Epilogue

Fast cleared his throat and looked up at Lori with an amused, but pained expression. “Er, darling… it’s a bit chilly in here. If you wouldn’t mind?”

Lori shook herself. “Oh! I beg your pardon,” she said, and then quickly, but reluctantly, pulled the wicked black leather counterpane up over his magnificent body, debating whether she could leave his chest and nipples exposed. Just a little bit—enough for her to—

He laughed and her head whipped up. “What is so amusing?”

“When I hinted that I was cold, I wasn’t asking you to cover me with a blanket.”

“Then—”

“I want your naked body, sweetheart,” he said, lifting his hips off the bed—at least as much as he could with both his wrists and ankles bound—his long, thick shaft creating an erotic ridge beneath the leather.

Lori couldn’t tear her eyes from the sight, her sex clenching so hard she could feel an orgasm lurking not too far away. How remarkably wonderful was that? Just looking at his covered body was enough to—

“ Loreleiiiii. ”

Again, she looked up. “What?”

He pushed out his lower lip, obviously trying to look pitiful. “That dressing gown is lovely, darling, but won’t you remove it, pull this damned counterpane off, and fuck me as if you want to destroy me? ”

Lori’s eyes threatened to roll back in their sockets at his words. With her pulse pounding in her ears, she swallowed and reached for the edge of the black leather bedding and then slowly pulled it back, peeling Fast’s body like a luscious, exotic fruit.

His penis—or cock as he preferred to call it—sprang up with a mute exuberance that startled a laugh out of her.

Fast growled and jerked against the manacles that kept him stretched out and immobile. Every muscle in his big body rippled and flexed. It was…entrancing.

“So, you find my predicament amusing, do you?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He snorted. “Witch.” He yanked harder on the chains restraining his wrists. “If I had known how you were going to just stand there and torture me rather than—” The words withered on his tongue when she pulled the sash on her new green silk dressing gown and then let it fall to the ground.

Fast’s hips bucked up off the bed, a thin stream of clear liquid stranding from the fat crown to his ridged abdomen. “Please,” he begged.

She wanted to stare at him for hours—he was utterly mesmerizing—but she wanted to feel him inside her even more, so she clambered up onto the high mattress with more enthusiasm than grace and straddled his hips.

“Yes, that’s a good gir— mercy! ” he yelped when Lori gave his shaft of delight a swat.

“You will get what I give you and be grateful for it.” Lori said, stroking him hard—but only once—and earning a hiss and shudder.

“Yes. Yes yes yes yes I will,” he murmured, aroused rather than chastised, his hips pumping in time with his chanting.

She laughed.

“You are a cruel mistress.”

“You love it.”

“I do,” he said without hesitation.

He was so beautiful—there was no other word for it.

He raised his hips again when she merely gazed down on him, her sex still inches from his thrusting organ. His expression turned adorably petulant. “Lover, are you just going to look all night?”

“I might.” Lori enjoyed having such a fine, powerful male animal at her mercy, but—in truth—she was every bit as wet and aroused as he was and so she took his pulsing shaft in her hand and fitted him at her entrance before sinking down with agonizing slowness.

Fast made a noise that sounded as if he were being murdered and Lori was briefly grateful that neither Rufus nor Gregg was posted outside the door.

“Ride me!” Fast barked the moment he was fully hilted.

Lori considered punishing him for his willful behavior, but she wanted him too much. So she dropped her hands to his bulging biceps and used him to steady herself before rolling her hips.

“God yes!”

She couldn’t help the laugh that slipped from her mouth at his crazed shout, and her sinuous rhythm—which she’d been quite proud of—faltered.

“You evil, evil hussy,” he moaned when she stopped.

“Poor darling,” she crooned, smirking at his outraged look. “Is this what you want?” She rocked her hips again, this time not stopping when he moaned his approval.

Lori rode him in such a way that each stroke offered perfect friction, and it did not take long to stimulate herself toward the edge. “Come with me,” she said in a breathless voice when she felt him struggle to control his climax.

Fast’s hips jerked with the force of his orgasm and together they spiraled into bliss.

***

Fast’s orgasm—which he’d been throttling for a good half hour—exploded only a few seconds after Lorelei surrendered to ecstasy. Her hips stuttered and stilled, but her inner muscles carried him over the edge, her tight sheath milking him until he had nothing left to give.

“Oh,” she murmured a few minutes later, her body slumped over his, the hard thudding of her heart pounding against his chest.

Fast flexed his softening cock one last time, earning a soft grunt. “Before you fall asleep you need to remove these bloody things.” He rattled his chains. “I want to hold you.”

She grumbled but heaved herself up and crawled up his body, dragging her belly and then her mons into over his face in the process. Fast laughed and caught the skin just above her thatch of curls with his teeth as she fumbled with the manacles.

“Fast!” she squawked when he bit her.

He released her and licked the reddened skin, using his newly freed hand to pull her closer and tongued her navel.

She shook with laughter as she released his other hand and then tried to wiggle free. “Let me get your ankles.”

He reluctantly let her go.

Once she had liberated him, she stretched out alongside him. “I must look a fright,” she said, shoving her hair from her eyes.

“You look beautiful,” he said, carding his fingers into the wild tangle and gently stroking it off her forehead.

“So do you,” she said, mirroring his actions. “It has become quite long—past your shoulders.”

