Dark Duke (8 page)

They crossed the foyer and when Kaitlin would have headed up
the stairs, Edward stopped her. “In the library, I think.”

“The library?” Her heart stuttered. That was not what she’d
had in mind. She’d been dreaming about frolicking with him in her bed. His,
perhaps. In the past few days, she’d done a lot of reading…about frolicking.
She had, in fact, found a cache of books by Lord Hedon in the upstairs study.
She had devoured them. And while they were all exceedingly similar, and
somewhat predictable—about a girl who couldn’t behave and a lord to punish
her—they had left her…restless.

“Mmm hmm.” His glance was wicked. “Run upstairs and fetch
that book. I need to have a chat with Transom.”

She put out a lip.

He smacked her behind, but only lightly. Just enough to
capture her attention. “Come along, darling. Don’t be difficult. I’ve been
thinking about this for days.”

“Oh, all right.” She did as he asked, fairly sprinting up
the stairs to her room to find the book he had in mind, and then sprinting back
down. Still, by the time she returned, Transom had delivered a tray to the
library piled with all manner of delights.

“Are you hungry, Edward?” she asked, nodding at the feast.
It looked like enough for an army.

He chuckled. “That’s for later. I figured we might need
sustenance. And I did not want to be disturbed.”

The way he said it, the look he shot her, sent rivulets of
anticipation down her spine. It had been so long since their one glorious
morning together. She could not wait for another.

“Shut the door,” he said as she entered the chamber.

She fought down a shiver and did so.

“Come here.”

She crossed the room and stepped into his arms. He kissed
her. A long, lingering, delicious exploration of her mouth, then her cheek,
then her neck. “God, I’ve missed your taste.”

“My taste?” She giggled.

“Yes. You taste delicious.”

“Hmm.” She went up on her toes and licked his chin. Yes, he
was delicious too.

“Shall we do some reading?”

She frowned. “Really, Edward?”

“Really.” He took the book from her, found a passage and
handed it back, then took a seat. “Read to me.” When she moved to sit at his
side, he forestalled her. “No, darling. Stand before me while you read from the
book.”

She did not know what he had in mind, but the intensity on
his face stilled her protest. It sent a rain of arousal through her. “All
right.” She resettled her spectacles on her nose and began to read.

The sheik’s private quarters were vast. Asha followed the
vizier down a long, echoing hallway. She had no idea what to expect and fear
coursed through her. Though she had only seen him at a distance, the sheik was
a man of frightening countenance.

All the girls in the harem sighed when they spoke of him,
but Asha had also heard other whispers, terrifying stories, or a man who
fervently plied a lash.

She had been whipped many times now by the
kadin
and the eunuchs when she had been disobedient or lax in her studies, and while
those whippings had started an odd fire in her belly, she did not know if she
could bear such attention from a man as frightening as the sheik.

They stopped at a set of intricately carved doors. The vizier
looked down at her, adjusted the fall of her hair, smoothed the lapel of her
harem jacket. Pinched a nipple.

“Do you remember what you were taught?” His voice was
deep, rumbling.

Asha could not meet his eyes. “Yes, my lord.”

“Do not disappoint him. I should hate to have to toss you
into the sea.”

Women who displeased the sheik were disposed of in a
brutal manner. Drowned like kittens in a burlap bag. Asha shuddered. She would
do anything to avoid such a fate. “Yes, my lord.”

The vizier opened the door and ushered her in. “Your
companion for the evening, Your Eminence.”

He sat at the far end of the room on a wide throne,
against a crenulated arch overlooking a flagstone terrace. The only other items
in the cavernous chamber were a low table covered with foodstuffs—and an enormous
bed draped in fluttering curtains.

He made not a sound, but gestured at her to approach. The
echo of the doors closing as the vizier left them alone resonated through the
room.

She did not delay. She knew better. She glided to his
side and, eyes downcast, stood before him.

