Serenity's Dream (2 page)

more where that came from, and I do declare it will be my pleasure to 'blister your

arse.'" His tone was deliberately mocking.

"All right then, can you just get on with it?"

"It seems to me you said to just get on with it on our wedding night."

Lucien struck her again, on the other cheek, leaving a handprint almost as vivid

as the first. As he alternated between his two targets, Serenity yelped and howled as

though she were, well, being spanked. Though not particularly proud of what he was

feeling, Lucien rather enjoyed spanking her. But, he justified it by the fact she'd left him,

prick in hand, the day after the wedding, to be a country matron instead of a city wife.

"This, my dear, is what you have to look forward to should you remain in St.

John's Wood. I will see to it you have a spanking at least once a day and I will make it

hurt. Is this what you want, Serenity, to have your arse spanked by my hand and any

other implement I might decide to use?"

Serenity had dissolved into a flood of tears, her bottom as red as a cherry. "Please

stop!"

Lucien did as she so loudly demanded. She remained bent over the sofa, crying.

"Get up," he said.

She did as he said but didn't look him in the eye. Tears stained her cheeks with

silver streaks. He handed her his monogrammed linen handkerchief. "Here, blow your

nose and sit down."

"She did, gingerly. She placed her hands in her lap and her head remained

bowed.

"Do you still want to submit to my discipline, Serenity? Do you want me to

spank you every day?"

"I think so," she said, her voice rattling.

"I must know, before I consent to anything. The only way I will accept you back

in my life is if you submit as you have said you would. I have lived ten years without

you and I can go on for the rest of my days."

She hesitated, but finally she spoke. "I want what those gentlemen spoke about. I

am ready to assume my wifely duties."

"Oh, make no mistake, madam, should I decide to have you be a wife to me, you

will indeed assume your duties—all of them."

He tried to sound menacing, because he didn't want her thinking the path to

marital reconciliation would be an easy one. Since she'd left, she'd sent her constant

complaints through his man of business. She'd complained about everything, including

the condition of the country home, the food, the servants, and the fact he wouldn't

allow her a trip to London until she was ready to return to her marital duties. Each time

he'd given her the choice, she'd promptly refused, and there it was—they'd not seen

each other since the day after their wedding.

"What say you now?"

"I wish to be your wife, Lucien, in every way you wish me to be."

"Well, I must say I am shocked—and somewhat flattered —that after that little

sampling, you still wish to return to my bed."

Serenity looked up and gave him a demur smile. "Yes, I do, completely."

"Fine, then. Let me show you to your chamber. It seems to me it is now time to

fuck you insensible."

Chapter Two

As Serenity followed Lucien through a hidden wall panel in the library and up to

his residence, she grew anxious for what would come next. She hadn't realized how

much she missed the intimacy between lovers.

Lucien's voice pierced through her reverie. "I had access to the third floor from

the two bottom floors blocked, so my residence would remain private. The only way to

enter the third floor is by a staircase accessed through a wall panel found in the library

and on the second floor in a sitting room that's not used."

"Who knows of the wall panels?"

"Just a few people, including the servants, and now you."

"It is very clever," she exclaimed as they entered the hallway on the upper floor.

"Your rooms are this way."

He showed her to what would be the suite of rooms adjoining his own. "I will

have these prepared in the morning. For tonight, you will stay in a guest room down

the hall."

"This is beautiful, Lucien. You have done quite well for yourself."

"Yes, I suppose I have. Tomorrow I shall give you a tour of the residence and the

club." He grabbed her hand and nearly dragged her through the connecting door to his

overlarge, very masculine bedchamber. "I believe we have some unfinished business to

take care of, do we not?"

Serenity's mind had been assaulted since her surreptitious entrée into the

mansion. She'd entered through the kitchen and wended her way to the entrance hall.

When the elderly butler had safely dozed off, she entered the library, the only room

with massive closed double doors, and waited for Lucien to enter. She'd heard myriad

sounds, howls, moans, grunts and laughter, along with beautiful chamber music. Her

imagination had run amok with thoughts of what could possibly be behind those

sounds.

Her loins had reacted with moisture and clenching the likes of which she'd rarely

experienced. Her curiosity was at its peak, especially about her husband.

He'd changed since she'd last seen him. His coal black hair was now liberally

dosed with silver, something she found surprisingly appealing. She'd always loved the

idea he was ten years older.
"Our age difference makes me feel very safe,"
she'd told him

when they courted.

She remembered he was handsome, so much so she constantly questioned his

willingness to marry her. She was plain in those days, and dressed more like a country

mouse than a gentle born lady. In the intervening years, she'd immersed herself in

country society, and she felt she'd blossomed.

His bedchamber smelled of bergamot and shaving soap with telltale signs of

leather and beeswax. It was enormous, with a fitting four-poster bed on a dais, along

the longest wall.

"Oh, Lucien, this is beautiful."

"You can thank Campion, here, if you like it. He saw to everything. Campion, old

man, this is my wife, Serenity."

"Mrs. Damrill, I am pleased to make your acquaintance." The bewigged older

man bowed appropriately, lifting an eyebrow at his master.

"Thank you, Mr. Campion. It's nice to meet you, as well."

"You may retire, Campion."

"As you wish, sir. Madam." Campion sketched another jaunty bow and left

through the dressing room door, leaving husband and wife alone with a large,

imposing bed in their midst.

"Mr. Campion did not seem surprised you would bring a woman up here," she

stated matter-of-factly.

Lucien smiled with amusement. "He's just 'Campion', and he most certainly was

surprised. I can't believe you didn't notice. Why he was positively flabbergasted. I have

never brought anyone up here before." He grinned playfully.

