Lord Savage (16 page)

I dragged my lids open to meet his gaze. I was perilously close to my own climax,
and to judge from the tension in his features, he was, too.

“You’re—you’re fucking me,” I said, the words tumbling out rapidly, “and I’m riding
your cock, and—and it feels so good because you’re so hard and hot and—oh, Savage,
I can’t!”

“You can, Eve, and you will.”

He grabbed my right hand and plunged it into the water, and pushed my fingers to where
we were joined. I touched his cock, marveling at how I’d stretched to take him, and
as he began to pull out, I instinctively circled my fingers around his cock, brushing
against his balls below.

Swearing, he rubbed his thumb between my widespread lips and over my pearl as he jammed
his cock hard into me. I shook from the force of it, and at last spun out as the convulsions
rocked my core. He held me as I cried out, his gaze locked on mine as he watched me
lose myself, over and over.

Then he held back no longer and pounded into me as his own release seized him. His
eyes were wild, even ferocious, his teeth bared in such a fierce show of possession
that I would have been terrified if I hadn’t seen it before.

He held me tightly by my hips and I clung to him, riding out each demanding stroke.
Water crashed over the side of the tub in splattering torrents, and when he came at
last with a guttural roar, the sound echoed against the marble walls.

His chest heaving still, he sank back against the curve of the tub. He pulled me with
him, loosely holding his arms around my back, and I went to him gladly. He closed
his eyes as I feathered light kisses across his face, across those sharp cheekbones
and the nose that was fit for a Roman general.

I didn’t dare speak, remembering how badly that had gone last time. Instead, I was
determined simply to savor this moment for what it was, and no more. I felt weightless,
as if I were floating, and it wasn’t due entirely to the water, either.

I rested my head against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth and feel of his chest beneath
me and his arm across my back. There wasn’t nearly as much water left in the tub now
as when we’d started, and what remained was turning chill.

With his fingers on my jaw, he turned my face up to his and kissed me. I hadn’t expected
such tenderness from him, and it gave me an extra glow inside.

“It’s the damnedest thing, Eve,” he said softly, “but I want you again.”

“Truly, Master?” I asked playfully. I thought he was teasing, that he wasn’t serious.

But he wasn’t, and he was, his expression turning darkly solemn. He took my hand down
into the water again, letting me feel his cock for myself. He was almost hard again,
and if he wasn’t as thick as he had been before he’d spent, I could have sworn I felt
him swelling under my touch.

“You see how it is with you,” he said. “I can think of nothing else when you’re with
me.”

I lightly caressed him under the water, taking pleasure in giving pleasure to him.

“I thought that was why we’re here at Wrenton, Master,” I whispered, leaning closer
to him. I couldn’t understand why he considered this a problem. “We only have six
days left for my education, and I’ve so much more to learn.”

He grunted. “Five days. Today is nearly over, and cannot be counted.”

Warily I drew back my hand from his cock. “Are you counting the hours until we leave
so closely?”

“It’s a vile habit of mine, Eve, one I cannot help.” At last he smiled, but it was
a polite, distant smile, with his thoughts clearly somewhere else. “I would very much
enjoy continuing your education this afternoon, and would do so, too, if we hadn’t
other obligations.”

I frowned, and before he could push me away, I retreated to the opposite end of the
tub, my arms crossed over my breasts. There was a distinct chill in the room now.

“What other obligations could we possibly have?” I asked. “I thought Lady Carleigh
had told us that all we must do is please ourselves.”

“For the most part, yes, that is our only task.” He dipped his face under the water,
then pulled it back, wiping his palms back over his face and sleeking back his black
hair. Droplets of water beaded on his lashes, making his eyes appear even more intensely
blue, and when he smiled again, I felt a little lurch inside.

I wished he hadn’t called what he’d shared with me a task. And I wished he weren’t
such a ridiculously beautiful man, so that it stung when he’d said that.

“But our generous hostess does have one or two little amusements planned for us for
which she’ll accept no excuses,” he continued. “I suppose they’re almost traditions
by now. Dinner tonight with the assembled company is one of them. Barry!”

Immediately the bathroom door opened and the manservant came striding in. He bowed
before Savage, deftly avoided stepping in the puddles, and with brisk twists of his
wrists, turned the faucets back on to refresh the bathwater.

