Authors: Kate Pearce
Simply Carnal (9 page)
“And so you came back.”
“I did. Only to find that my father seems disinclined to talk to me about anything apart from my new responsibilities and how perfect my half siblings are.”
Christian stared at Richard and debated how far he wished to involve himself in family politics. He’d always tried to keep away from the emotions, preferring to stir things up and cause problems rather than solve them, but for some reason he was feeling a strange urge to defend his father.
“If I may be so bold, Philip has missed you immensely. I think if you stay in London, he will begin to trust you again.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Richard glanced away from Christian. “I fear I have left it too late.”
“Oh, no. Remember that Lisette and I have an immense capacity to disrupt Philip’s peace of mind. One of us will undoubtedly do something to incur his wrath soon, and you will be back in favor.”
Richard smiled. “I do intend to stay. I’ve grown weary of wandering.”
“Then remain in London, visit your inheritance with Philip, and learn the things you will need to know to become an accomplished peer of the realm.” Christian raised his glass to his half brother. “I wish you all the luck in the world.”
“You don’t wish it was you?”
Christian felt as if he had been avoiding that particular question his whole life, but Richard of all people had a right to know the truth. “You’ll probably not believe me, but I think you have to be born into such a duty.” He shuddered. “The thought of all those obligations horrifies me.”
Richard looked unconvinced, but Christian knew that was exactly why Richard was the right man for the job and he was not. He signaled to the waiter to bring them another brandy.
“You might care to consider making this your club, unless you wish Philip to sponsor you into his?”
Richard shuddered. “That will have to happen eventually, but I’d prefer to put it off for a while. Do you have any influence with the principals of this place?”
“As it happens, I do.” Christian had already noticed another gentleman hovering at his elbow. “Good morning, Lord Ralston.”
“Ah, good morning, Mr. Delornay.” Lord Ralston’s interested gaze slid toward Richard, who looked resigned.
Christian made the introductions. “May I present you to Mr. Richard Ross, my lord? He is my half brother and heir to all my father’s titles and wealth.”
“Oh, I ... I say,” Lord Ralston stuttered. “A pleasure, what?”
“Actually, Ralston, I would ask a favor of you,” Christian continued. “My half brother would like to be considered for membership of this club. As one of the founding members, would you be willing to propose him for admittance if I second the motion?”
“Absolutely happy to oblige you, Mr. Delornay.” Ralston nodded at them both. “Shall we go and see to the paperwork?”
Christian rose from his seat. “Stay and finish your brandy, Richard, while Lord Ralston and I work out the finer details. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay put,” Richard replied, his amused gaze on Christian. “I’ll keep myself busy counting my titles and wealth.”
Christian fought a smile as he followed Ralston to the rear of the house where the offices were situated. Despite his misgivings, it appeared as if Richard might be a worthy addition to the Delornay-Ross menagerie. He certainly had a sense of humor, and that was a necessity.
It took but a few moments to alert the club secretary to Lord Ralston’s request and to fill out the nomination form that would be put before the committee on the last day of the month.
As they left the secretary’s office, Ralston swung around and blocked Christian’s path.
“There is something I wish to ask you.”
“What is it, my lord?”
Christian waited, his gaze fixed on the other man’s face.
“Are you coming back to the Demon Club soon?”
“I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”
Ralston swallowed hard and then looked down at the floor. “I ... miss seeing you there.”
A snake of lust unfurled itself deep in Christian’s gut, and he pushed Ralston up against the wall. “I’m sure there are plenty of others who can take care of your needs.”
“No one like you, Mr. Delornay.” Ralston grabbed Christian’s hand and brought it to his groin. “Even thinking about watching you makes me hard.”
Christian squeezed Ralston’s cock until he groaned and then let go. “I’ll think about it, Ralston.”
“Thank you, sir,” Ralston gasped.
Christian turned on his heel and went back to find Richard. His cock was half-erect now, and he was more eager than ever to get back to Mrs. Smith. What would she think if she’d just seen him? Would she think him a sadistic bully, or would she offer him her usual bland smile and not care at all? He hadn’t even fucked Ralston. Sometimes he wished it were as simple as that, but the reality was far more complex.
