The Playful Wanton Read online

  No. He couldn’t believe he was that evil. The key was not to steal pleasure from her but to aid her in enjoying her own hot-blooded nature. He squeezed her backside, grinding his erection against her so that she could see what she did to him. It was all her handiwork, and he would show her just how much he appreciated it.

  “Fuck me,” she sighed against his cheek as she tugged his shirt from his breeches. “I want to feel you hard and rough inside of me.”

  “No,” he said, brushing his hands up her sides, over her breasts, and to her shoulders to push her robe off. When she flinched back in surprise, staring at him with wide, confused eyes, he said, “I am going to make love to you, slowly and gently. I’m going to make you feel things no other man has made you feel.”

  She flushed. Curiosity and arousal were bright in her eyes, and with them a kind of tenderness that broke Adolphus’s heart. It wasn’t just her body that other men had abused shamelessly, it was her sweet nature and her gentleness.

  He pulled her against him once more, kissing her with a slower, smoldering passion. His blood pounded and his cock demanded satisfaction, but he let his heart rule the rest of him. He teased his hands across her skin, almost tickling her, instead of clamping or grasping. He slipped his tongue alongside hers, drawing moans from deep within her. Then he trailed soft kisses across her neck and shoulder until he had her back arched so that he could flicker his tongue across her nipple before drawing it into his mouth to tease with his teeth.

  “Oh, oh,” she panted, breathless.

  In spite of his plans, he wasn’t certain how long he would be able to last. Speed was of the essence. He lifted her, carrying her to the bed and laying her as gently as he could across the coverlet. She was a picture of carnal beauty and bliss as she wriggled into the center of the bed while he shed the rest of his clothes. She was clearly posing for him in the most erotic way possible, parting her legs to show him her glistening cunny. But at the same time, there was a sort of shyness in her movements, and she closed her legs as easily as she’d opened them. It was as though she had attempted her usual, siren’s routine, only to realize she was in an entirely new situation where boldness wasn’t required. Her hesitation and her paradoxical innocence drove him wild.

  She sat up when he tossed the last of his clothes aside and approached the bed. “I adore your cock,” she said, her eyes hungry as she stared at his straining erection. “I want to play with it, swallow it.”

  She reached for him as he joined her on the bed, but he pushed her hands away. “Some other time,” he said, nudging her to her back once more. “I will let you torture me with your hands and mouth in any way you wish to, as long as it is truly what you wish to do and not merely something you think you should do, but not now. Not tonight.”

  “But—”

  He silenced her with a kiss, spreading his body carefully over hers and drinking the sound of protest away from her lips. She was left humming with pleasure. She opened her hips to him, drawing her legs up to his sides in a clear invitation.

  He accepted her invitation, but not in the way he was certain she meant it. He broke away from her mouth, slowly kissing his way down her body in a way designed to give her as much pleasure as possible. He lingered on her magnificent breasts, licking, teasing, and suckling her nipples into tautness. If she could play with his cock for hours, he was certain he could do the same with her breasts, but they were only a leisurely stop on his journey across her body, not his destination.

  She mewled and sighed as he made his way across her belly, arching into his kisses. The way she stretched her arms over her head and wriggled with a special kind of desperation told him he was accomplishing exactly what he’d set out to do. By the time he reached her hips and stroked her thighs, spreading them as far as he could, she seemed to be near weeping with pleasure. Her slit was slick with wetness, pink and ready. He warned himself to proceed carefully so as not to make her come too quickly.

  She tasted like life itself as he flickered his tongue across her opening, earning a gasp of delight from her. She continued to pant and move so restlessly that he was forced to grip her thighs far tighter than he had a mind to simply to keep her from arching off the bed. He buried his face in her mound, stroking her with his tongue and teasing her clitoris until he sensed she was about to break. Then he backed away, watching her aroused flesh until the imminent danger had passed. Then he delved into her once more, bringing her as close to the brink as he dared, only to pull away again and wait.