I gave a startled yelp and sank low beneath the side of the tub, covering my breasts
with my hands. I’d lived with servants my entire life, but not with
this
much familiarity. Most likely Barry had already seen me without clothes last night
in Savage’s bed, but then I’d been asleep, which somehow didn’t make it as bad as
this.

“Don’t concern yourself with Barry,” Savage said, comfortably stretching his arms
out along the sides of the tub, his biceps glistening. “He’s a modest fellow, to be
sure, but he has seen so many naked ladies in his time with me that he’s completely
immune to the sight of another one. Isn’t that so, Barry?”

“Yes, my lord,” Barry said. He left us briefly, returning with a long tray that he
set across the tub before Savage as a specially designed tea table. Like a tea table,
too, it was set with a small lace-edged cloth, napkins, a porcelain plate of sandwiches,
and another with sweet biscuits.

Warily I watched from my end of the tub. Why shouldn’t Savage have paraded other naked
conquests before his manservant? He was a young, unmarried gentleman in his prime,
and the aristocratic set centered by the king would not expect the earl to remain
celibate. The very fact that Savage was so familiar with Lady Carleigh’s rituals proved
he’d entertained other Innocents at other Wrenton house parties before this one.

Of course, I knew all this. I’d claimed I wanted the same, too, a lover to give me
the passion my life so sorely needed, without any awkward promises of fidelity to
complicate the pleasure. I’d come here to Wrenton expecting that, and I’d gotten exactly
what I wanted. I’d agreed to play Lady Carleigh’s game, and so far I’d enjoyed myself—and
Lord Savage—immensely.

And hadn’t I set my sights on Savage in the first place after watching him fuck another
woman?

I’d absolutely no reason to feel unhappy, or neglected, or wounded, or jealous, or
whatever it was that was plaguing me now.

None.

“Would you have tea, Mrs. Hart?” asked Barry. “Or would you prefer sherry?”

“Sherry, thank you,” I said without looking up as he brought me a glass.

“You didn’t say ‘Sherry, Barry,’” Savage said, bemused. “I’m disappointed. How could
you resist?”

I wasn’t in the mood for his teasing. “I resisted,” I said. “Apparently I’ve no ear
for low poetry.”

“Now, Eve, don’t be sarcastic with me,” he warned. “An idle observation doesn’t merit
sarcasm.”

I sighed. “Forgive me, Master. No more sarcasm.”

“Thank you, Eve,” Savage said, devouring a beef sandwich with obvious relish. “You
should eat something too, you know. You must be hungry. Unless you secretly crept
out to the kitchens, you haven’t eaten since last night, either.”

“You know I didn’t leave,” I said, a little resentful if not sarcastic. “You’ve been
watching me the entire time. Master.”

“True enough,” he said, unperturbed as he reached for a second sandwich. “But you
should be thankful that I’m not a harsh master. There are some here who won’t let
their Innocents eat at all as part of their education, or who will make them eat from
a dish on the floor like a dog.”

I frowned. “That’s dreadful.”

He licked a spot of mayonnaise from his finger. “‘That’s dreadful, Master.’”

“That’s dreadful,
Master,
” I repeated, wishing I could watch him lick the mayonnaise without imagining he was
licking it from me instead. “You can’t fault me for not playing the Game. I’ve done
everything you’ve asked.”

“You have indeed, Eve,” he said. “Everything, and far, far more besides.”

He smiled slowly, so devastating and wicked that I blushed, unable to resist his charm.
How could I, when he looked at me like that, making me remember everything we’d done
together?

And I
was
hungry. With my water-puckered fingers, I took a sandwich from the plate as daintily
as if I were sitting in a proper drawing room, and not naked in a marble tub with
an equally naked, beautiful English lord.

“Some Protectors demand complete abjection and debasement,” he continued. “For that
matter, some Innocents wish it, too.”

“I can’t believe that anyone would wish to be made to eat like a dog, Master,” I said.
“That makes little sense to me.”

As an experiment, I tried licking mayonnaise from my fingers, too, to see if it had
the same effect on him. I did it slowly, dragging the flat of my tongue along my fingers
and lingering on the tips, and never taking my gaze away from his.