He rejoined Richard with a smile and indicated that they should leave. Outside, it had just started to rain, and he hailed a hackney cab.
“Let’s go back to the pleasure house. I wish to introduce you to Marie-Claude. She will make sure that you are offered everything a man could desire.”
8
“M
r. Delornay asks if you will do him the pleasure of meeting him in his bedchamber.”
r. Delornay asks if you will do him the pleasure of meeting him in his bedchamber.”
“He has returned from his parents’ house?” Elizabeth paused on the stairs and looked back at Ambrose. “I thought I was supposed to be making myself pleasant on the second level this evening.”
“Apparently your plans have changed.” Ambrose smiled at her. “Don’t worry. Marie-Claude has offered to take your shift. I believe she is about to show Mr. Ross around the pleasure house, and she is quite excited about it.”
“Mr. Ross?”
“Mr. Delornay’s half brother, Richard.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Ah, Emily’s brother.”
“That’s right. He has returned to London and seems determined to make all well with the Delornay branch of the family.”
“There was friction in the past?”
Ambrose gave an exaggerated shudder. “Ask Mr. Delornay to tell you about it. It is a long story.”
“I will.”
Not that she intended to stay long enough to ask Mr. Delornay anything of a personal nature. Elizabeth resumed her ascent and walked back to the private apartments. She always liked letting herself through the locked door into the quieter areas of the house. She felt like an actor who was finally able to shed her stage persona and be herself. But she couldn’t let down her guard completely. She still had her secrets, and there was always Christian to contend with.
She knocked on the door to his suite and waited until he asked her to enter. He sat by the fire reading a book, his coat and waistcoat discarded, his fair hair damp from either the rain or a recent bath. Elizabeth walked over to him and inhaled his warm scent. A bath, then, and he hadn’t bothered to get dressed because he was expecting her company.
“Good evening, Mr. Delornay.”
She curtsied and he looked up, his appreciative gaze taking in her cream gown with the low bodice edged with seed pearls.
“Good evening, Mrs. Smith. You look very fine in that gown.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and waited to see what he wanted her to do next.
“I have decided that if you are to pretend to be lovers in the room of desires, you need to become more familiar with Paul and Ambrose.” He angled his head to one side to study her more closely. “Does that offend you?”
“Not at all, Mr. Delornay. In truth, I think it is a good idea.”
“Then I shall be asking them to join us.” Christian stood and moved behind Elizabeth to start unlacing her gown. His businesslike tone was surprisingly reassuring. “Unfortunately, they can’t stay all night, as we have a business to run, but I’ve asked them to make time for us in their schedules.”
“Paul doesn’t work here.”
His chuckle stirred the soft curls at the back of her neck. “He might as well. I treat him like an employee more often than not these days, and he seems to thrive on it.”
He continued to undress her until she was quite naked and then took her hand and led her over to his bed. Before she could scramble up, he picked her up and tossed her into the center of the bed and came after her. His gaze wandered over her body and her nipples hardened.
He made an appreciative sound and bent his head to lick one taut peak, nipping and nuzzling until she squirmed. He didn’t stop, his fingers busy on her other nipple, pinching and shaping it until she was panting at the extreme sensations. His fingers slid over her hip and inward to her sex, and he cupped her mound in his palm. She wondered if he could detect the orbs of pleasure she had inside her, and what he would do when he discovered them.
He returned his mouth to hers and began kissing her, his chest rubbing against her tight nipples, his hand still resting possessively between her legs. He kissed like a god, and Elizabeth found herself lifting her hips against the pressure of his hand, as if seeking her pleasure.
“Wait,” he murmured, moving off her and reaching behind him. Elizabeth lay still until he came over her again. “Have you ever tried these?”
He showed her two small jewel-like objects and she shook her head. “What are they?”
He pinched her nipple hard, making her jump. “They go here.”
Elizabeth licked her lips. “Won’t they hurt?”
“That depends.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “What exactly does that mean?”
