The Next Best Bride (22 page)

"I have cause enough to worry about children left to depend on you for their welfare."

"My grandfather sees to them well enough."

"I am certain of it. What of their mothers? Once they have ceased giving you pleasure and you have dropped them in the dust? Does your grandfather see to them and their broken hearts as well?"

"I leave no broken hearts. And no broken promises." He said, "Perhaps that should be your lesson tonight? How love and pleasure can be detached. So that you can have your body touched, but not your heart."

"What do you mean?" Blasted man. He had promised, but the look in his eye suggested that he would try to find some way around his agreement.

But he was transformed once again, his anger gone into some subterranean depth in his soul. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything you don't beg me to do."

Rand enjoyed the uneasy glances she gave him as they moved closer to the welcoming lights of their home. He had made her angry when he referred to Ros. He had meant to. He hoped he had proved that he was not a man to love. Perhaps he should not have had so much to drink. Perhaps he should leave his wife and her reforming heart to sleep alone tonight.

But even as he had the thought, he dismissed it. He would do as he promised. He would not push her over the edge until she begged him to. But he thought he had a way to get her to beg him. She had not made him promise not to, he told his guilty conscience. And she would be better for learning what he had to teach her. Stronger. Harder. Able to live without false words of love. Like he was. He shook away the sadness that assailed him at the thought.

She did not lock her door to him, as he had feared, but when he entered, to find her in only her dressing gown, he could see the apprehension shadowing the blue of her eyes.

"I'm not going to eat you, my dear." He fetched silken cords from the pocket of his robe and dangled them before her eyes. "Or, perhaps I will. Yes. I think I shall feast on you tonight."

She opened her mouth to object. He overrode her. "I know your restrictions. I will honor them. But surely you do not restrict me to the same barren landscape?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Not at all, my lord. I would not dream of hindering your enjoyment in any way."

"Excellent." He smiled. She would soon find that she would be heightening his enjoyment more than she dreamed possible. He dangled the cords once more. "These should help with our lesson."

He could see anger suffuse color into her face. "What will you do with those?"

As if it were no more than his usual loveplay, he said, "Tie you, so that you cannot stop me from pleasing you."

The thought horrified her. Or intrigued her. Her eyes widened and she took a step back. "You promised..."

"I said please you, not send you over the edge." Her frown told him she knew he was playing word games with her and she would regret letting him tie her up. If he didn't soothe her fear somewhat, she would refuse him. "I have found these to be...amusing...in bed games. They will not hold you if you wish release."

She came closer to examine the cords. Took one in her hand. Let the silk slide through her fingers as she examined the cord. "How do they work?"

"Like this." He grasped one of her delicate wrists in his hand and used the cord to tie her to the bedpost.

She tugged in a flurry of panic. Nothing happened. "You said it would not hold me —"

"Don't worry, they release with a tug here." He demonstrated and she was free. Before her breathing had regained a normal rhythm he lifted her in his arms, kissed her soundly and dropped her onto the bed.

She rolled away when he tried to tie her, and crossed her arms tightly as she stared at him with deep suspicion. "I know there is a trick hiding here somewhere."

"I am innocent as a schoolboy." He allowed his dressing gown to drop to the floor and held out his arms. "See? I have nothing up my sleeves."

She rather boldly examined his erection, and a sudden rush of hope that they would get past the hazardous talk of love coursed in his veins. "Can you blame me for not trusting you?"

"What can I do to convince you?" He threw himself on her mercy. "As you can see, I am eager to gain your consent to play my game."

She glanced rapidly from the ties he held to his erection to his face, and then again. He strove to convey the innocence of a babe. At last she uncrossed her arms and held out one hand, palm up. "I still do not trust you. Toss them to me."

Disappointment cascaded through him. She would not play the game. "As you wish." He tossed them with some height and enjoyed the arch of her breasts when she stretched up to catch them.

