His Ruthless Bite | Historical Paranormal Romance: Vampires (Scandals With Bite Book 4) (24 page)

“Heavens!” Lenore’s hand flew up to her mouth. “I’d forgotten all about the ball.”

Gavin laughed. “You do not seem to have forgotten anything. The ballroom is decorated, the meal is well planned, the flowers were delivered and all the guests have been invited and seated accordingly for the supper. I am proud of your hard work.”

Her belly turned over at the compliment. “Thank you, but much of the preparations were Elena’s doing.”

“Do not presume to think I cannot detect which details you had your hand in.” He smiled. “Oh, you did forget one thing, though.”

Her stomach plummeted. “What?” And was it something she could rectify in time?

“Your ball gown.”

Lenore sighed in abject relief. “I didn’t forget. I’m wearing the one that you ordered for me.”

Gavin shook his head, a playful smile curving his lips. “That is not good enough for your first ball. The other half of your wardrobe has been delivered this evening, including your gown for tomorrow.”

He led her upstairs into her bedchamber and threw open her wardrobe with a flourish.

Lenore’s eyes widened at the shimmering violet gown with a lace overskirt woven with gold thread, and a matching appliqué on the sleeves and bodice. With shaking hands, she lifted it from its hanger and held it to her chest.

“It looks like something a princess would wear,” she breathed. Not wanting to risk damaging the tissue thin garment, she hung the gown back up.

“I am happy you are pleased,” Gavin chuckled. “Hopefully your other garments will not pale in comparison.”

Unable to resist, Lenore peered further into the wardrobe to see what else had arrived. Her gaze lit upon a dark green velvet riding habit. Her fingers trailed across the black trim. “It is so exquisite,” she murmured. “It’s a shame I do not know how to ride.”

“Another oversight on my part,” Gavin said. “I will teach you, starting tonight.”

“Tonight?” she tore her attention from the riding habit. “But it’s only a few hours before dawn.”

“Plenty of time for the first step,” he said cheerfully. “Tell me, have you ever been on a horse?”

“Only once, and I remember none of it.” She shivered at the memory. “When you first found me on your land. I’d fainted before you took me up on your horse and brought me here.”

Gavin chuckled. “Well, let’s go for a quick ride on Edgar while we hunt.”

“Edgar?” She couldn’t help giggling. “What an odd name for a horse!”

He shrugged. “He looked like an Edgar.”

Lenore remembered the massive black stallion towering over her. Honestly, “Nightmare” or “Grim Reaper” sounded more apt.

She quickly changed into the riding habit, turning a full circle in the mirror to enjoy the effect. It was a shame she could no longer go out in the daylight. The sun would reflect so prettily on the material.

Even with Gavin’s assistance, mounting the horse was intimidating, despite knowing that if she fell, her preternatural body would heal any injuries. It was just that Edgar was so enormous, putting her high off the ground. When Edgar began walking in a slow gait that made the ground dip below her, Lenore clung to the pommel of the saddle with enough force to make the leather groan.

“Careful,” Gavin’s voice rumbled in her ear. “Remember your strength, and don’t break my saddle.”

Lenore took a deep breath and focused on the warmth of his chest against her back, the secure circle his arms formed around her as he held the reins. Awareness of Gavin’s closeness replaced her trepidation. Though the saddle was large, she all but sat on his lap. She felt him grow harder against her backside, and the rocking motion of the horse’s gait made her core ache with need.

Her low moan turned into a gasp as Edgar broke into a trot. Gavin’s arms tightened around her. “Easy. He can sense your nervousness and that makes him anxious. Relax, and feel how I am guiding him.”

Taking a deep breath, Lenore concentrated on following his advice. Her tension eased as she focused on the trail they took through the fields, and then down a cobblestone street to a nearby pub. Gavin helped her down, and she walked on shaky legs until the sound of crashing blows and painful grunts erupted behind the building.

Lenore didn’t wait for Gavin to finish tying up Edgar before charging into the shadows. Two men punched and kicked a huddled form on the ground. The jingle of coins with every blow left little doubt as to what motivated the attack.

Quick as a cat, Lenore seized the man who’d lifted his foot for another kick and slammed him against the wall. Behind her she heard a yelp of surprise and smiled. Gavin had seized the other.

As her captive struggled against her iron grip, Lenore reveled in her preternatural strength. “Now you will learn what it is like to be victimized by someone stronger,” she whispered before capturing him with her gaze and plunging her fangs in his throat.

She drank more than her usual amount, ensuring he’d be weak and dizzy for the next few days. By the time she released the man, Gavin had helped the one who’d been attacked off of the ground and cleared his memory. The other attacker lay slumped next to a pile of rubbish.

After giving the poor chap a guinea and walking him home, Lenore felt exultant… powerful.

Gavin grinned at her and pressed his lips to her temple. “Now
that
is the strong woman I married.”

Though her primary motivations had been saving that poor man, his praise made a tremor of pleasure run through her body, which only intensified as he lifted her onto Edgar’s back.

“Would you be willing to chance a gallop?” he asked, voice rife with exuberance.

She nodded. After defeating that massive bloke, riding on horseback was far less intimidating.

In fact, as the landscape raced beneath her and the wind whipped her cheeks, she decided that riding was exhilarating. When would be a good time to ask Gavin to buy her a horse?

When they returned home, Gavin helped her dismount and led Edgar to the stables, where he showed her how to rub him down. After they left the horse comfortably munching on oats, he ordered a hot bath for her.

Lenore couldn’t fight a smile as she sank into the blissfully hot water. Not only had Gavin granted her the permission to continue her work, but they’d talked more this night than they had since before they were married. And that horse ride, combined with rescuing someone in danger made her feel more confident and stronger than when Gavin declared that she wasn’t weak.

