Читать книгу Regency Affairs Part 1: Books 1-6 Of 12 - Кэрол Мортимер, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 24

‘You may come out from behind the screen now, Pandora,’ Rupert encouraged indulgently as he glanced at the exotic Japanese screen behind which she had some minutes ago disappeared in order to disrobe. ‘The last of the maids has now departed, after lighting the fire and delivering and pouring the hot water, so we are now completely alone.’ One of those maids had also quietly provided the information that the Dowager Duchess had departed Stratton House in high dudgeon just minutes ago.

Rupert had disappeared into his dressing room in order to accept the help of his valet in divesting himself of his own clothing, before donning his long black silk robe, allowing Pandora those minutes of privacy to do the same. Except she now seemed reluctant to come out from behind the black lacquered screen.

Bathing with a lady would be another first for Rupert—the most recent of many where Pandora was concerned. Oh, he had seen women in their bath before now, but he could never remember being invited to join any of them. Or anticipating an unexpected pleasure quite so much …

Pandora was in a state of agitation as she stood behind the screen now wearing only her pale-cream robe, her heart fluttering frantically in her chest at her increasing feelings of nervousness. It had all sounded so daring just a few short minutes ago, the height of risqué. But now that it came to the two of them actually bathing together, Pandora’s tummy seemed to be filled with butterflies as she felt too nervous to come out from behind the screen and face him.

What if Patricia’s scornful comments of earlier should prove to be correct and Pandora failed to hold Rupert’s interest for even as long as their wedding night? How would she be able to bear it if he were to eventually reject intimacy with her in the way that Barnaby had from the onset of their marriage?

No, Rupert was not Barnaby, Pandora instantly chided herself. He bore not the slightest resemblance to her first husband in looks, manner, or in his sexual preferences. The latter she knew for a fact, after the pleasures Rupert had already shown her—

‘I don’t bite, Pandora,’ Rupert coaxed huskily from the other side of the screen. ‘At least … not unless I am asked to do so.’

‘Rupert!’ Pandora gasped breathlessly, shocked—and at the same time filled with curiosity to know when, and in what circumstances, he might have been asked to bite someone …

A woman, no doubt. But where and why had he bitten her? And had that woman liked it when Rupert sank those beautiful white teeth into her flesh—?

‘Pandora,’ he now drawled teasingly, ‘if you do not soon come out from behind the screen I fear our bath water will have cooled and we will have to start the process all over again!’

She knew she was being utterly silly malingering behind the screen in this way. After all, Rupert had seen her naked only the night before, when he had helped her to wash before applying the salve to her burns, and then introduced her to that delicious lovemaking; the latter was certainly an experience Pandora wished to enjoy again. And again …!

She quickly averted her gaze as she stepped out from behind the screen, having caught a brief glimpse of Rupert wearing only a long black robe which reached down to his ankles, but leaving a vast expanse of his muscled chest bare where it crossed over and was belted about his waist, the skin there lightly tanned and covered in a fine dusting of blond hair.

Her shyly averted gaze meant she missed completely the appreciative darkening of Rupert’s eyes as he looked at her long golden curls loose about her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing only a pale-cream robe belted at her tiny waist, clearly revealing the outline of her pert breasts crested by those plump red berries upon which he had feasted the night before, her hips curvaceous, the bareness of her feet tiny and delicate.

But Rupert was not insensitive to the blush upon her cheeks, or the way she could not quite bring herself to look at him. A shyness on Pandora’s part, which would seem to imply she had not bathed with anyone before this, either. Something which pleased Rupert immensely.

He had managed to persuade few details out of Pandora as yet about her first marriage, but he wished, for her sake, that her marriage to him be as full of new experiences as he was able to make it. Certainly he had no intention of setting up a mistress in a house in a discreet part of town, as he believed Barnaby Maybury had.

‘Would you like to step into the bath first?’ Rupert encouraged.

‘I— Thank you.’ Pandora’s voice was trembling slightly as she turned away from him to unfasten her robe. ‘Oh!’ she gasped breathlessly as Rupert stepped behind her to slide the robe off her shoulders and down her arms.

‘Climb quickly into the warmth of the water,’ he said as he enjoyed the slender beauty of her naked back and her deliciously plump bottom above silky and slender legs, and caught a glimpse of that silky triangle of golden curls between her legs as she stepped lithely into the warm bathwater.

Rupert had never been in the least shy about his own nakedness and he saw no reason to become so now either as he slipped off his own robe and laid it on the chair beside Pandora’s. After all, he was not the first man Pandora had seen without his clothes. Far from it, if rumour—

Oh, to hell with rumour! Who was Rupert to pay any heed to rumour? He certainly did not believe in the adage of ‘Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach’ whilst ‘Caesar’ himself could behave exactly as he pleased!