To his surprise, she did not hide them away. After another brief inspection of the bindings, she looked up to meet his gaze with a smile. One cord dangled in invitation from her outstretched finger. "Let me try them on you."

Chapter Seventeen

He climbed up onto the bed beside her, watching her carefully. He could not make sense of this change in mood, and it left him feeling uneasy. Not to mention that he did not relish the idea of being tied. "That was not the idea of the lesson, my love."

Inexplicably, she flinched. But as quickly, she recovered and pouted at him, lifting one cord to rub absently along her lower lip. "Fair is fair, my lord. If I tie you, and you escape, then I will let you tie me."

The seductive note in her voice spread heat through his groin, even as he realized with a touch of admiring surprise that she had meant to do so. Evidently he was an excellent teacher, or, more likely, she was the most apt pupil he'd ever had.

Humoring her would not hurt, he decided. In fact, it could lead to a very satisfactory end to the evening. He gripped one bedpost tightly. "Very well."

She rose up to give him a kiss before turning away to bind him to the bed. She turned back to him, dangling the other cord. "Now the other."

Some warning bell rang out in his head, but he ignored it, inflamed by the heat and perfume and sheer seduction she exuded. He moved to grasp the other bedpost, the cord already tied pulling snug around one wrist. In a moment, he lay before her, arms tied. "I'm helpless, now. Are you happy?"

"Yes." Her lips curved upward in a smile that lit a glow of mischief in her eyes.

"Good." He found the loose end of the cords with his fingers and pulled. "Now it is your turn."

When he pulled at the cords, however, they held fast. A quick glance showed him the problem. He smiled up at Helena, who knelt above him, her hand resting warm on his chest. "You've tied them wrong. I can't release them."

"No?" She glanced incuriously at his bonds, but made no move to remedy the situation.

He did not like the look in her eyes. He yanked on the cords once again, fighting the panic that being bound incited. "Untie me, Helena."

She reached for one bound arm, and then halted, her hand hovering scant inches above the cord. She turned her head and regarded him as if he were a puzzle she wished to solve. "What advantage is there for me should I release you?"

None. And she knew it. He lay back onto the pillows, hoping that she would consider him harmless. His shrug was hampered by the position of his bound arms. "I cannot give you your lesson like this."

"Why not?"

"I must be able to touch you if I want to please you."

"True." Her fingers went to the cord and he thought himself on the verge of freedom. Until she paused once again and glanced at him thoughtfully. "Although, we could change the lesson."

"To what?"

She paused as if thinking, her fingers running in lazy circles on his chest. "Perhaps I should learn how to please you." His heart gave an uneven jolt as her smile widened.

Helena watched Rand react to her unexpected suggestion. "Please me?" His eyes flared and his struggle to free himself stopped for a moment.

"Why not? Surely you don't think the idea impossible." One brief glance was all that was necessary to see that his eager reaction to her proposition was in full evidence.

"Not impossible. Some other night. I don't want to play this game tonight." Oddly, considering the straining elongation of his member, his mouth was set grimly. "Untie me."

"But I very much wish to learn this lesson. Tonight." Again, his expression and his nether regions were at odds. Another interesting fact to file. A man and his member sometimes warred over what they desired. Tonight that fact had favored her. Rand, without the influence of his eager member, would not have allowed her to tie him up.

The wine he consumed at dinner, as well as the two brandies afterward probably had contributed to his agreement, as well. He was not drunk enough to slur his words. Definitely not too drunk to perform his stud duties. She eyed him dispassionately. Now that she had him tied up, what should she do with him?

"Then I will teach you — but I do not need to be tied." He was angry again. No doubt he didn't like being tied up. She knew she wouldn't have liked it.

That thought gave her the impetus to ignore his distress, as he had intended to ignore hers. "What do you like."

Uncooperatively, he tugged against his bonds and glared at her. "Untie my hands and I'll show you."

Helena could feel the force of his anger. She would rather loose a rabid dog. "I think not." She had tied up a beast. If she released him...