"Really? You've allowed no one, not even your mistresses?"

"My
mistresses
have never come here at all. What do you take me for, a complete

rogue?"

"I take you for a man who has been shamefully neglected by the woman charged

with his care."

"Yes, well, I would agree with that assessment, and I do believe you should start

making it up to me this very moment. Why don't you remove your clothing and then

you can remove mine as well."

Lucien crossed the room and sat in a comfortable red and gold damask-covered

chair. After removing his black kid evening shoes and white stockings, he crossed his

long, elegant legs, one over the other, and simply watched as Serenity struggled with

her clothing.

"You might at least help," she said, but was completely ignored.

She wriggled and squirmed, thinking she wasn't showing her innate elegance

and grace for this, her first sexual encounter with her husband since their wedding

night.
What was I thinking when I left?

She finally slipped the dress down over her shoulders and into a puddle at her

feet. Had he always been so handsome? Had he always been so tall?
What will he look

like naked?

When she stood in front of him, wearing only her diaphanous chemise, he stood

up. He'd had to bite back laughter as she wormed her way out of her clothing,

something he'd wager she'd never had to do for herself.

She's changed, he thought pleasantly. She'd always been so plain, so

unexceptional. But now, she was . . . well . . . pretty. Certainly no raving beauty, but

with her stylish hair and clothing, and a certain graceful quality she'd not heretofore

possessed, she was indeed quite attractive. Her curves were more womanly now, and

she smelled of lavender and something vaguely citrusy. Through the silk, he saw her

dusky, aroused nipples. Lord, he could not wait to fill his hands with her breasts.

He stepped forward and walked around her, skimming her rounded shoulders,

running the backs of his fingers down one arm. He lingered behind her, plucking

emerald hairpins and casually dropping them to the floor. He leaned in to kiss the back

of her neck, brushing her tumbled hair aside. The soft silk of her chemise shifted under

his touch as he explored her spine and firmly cupped her buttocks.

"I like a firm bottom, Serenity." He flicked a swat, startling her. "Do you like it

when I touch you here?"

"Yes," she muttered as his fingers worked her chemise into the crease between

her cheeks.

"That's very good, because I do too."

He untied one ribbon at her shoulder and continued walking around her. She

had her eyes closed. He could hear a hitch in her breathing every time his fingers

caressed her skin.
Good, be on guard; be leery.
"Open your eyes and watch as I suckle your

breast. Have you ever had your breast suckled, my dear?"

"Oh, yes," she confessed, but he didn't pursue it.

"Do you like it?" He circled his tongue around her distended nipple.

Her head lolled back on her shoulders and he stopped sucking.

"Open your eyes." He plucked the other ribbon and the pink silk floated to the

floor. Serenity stood before him unashamedly naked, her brown curly hair all but

shielding her small, though adequate, breasts from his view. She opened her silver-blue

eyes. He dipped his hand into her feminine curls and discovered the truth; she was

dripping with desire.

"What is this, my dear? Are you anxious for our coupling?"

Her voice creaked with an unintelligible answer.

"Tell me what you want, Serenity."

"I want you," she admitted.

"How do you want me? I seem to recall a time when you wanted nothing to do

with my 'nasty male activities'. What has changed? I dare say the activities may have

gotten nastier."

"I was young then. I have learned . . . ."

"Ah, ha, I believe you have given yourself away more than once since our happy

reunion. Tell me what you want, plainly, so I can understand."

"To begin with, I want to see you."

"Well here I am." He flung his arms out at his sides.

"No, I want to see you n-n—"

"Naked. Is that what you are trying to say, my little shy wife?"

"Yes, Lucien, I want to see you naked."

"Well, then, please, do the honors."

He put himself into her shaking hands. She removed his black tailcoat and silverembroidered waistcoat, folding them and placing them over the back of a chair. His

cravat and shirt came next. Her breath hitched perceptibly when she reached for the

buttons on the placard of his black trousers. She kept her gaze fixed upon his eyes as

her tiny fingers slipped each button from its mooring until she released the last one.

With her thumbs, she slid the exquisitely tailored linen down over his slim hips and

hard, muscled thighs, past his knees and to the floor, not taking her eyes off the pulsing

bulge beneath his small clothes.

"These must go." She untied them and slid them to his hips, revealing his cock in

all its aroused glory.

"You have never seen me. You did not avail yourself of the privilege as we made

love in the dark on our wedding night."

"It is evident it was my loss."

Being the man he was, Lucien fairly gloated. He was quite proud of his

appendage, as though he'd designed it himself. He grabbed it and stroked it

provocatively.

Serenity arched a chestnut eyebrow and smiled, but said nothing. She raised a

hand and then shied away.

"Go ahead; touch me."

She touched the bulbous head and then wrapped her delicate fingers around

him. Slowly, her hand slid down the blue-veined shaft and up again. She dallied at the

crown, trailing her fingernail around the flared ridge. Lucien hissed, his knees

threatening to turn to water, but he managed to hold his ground. Silvery fluid dripped

from the tiny eye, attracting her attention.

"What is this?" she asked flirtatiously as she ran her thumb through it.

"It lets you know I am ready to fuck you insensible."

She chuckled. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed.

He was like any man faced with a naked woman. He wanted to fuck her, and it

really didn't matter who or what she was. A lady having a notch and being willing were

the only two criteria by which most men conducted their lives.
A stiff cock has no

conscience.

He crawled predatorily onto the bed after her. He straddled her legs as she lay

propped upon the crisp white pillows. He lowered his head and took her nipple in his