  “Dear God, you’re driving me mad,” she groaned after his third ministration. “Please, please let me come.”

  “Not yet,” he said, blowing gently on her exposed sex. “It will be so much better this way.”

  She groaned with a sensual combination of misery and lust as he moved in to tease her for a fourth time. Her every movement, every sound she made and twitch of her body brought him closer and closer to his own limit. He ached to find his home within her and to feel the rush of pleasure that came with spilling his seed inside of her. And he would spend inside of her, selfish as it was. He wanted to stay with her always, in big ways and in small.

  He knew it was time to end things with astounding pleasure when he lifted his head to watch her body writhing in pleasure, her face contorted with need. Her breasts were flushed, her nipples pointing straight up. It was a sight he couldn’t resist. When he went down on her next, he did so without teasing or mischief, but with the expressed purpose of making her come spectacularly, which she did within seconds. She let out a heartfelt cry of release as her body throbbed into orgasm.

  He wasted no time. With a powerful movement, he pulled himself up the length of her body and lodged himself deep within her with a cry. Her inner muscles squeezed him in the most delicious way possible. He wanted to hold himself still within her to enjoy every moment, but he couldn’t help but move. He needed to mate with her, needed to give himself to her in every way. He needed to be hers.

  Orgasm crashed through him with the full force of the emotions that gripped his heart far faster than he would have liked. The glorious exchange of tension and power for release and surrender was almost too much for him. He called out wordlessly as what felt like a part of himself left him for her. It was beyond joy, beyond satisfaction. It was heaven.

  Release left him sated and heavy. He sagged to her side, desperate to catch his breath. He was beyond words, but she seemed to be as well. All he could do was shift her into his arms as he rolled to his back and closed his eyes. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, how much he cared about her, but all he could manage was to close his eyes and cling to her as sleep overtook him.

  Chapter 7

  Eliza couldn’t explain why she felt so shy the next morning. She woke with the sun—or what had been passing for sun in the cold and rainy summer—nestled against Adolphus’s side, feeling safer than she ever had. She’d slept far longer than she should have, which was likely a product of that safe feeling. Adolphus was already awake, but didn’t seem in any hurry to rouse her or get up.

  Once she was roused, he made no attempt to roll her to her back to make love to her again or order her to leave his bed, or even to chastise her for being such a wanton the night before. He merely shifted so that he could kiss her lips lightly, told her good morning, then asked, “Will you marry me now?”

  Somehow, in her hazy, morning state, she had enough presence of mind to ask, “Why do you want to marry me?”

  A stern look came over Adolphus’s face, as though his patience for her games were wearing thin. But Eliza was fairly impressed with his answer of, “Because we belong together.”

  She smiled. She kissed him in return. Then she rolled away from him, climbing out of the bed and bending to retrieve her clothes. It still wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it was good enough for her not to turn him down outright.

  “Eliza?” he asked, getting out of bed and striding around to face her.

  The sight of him naked, eve
n if he wasn’t fully aroused, was enough to steal Eliza’s breath. He was the handsomest man she’d ever seen in every way. She would marry him, of course, if only because she wanted to be able to brag to all of the ladies of the ton who had turned up their noses at her and made her a pariah that she had ended up with a kinder, cleverer, handsomer husband than any of them. Even if it meant she would be Lady Eliza no more and only Mrs. Gibbon. There was nothing wrong with Mrs. Gibbon, particularly since Lady Eliza had never truly fit into her surroundings.

  “We should resume the search for Miss Ivy as quickly as possible,” she said instead of answering what he clearly wanted to know about her answer to his proposal.

  For a moment, he looked as though he would protest. But as Eliza suspected was always the case with him, duty won out over his heart. “You are right,” he said, crossing to his washstand. “The sooner we can conclude this mess with Ward, the sooner we will be able to have the reckoning that is becoming increasingly necessary.”