After finishing her bath and dressing in a silken night dress that looked far too provocative for sleeping, a measure of her joy bled into nervous anticipation. Would she and Gavin share a bed tonight? She missed his presence with such intensity that it was like a physical ache.

Just as she was considering the shamefully immoral idea of feigning a nightmare, Gavin knocked on her door before entering.

Running a hand through his hair, he suddenly looked boyish and nervous. “Would you ah, prefer my company this day?”

Her nipples hardened for some inexplicable reason and she covered her breasts with her robe. “Yes,” she whispered, hoping she didn’t sound too eager.

They slipped into her bed together and extinguished all of the lights except for one small lantern on the table beside her bed.

For a while, an awkward silence stretched between them before he spoke. “Remember when you said that talking about your troubles helped you feel better?”

“Yes,” she replied cautiously.
Did he mean—

“Why not talk to me?” He leaned up on his elbow and regarded her intently.

Nervousness snaked in her belly. “Because you’re my husband.”

“What do you mean?” he prodded with a soft tone.

“I mean, it took a long time not to feel… dirty after what those rogues did to me… I still feel used... and like a part of me is missing.” She shuddered at the memory. “I don’t want you to see me that way.” Before he could respond she gathered her courage and pressed forward. “When you first found me, you didn’t press me on the details of why I was starved and weak. You have no notion of how grateful I was for that. And when the horrid truth of what happened was revealed in front of all the vampires of London, I was most humiliated because you were there too. I don’t know why. Maybe because you were the first vampire since Blanche to treat me with kindness.”

“I’d hardly call my capturing and interrogating you kind,” he said drily. “Furthermore, I did not see you as dirty or used when I first learned what those vermin had done to you, and I do not see you that way now.” His knuckles brushed her cheek. “You are not less for what you endured, you are more. You are not a victim, you are a survivor.”

Tears filled her eyes at his kind words. Could she come to believe them? “I wish surviving didn’t hurt so much.”

His fingers cradled her face. “Me too. And I will do all I can to ease your hurts.” Gavin’s voice was soft with compassion she never would have suspected he’d possess. “You’d said that you feel as if a part of you is missing. Perhaps you can find it.”

A surge of hope rose up in her heart at his words. “What do you mean?”

To her astonishment, Gavin appeared shy as he spoke. “Since you told me that you do not wish to engage in the physical side of marriage, I am led to believe that those rogues took away your pleasure in lovemaking… or your contentment in chastity, whichever you’d enjoyed before you were captured.”

Cheeks heating again, Lenore nodded. “Yes.” He was right. Not for the first time did she wonder what it could have been like if she’d never been assaulted. If this could have been a normal marriage.

Gavin continued in a slow, cautious tone as if expecting her to bolt from the bed. “Well, you
can
get that back. They are all dead, remember that. They do not have control over your body or how you feel anymore.”

Lenore closed her eyes, hiding from his scrutiny for a moment. “I do not know which I would have wanted in the first place. Aside from what you had me do to myself the other night, I’ve never experienced the pleasure you speak of, but I also do not know whether or not I am or would have been happy remaining chaste either.”

“Were you a virgin before… ah…”

She opened her eyes to see him blushing. “No.” She took a ragged breath and explained. “There was a boy I walked out with when I was fifteen. One night we got drunk on a jug of his father’s ale and he said he would marry me, so I let him.” She chuckled lightly at how foolish she’d been. “I honestly cannot remember a thing about it. Except for two terrifying weeks of worrying that he’d gotten me with child, and a few months of heartbreak when he’d married a butcher’s daughter instead.”

“If you would like to know what true pleasure feels like, I would be honored to show you. But,” he added quickly, “it doesn’t have to be me. I will honor the original terms of our arrangement if you choose.”

Heavens, she mused. He now appeared more nervous than she had been when she decided to become his wife.

As if taking her silence as a rejection, he continued almost apologetically. “And if you choose to remain chaste, I will ensure that no man touches you for the rest of your days, even after our arrangement has ended. I’ll—”

She placed her finger over his lips, gathering the courage to talk about what had been on her mind for some time. “I don’t think I want to be chaste. And I don’t think I want another man to show me pleasure. After all, I love your kisses, and how I feel when you hold me in your arms.” Saying those words aloud lifted a heavy weight from her heart. “I enjoyed touching you, that other night. I also enjoyed touching myself.” The admission came with no shame. “Now I want
you
to touch me.”

Gavin’s eyes widened. Desire and uncertainty radiated from their black depths. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.” To prove her words, she took his hand and placed it on her breast.

“God, Lenore…” His harsh intake of breath made her tremble with anticipation.

It was her turn to gasp as his fingers gently caressed her through the thin fabric of her night dress. Her nipples hardened once more, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant. A tingling heat coursed through her veins in a direct path from her breasts to the aching place between her thighs.

Gavin leaned forward and kissed her. Whisper soft at first, the light touch of his lips made her tingle all over, a surge of longing, begging for more. She reached out and grasped his shoulder, pulling him closer. He obliged her, deepening the kiss. Heady bliss swirled around her, and when she thought the exquisite feeling had peaked, his tongue delved into her mouth, sending an arc of electric pleasure down her spine.

A low moan escaped her throat as his fingers tangled in her hair, and his other hand wrought magic on her body, caressing and exploring as if she were a priceless treasure.

When he broke the kiss, Lenore whimpered, bereft, until his lips found the hollow of her neck. The whimper turned into a gasp as a new awareness flooded her being. She trembled as he kissed and nibbled her sensitive flesh. Every time his fangs grazed her skin, she jolted with awareness.

Then he moved lower, looking up at her with a question in his gaze.