Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

He had only meant to scare her a little. To show her that he was not the gentleman she had thought him to be.

Who would have thought that his sweet little fawn would willingly walk into the Wolf’s den?

When he covered her eyes with the blindfold, it had taken every drop of his remaining self-control not to take her right then and there.

The silk black ribbon contrasted with the pale dewiness of her skin. It stood out like a slash of darkness against the light, reminding him of their differences.

To him, Evie was sunshine and innocence and all things good and pure.

He was the complete opposite of all of that.

“Are you afraid?” he asked her softly.

You should be.

She shook her head, the motion sending waves of her dark hair cascading over her silk-encased shoulders. Daniel narrowed his eyes at the sight. He would need to remedy that.

He grabbed a fistful of the silken sleeve of her robe and slowly dragged it off her shoulder to reveal the gauzy lace beneath it. The sight of her curves through the gossamer fabric elicited a growl from the back of his throat.

What the hell was Madame Dumosse using to make these nightdresses? A spider’s web?

He felt her shiver at the low sound that rumbled in his chest and smiled against her skin.

“You have been a very naughty girl, my Duchess,” he crooned into her shoulder. “Wantonly breaking every rule I set. Your insubordination will not go unpunished this time…”

A soft whimper escaped her, exciting him even more, if such a thing was even possible. With a soft grunt, he pulled at the laces just underneath her gorgeous breasts, and the garment easily slid off her shoulder. Impatiently, he yanked it off her sweet body, sending it pooling around her feet.

Evie was now standing before him wholly naked. The shadows danced and flickered over her luscious curves, her dark hair cascading down her back, contrasting starkly with her pale skin.

His member throbbed almost painfully at the glorious sight before him, eager for a taste of her.

But not yet. Not tonight.

He nudged her closer to the bed, and she stumbled along. If it had not been for her guiding him, she might have fallen, blinded as she was by the ribbon that now obscured her vision.

“Lie down on the bed,” he instructed her.

She nodded again and groped at the velvet sheets before she crawled into his bed. The sight nearly brought him down to his knees and made him burst out of his breeches.

Evie lay down on the bed. Instinctively, she moved to cover her chest and the tuft of curls between her legs, but he let out a warning growl, and she immediately desisted.

He watched as her breath came out in soft, little gasps, her breasts heaving as she awaited his next move. She was surprisingly compliant tonight, and he found her submission all the more titillating.

“I am nothing like your other gentleman suitors,” he whispered harshly as he climbed into bed with her. “I will do such badthings to you. Things that you have never imagined I am capable of doing…”

She let out a soft mewl as he grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head.

“You are going to do exactly as I say,” he continued. “But if you ever feel the need to stop me, just say so.”

He watched as her breath hitched in her throat, felt the slight tension in her body, and drew back just a little. If she told him to stop right now, he would—even if it would damn well kill him.

“Are you done warning me yet?” she groaned, her voice tinged heavily with frustration. “Or is this your chosen method of torture for my flagrant disobedience?”

A wicked smile spread across his lips as he laughed softly, darkly against the side of her neck.

“So impatient, my Duchess,” he crooned. “Very well then. Let us start your lessons…”

She could feel her breath hitching in her throat, her skin tingling at the slightest whisper of his touch. How she craved it—all of it.

All of him.

“Now, before we start, we need to set some rules,” she heard him say.

Rules?

Evie’s mind whirred. She was already close to bursting out of her skin and he wanted to talk about rules?

“We are going to need a word—a sort of code, if you will,” he continued. “Once we… start, it can get very hard to say something intelligible.”

Dear God in heaven, is he going to reduce me to a blubbering mess?

She had no doubt he was capable of doing so if his kisses were anything to go by. The merest feel of his lips on hers was enough to liquefy her brain and all rational thought in it. If he were to go further…

“I need you to decide on a word that you can use, should the situation become too much for you.”

“Like what word?” she said impatiently. “Stop?”

He chuckled. “That is too vague, sweetheart. Imagine if you said don’t and stop in close succession… I would not know what to do.”

He was being decidedly wicked, and Evie could feel it.

“What do you suggest then?”

“We can start with colors,” he whispered as his fingers skated over her bare skin. “Red if you want me to stop. Green if you want me to go on…”

Green, green, green!

“And what if I do not say anything?”

“Then I shall take it as a sign to carry on,” he replied, trailing his lips from her jawline to the side of her neck. “Sometimes, it can get very hard to speak once one is in the throes of pleasure.”

Pleasure…

Her whole body thrummed with the delicious possibilities. Possibilities that Daniel would no doubt make a reality that very night.

“All right,” she murmured breathlessly. “Green.”

It was exhilarating, not quite knowing what was going to happen to her. Merely trusting that he would take good care of her. Make her his wife in every sense of the word.

But somehow, Evie felt there had to be something more to the consummation of their marriage. She could not understand why the ton spoke of it as a woman’s duty to submit to her husband. Could not understand the deep, dark desires that slumbered in her heart, only to be awakened by Daniel’s touch.

All she knew was that she wanted him—whatever that was.

She felt something soft and cool wrap around her wrists and realized that Daniel was tying them up with expert, masterful movements. The bonds were neither too loose nor too tight, providing just the right amount of restriction to her movements without hurting her.

His lips found hers once more, coaxing her to open up to him as his tongue slipped into her mouth with the same unerring boldness she had come to expect from him. This time, however, he lightly nipped her lower lip, and the slight sting caused her to gasp. The sound turned into a soft mewl when he gently sucked on it, and the pressure in her lower belly began to unfurl.

Evie felt him slow down, and she softly gasped out, “Green.”

