Duke of Scandal (Moonlight Square, Book 1) (24 page)

At once, he pulled his damp shirt off over his head. She bit her lip, staring with unabashed pleasure at the muscles rippling down his abdomen. Swept up in her yearning, she indulged herself with kissing his sculpted chest and his quivering stomach while her hand wandered lower.

It was not the first time she had caressed his hardness through his clothing, but tonight, still leaning against her bedroom door, Jason unfastened the placard of his trousers as he went on kissing her, untied his drawers, and gently guided her hand to touch him with no more barrier between them.

She groaned, pausing in kissing him, though his lips still covered hers. She let her fingers run slowly down the towering length of his thick, rigid manhood to its furred root. He dropped his head back against the door with a whispered groan as she wrapped her hand around his shaft and explored in fascination.

All this is supposed to fit inside me?
It did not seem possible. And her touch only made him larger, harder, yet clearly gave him profound pleasure. She remembered what he had done to her that day in the parlor and mused on what might happen if she did something similar to him.

Intrigued to find out, she kissed her way down below his navel, going slowly to her knees.

He watched her in the dim candlelight, riveted, encouraging her with a coaxing stroke of his thumb across her swollen lips, parting them.

She obliged him, taking his member into her mouth, as much as she could fit. She had to open wide, but even then, could manage only a few inches of its smooth head. The rest she gripped with her hand. He sank back against the door, uttering an expletive of outrageous bliss as she licked the warm, damp hint of rain off him slowly.

His hands alighted on her head, and he smoothed her hair back from her face, watching her repay the favor with a look of complete intoxication.

“Oh, Felicity, a lady doesn’t do those sorts of things,” he chided breathlessly after a few minutes.

She eased it from her mouth with a naughty little nibble on the tip. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

He gripped her shoulder. “Come here,” he growled. He lifted her almost roughly to her feet to claim the mouth that had pleasured him.

She thrilled to his demand as he tore her night rail off her.

“Get in the bed,” he ordered. He kicked off his shoes and quickly shed the rest of his clothes while she obeyed.

As she lay down, his blazing stare devoured her waiting, naked body. He wrenched the covers back and slid her under them for warmth. Then he climbed into bed with her, looming above her on all fours.

She arched her back beneath him, trembling as she waited for him to ravish her. She braced herself for the pain that she’d heard could be a part of this, the first time. But perhaps he had read a certain degree of anxiety in her eyes, for he checked his raging passion, and succumbed to a doting half-smile.

“Don’t be nervous. I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

“I know,” she murmured.

Then he proceeded to kiss his way up and down her body, paying particular attention to her breasts and her belly and the juncture of her thighs, until she writhed with need, clutching the covers and biting back moans that might’ve been loud enough to wake the servants.

“Do you want me now?” he teased at her ear.

“Oh God, Jason,
yes
.”

She dug her fingers into his back, undulating with impatience. Leaning on his elbows, he kissed her with deep, drugging slowness; she felt him guide his manhood to her teeming core. He began pressing into her, filling her with his splendid incursion.

Felicity paid acute attention to every scintilla of sensation, mesmerized. Her legs wrapped around him with a will of their own.

He laced his fingers through hers, catching her small cry on his tongue as he split the barrier of her maidenhead with a sudden, decisive thrust of his hips.

His whisper was ragged. “Now you’re mine forever.” He cradled her to him in stillness while she absorbed the pain.

In truth, it was very slight, given her crazed desire for him and all her anticipation of this finally happening between them.

“Are you all right, sweeting?” he breathed.

“I think so. Yes.” Her heart thundered against his hot, bare chest.

“We can stop if you—”

“No. I love you, Jason.” She looked up into his eyes. “I’m so glad we’re doing this.”

“Me too. I only wish I would’ve waited for you instead of…the way I’ve been.”

The regret in his gaze made her caress his head and hush him. “I understand, sweeting. You wanted to feel as though somebody loved you, I know. And now you have that.”

He kissed her forehead. “Such an angel you are. Thank you for not giving up on me, Felicity. Do you know how happy you make me? Everything had begun to seem so meaningless, but you make me glad to be alive.”

“Oh, Jason.”

His whispered love words were the sweetest distraction, delighting her away from all the discomfort of how he’d made her bleed.

At length, she kissed his shoulder. Though he had waited patiently, she could feel him throbbing inside her and knew he needed more.

So did she.

She lifted her hips cautiously, signaling to him that she was ready for him to continue her ravishment. He moaned at the reprieve and kissed her in a storm of tender passion. He looked into her eyes as he braced himself on his hands above her.

His dark-eyed gaze was as tempestuous as the night outside as he resumed their candlelit dance with agonizing slowness. Felicity was enraptured; they both savored every pulse-pounding second of their fated joining.

In a growing state of ecstasy, she draped her arms around his broad shoulders as he quickened the pace, panting, his own desire taking hold.

She read the fierce hunger in his stare, his desire to make her his, at last, in every way imaginable. She could feel it in every feverish stroke of his body, so deep and satisfying.

“Mmm.” She closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to belong to him.
I am going to make you so happy, my darling man.

Then all thought dissolved away as the wind gusted and the rain dripped off the roof’s edge, and Jason made love to her in the darkness, coaxing her body toward release. Desperate for him, she encircled him with her arms and legs, her mouth open to his, her heart beating in time with his.

They were one.

“Come for me, Felicity,” he ground out, and with his next smooth thrust, she could do naught but obey.

She gasped and clung to him as he brought her to a shattering climax, then he followed her over the edge with a ragged cry of surrender. Convulsions of wild pleasure racked them both. Nearly sobbing with release, Felicity finally subsided into stillness, and Jason collapsed on top of her, a warm, heavy, delicious weight.

