Ruined by Moonlight (12 page)

“It’s just the beginning,” he said, rising to kiss her mouth again with brief, tantalizing pressure.

She had no idea what that might mean but she did know that this bond, this thrill of passion, was infinitely more than she expected, and he was correct. It had been building for the past few days and the pull of it was irresistible on a level she didn’t want to acknowledge.

As if sensing that reaction, he nuzzled her throat. “This isn’t
the time to think about it overly much. Deep analysis can be reserved for another moment.”

She might have responded but his mouth found the juncture of her shoulder and neck, and Elena took in a deep breath, holding it as he traced the valley between her breasts with careful attention and then moved lower to her rib cage.

And lower.

Across the quivering plane of her stomach to the extremely sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, his hands gently pressing her legs open. Allowing it was not easy, but her resistance was overcome when he murmured, “I promise it will be worth it.”

If she didn’t believe that—believe in him—she wouldn’t be in such a singularly vulnerable position. After all, she was naked and in bed with the infamous Lord Raven. Still, she was reluctant until her muscles relented to the pressure of his hands and she relaxed enough to let him spread her thighs.

And he took full advantage of her capitulation.

When he lowered his head she didn’t realize his intention until the first paralyzing moment when his mouth brushed her already throbbing cleft. Then he used his tongue. Just a delicate advance at first, a touch, but in such a shocking place she could swear the breath left her chest. Pleasure moved, spread, engulfed, as he pressed closer and began to truly taste and nibble and…

There are no words,
she thought moments later, captivated in rapture and her fists clenched in the sheets of the bed. Involuntarily Elena opened her thighs wider as he scandalously kissed her between her legs.

The pinnacle of pleasure built, spread, carried her away until she tumbled over the edge into an unknown
world and called out his name even as she shuddered and clutched his shoulders and finally went limp.

He lifted his head and his smile was a faint gleam of white teeth. “That, my lady, is your first lesson in sexual pleasure.”

It was gratifying to see he could still trust his instincts.

She’d climaxed with the abandon he’d anticipated and her dazed expression reflected what had just happened. Enlightened by their conversation and perhaps a bit more prepared for when she truly embraced her sensual side and gave herself completely to a lover, she’d done it with a captivating lack of restraint..

Beautifully. Everything I expected.…But she isn’t without a price.…

It was something he needed to keep in mind. As delectable as she was, slender thighs slightly parted, long lashes in fans on her cheekbones as he noted the flush on her skin and the soft lusciousness of her lower lip, he reminded himself that neither of them were going to be led to the ultimate mistake. It would be entirely different if he’d met her, been intrigued enough to start pursuit—but it
wouldn’t
have happened, as he wasn’t interested in that type of permanence—and then chosen this path.

Framed in the spill of her long pale hair, Elena was a picture of temptation, her body shadowed enticingly in the fading light, the rapid pattern of her respiration reminding him this was all new to her.

And therefore should be entirely memorable. His straining erection aside, his purpose was to avoid taking her physical innocence while yet still branding her very soul as the man who first initiated her into carnal pleasure.

Colbert be damned
.
She’s not in love with him; she isn’t even enthusiastic about marrying the man.…

Analyzing why that was important was not an exercise he wanted to undertake, so instead he concentrated on the satin of her skin under his questing fingertips, the fragrance from her hair, the shimmer in her eyes as she watched him touch her.…

The unveiled glory of her body did not disappoint. Slim but curvaceous, the pale mounds of her breasts tipped with pink nipples, the neat triangle at the apex of her legs a darker color than her pale tresses, Elena had responded in small, telling ways to each touch, every caress, and the language was clear.

The sensuality he’d perceived was not an illusion and he wanted this to be a moment of her life she would always remember.

One
—he had an uncomfortable moment of reflection—
perhaps we will both remember.

“That was…” She stopped, the breathiness of her voice even more arousing, and it was hardly what he needed.