No, this must be a fresh beginning for both Pandora and himself, with no recriminations for past lovers or husbands to stand between them. Any other course of action would find their marriage floundering before it had even begun.

He looked at Pandora. Her back was towards him as she sat up stiffly in the tub, having somehow twisted and secured her golden curls loosely upon her crown, revealing the vulnerable arch of her nape and the gentle slope of her spine, the soft curve of one of her bared breasts visible as she rested one of her arms on the side of the tub.

‘Move forwards a little, Pandora,’ Rupert requested as he stepped up behind her, allowing him to see the flush which slowly spread up from her neck and into her cheeks as she hastily slid forwards.

Pandora kept her face averted as he stepped into the water behind her. One of his long legs slid either side of her as he slowly lowered himself into the water, trembling as he now sat snugly behind her, his bared chest against her back, his thighs cradling hers, the long length of his arousal pressing hotly against her bottom.

‘Remind me to thank Mrs Hammond most profusely for her miraculous salve when next I see her,’ he murmured appreciatively as his hands gently caressed the creaminess of Pandora’s bared shoulders. ‘There is hardly a mark or blemish left upon your delectable skin. Does it still feel sore?’

‘Hardly at all,’ Pandora whispered, her trembling having increased at the close proximity of his warm body to her own, and causing her to sit forwards so that her back no longer rested against the hardness of his chest.

‘You’ll be more comfortable if you lean back against me,’ he urged as his hands moved to grasp her lightly on the hips and pull her gently back against him.

Pandora could only breathe shallowly, her fingers tightly gripping the sides of the tub as she slowly allowed herself to relax against Rupert’s muscled chest, the fine dusting of blond hair there feeling ticklish against her spine as she rested the back of her head on to one of his shoulders.

‘You have the most beautiful breasts I have ever been privileged to see.’

She stopped breathing altogether as Rupert’s hands left her hips to move slowly, caressingly upwards, until they cupped beneath both those breasts. Seemingly disembodied hands, the fingers long, palms perfectly cupping the globes of her breasts.

It was at once the most erotic experience of her life and the most pleasurable, as Pandora looked down at those strong hands as Rupert’s mouth nuzzled against the sensitive place at the side of her throat, the latter sending shivers of delight down her spine as those long fingers now captured her puckered and swollen nipples to caress and squeeze those sensitised tips to hard and aching berries.

Pandora’s back arched instinctively as she felt the pleasure instantly course through her body, pushing her bottom back against him and her breasts up into Rupert’s hands as his lips, tongue and teeth continued to nibble delectably at the slender column of her throat.

She groaned softly at the warmth and tingling she felt as she pressed her aching thighs together, knowing she was once again swollen there, the sensitive hidden bud throbbing with need. ‘Rupert …?’ she groaned achingly.

‘Just relax and enjoy, pet,’ he murmured against the silkiness of her throat. ‘For I assure you, I don’t intend to stop touching you any time soon.’

There was simply no way that Pandora could relax, her awareness concentrated totally on those hands cupping her breasts and those fingers caressing and plucking her nipples. The heated pleasure sang through her body as one of his hands now moved slowly down into the water and between her thighs, seeking out that throbbing bud before stroking her there in the same rhythm as his fingers now gently squeezed and pulled on the aching tip of her breast, making her nipples longer, firmer.

Pandora gasped softly, unable to look away from Rupert’s hands, the one still cupping and pulling at her breast, the other caressing between her thighs, parting the gold curls there as she watched, revealing that ruby-red bud to her gaze as it pulsed to the tune of his caressing fingers.

It was—oh, God, this dual assault on her senses felt so good as her hips began to move instinctively into the stroking of those fingers against her, the pleasure growing hotter between her thighs, each plucking caress of her nipple increasing that pleasure. ‘Rupert!’ Pandora gasped breathlessly as that pleasure took her ever higher. ‘Please, Rupert …!’ she cried out, her head thrashing from side to side on his shoulder as she ached for relief from this pleasurable torment.

‘Tell me what you want, pet,’ he urged. ‘What you need.’

‘Harder,’ she pleaded. ‘Oh, please, Rupert, harder!’

‘Like this?’ He pulled and squeezed her nipple, the pulling on that turgid berry causing her channel to contract and spasm.

‘Yes!’ Pandora was beyond embarrassment now, beyond the awkwardness of her shyness as her hips arched up into Rupert’s stroking fingers, wanting—oh, God, wanting—

‘And this?’ Rupert’s fingers pinched that swollen, throbbing bud between her thighs.