His hands trailed down from her shoulders to her breasts, gently squeezing and kneading the soft flesh in his palms. She had never been touched so intimately before, and the thought of Daniel doing all sorts of things to her while she remained in the dark heightened the sensations she was feeling.

She let out a soft whimper when he tweaked one turgid peak, her body bowing off the bed as she moaned, “Green.”

His touch became more insistent, pinching her nipples lightly as he played with her breasts. When she felt his hot mouth envelop the stiff peak, she cried out in sheer pleasure.

“Oh God, Daniel!”

She swore she could hear his slight laughter as he sucked and rolled her nipple with his tongue. Evie felt as if her entire body had turned into liquid heat. As if she had transformed into a creature of pure desire, to cater to his every whim.

For so long, Evie had lived in fear of flames. She could not even stand the lit fireplace, no matter how cold the winters got.

Now, however, she found herself bursting into flames wherever he touched her, and she reveled in it.

How could they just perceive this as a marital duty?

She felt his fingers at the apex of her thighs, felt him toying with the curls that guarded her womanhood, and she immediately clamped her legs together.

“Shh,” he murmured against the now sensitive skin of her breast. “Open yourself for me, Duchess. Spread your legs like a good girl…”

His words wove through the haze of her consciousness like a spell. Her earlier resistance melted, and her thighs fell open, revealing her most intimate flesh to him as she quivered on the bed in nervous excitement.

He turned his mouth to her other breast, nipping the aroused peak as his hand slipped past the curls on her mound and into her wet heat.

“Daniel!” she cried out. “Oh dear… oh my!”

“Do you like it, Duchess?” he murmured. “Do you like my touching your wet heat?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“Red or green?” he teased her.

“Green!” she moaned. “Dear God, green!”

He laughed softly as he continued to tease her with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue, and those oh-so-wonderful fingers. She was quaking on the bed now, her legs falling so wantonly open, her hips bucking to meet every delicious stroke of his fingers.

When he found purchase on a spot, she let out a shriek of delight. He took his cue and deliberately began circling it with his finger, pushing her closer to the edge of something unfathomable and wonderful at the same time.

“Do you feel that, Duchess?”

Evie could hardly comprehend what he meant. She was so lost in the sensations he was wreaking on her body that she could hardly focus on his words.

“Can you feel how wet and ready you are for me?” he murmured, lightly nipping her nipple.

She was tossing her head from side to side, her breath coming out in shallow pants and moans. Her wrists were still tied over her head, her hips straining against the hand he used to press her down onto the bed while his other hand rubbed her center in languid strokes that he seemed to time to her needy whimpers.

Then, she felt it—felt the finger at her entrance.

Like most young ladies of the ton, she had absolutely no idea just what happened in the marital bed—or the pleasure her body was capable of. Her education in this matter, she entrusted wholly with her husband, who was now showing her in the most ardent means possible just how much ecstasy could be had between a man and a woman.

With his finger pressed to that pearl between her legs, he gently pushed into her entrance, drawing a shocked gasp from her lips as he unlocked yet another point of pleasure.

This one, however, was much deeper, but the sensation was no less than everything Daniel had done to her thus far.

“Damn,” he swore softly. “I can feel you squeezing my finger so sweetly…”

Evie did not know what he meant—only that she was feeling as if she was teetering on the edge of something.

As to what that something was, she had absolutely no idea.

His finger began to move, sliding in and out of her, igniting a deep-seated heat that was akin to the most pleasurable ache imaginable. All the while, she could feel the pad of his thumb on that button, pushing her to even greater heights.

“Daniel!” she heard herself cry out, her voice dripping heavily with her need. “Oh, Daniel, please… do not stop… I am begging you.”

“That’s right, my little Duchess,” he growled. “I love it when you beg me to do such nasty things to you.”

“P-please…” she wheezed. “Daniel… it feels so good!”

All of a sudden, the languid pace of his fingers disappeared, and he started to thrust into her in a frenzy, igniting a flame in her that grew wilder and more out of control. When his mouth clamped on her nipple, sucking it harder than he had before, Evie exploded with a wild scream, her body bowing off the bed as Daniel continued to pump his finger into her, wrenching such unimaginable pleasure from her in waves.

When he finally drew his finger out of her, smearing her wetness over her thigh as he drew her into his arms, she was shuddering.

Spent.

Gloriously so.

Daniel gently untied the silken bonds around her wrists and took the blindfold off her.

“Dear God, what was that?” she murmured, blinking dazedly up at him.

He smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “That, my sweet Duchess, was another encounter with feminine pleasure.”

“Oh.” She snuggled into his chest, her eyes wide as she contemplated what had just happened between them.

“You must be feeling spent,” he told her in a guttural voice. “Go to sleep.”

He pressed her head firmly down, but Evie could only frown.

“You said feminine pleasure,” she began.

“Yes, I did.”

“What about your pleasure, then?”

He stiffened at her words. “I derive great pleasure from wrenching those delectable moans from you, my sweet.”

Her brow furrowed even as her cheeks flushed. “But that cannot be all.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Are we not supposed to… you know…” she trailed off, blushing further.

“Evelyn,” he warned in a dark tone. “What did I tell you about not provoking me?”

She looked up at him with wide eyes, and he sighed.

“Are you not even the least bit tired?” he asked her, his hands gently stroking her hair.

She shook her head and placed her palm on his chest. She could feel his strong heartbeat. The smooth warmth of his skin.

When her fingernail scraped against his nipple, she heard his sharp intake of breath.

“Daniel,” she told him softly. “I want all of you.”

He growled and rolled over, pinning her to the bed. His eyes were dark and wild with lust as he peered down at her nakedness.

“You do not know what you are asking for,” he muttered hoarsely.

She smiled up at him, her hands sliding into his hair. “On the contrary, I have never wanted anything more…”