Ran rolled to his back, the sash of his robe loosened enough to give him some relief from the heat infusing his body, the thin material also not disguising his rampant erection. Contrary to popular opinion he didn’t go from bed to bed every night, but the past three days of abstinence hadn’t been all that easy with his desirable companion so close by, and he was on the edge.

The very edge.

It didn’t help when she rose on her elbows, staring at the outline of his erect cock where it lifted the silk draping his thighs, her lovely face flushed. He didn’t expect her to know what to do, and it was evident she didn’t
have the slightest idea either, which was both refreshing and frustrating as hell.

“The lesson can stop here or we can go on.”

“Fair trade?” Her laugh was weak and yet somehow provocative.

“Precisely.”

Deliberately he opened his robe and shrugged it off, not exactly surprised at the way her eyes widened at her first sight of a fully aroused adult male. The Greek statues and the sketches of the male anatomy she may have seen did not usually include an erection and he was definitely at full mast. “I can be selfless but mutual satisfaction is more the usual way it works.”

Tense, supine, he watched her, the luscious sway of her breasts enticing—and he had no need of further enticement—as she rose to her knees.

“So you said, but what do you mean?”

What the devil
did
he mean? His smile was crooked. “I can take care of it myself or you can help me.”

He would have staked his life she was too innocent to have an inkling of what he meant, but to his surprise she reached out, her hand hovering over his stiff cock. “You are going to have to explain to me what—”

“Just touch me.” His voice was raspy, his eyes half-closed. “Elena, touch me. It isn’t complicated. Touch me and we’ll be quite even in moments, I assure you.”

Luckily she was perceptive enough to not need a lot of instructions in the attempt. Slender fingers closed over his erection and instinctively slid upward in a tentative glide, and his breath hitched at the gratifying sensation. He kept as still as possible as she explored the rigid length of his hard penis, one finger delicately wiping a drop from the seeping tip, his body quivering at the caress.

It wouldn’t take much and he would explode, especially with the taste of her arousal still on his lips. The unskilled glide of her hand had much more effect than it might have under other circumstances; the room was immersed in colored light, quiet except for the rasp of his breathing, and he was so tense he groaned at the next brush of her circling hand. Consciously he let himself travel that crucial distance at her next tentative squeeze.

The hot rush of his ejaculation spilled across his abdomen and chest and her hand involuntarily tightened in startled response, exacerbating the reaction. It wasn’t nearly as good as if he’d been buried deep inside her, but in the retrospective haze of much-needed sexual release, it was certainly better than the strain of the past three days. It was inaccurate to say he’d been perpetually hard, but it had happened often enough and he’d wondered more than once if the forbidden-fruit aspect of the situation hadn’t contributed to his interest. If so, their captor was exceedingly shrewd and that wasn’t a promising sign for a timely release from their little tower prison.

But an extended stay had a sudden rosy glow it had previously lacked.

At least he’d managed to adhere to his purpose so far. Barely. She might not be quite so innocent, but she was still a virgin.

Her fingers loosened when he caught her wrist and he tumbled her on top him in a gentle but insistent pull, regardless of the discharge of his semen slick between them. “Do you understand now why we might need to bathe?” he asked her, their mouths inches apart, his gaze heavy-lidded.

“Yes,” she responded and artlessly kissed him, just a touch of her lips—a maiden’s kiss. When her long hair
brushed his shoulders he fought to not pull her closer and begin again what they’d just almost—
almost
—finished.

God, he wanted to slide between her thighs and bury himself deep, showing her the true measure of what pleasure could be.

He said more curtly than he intended, “You are too damned tempting.”

“Am I?”

That vixen’s smile didn’t bode well for his future good behavior. He told her so in soft whispers, drawing her closer, noting that his erection was already swelling again as a result of her soft body sprawled on top of his.

“I didn’t know you ever behaved well, my lord.”

Not with her naked in his arms, not in this damned situation. “Remember my brief stint of possessing a modicum of decorum?”

She laughed.

And he found the sound to be infinitely arousing.

Hell
.

