I want to be inside you.”

Lori swallowed. “Yes…I want that, too.”

He lowered to one elbow, positioned himself at her entrance, and then flexed his hips enough that the hot blunt crown bumped against her.

“Rather like a battering ram at a castle gate,” Lori murmured.

Fast shook with laughter and pushed until just the fat tip was inside her.

They both gave hisses of pleasure.

“Fast?”

“Yes, darling?” he asked in a tight voice.

“You don’t have to withdraw.”

His brow furrowed. “If I don’t withdraw, then—”

“Then the chances are greater that I shall conceive,” she finished for him. “I know that.”

“I am in no hurry to start a family, Lorelei.”

“Neither am I. But I no longer fear becoming pregnant, either,” Lori said, wanting him to understand just how earthshaking her change of heart was. “I have always loved and wanted children, but I’ve spent the last seven years telling myself that no man would want to marry a woman with my tattered reputation. And now, quite suddenly, I’ve discovered that isn’t true. Indeed, I’ve fallen in love with a man who has not only accepted me—mistakes and all—but is my champion.”

He growled. “I cannot believe how much you’ve suffered because of that lout, Lorelei. You should have let me beat him when I had my hands on him. Who is his father?” he demanded, the question startling her.

“He is the Earl of Seton’s heir. Why?”

Fast’s eyes narrowed and his gaze turned distant, as if he were plotting.

“You cannot challenge his father to a duel or kill him either,” she added quickly.

He barked a laugh, the menacing expression draining from his handsome face.

Lori stroked his back. “I do not want to think about him, Fast. I just wanted you to know that with you, everything is different. And…and I am excited to have your child.”

“I know exactly how you feel, darling.”

“Truly?”

“Truly. Just remember that it doesn’t always happen immediately—sometimes it may take years.”

“I believe either alternative would be fine… with you.”

“I love you, sweetheart,” he said, and then flexed his hips, slowly breaching her. He cocked his head and paused. “You are holding your breath. Am I hurting you?”

“No, not at all. It’s just that…er, you are bigger than I remember.”

“You say the nicest things, sweetheart.” His hips fell into a rhythm of slow, deep thrusts. “ Mmm, such a tight, wet little pussy.” He propped himself on one elbow and reached between them. “Let me see if I can make you even wetter, love.”

Lori shivered as he unerringly located the source of her pleasure and commenced to drive her mad.

It did not take long to reach her climax, and Lori was distantly aware that her shouts had to be audible down in the kitchen but couldn’t bring herself to care. Each time her inner muscles flexed, the blissful sensation was intensified by having something big and hard filling her.

“Feeling good?” he asked a few moments later, once she had floated back down to earth.

“ Mm-hmm .”

He kissed her as his hips—which had stilled during her climax—resumed their steady pumping, slow at first, but gradually picking up the pace, each thrust deeper and harder than the last.

Lori groaned when he changed the angle, causing a subtle, delicious friction in exactly the right place

His skin slicked with his exertions and his breathing roughened, but the pounding rhythm of his hips did not falter.

Lori gave herself up to the primal sensation of being so utterly possessed, so completely owned. Within moments, her body was yet again speeding toward the brink, each savage pump ratcheting the need inside her tighter and tighter and—

“You need it harder, don’t you, my little temptress?” Fast demanded in a breathless voice. The question made Lori aware that she had bent her knees and was digging her heels into the bed to meet his thrusts.

When she didn’t answer, he… stopped . “Don’t you, Lorelei?” he repeated, his lips curved into a cruel, sensual smile.

She lifted her hips, grinding against him and trying to regain that glorious momentum.

“Beg for your orgasm, Lorelei.”

Lori’s entire body stiffened. “Wh-what?”

“Beg and I’ll give you what you want, my beautiful lover. What you need.” His smile grew larger, and she knew it was because her body had—yet again—betrayed her by tightening in response to his erotic mockery.

“You—you—” She lost sight of what she’d been going to say when he slammed in hard enough that she saw white spangles.

She whimpered when he yet again went motionless.

“Eyes on me, Lorelei.”

She forced her eyes open and looked into bottomless black pools.

“Beg,” he whispered, flexing his thick shaft inside her, the feeling somehow more wicked than his powerful thrusting had been. “Say it. Say Fast, please give me an orgasm . When you do, I’ll give you everything you need and more.”

“I hate you,” she hissed.

“I’m waiting,” he taunted, moving his hips so subtly it was torture.

Lori gritted her teeth. “Please, Fast—just—just—make me orgasm, damn you!”

His hips were in motion before the last word left her mouth and it took scarcely a dozen strokes before she came apart. Unlike the last time, he didn’t stop during her climax, but intensified his thrusting, as relentless and pitiless as the surf pounding the shore.

A scant moment later he drove himself deep and shuddered, his shaft swelling inside her as he flooded her with heat. “I love you, Lorelei,” he rasped in a wrecked voice, his big body convulsing over and over, the spasms lessening into jerks and then twitches.

Finally, all the tension drained away and his body went heavy and limp. “All mine,” he mumbled, the words almost unintelligible, as if it had taken every last bit of effort to utter them.

Lori was reveling in the sensation of being surrounded by hard, hot male when Fast began to lift up on his elbows. “Don’t go.” She wrapped her arms around his broad back and held him tightly against her, not wanting him to leave just yet.

“But I’m crushing you.”

“I like it.”

He resisted for only a second and then relaxed with a groan that spoke of bone deep satisfaction. “ Mmmm . Just a few minutes.” The last word was more of a yawn.

Lori smiled as his breathing gradually slowed. Even in her post coital daze she was aware that tonight had been a first for him, that she was the only woman in the world Fast had ever wanted to fill with new life.

The thought brought unexpected tears to her eyes—happy ones—that he’d waited so long. For her.

She pressed her face against the damp skin of his throat, inhaling his heady scent. “I love you, Stand Fast Severn.”

Her new husband’s answer was a soft snore.

Lori laughed and held him tighter.

The End