  Why his words sent a delighted chill down her back, Eliza didn’t know. Perhaps it was the formality of the way he spoke. Perhaps it was the delicious foreshadowing in his tone. Or perhaps it was the way that he glanced sternly at her over his shoulder as he set about his morning ablutions—as if a reckoning would involve her submitting to him in ways that left her desperate with pleasure, as she had been the night before. Whatever the case, she looked forward to it.

  She slipped back to her room, managing not to be seen, so that she could wash and dress in a fresh gown herself. Part of her wanted to stay with Adolphus, but she knew too well that if she started out scrubbing a wet sponge over her heated body with him in the same room, they would end up back in bed. She might have used the search for Miss Ivy as an excuse not to answer him about marriage, but the young barmaid truly did need to be found. Adolphus was right, the sooner they concluded matters with Henry and had the bastard taken back to London to stand trial, the quicker everything could move on.

  Henry wasn’t in the breakfast room when Eliza made her way down to find sustenance for the day ahead. In spite of the veritable feast laid out on the sideboard, only a handful of guests were there to eat.

  “It’s because most everyone has continued with the hunt,” Ophelia whispered to her as Eliza took a place at the table. Mr. Saif Khan sat on her other side, seemingly more interested in studying Ophelia’s curves than buttering the bun in his hands. “No one has found the prize yet,” Ophelia went on. “I know of at least half a dozen couples who have already resumed their search.”

  “We should follow their example soon,” Mr. Khan said, his smile eager, as though there were other things he would like to get on with where Ophelia was concerned.

  Eliza peeked farther down the table, where Adolphus was seated, talking to Lord Herrington with a frown. He’d already been seated at the table when Eliza entered the room, but even though they’d arrived separately, she had a feeling that their night’s activity was a secret to no one. He must have felt her looking, because he glanced up at her. Miraculously, as soon as their eyes met, a gentle smile curved his lips.

  Eliza’s heart ricocheted against her ribs as she went back to eating her breakfast. She couldn’t remove the smile from her face, though. It was still there, showing all the world just what she thought of Adolphus, as they finished their meal and met up in the hallway just outside of the breakfast room.

  “Where should we begin our search?” she whispered. If not for the handful of other guests wandering around them, she would have thrown herself into his arms and asked the question with an entirely different meaning.

  “We should question the servants once again,” Adolphus said, taking her hand and leading her down the hall toward the servants’ stairs. “Something may have transpired in the night that will shed light on Miss Ivy’s whereabouts.”

  Eliza was certain he was right, but before they could travel more than halfway down the hall, Caro stepped out of one of the multitude of parlors, her eyes wide and her color high, to stop them.

  “What perfect luck,” she said, taking hold of Eliza’s arm and leading her away from Adolphus and into the parlor. Adolphus followed with a frown. “I was hoping to find the two of you continuing the hunt,” Caro went on. “You are just what Lady Rothsay and Mr. Ward need to aid their search.”

  The hair on the back of Eliza’s neck stood up as she came face to face with Henry in the small parlor. He looked more than a bit put out, and the air of anxiety hovering around him intensified when Adolphus came to a stop just behind Eliza. He seemed so startled that Eliza was certain he would bolt.

  Caro had other plans, though. “You see, Mr. Ward?” she asked as though she and Henry had been having a much longer conversation. “Mr. Gibbon and Lady Eliza are more than willing to aid you and Lady Rothsay in your hunt.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Eliza asked. If Caro wanted to throw her into some sort of game with Henry, she needed to be certain she knew what it was.

  As genteel and smooth as Caro’s expression was, the spark of ingenuity—not to mention panic—was bright in her eyes. “I am afraid Lady Rothsay’s partner for the hunt has dropped out after a small prank by the Trickster left him with a twisted ankle yesterday.”

  “Lord Campbell was forced to leap from the top of a wardrobe, where we were trapped, to retrieve the ladder that enabled me to climb down,” Lady Rothsay said with a flat, sideways look at Caro.

  “Oh, dear.” Eliza didn’t know whether to laugh or be shocked.

  “But fortunately, Mr. Ward arrived yesterday to even the teams once more,” Caro went on.