“Y
ou haven’t seen him in how long?”

“Too long.” The winsome Mrs. Grant smiled at him with a hint of mischief, pursing full lips. “I rather miss his bonny looks…and other parts of him as well.”

The innuendo made Ben stifle a laugh, and he thought he understood how Randolph Raine might be attracted to the alluring widow, though she had to be considerably older than he; in her midthirties, at a guess. Brunette and voluptuous, she was a bit overblown for his tastes but her good nature was appealing. Coming out of the shop, her satin skirts swishing gently as her hips moved, she had the air more of a mistress than a respectable matron, and she fit what he knew of the preferences of the missing viscount. Andrews usually kept his affairs light and detached and it was borne about by the fact he chose women who all were unfettered and not financially dependent on their lovers. Which showed a certain sophisticated approach to a libertine lifestyle. Obviously Lord Andrews was amiable to casual affairs but didn’t need to pay for the favors of a bed partner. Women put themselves deliberately in his path.

Fair enough.

Then why did he abscond with Alicia’s lovely young cousin? It didn’t fit at all what Ben knew of him.

“Did Lord Andrews mention why he wished to terminate your affair?” Ben fell into step next to Mrs. Grant, having found her at her favorite milliner, thanks to her gregarious maid and a small monetary incentive. He politely took her parcel, a footman trailing dutifully behind them.

“Are you asking if he left me for Whitbridge’s daughter?” Beth Grant arched her brows but her voice was amused.

“I’ve said nothing about Lady Elena.”

“Then you are the only one, my lord. Everyone is atwitter about the earl’s daughter’s possible elopement with Lord Andrews.”

“Is that what you think happened?”

She seemed to consider it as they walked along, but after a moment she shook her head. “I quite doubt it. He’s infamously opposed to marriage and nothing he does is secretive. I do not see how they could meet enough times to form an attachment and no one know it. In my opinion it is an unlikely course of events.”

His thoughts exactly. However, it had seemed prudent, as he could find out nothing about Elena’s disappearance, to investigate the viscount’s mutual absence. “Did he ever mention to you anyone with whom he had a quarrel?”

“Believe it or not, for someone whose love affairs garner such attention, he isn’t inclined to discuss his private life. Even when we went our separate ways, he didn’t really explain why. I think he became bored with me, which was not a surprise. I wasn’t offended. We had a delightful time while it lasted.”

They’d reached her carriage and the footman hurried forward
to open the door of the vehicle and lower the step. Her diffident attitude surprised him, but Ben was learning he did not know women as well as he thought he did. Drily he said, “Apparently Lord Andrews made quite an impression for you to forgive him so easily.”

Mrs. Grant gazed at him with what appeared to be typical directness. “I think you are looking at it the wrong way, Lord Heathton. It is more that he never promised me anything nor did he want that from me. Our interlude was just a dalliance and we both knew it. Had he been serious I would not have been interested, and that is the only reason
he
was interested in
me
. I like being a widow but did not enjoy all that much being a wife.”

As he handed her into the vehicle he couldn’t help but reflect on the strangeness of the puzzle yet again.

Part of his expertise was drawing conclusions from whatever evidence could be gathered at hand.
If
there was evidence, which in this case was not proving forthcoming. The viscount and Alicia’s cousin had seemingly vanished in a wisp of proverbial smoke.

No witnesses.

No request for ransom.

And even more telling, no word even from the extremely reliable community of domestic servants, except the whispers over the disappearances. He’d had Altamont use his resources to ask around the stable lads; there was really very little gossip and none about a possible liaison.

Even Mrs. Grant had hardly proved to be productive. Obviously there was no animosity there between his lordship and his recent paramour. Quite the opposite.

Not an entirely wasted effort,
he thought morosely. To an extent the spurned widow had proved quite helpful. Not because she knew anything about the viscount’s
disappearance but because his former mistress knew quite a lot about his normal habits. Alicia seemed to be correct in her conviction that Elena had not run off with him.