“Ahh,”
she sighed at last, kissing his shoulder in sweaty bliss. She could still feel his heart pounding against her.

He smiled down at her for a moment, then kissed her nose and wrapped her in a decidedly possessive embrace. She cuddled against him, unable to wipe the smile of complete satisfaction off her face. This moment was everything she had ever longed for, and as he held her, drifting on a sea of enchantment, she knew that from this night forward, they would always be together.

And her life would never be the same.

CHAPTER 13

Paterfamilias

E
xperienced as he was in matters of scandal, Jason knew the most important thing was to get out ahead of the gossip. Or if possible, drown it out with an even bigger piece of news.

So the next morning, well before dawn, he immediately went about taking care of the situation, dragging himself away from his future bride’s bed with many kisses and promises to see her later in the day.

Then he sneaked out of her house before the servants awoke to start the morning fires.

Borrowing her carriage, he went straight to the newspaper offices on Fleet Street and managed by the slimmest margin to rush their betrothal announcement into the afternoon edition of the newspaper. The morning edition would have been preferable, but it was already on its way out the door.

When Jason got home, he sent a note to the biggest gossips he knew telling them the happy news, and as soon as he had washed up and dressed for the day, he rushed out of the house again, this time for the jewelers, where he got his beautiful fiancée the most obnoxiously large diamond ring he could acquire on such short notice. She might not be able to lift her hand, but he doubted she would mind.

By midday, the
ton
was in an uproar with the news, and Jason had his whole staff seated around the long dining table, frantically writing out invitations to their engagement party, to be held at Netherford House in a fortnight.

Now the story of how he had burned the club’s betting book and punched several members in the face for their ungentlemanly wager all combined to create an even greater sensation in the eyes of Society.

Naughty Netherford, they said, had fallen madly in love.

And this time, for once, the gossips were right.

“Aha, no wonder you got so angry with us!” one of his club mates said. A few of those involved in the previous night’s antics showed up at his house to tell him he was no longer blackballed, thanks to today’s logical explanation of matters, as well as Rivenwood’s diplomacy.

The daylight also helped to cast a damning glare on the dishonorable behavior of those who made a contest out of bedding the young lady in the first place, now that their wager was exposed. Some of the rakehells at least had the decency to look a little sheepish, and so Jason was vindicated, for once.

“Why didn’t you say anything, ol’ boy?” a few of them exclaimed.

“Well, because it was none of your demmed business, and besides, she hadn’t given me her answer yet,” he lied in a reasonable tone, smiling from ear to ear to know he had finally caught his quarry. Once he had crossed the Rubicon of
allowing
himself to chase her, the rest had been easy; the decision itself had been the hard part. But it still remained to be seen how her brother would take the news when he returned to Town.

“Are we to understand that the chit made even a duke wait?” Sidney drawled.

“Oh yes,” Jason averred, although in truth, they had done everything
but
wait last night. No matter. He carefully veiled his now-carnal knowledge of his future duchess.

In reality, it was Felicity who had waited so patiently for him, but he gave the men a long-suffering nod, knowing this would make her look good when word of it traveled back to the ladies of the
ton
.

“Well!” some Society ladies said during morning calls all across the West End. “Miss Carvel will certainly have her work cut out for her with that one.”

A few girls cried, their hopes dashed, Jason later learned, but surely they had known deep down they’d never catch him.

The important thing was that everybody wanted to be invited to the grand engagement party, which, of course, colored their reactions, as Jason had known it would. The desire for an invitation helped tamp down the urge to start indecorous rumors. Many fashionable folk had wondered for years what the inside of the duke’s massive corner mansion looked like, but as a bachelor, he had not been in the habit of throwing open his doors and entertaining polite Society. Single men were not expected to do much of that until they had a lady of the house to act as hostess.

Of course, Netherford House had now and then been filled with drunken rakehells and a small army of the demimonde’s most desired courtesans.

But those days were over. A new era had dawned in the life of Netherford House
and
its master.

In the future, he would have a wife to be his hostess, and Jason savored the thought of his soon-to-be duchess. Making love to her had been a dream beyond compare.

Unfortunately, he still had to have a very serious conversation with her. One that couldn’t wait much longer. He would tell her about his children when she came over later that afternoon to start planning their engagement party.

But when she and Mrs. Brown arrived, his staff—who strangely adored her already—had prepared a cake and bought a bottle of champagne with their own money. They gathered around and offered her a toast, gushing about how they couldn’t wait to have her as the lady of the house.

Bemused, Jason folded his arms across his chest and looked on as she thanked them for their kindness and, with an almost conspiratorial wink, insisted they all have a splash of the champagne with her.

Well, she won them over forever with that, he mused, warmed to the cockles of his heart as he watched the vision of his future household unfolding right before his eyes. A deep sense of belonging settled over him, and indeed, a true feeling of home for the first time in his life. She had changed the atmosphere. There was no doubt Felicity utterly belonged there, with all of them, and he belonged with her.

Of course, he supposed it was somewhat out of order for a future duchess to have a drink with her staff, but he already knew this would be no ordinary household, not with him as head of the family.

Ordinary bored him, anyway.

But thoughts of households and families returned his mind to the serious news he had to tell her. Jason was nervous. Happily, her brief, tiny party with the servants had put her in very good spirits.

At length, Woodcombe ordered everybody back to work. Jason asked Mrs. Brown if they might be spared a few minutes alone and, behind Felicity’s back, showed her the ring box.

“Ah, of course,” Mrs. Brown said, then repaired to the garden to sit in the shade, at Woodcombe’s suggestion.

Jason took Felicity’s hand and led her up to the drawing room, his heart already pounding over how she was going to take his confession. He hoped to God she didn’t cry, then he shut the drawing room door.