He regarded her steadily, one hand cupping her breast. “I believe it will enhance your pleasure. Do you trust me?”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
He smiled at that. “And if I insisted?”
A lick of excitement curled through Elizabeth’s stomach, and she saw him respond to it, his hand tightening on her breast. “I am yours to command, Mr. Delornay. You know that.”
“Good,” he said, and bent his head to suck her nipple into his mouth. She caught her breath as he used his teeth on her, and she writhed against him.
“Now.” He lifted his mouth and caught her nipple between his finger and thumb, elongating it until she whimpered. He fitted the jeweled clamp and slowly tightened it, watching her face, reacting to every shiver of pleasure and pain that she couldn’t control.
“Don’t hold your breath,” he commanded. “Breathe out slowly.”
She struggled to obey him as he prepared her to receive the other clamp. The strange tightening pressure made her feel restless, and a taut heat gathered low in her stomach.
“Breathe, Elizabeth. Stop fighting it.”
He licked her trapped nipple, and the shock of it made her gasp. He murmured her name and kissed her between her breasts before heading lower to her sex. She lay still and bit her lip as her heart beat so rapidly she thought she might pass out.
The first touch of his tongue on her clit made her moan his name. His second made her arch upward toward his mouth. His teeth grazed her thigh, and she reached down to slide her fingers into his hair, desperate for some anchor against all the unfamiliar assaults on her body. His finger slid inside her and she tensed.
A second later he looked up at her, his beautiful, sensual mouth wet with her juices. “What do you have in here?”
His finger probed more deeply, and she heard the faint chiming sound of the balls rubbing against each other.
“Marie-Claude gave them to me.”
“You asked her advice?”
“Yes. Why do you sound so surprised?”
His smile was wry. “Because you don’t exactly share much of yourself with anyone, do you?”
“I share my body with you.”
“But not yourself.”
She held his gaze. “I thought we agreed our affair would be about the physical and not the emotional. That’s why I talked to Marie-Claude about my
physical
limitations.”
physical
limitations.”
He stared at her. “Neither of us is willing to trust anyone, are we?” He looked down at her sex and licked his lips. “Now where was I?”
Elizabeth closed her eyes, glad of her reprieve. She hated it when he held her to account. He really was the most difficult man she had ever bedded. His tongue circled her clit, and she forgot about thinking and concentrated on what he was doing to her instead. She gasped when he slid his finger back inside her, and she felt him stirring the globes around, creating the most unexpected sensations in her sex.
As he continued to torment her with his mouth and fingers, she grabbed his shoulder and held on, her nails digging into his flesh. Didn’t he understand by now that she was unlikely to climax?
A knock at the door made her jump and made Christian lift his head.
“Come in.”
Paul appeared, his smile widening as he took in their positions on the bed.
“Good evening, Mrs. Smith, Mr. Delornay. How can I help you?”
“Come and sit on the bed, Paul. I want you to lick her breasts while I use my mouth on her sex.”
Christian sat up and took off his shirt, leaving his breeches unbuttoned but still on. He gazed down at Elizabeth’s flushed face, and his cock kicked against the confines of his underclothes. She looked beautiful with her hair spread out on the pillows, although he still wanted to banish the anxiety from her eyes.
“A pleasure.” Paul bowed and started on the buttons of his coat. “Do you want me to undress fully or just down to my pantaloons?”
“Down to your pantaloons.”
Christian glanced back at Elizabeth, but she didn’t seem overly alarmed, her body still tense under his, her alluring scent making him want to forget Paul and the lessons and just fuck her the way he wanted to. He’d sensed her response to his commands and the pain-pleasure of the clamps, and he wanted to explore her needs, to give her exactly what he increasingly suspected she needed.
“Kneel on her left side and be very gentle. I don’t want her to come yet.”
He caught Elizabeth’s startled expression and wondered whether she thought he’d told Ambrose and Paul about her inability to climax. He wasn’t quite that much of a bastard, and if he was honest, he wanted to claim that victory solely for himself.
Paul climbed up on the bed, smiled at Elizabeth, and kissed her gently on the mouth.