She would not. "Not until I have learned how to please you as you so much wish to please me." She smiled, feeling the wickedness of her words. "And not until I have taught you that it is unwise to play with someone else's pleasure lest lust turn to love."

At last he realized that she was serious. "Helena. No."

She kissed him into silence, using her tongue as he had taught her so very well.

After a long moment, he turned his head away, breaking the kiss. His voice were soft, but vibrated with frustration. "You will regret this impulse. I assure you. When you untie me —"

She pulled away to him in the eyes, a primitive satisfaction coiling inside at the insensible daze in the green depths. "
If
I untie you. You seem unwilling to learn your lesson."

"If you don't untie me, I won't cooperate. There will be no lesson for either of us."

"No?" A quick check showed that his interest seemed to be...diminishing. Had his anger allowed him to win the battle he had waged earlier? Or did bondage itself reduce the desire?

He eyed her grimly as he shook his head. "No satisfaction for either of us."

"Then you will not be providing a very useful lesson, will you?" Seeing that her argument had not swayed him, she added, "Or ensuring that you win your wager."

His gaze was unblinking and his tone curt. "Not tied up I won't."

She sighed and bent over as if to plant a kiss, stopping inches from his mouth. "I suppose I can always while away the hours until the dawn practicing the lessons you have previously taught me."

He turned his head into his shoulder, preventing her from kissing his mouth. When she pressed a kiss to his shoulder instead, he twisted away.

She retreated, thinking of a new plan of assault. At last, she scrambled down to the end of the bed and reached for his foot, intending to caress him as he had done the morning he attempted to convince her not to jilt him.

He snarled at her touch. "Release me and you can touch me anywhere you wish." The full power of his body revealed itself to her as he kicked and twisted so that she could not get a firm grip without hurting him.

"Enough!" Flushed and panting from her scuffle, Helena left the bed and struggled into her dressing gown. Defeated, she contemplated him, glaring at her from the bed. Perhaps she had not been wise...

"Giving up?" His grin mocked her. "Do you understand now that I will not be a trussed up lamb at your table?"

He looked so triumphant she felt a flash of defiance race through her. "Will you swear, then, that you will keep your word?"

He laughed. "I would promise to love you if I thought it would make you untie me. You cannot trust a captive's word, Helena. Free me, and then I will promise you what you wish."

I would promise to love you if….
Perhaps she could not touch him, his body, or his heart. But hadn't he taught her that touch was not all that inflamed a man? "I still have one or two more lessons to practice."

He looked startled, but still certain of his imminent victory. "I should have taught you to surrender gracefully."

His arrogance tipped her into certainty. "You tried. Yesterday. I'm afraid it is a lesson I refuse to learn." It was more than time for him to learn a lesson about playing with people's hearts. Timid little Helena would take a page from Ros's book and give no quarter. She began to back away from the bed, not taking her gaze from his angry one.

"Where are you going?" He followed her with his eyes. Wary. Uncertain again.

Good. The connecting door between their rooms stopped her progress. She went into her room and retrieved the object she sought. For a moment, she hesitated at the doorway between their rooms. Perhaps she should leave him until the morning. Let his anger cool.

But that was not likely, she realized, as he called to her in his dratted warm voice. "I didn't mean to anger you, my love. Please untie me." No doubt the sweetness of his words were meant to trick her into believing he was not murderously angry. After a moment's silence, he confirmed this with a low growl. "I will not be abandoned like this."

She thought of Ros and pulled her courage up around her as she came back into the room and stood at the foot of his bed where he could see her clearly. "I will not abandon you, my lord."

"Good." He smiled at her, but the dimple did not show and his eyes were still a wintry green. "I hope you have regained your senses enough to release me."

"I have regained my senses fully." She did not take off her dressing gown, but she pulled the sash loose until it barely held the edges closed. She held up the hairbrush. "And they tell me that releasing you before I use this would not be wise."

Outrage warred openly with amusement on his face. "Are you threatening to spank me?"