He took her chin in his hand and tipped it up so he could
see her face. “Lovely,” he murmured. His fingers fluttered on her neck like the
wings of a butterfly. “Lovely.” He cupped her breast. She sucked in a breath
and forced herself to hold still. This was her life now. Her meaning. Her
purpose.

She was his and nothing more.

“Remove your clothes.”

Asha winced.

“Do it.” The sheik’s expression was frightening.
Arousing. She did as he commanded, quivering as she stood naked before him.
“Now kneel.”

“Stop.”

The way Edward said that one word, so tight, clipped, made
Kaitlin tremble.

“What?”

He lounged back in his chair, as she imagined the sheik had
done, and splayed his legs. “I should like you to remove your clothes as well.”

Kaitlin’s heart lurched. They were in the library. She
couldn’t be naked in a library. Could she?

“Do it.” He parroted the sheik’s words in a peculiar tone.
Why it sent a shaft of lust through her, she couldn’t say. She did as he
commanded, pulling off her dress. She shivered, though it was not cold, and
stood before him, bare and vulnerable. Her nipples pebbled.

“Shouldn’t we lock the door?”

His eyes gleamed. “No.”

She stomped a foot. His attention fixed on her bobbling
breasts. “Edward. The servants—”

“They won’t intrude.”

“They could.”

“They wouldn’t dare.”

“Edward—”

He stood, sauntered over to her side. Thumbed a nipple.
“Does it make you nervous, standing here so exposed in my library?”

She flushed. “You know it does.”

He bent his head and captured the swollen peak with his
lips. Nuzzled. “Excellent.”

“What?” She lurched away, but he caught her and held her
still as he feasted on one ripe tip and then another. Excitement bubbled within
her. Dribbled out.

“I like keeping you off balance. It’s…arousing.” His palm
skated over her hips, shifted down. He stroked her slit, just a teasing touch.
She shuddered. He sat once more and gestured with his fingers—just as the sheik
had done in her imagination. “Continue reading.”

“I-I’ve forgotten where I was.”

“
Do it
.”

She hunted for the phrase. She could barely focus.

“Do it.” The Sheik’s expression was frightening.
Arousing. She did as he commanded, quivering as she stood naked before him.
“Now kneel.”

“That sounds promising.”

Kaitlin blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Kneel.”

She shook her head, unable to work through his meaning.

“Kneel, Kaitlin.”

Oh! Oh. She did. Good thing, too. Her knees had gone weak.

“And continue.”

Heavens. What was it about this man that had her in such a
frenzy? She could feel the dampness between her thighs. Her body hummed. Her
pearl—the button he had only brushed—thrummed in time with her pulse.

“Kaitlin, I gave you an order. Are you disobeying?”

Heavens. She snapped her attention back to the book.

Asha went onto her knees before the mighty sheik,
quivering.

He studied her for a long, long while. She knew not to
move. Not to do anything—until he commanded it of her.

“Come closer, girl. That’s right. On your knees.” He had
not commanded her to rise. She edged nearer and then, when he spread his legs,
settled between them.

Edward patted his knee. Kaitlin did not need any more than
that tiny gesture to know what he wanted. She did as Asha had, and made her way
between Edward’s thighs.

“You have been trained to please a man?”

“Yes, Your Eminence.”

He untied his loose silken trousers and revealed his
cock. Asha gasped. Lust shot through her. He was large and slender and fully
aroused. Too heavy to stand on its own, it lay at an angle across his belly.

She glanced up at Edward. “Did you want me to undo your
trousers?” she asked with a grin.

He threaded his fingers through her hair. “Not just yet.
Keep reading.”

“Take it in your hand.”

She did. He was warm, velvet. Much more intriguing than
the marble phalluses on which they had been trained. Much larger than the vizier’s
cock. Asha wondered if she could take it all in.

“Stroke me.” She did, bringing her fist up and down
slowly, then faster, then in varied rhythms. The sheik closed his eyes and
leaned back his head, reveling in her attentions.