Pandora screamed as she surged up on to the plateau of her pleasure before falling, floating on wave after wave of pleasure as Rupert now squeezed the tip of her breast to the same rhythm of two of his long fingers now plunging inside her, increasing and deepening the depth of her release until her head fell weakly back against his shoulder, her breathing laboured and gasping.

Rupert felt as if his chest was going to burst with the satisfaction he felt in watching Pandora reach her climax, revelling in the beauty of her nakedness, in the ready responses of that delicious body that had allowed him to give her that pleasure, and in doing so receive that same pleasure for himself. She was a veritable Venus come to life in his arms, a woman to be worshipped and adored, and Rupert knew he would happily spend the rest of his life making love with and to her.

For now he was happy to contemplate this one night together, their wedding night, hours and hours when Rupert intended to take Pandora in every way possible, binding her to him, claiming her, until he knew every dip and hollow of her body more intimately than he knew his own.

‘Where are we going?’ Pandora gasped as Rupert stood up to scoop her in his arms before stepping out of the bath, her own arms now clinging tightly about his neck as her hair slipped from its precarious hold at her crown and cascaded down over her shoulders and Rupert’s encircling arm.

He smiled as he set her gently down upon her own feet on the rug. ‘I thought I would ensure that you are completely dry before we go to bed.’

She stood completely naked in front of him as he reached to take one of the thick white towels from the stand, her cheeks turning a fiery red as he moved behind her to pat her back dry of the bath water, her legs still feeling slightly shaky from the intensity of pleasure she had just enjoyed under Rupert’s ministrations.

She had just enjoyed … Once again it had been she, and not Rupert, who had been given and had received pleasure.

Pandora moistened her lips before speaking.

‘You are a very generous lover, Rupert, but is it not time that I—that we—’

‘We have all the time in the world to give each other every pleasure imaginable, Pandora,’ he assured gruffly as he dropped down on to his knees on the rug and commenced gently drying the backs of her legs. ‘All of our lives, in fact.’

All of their lives …

It was wondrous, awe-inspiring to find herself married to Rupert Stirling, the Duke of Stratton, Marquis of Devlin, Earl of Charwood, his to do with as he wished for the rest of their lives.

As he was now hers to do with as she wished?

‘Rupert, may I not— What are you doing?’ She gasped as she felt the touch of his lips against one of the cheeks of her bottom.

His chuckle was low and slightly wicked this time. ‘I cannot help it if I find your bottom utterly delicious, Pandora. So much so that I cannot resist kissing it for a moment longer.’ The warmth of his lips pressed against the other curvaceous orb.

Those chiselled lips touching her there was … altogether too intimate for Pandora’s innocent sensibilities, but to turn and face him would put her in a position of even greater intimacy. Instead she stepped forwards and away from him before turning. Only for her eyes to widen and her breath to catch in her throat as she looked down at Rupert sitting back on his haunches, staring up at her with warm grey eyes, his arousal rampant and utterly beautiful between his thighs.

She had felt that arousal pressed against her several times, of course, most especially the night before when she had straddled his thighs so daringly and he had given her that first taste of pleasure, but nothing, not even that previous level of intimacy, had prepared Pandora for the male beauty of Rupert’s body.

His skin was a light gold, shoulders wide and powerful, chest broad and muscled, stomach tapered and flat, and that long, thick arousal jutted out proudly from amongst the golden curls between his thighs.

‘Oh, Rupert!’ Pandora dropped down onto her knees between his parted thighs. ‘May I … touch you …?’

‘Please,’ Rupert encouraged throatily. ‘Dear Lord, Pandora!’ He groaned at the first touch of her silky soft fingertips against the heat of his shaft.

‘It doesn’t hurt you?’ The skin on that rampant arousal looked so taut, so full, as it leapt forwards at her slightest touch.

‘Only in a pleasurable way,’ Rupert moaned. ‘Stroke me, pet,’ he begged. ‘Tighten your fingers a little and slide them up and down, and then put your other hand beneath my—yes, just like that!’ These past few days of making love to Pandora had stretched Rupert’s control to breaking point and it was now almost beyond bearing to have her cupping him and lightly pumping his shaft as he gazed upon her nakedness. ‘Harder, love,’ he urged hoarsely, back arching as he began to thrust into those encircling fingers. ‘Harder! Oh, God, faster!’

‘May I—?’ She licked her lips as a bead of liquid appeared on the tip. ‘Is it possible for me to taste you?’

