Chapter Fourteen

F lora lay on her side , watching Lennox sleep. She had fallen asleep in his arms, and he had kept a tight hold on her throughout the night. Even now, his bold grip kept her pressed against him. She couldn’t sneak away to her bedchamber even if she tried. Did she even want to? If she were honest, she would admit that she desired nothing more than to awaken in Lennox’s bed every morning.

She bit her bottom lip as she pondered what their lovemaking meant for them. Were they reunited as husband and wife? After they made love, neither of them had mentioned the past. Lennox had spoken of it before he seduced her with his kisses, but Flora had been so desperate for his touch that she expressed her own desire for him to continue.

Even now, her body rippled with a fresh ache of need at the warmth of Lennox’s hard body wrapped around her. His firm chest brushed across her nipples with each deep breath he inhaled and released, causing them to harden into firm buds that needed his attention. The cool pearls hanging between her breasts didn’t help to chill the fire coursing through her veins.

She was a wanton wife aching for her husband to wake up and take her underneath him again. Her hand fluttered against his chest and down his stomach. She could no longer resist caressing his muscled form. He had resisted her touch throughout most of their lovemaking, but that morning would be another story. Where was it written that a wife couldn’t seduce her husband? Her husband had set the scene for seduction when he first asked her to accompany him to the theatre.

Flora pressed her lips against his rigid forearm as she explored his body with gentle caresses. Lennox never stirred. Not even a soft moan or a grunt for disturbing him. She draped herself across his chest, pressing her core against his cock, which was far from soft. His cock twitched from her attention, which led her to believe her husband was no longer asleep. However, he never moved a muscle, so she continued exploring him at her leisure.

She didn’t rush her seduction but drew it out with each lingering kiss. Each gentle touch. Each movement of her body against his. Her soft gestures was the only way to express her emotions without spilling her heart. She wasn’t ready to confess that the love she held for this man had only intensified throughout the years they spent apart.

Each kiss she whispered across his body gave her the confidence to slide down between his legs. She didn’t know where her boldness came from. It must be the effect of how Lennox had treated her like a goddess with his lovemaking. It didn’t matter how she held no experience in pleasing a gentleman, only how she wished to drive her husband over the edge with her mouth alone.

Her husband had awakened. His hands gripped the bedsheets in a tight fist to keep himself from taking over. That sight alone gave her the courage to continue. She didn’t dare glance up to see if he watched her or else she would lose her nerve.

Flora pressed a kiss against his thigh, which released a low growl from Lennox. She smiled at the effect she held over him. She longed to hear him roar with pleasure, to unleash the beast he held tempered to win her back. She wanted his full domination of her heart and soul. Regardless of how she kept her wish protected behind the walls of her heart.

She palmed his cock as she brushed a kiss across the tip. Her tongue darted out to lick his desire away. Her simple act had Lennox stiffening underneath her. It was only when she wrapped her mouth around the tip and sucked the length of him into her mouth that he no longer remained silent.

“Oh, damn,” he cursed.

Her smile widened at his reaction. She drew him out with her tongue pressed against his cock. The power of his desire throbbed against her tongue, beating a rhythm of his need. She was exhilarated at how he expressed his pleasure with each curse uttered from his lips. Her lack of experience was no longer a hindrance but an encouragement to abandon his resistance.

She may be indecisive about what she wanted from Lennox. However, she was positive the chemistry between them wasn’t a false attraction. It was as real as her heart twirling in a dance of seduction to entice him to abandon his doubts for this mere moment alone.

Lennox could no longer hold himself back from touching Flora. The torture he endured from her sweet lips drove him wild with need. Her innocent touch undid him. He was no longer the confident husband who wanted his wife to forgive him and love him with all her heart. He was a desperate man who would endure whatever sweet pleasure she offered him. It no longer mattered if she forgave him. She could hate him until his dying day. Just as long as she favored him with her attention any way she desired.

Her tongue lashing against his cock was as vicious as when she was in a snit. Lennox loved every bit of her love as well as her fury. He dug his hands into her tresses that teased his thighs with each press of her lips against his cock. He fought not to push himself into her mouth with a demanding need, but he was powerless to stop himself from raising his hips with each pull as she sucked him deeper.

The rhythm of her seduction had taken a turn when he stopped holding back. He wanted to show her she held control of their relationship. He was but a humble servant, aching for any sign of her love. Her bold actions that morning to awaken him showed Lennox they had a chance at happiness.

She teased the tip of his cock with each swipe of her tongue across the slit as her hand wrapped around him and stroked him with the gentlest of tugs. Flora’s touch altered between an innocent miss unsure how to please him and a goddess set out to destroy his sanity with her fierce dedication to his pleasure. His hands gentled in her hair at the sweet kisses she trailed along the length of his cock. He wanted to tip her chin to stare into her eyes as she loved him, but he held himself back from Flora’s seduction.