  “As I have tried to explain, my lady,” Henry said, his jaw tight, “I have no wish to partake of these festivities. I really should be on my way back to London.” He glanced askance to Adolphus.

  “And as I have told you, my dear Mr. Ward, your horse is in no condition to make the journey as of yet, and the problems we’ve been having with highwaymen are too acute for you to leave so soon,” Caro said, her cheeks growing pinker by the moment. “And Lady Rothsay is in need of a partner.”

  “They do say the prize at the end of this hunt is a king’s ransom,” Lady Rothsay said, a hint of avarice in her eyes.

  Surprisingly, Henry seemed to respond to that. “A king’s ransom, you say?”

  “I am not at liberty to divulge any secrets,” Caro answered, doing a terrible job of hiding just how valuable the prize was with her look. Or perhaps she was doing a splendid job of acting as though the prize was at the forefront of her thoughts.

  “Well,” Henry began, rubbing his chin.

  “It’s settled, then.” Caro took Henry’s arm and led him to Lady Rothsay. “The hunt continues. I took the liberty of retrieving the clue you discovered yesterday, Mr. Gibbon, which would have led you on to the same path as Lady Rothsay and Lord Campbell were about to find themselves on.”

  Eliza doubted that was true, but she didn’t protest as Caro withdrew the waxy slip of paper that was their clue from the servants’ room and handed it to Adolphus. Before Adolphus could do more than frown, Caro hooked her arm through Eliza’s and tugged her to the side.

  “I just need to have a word about a personal matter with Lady Eliza,” Caro explained in a whisper. “By all means, continue with the clue among yourselves.”

  “What is the meaning of this?” Eliza hissed when they reached the corner of the room. “I have no wish to spend so much as a moment in Henry Ward’s company.”

  “You must keep him interested in the hunt,” Caro whispered back. “Rufus caught him trying to leave once again this morning. Keep him busy. Convince him that Mr. Gibbon is here for diversion and amusement only. We have every able-bodied person we can spare searching for Miss Ivy.”

  “And if you fail to find her?” Eliza asked.

  Caro pressed her lips together. “We will find her. Keep Mr. Ward busy until we do.”

  With a quick squeeze of her hands, Caro broke away from Eliza and started out of the room.

>   “Enjoy your hunt,” she said with a charming smile, then bolted.

  Eliza frowned, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her wish she hadn’t eaten so much of her breakfast. She glanced to Adolphus, who stared back at her questioningly.

  “The clue, the clue,” Lady Rothsay said with an irritated sigh. “What does the clue say.”

  Eliza walked back to join the others as Adolphus cleared his throat and read, “I can be found where little feet patter. Play the game and you will spot me.”

  “This is foolish,” Henry grumbled.

  “Whatever could it mean?” Lady Rothsay said, taking the clue from Adolphus and frowning at it.

  “The clue is in a nursery of some sort,” Adolphus said, his frown as sour as the tone of his voice.

  “Yes, of course.” Lady Rothsay smiled. “Where is the nursery?”

  “I have no wish to know,” Henry said, starting away from them. “I don’t care what Lady Herrington says, I’m not staying here.”

  “Oh, but you must,” Eliza blurted before she could think better of it. She glanced to Adolphus, then hurried after Henry, catching his arm. “The party would not truly be a party without you.”

  Henry stopped, then slowly turned to study her. He glanced down at her hand on his arm, then raked his gaze up over her chest, to meet her eyes with a wolfish hunger. “So you’ve changed your mind, have you?”

  Eliza could practically feel Adolphus’s fury behind her. “Yes,” she said with a smile that she hoped appeared genuine. “We must find the prize, after all. And now we have an advantage—four people searching together instead of just two.”

  “Yes, well, there is the prize.” Henry rubbed his chin, glancing at her chest.

  “It should not take long to find the nursery,” Adolphus grumbled, marching up behind Eliza. He took her arm, pulling her away from Henry and practically shoving her out to the hall.