“Shall I cut it short?”

“No,” she said instantly. “I like it long. It looks…rakish.”

He laughed. “I should certainly cut it as I am no longer a rake.”

“You are my rake.”

He leaned in and claimed a kiss. “Such sweet words out of my evil wife! Who would have expected it? So, did you enjoy having me at your mercy?”

She cocked her head and looked thoughtful. “I enjoyed the novelty of it, but I would rather your hands be free. You are so skilled with them.”

“I’m glad to hear it. I like to have the use of my hands, too. I think tonight, after dinner, I will tie you to the bed.” He relished the heat that flared in her eyes.

“And will you beat me with one of those?” She pointed to an especially vicious looking cat o’ nine tails.

“I should do after you were just so cruel and naughty to me.” He smiled when her lips parted in shock. “In all seriousness, sweetheart, I would never do anything you did not like.”

“Would you like it?”

“Would I like using it on you or having it used on me?”

“Oh,” she said, nonplussed. “I never even thought about doing that to you.”

He chuckled. “Good, because I do not enjoy pain, nor do I derive sexual satisfaction from causing it.”

“I do not think I would like it, either,” she said after a moment.

Fast kissed the tip of her nose. “I hope you will always make me aware of your likes and dislikes, Lorelei. You needn’t feel shy about anything that arouses you. Or anything you think might arouse me.” He slid a hand around her head and caressed the taut cords at the base of her neck. “I want to drive you wild with pleasure.”

“I want to do the same.”

“Finally, something we can agree on.”

She laughed. “Surely there must be more than one thing?”

“There is—we both love your book.”

***

Lori was so pleased by his words that she was flustered. “I—I didn’t want to ask if you liked it,” she admitted after a moment. She had given Fast her copy of Briarly to read a few days before. “I didn’t even know if you had read it.”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I read it while you were out seeing to your various errands, and when I was supposed to be sorting through my mountain of unanswered correspondence. I had planned to take a peek, but—as Mr. Newcastle said—I could not stop reading once I’d started. You are a brilliant writer, Lorelei.”

Lori had to blink rapidly to hold back her tears.

“No weeping,” he chided gently.

“Not even happy tears?”

“Well, perhaps a few.”

“If you didn’t finish your work, does that mean we will stay longer?”

“Perhaps a day or two, if you do not object.”

“That would be perfect. I have some questions for Mrs. Marlowe and a few of the others.” She hesitated, and then said, “I would also like to see Freddie again.”

“Are you hoping she will tell you more about her trip to Brighton?”

“I’m not sure I believe that she went to Brighton.”

Fast’s eyebrows rose. “Where do you think she went?”

“I don’t know. I just—well, I just wish that she didn’t keep me at arm’s length. I wish I knew more about her past and what she wants for the future. I would just like to know her better. It wasn’t until Mr. Gregg asked me so many questions about her that I realized how self-absorbed I’ve been.”

“Gregg asked you about her?”

“Yes.” She frowned. “Do you know why he is so interested in her?”

“I don’t.”

“But you knew he was?”

Fast hesitated. “I did notice that he seemed interested, and I tried to explain that Lady Sedgewick was not the sort of woman who would accept a man like him.”

Lori frowned.

“Am I wrong?” he asked.

“That’s just the thing: I don’t know what sort of man she likes. Or if she likes any sort at all. I wish I knew more about what her marriage was like.”

“Sometimes people need to confide in you in their own time, Lorelei. I’ve known Gregg for sixteen years and I still know nothing of his past. To be honest, I did not tell him about mine until the matter was forced by Joe Jensen arriving in my life.” Fast shrugged. “All you can do is be her friend and let her choose the time.”

Lori nodded unhappily. “I know. It’s just—well, I’m so happy now that I want her to be, too.”

“That is a generous impulse, my love. Do you think she would accept an invitation to stay with us at Grandon?”

Lori blinked. “Oh. I’d not thought of that. But don’t you think it would be a bad time to invite her?”

“Are you worried my grandfather will not like guests?”

“Well…yes.”

“Grandon will be your home, too, Lorelei. My grandfather is not an ogre, you know. Our part of the castle is a house unto itself. You must invite whoever you like, whenever you like. I would only ask for a week or two before we entertain.” He hesitated, and then said, “You’d mentioned having a wedding celebration here in London next Season?”

Lori nodded.

“What about having it at Grandon sometime in the next few months?”

“What an excellent idea! Is there enough room? Could we invite everyone?”

Fast chuckled. “There are dozens and dozens of guestrooms.”

She grabbed his hand and kissed his palm. “I would adore that—and we could have Jeremy, Sarah, and the girls, too?”

“Of course. I believe I still owe Miss Gwendolyn several hours of reading Miss Fluffington.”

Lori gazed wonderingly at the opposite wall, not seeing sexual implements, but a houseful of her loved ones. “We could have a real house party?”

“As opposed to a fake house party, you mean?”

Lori ignored his teasing, her mind already racing.

Fast kissed her. “Yes, my love. We can have a house party of our own—many of them.”

She laughed out of sheer giddiness, threw her arms around him, and covered his surprised face with kisses. Already her mind was brimming with excitement at the thought of getting all her friends and family together in her new home.

She would pick a time carefully—so that all the teachers from the Stefani Academy for Young Ladies could be together.

Lori could hardly wait…

The End