He stopped her with a light touch to her cheek. Brought
her closer. She did not resist. She knew what he wanted.

Slowly, she took him into her mouth. She was careful not
to use her teeth, careful to give him only her softest flesh. He groaned and
pulled her closer, letting her work on him for a long, long while. She tasted
the salty hint of his pleasure and sucked harder, eager to give him release.

Edward shifted. Kaitlin glanced at him. Quirked a brow. He
nodded.

She had his placket undone and his cock in her mouth in a
trice. And, ah, he tasted divine. She worked him just as Asha had been trained,
following every instruction to the letter, glorying in his sighs and moans.
Edward, apparently, did not have the restraint the sheik possessed. It was not
a long, long while before he stopped her.

When he spoke, his voice was ragged. “Continue reading.”

“But Edward—”

“Continue.”

“I like this part.”

“The next part is better.”

The sheik pulled away. His eyes were hot, his features
tight. “On your hands and knees,” he snapped.

Asha’s heart sank. Had she displeased him? Would he whip
her now? Or worse?

But she didn’t dare plead for her life. She knew better
than to speak. Her mouth had been filled with fat phalluses more than once in
the training room when she’d spoken out of turn.

She arranged herself as he so commanded. On her hands and
knees, naked, before him. He stepped behind her and picked something up from
the table. She could not see what it was.

A lash fell. Though she had sworn she would not, she
cried out. Another and another lash fell, but not on her back as they had in
previous punishments. These fell on her bottom.

She looked over her shoulder, though she knew she should
not. The sheik held a thin quirt, which he flailed from one direction and then
another. Each time unerringly finding her quivering flesh.

Her bottom heated. Her ardor rose.
Oh please
, she
thought.
Please.

The blows stopped. A new sensation gripped her as the sheik
ran the quirt between her legs. She bit her lip to keep from moaning as the
little flap of leather at the end snagged on her throbbing button. He pulled
back and tapped her there, several times, each harder than the last. He
continued this until, unable to hold back any longer, she cried out.

“Ah,” he murmured. “I like the sound of your cries. You
may beg and plead.”

“Please, Your Eminence. Please.”

“Wider. Spread your legs wider.”

Asha froze as something touched the entrance to her
sheath. The handle of the quirt. It thrust in and she howled. She knew she was
not allowed to have a release. Desperately, she held back. She was so very
close.

“Please, Your Eminence, please fuck me.”

All movement stopped. “What did you say?”

“Please fuck me.”

The sheik snarled and fell to his knees behind her. He
forced her legs farther apart and grasped her hips and yanked her toward him
and shoved his thick, hard cock deep—

“Hell.” Edward took the book from her hands and tossed it
aside.

“What are you doing? It was just getting good—”

He grunted and kneeled beside her, flipping her over onto
her hands and knees without a word.

It was an odd position, one she’d never considered—

She flinched as his cock, heavy and hard, shoved in. But
only because the intensity, the incredible delirious pleasure stunned her.

She dropped her head, angling her bottom higher, so he could
have better access. “Ah! Ah!” She cried with each thrust.

His fingers tightened painfully on her hips and he wrenched
her forward and back. “Yes, yes. God. Yes.”

He reached around to pluck at her nipples, not gentle,
tender teases, but hard, rough tugs. She shuddered. Then he found her pearl and
rubbed it harshly as well. She was soon gasping for air, the dizzying sensation
of his cock plowing in and out of her, the distraction of the delicious pain
made her mind spin. He reared back and landed a smack on her bottom and she
seized.

“Edward! Ed—”

“God! Yes!” He plunged in again, with a tremendous thrust,
sank deep and nested there, motionless. Motionless, but for tiny little jerks
of his hips, the minute flexing of his fingers on her waist as he held her in
place. The near silent gasps as each wave swamped him.

He collapsed on her, bracing his bulk on trembling arms. She
shivered as he kissed her neck, her spine. She groaned as he slipped out.

Oh, that had been marvelous. So feral and raw. How she
wished it had gone on forever.