She didn’t leave him waiting for his wish. With her tongue setting a path of fire along his cock, she raised her gaze to pierce him with desire blazing from her eyes that stole his breath away. Before he drew a breath, she lowered her mouth and sucked him into an astonishing state of need.

She drew his cock in and out. The sight of his cock sinking into her mouth pushed him over the edge. Flora had him at her mercy, and his control slipped away. With a roar from the passion she elicited, he gave himself to Flora.

“Flora, Flora, Flora!” His roar turned into a chant of his unrepressed need for this woman.

He drew her up his body and devoured her with a soul-shattering kiss, binding them together in an unbreakable grasp. He wanted to drink from her lips all day long and savor her sweetness as it consumed his soul. She left him shaken from her generous offering. They had never held the chance to explore the intimacy of their marriage before she fled because of his inconsideration. However, now she shared his bed, and he would make it his mission to discover every nuance of what Flora found passion for.

In and out of their marital bed.

Flora drew back from the devouring kiss that consumed her to slow her racing heart. She had never expected the thunderous reaction from Lennox for her boldness. She hid her face in the curve of his neck as his chuckle of satisfaction shook them. He never allowed Flora a moment to recover from their passion because of his arrogant reaction.

“Ah, love, ‘tis no need for shyness this morning.” He wrapped his arms around her middle to keep her pressed to his side.

She jabbed him in the chest. “Can you not accept a gesture in silence?”

His laughter caused her to squirm in his hold. He pressed a kiss on top of her head. “How am I to show my appreciation for said gesture if I do not express the enormity of how it affected me?”

Flora growled at how he answered a question with a question. Even in all of his naked glory, he continued with his exasperation. “You are most arrogant.”

Lennox rolled them over and hovered over Flora with an irritating smile. She found annoyance not with the charm but with how it turned her into a pile of aching mush underneath him. She had lost all resistance toward the beast and only wanted him to put her out of her needy misery. Would he ever silence himself and kiss her senseless again?

However, before Lennox granted Flora her wish, someone pounded on the door, interrupting the cocoon they had created for only the two of them. Reality came calling for them.

“Not now,” Lennox growled at the intruder.

He watched the light of merriment fade from Flora’s eyes to be replaced with the enormity of the threshold they crossed by making love. He wanted to roar again, not from pleasure but from the unfair disruption.

Murray’s muffled reply sounded through the door. “I beg your pardon, my lord, but there is a matter below that demands your attention.”

“Take care of it yourself,” Lennox replied while he tried to capture Flora’s wavering attention.

“I have tried, Lord Hepburn. However, the vermin have spread into an impossible extraction.”

Flora’s head whipped back, and her body shuddered at Murray’s description of the problem he needed help with. She had assumed the servant referred to actual vermin that invaded a home, not of the human variety who would thwart his attempt to win Flora’s heart. He should’ve known they would arrive and ruin his plans.

“Give me a moment and I will come to your aid,” Lennox ordered. He bent his head to brush a light kiss across Flora’s lips. “Please stay abed and await my return. It will not take long to assist Murray.”

However, his wife had already distanced herself from him from how she lay stiff underneath him. Why weren’t they fortunate to have met as orphaned children? Why must they come from meddling families whose sole purpose was to interfere with their chaos? He would allow her to pull away to gain clarity from their actions. However, he refused to allow her to distance herself from him again. He would fight against any resistance she placed between them.

Lennox rose and dressed to handle his unwelcome guests. He wasn’t a fool to believe she would remain in his bedchamber. That was fine. Lennox loved a fiery sparring of words to lure Flora into his bed again. Because she would find herself at his mercy, where he would discover seductive ways to please her. He longed to hear her soft sighs when she reached the pinnacle of the passion between them.

Flora watched Lennox leave and close the door behind him. Other than his one request, he didn’t convince her to stay. She recognized his determination to fight for them. He wouldn’t let her go so easily now. As she considered how she wanted to react, a loud thud echoed from below, followed by a boisterous argument. She thought she heard a lady ordering the commotion to end. However, glass breaking indicated the plea went ignored.

What she thought was a rodent issue swiftly turned into a ruckus of epic proportions by the thunderous noise belowstairs. Flora grew worried. Had the threats against her found their doorstep while they lost themselves in their passion? She rushed out of bed and found Lennox’s robe. She wrapped the enormous garment around her and tightened the belt. Lifting the material to her knees, she rushed down the stairs to help her husband, only to stop suddenly at the scene before her.

Two steps below her, her brother Brodie held Lennox’s arms pinned behind his back while her other brother Malcom had his arm pulled back to punch Lennox in the gut. One of them had already blackened Lennox’s eyes and caused blood to trickle from his mouth. All the while, her brother Hugh stood with his arm wrapped around his wife, encouraging them to continue. Her sister-in-law cried out in grief at them for beating on her brother. However, her cries went unanswered. It didn’t matter if two marriages tied their families together.

There was no love lost between her husband and her brothers.