“Mrs. Smith, an honor.”
Before Christian lowered his head to Elizabeth’s sex, he watched as Paul began to delicately lick his way around Elizabeth’s breast, heading for her clamped nipple. His own cock thickened at the sight of Paul’s tongue, and he cupped his shaft and balls, thinking of all the exciting permutations of having more than one willing body in his bed.
He slid two fingers into Elizabeth and played with the orbs, sliding them over his fingers and against her flesh. Her clit was already a hard, hot bud against his tongue. He wanted to bite her, but that would never do at this point in time.
With a sigh, he pulled his mouth away from her luscious flesh. Keeping his fingers embedded inside her, he watched Paul’s exploration of her breasts and the way Elizabeth responded to their dual caresses.
He kissed her mouth and murmured, “Did your husband let two men have you at once like this?”
“No,” she whispered. “He would not permit—” She gasped as he kissed her again, harder now, cutting off her words.
He took her clenched fist and brought it to his mouth to kiss. “I want you to kneel and suck Paul’s cock.”
Paul sat back and Christian moved behind Elizabeth, giving her space to kneel in front of Paul. He waited as she carefully released Paul’s cock from his pantaloons.
“Now suck him.”
He knelt behind her, his erect shaft wedged against her soft buttocks, one hand cupping her left breast, the other between her legs. While she sucked, he just played with her, gentle strokes and touches designed to build anticipation, to make her ache and become ready for the full penetration of his cock.
She pushed back at him with her hips, and he wondered again whether Marie-Claude’s suggestion that more than one man touching her at a time would stop her focusing too much on climaxing and set her free. The desire to fuck her intensified and he knew he would have to do something.
He reached over to get some oil and applied it liberally to his fingers before sliding two of them deep into Elizabeth’s arse. With his other hand, he could feel the orbs in her cunt and massaged them as he widened her for his cock. Paul was groaning now, his hips slamming into Elizabeth’s mouth as she took every inch of his shaft.
“Don’t come yet, Paul,” Christian said. “And, Elizabeth, I want you to release his cock.”
“What next?” Paul asked breathlessly, and raised an eyebrow at Christian.
“Sit with your back to the headboard.” Paul complied and Christian slathered some of the oil onto Paul’s erect shaft, making Paul groan. “Now slide your cock into Elizabeth’s arse.” He glanced at Elizabeth. “You’ve had a man like this before, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
While Christian watched, Paul drew Elizabeth back against him and, holding the base of his shaft with one hand, gradually eased her down over him. Both of them gasped as she settled against him, his thighs bracketing hers, his hands around her hips.
Christian crawled in front of them and pushed Elizabeth’s knees even wider so that he could see where Paul filled her arse and the delights of her wet and swollen sex. The urge to just slam himself into her resurfaced and he fought it down.
Instead he fingered her swollen bud, marveling at how hard it was, intent on making her even needier. He reached over to the bedside table, picked up another jeweled clamp, and showed it to Elizabeth.
“This one goes on your clit.”
Elizabeth’s startled gray eyes met his, and he wanted to smile. Her composure was definitely disturbed, if not quite shattered yet. And he wanted her to shatter; he wanted that more than anything. He fixed the clamp and gradually tightened it, watched her gaze cloud with lust and something more visceral that tightened his balls and made him want to loose the devil that lurked inside him.
“Paul, cup her breasts and play with them,” Christian murmured as he bent to lick her clit and felt her shudder and try to move away from him. But surely she must know there was no escape with Paul behind her impaling her on his cock and Christian ready to do the same to her cunt?
Other books
Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance by Susan Westwood
Vail 01 - The 7th Victim by Jacobson, Alan
The Keys to the Street by Ruth Rendell
The Inquisitor by Peter Clement
The Billionaire's Dare (Book 4 - Billionaire Bodyguard Series) by Avalon, Kristi
Aunt Dimity and the Buried Treasure by Nancy Atherton
To Capture A Highlander's Heart: The Beginning by Teresa Reasor
The Called: Chosen (The Called Series Book 2) by Justin Price
Sugarcoated by Catherine Forde