A Visit From Sir Nicholas (27 page)

"Not at all, as they are all new to my employ. However," he grinned, "I expect they will grow used to it in time."

"Nicholas!"

The man was most arrogant and she shouldn't find him the least bit amusing, but he was. She laughed and snuggled closer against him. She realized she was, at the moment, rather unreasonably happy. Possibly even blissful. The thought occurred to her that she would prefer there being only one half-clothed woman he ever carried up the stairs stark naked, but she pushed it aside. This was supposed to last no longer than Christmas. That was her plan, after all.

They reached his bedchamber, and he shoved the door open with his foot, stepped into the room, and kicked the door closed. The gaslight on the table by the side of his bed was lit but turned low. He set her on her feet, then took her clothes and placed them on a chair. She glanced about the room curiously. The furniture was very dark and rather heavy and obviously quite old. But aside from a few pieces of his Chinese pottery, the room was relatively bare. Indeed, it was positively stark when compared with the rest of the house.

"Didn't Lord Halstrom's collections extend to the bedrooms?"

"Lord Halstrom's collections filled every room in the house." He moved to stand at her back and put his arms around her. "I simply could not bear to sleep amidst the displays of Japanese armor and stuffed heads of exotic beasts, so I had everything save the furniture moved to another room." He chuckled.

"You can scarcely open the door in that room now."

"I see," she murmured, her gaze sliding to the bed. It was far and away too big for one person but nicely spacious for two. Even if one was wanton and enthusiastic and the other skilled and well-practiced. He ran his fingers along the front opening of her corset and murmured in her ear. "Damnation, Elizabeth, you wear a great many clothes."

She unhooked her corset and tossed it in the direction of the chair. "It didn't seem to bother you earlier."

"It didn't bother me earlier." He turned her around to face him. His gaze roamed over her in a decidedly hungry manner, as if she were the sweet and he long deprived of sugar.

Elizabeth quite liked it.

She caught his gaze, reached behind her to unbutton her drawers, and let them fall. She gathered the hem of her chemise, pulled it over her head, held it out by two fingers in a manner as provocative as she could muster, and dropped it to the floor. She had never before stood in front of a man naked, and she marveled that she wasn't especially nervous. Apparently, there was something to be said for wantonness. He stared at her for a long moment, then opened his arms, and she stepped into his embrace. His body was warm and strong against her own. Her breasts flattened against his chest, his growing arousal nudged against her stomach. His hands roamed lightly over her back and lower to her buttocks, and she shivered with his touch and her rising desire.

He gathered her closer, picked her up, and deposited her on the bed. His gaze swept over her, and he smiled, then climbed on the bed to lie by her side.

Nicholas cupped her breast in his hand and bent close to take the hardened nipple in his mouth, his manner undemanding and gentle and as intoxicating as brandy. The frantic nature of their earlier coupling had vanished, replaced by a lovely, languorous enjoyment. Pure pleasure. He shifted his attention to the other breast, caught her nipple carefully in his teeth, and flicked it with his tongue. She sighed and her eyes drifted closed. He trailed his hand lightly between her breasts and over her stomach in a slow, easy exploration. A promise of passion to come. His fingers traced lazy circles and dropped ever lower. She arched her back slightly to urge his touch lower still. His fingers toyed with the curls between her thighs and her legs fell open. She held her breath and waited. Her existence narrowed, the world itself faded, and she knew only the touch of his hands, the heat of his body beside hers. His hand teased the top of her legs and the inner flesh of her thighs. And still she waited. For a moment or an eternity. At last, he slipped his hand between her legs and stroked her. A shock of exquisite pleasure shot from his touch and rushed through every part of her. She gasped and arched upward and she wanted more. He slid his fingers faster over her and she struggled to breathe against the extraordinary tension once again building within her. And more was not enough.

"Nicholas." She moaned and clutched at him and pulled him toward her. "I want…"

"As do I," he murmured, his voice harsh with need. He shifted to position himself above her, then guided himself into her.

For a moment he didn't move, and she reveled in the simple joy of their joining, of being one with him. Then he withdrew, his manner measured and restrained, and she could feel every inch of him within her. He slid forward slowly. She wrapped her leg around his and he rocked to and fro, his tempo increasing with the beat of her heart. She met his thrusts with hers, boldly and eagerly and with a frenzied need that spiraled ever tighter in the very core of her being.