It worked. Clearly interested, he was watching every movement of my tongue.

Beneath the makeshift table, I felt his foot gently rubbing against my calf.

“You tempt me, Eve,” he said, his voice dropping low.

I slipped my finger into my mouth and sucked the last bit of the thick, white sauce
from it. “Do I, Master?”

“You do, Eve,” he said, “you wicked, winsome creature.”

The way he said it made me quite sure that if I could look beneath the tray, I’d see
he had a cockstand again.

But, to my regretful surprise, he didn’t continue what I was sure we’d begun.

“If only we weren’t expected downstairs,” he said with genuine regret. “Then you’d
learn the punishment for eating like that.”

Disappointed, I raised a single brow. “What can be more important than my education,
Master?”

“Oh, I’ll guarantee your education will continue downstairs, Eve,” he said. “Just
not perhaps in the ways that you expect. Barry, has Mrs. Hart’s maid appeared yet?”

“How will my education continue, Master?” I asked, more than a bit anxiously. It was
one thing to be fucked by Savage in his rooms, but I wasn’t sure I was ready—if I
ever would be—to do so before the other Protectors and Innocents. “What will I be
expected to do at dinner?”

He smiled. “You are not to question me, Eve. Only masters have the privilege. Remember
that, especially when we are with the others. Ah, here’s your maid now. Simpson, isn’t
it?”

With a basket of my toiletries on her arm, Simpson joined us with the same lack of
embarrassment as Barry had displayed. The voluptuous lady’s maid curtseyed, somehow
turning this simple act of deference into a seductive little dance. Her smile—and
Savage’s in return—was much warmer than I could have wished, nor was Savage’s blatant,
unrepentant nudity before the maid reassuring, either. Had Simpson once served as
an Innocent for him, too?

“Mrs. Hart requires her hair washed and dressed, Simpson,” Savage ordered, as if I
myself were incapable of asking the maid to do it. “No pins, mind you. Her hair must
be loose.”

“Yes, my lord,” Simpson said, setting the basket beside the tub.

“See that she is ready within the hour,” he said. “I do not like to be kept waiting.”

“
I
will be ready, Master,” I said, even though I wasn’t the one he had addressed. “You
are not the only one who believes in promptness.”

“Eve, Eve.” He smiled indulgently. “Didn’t I warn you about speaking only when addressed?”

My smile was more of a challenge. “You forbade me to ask questions, Master. You said
nothing regarding statements.”

He sighed with mock dismay. “Perhaps I’ve been too lenient,” he said. “But what I’ve
permitted here in private will not be tolerated when we’re with the rest of the company.”

I raised my brows quizzically, making my unspoken question so obvious that he laughed.

“I will not tolerate it,” he said. “It’s for your own good. You must trust me, Eve.
Stubborn or obstinate Innocents will not be tolerated, and the punishments can be …
dramatic.”

Completely unself-conscious, he rose dripping from the water like some ancient river
god. He was almost shockingly beautiful, his skin ruddy and glistening, and, fascinated,
I watched the play of his muscles and sinews as he stepped from the tub.

I was glad to see he was no longer aroused, his handsome cock at ease. While it was
unlikely that even he would wish to appear that way before the servants, I also preferred
that—at least for this week—he’d keep that delectable sight for me alone.

And I was also glad to note that Simpson wasn’t gawking the way I was, but instead
pointedly concentrating on the tangled knots in my hair.

Barry bustled forward with a towel, patting his master dry and then slipping the robe
over his broad shoulders. Savage wrapped it closed himself, and came to stand over
me in my end of the tub. Simpson swiftly stepped back to stand by the wall, leaving
me with my hair frothed with soap.

I looked up at Savage through my lashes. Iridescent soap bubbles had escaped to float
on the water’s surface, drifting around the curves of my breasts. With him, I didn’t
try to cover myself or hide, but let him look his fill.

“I could stand here all day gazing at you, Eve,” he said gruffly. “You’re that beautiful.”

“Then stay, Master.” I purred, shifting my legs together provocatively beneath the
water. “I thought you would anyway, to watch over me.”

His eyes narrowed, and too late I realized that that might not have been the wisest
thing to say.