Until her body arched upward seemingly of its own accord and wave after wave of release and unimagined pleasure rushed through her. He thrust hard and deep and shook with his own release until he lay spent and exhausted. His heart pounded in his chest against her and matched and meshed with the beat of her own.

And she wondered at the feeling she could not ignore that being in Nicholas's bed, in his arms, even in his life was right and true.

And wondered as well if he was a craving she would ever be able to satisfy.

The first rays of morning light streamed in the tall windows of Nicholas's bedchamber. Elizabeth lay straddling one of his legs with hers, her chin resting on her hands on his chest, the beat of his heart thrumming beneath her fingertips. She was at once utterly exhausted and wonderfully satisfied and surprisingly content. All in all, she'd never felt quite so cherished. Or so loved, even if love had nothing whatsoever to do with this.

"I should be going home," she murmured.

"Yes, you probably should." He idly stroked her naked back.

"The children won't be up for hours, but even at this late hour—or rather this early hour—there will be servants about."

"We wouldn't want to ruin your reputation."

I confess your purchase of this house may prove to be most convenient."

"Location," he said sagely.

"We should also discuss my conditions for our arrangement."

"There is nothing to discuss."

"Nonsense, just because I allowed you to seduce me—"

"You allowed
me
? To seduce
you
?"

"You must admit, the seducing was firmly in your hands. All that
'I
shall start with your dress'

nonsense."

"You didn't think it was nonsense." He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose. "Indeed, I daresay you did not allow me as much as encourage me."

"That's neither here nor there," she said in a prim manner that belied the fact that her naked body was still draped over his.

"I think it's very here." He kissed the curve of her shoulder. "And there." His mouth murmured against the base of her throat. "And perhaps here again."

It would be easy to allow him to continue. Easy to close her eyes and allow herself to slide back into the sensual state of sheer sensation he was so very good at producing. She pushed away the thought that he might not be a simple craving after all but a serious addiction.

"Nonetheless." She shifted away from him and propped herself up on her elbow. "As we have obviously begun our arrangement, I shall expect you to abide by my conditions." He ran the tip of his finger around her nipple, and she caught her breath. He smiled at her wickedly.

"No."

"No?" She batted his hand away. "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, my dear Elizabeth, exactly what I said. I have no intentions of abiding by your conditions."

"You must." She smirked. "I have already begun to fulfill my end of the agreement. And you gave your word."

"I most certainly did not." His smirk matched her own. "I said only that I would give your proposal due consideration. Which I have now done."

"Yes, but given all that has passed between us…" She pulled her brows together and searched her mind. Indeed, he hadn't agreed to anything whatsoever. She sat up and glared at him. "You tricked me."

"I did nothing of the sort." He reached out and trailed his fingers between her breasts. She slapped his hand away again, hard. "You led me to believe that this," she waved impatiently at the bed, "was the beginning of our arrangement."

He grinned. "Not that I recall."

"You led me to assume—"

"I may well have led you any number of places in the past few hours but not to the assumption that I accepted your conditions." He shook her head. "If indeed you assumed that, then you are mistaken." She scrambled off the bed, yanked off the sheet in as vicious a manner as she could muster, and wrapped it around herself. "Of course I assumed that. You know full well I assumed that. I certainly never would have—"

He raised a disbelieving brow.

"Very well, perhaps I would have," she snapped. "But not with the same
enthusiasm!''

He snorted. "I could not have curbed your enthusiasm with a bucket of cold water." She gasped but could scarcely dispute his claim. "You are a vile, vile man, Nicholas Collingsworth."

"No, I'm not." He sat up, arranged the pillows, laced his fingers behind his head, sank back on the pillows, and studied her. "I used to be overly somber and serious, but now I am really rather charming. Everyone says so."

"Then everyone is wrong."

"Everyone can't be wrong." He grinned at her, looking not unlike an arrogant Greek god who has just satisfied himself with an entire village of swooning peasant girls. Certainly he had a body worthy of being depicted in marble, yet, at the moment, a strategically placed fig leaf would not be out of order. The man had absolutely no shame.

"In this case, they are." She gathered her sheet tighter with one hand and clapped the other over her eyes.

"And do cover yourself."

"I don't see why. It's rather warm in here, and I am exceedingly comfortable precisely the way I am."