‘Yes!’ Rupert gasped as he felt his release pumping hotly inside him as he watched Pandora slowly bend over him, her long golden curls falling silkily across his thighs as her lips parted over his hot and throbbing cock and she took him so deeply into the heat of her mouth that the sensitive tip hit the back of her throat.

If he had ever reached such a fierce and powerful release before, then Rupert had no memory of it. No memory of anything as he reached forwards to entangle his fingers in Pandora’s hair as she took his fierce release, causing him to groan and writhe in ecstasy beneath the onslaught.

Minutes, hours later, Rupert finally leant forwards to rest his head against her golden curls, completely spent, drained of all strength as well as coherent thought.

‘Rupert, are you all right?’ Pandora was filled with alarm at his collapsed state, her cheeks paling at the fear that she might have hurt him. She had acted completely on feminine instinct minutes ago when she had asked to taste him. But had she somehow injured him? Hurt the one person she had no wish ever to hurt?

‘It’s all right, love.’ Rupert chuckled weakly as he slowly raised his head to look at her. ‘I just need a minute or two to recover, and then it will be my turn to taste you—’ He broke off with a frown of irritation as a knock sounded on the outer door of their bedchamber. ‘Not now!’ he groaned in protest, eyes closing briefly before he shook his head. ‘Ignore it, love, and maybe they will go away.’ He looked down at her intently. ‘Pandora, I wasn’t too rough with you just now? I didn’t hurt you?’

‘Hurt me?’ She knew that her cheeks were pale. ‘You’re the one who minutes ago seemed to be in pain.’

‘That was ecstasy, not pain,’ he said. ‘An ecstasy I can’t wait to have you repeat. As often as you wish it,’ he teased.

She dared a glance at him. ‘Really?’

Rupert was puzzled. ‘I don’t understand, Pandora. You and Maybury were married for three years. Did the two of you never share—?’ He broke off as she suddenly pulled away from him.

‘Don’t talk of him now!’ she cried, her eyes wide and accusing.

‘I know you’ve said that the two you didn’t suit, but surely—’ He scowled darkly as another knock sounded on the bedchamber door. ‘What is it?’ he demanded impatiently.

‘I really am sorry to intrude, your Grace.’ Rupert’s butler spoke on the other side of that closed door. ‘But there is a lady downstairs wishing to see you. She refuses—she is most insistent that she must speak with you immediately, your Grace,’ he added apologetically.

Pandora blinked, unsure what to make of this interruption immediately after she and Rupert had shared and indulged in such intimacies as she had never even imagined between a man and woman.

What lady was awaiting him down the stairs? And how dare she interrupt them on their wedding day?

Pandora’s heart sank as she wondered if, having successfully routed Patricia Stirling, both from Rupert’s life and this house, she was now to be confronted by another of the women from his reputedly wicked and licentious past?

‘I will be down shortly, Pendleton,’ he said tersely before turning back to look at Pandora. ‘I’ll get rid of this woman as quickly as possible and return to you.’

‘Don’t hurry back on my account, Rupert.’ Pandora pulled completely out of his grasp before rising gracefully to her feet to cross the room and pick up her robe. ‘As you said, we will now be spending the rest of our lives together.’ She turned her back on him to pull on her robe and cover her nakedness, tying the belt securely about her waist before releasing her long hair from the collar.

‘Pandora—’

‘Please don’t let me delay you any further.’ She kept her gaze averted, but at the same time was aware of his every move as he pulled on his own robe and refastened it before approaching her.

Rupert reached out to lightly clasp one of her shoulders, his other hand moving to lift her chin so that he might look down into the paleness of her face, her eyes still avoiding meeting his. ‘I’m sure, despite this woman’s insistence, that it can be nothing of great import,’ he finally murmured, deeply regretful that their time together had been so rudely interrupted.

‘Of course not.’ Her smile was brittle as she lifted her chin from his grasp. ‘The sooner you are gone, Rupert, then the quicker you will be able to return,’ she pointed out.

Rupert’s mouth tightened and he inwardly cursed the ‘insistent lady’ awaiting him downstairs; a woman who had best be prepared to face the full force of his wrath! ‘Will you stay exactly as you are?’

Pandora’s gaze shifted to the ormolu clock on the fireplace. ‘It’s almost time to dress for dinner.’

And as far as he was aware, she hadn’t taken the time to eat either breakfast or lunch today and consequently must now be feeling famished following the events of the day so far.

He swallowed down his annoyance that their intimacy had been so completely shattered. ‘By all means dress for dinner and I will go through to my dressing room and do the same before going down to deal with our unwanted visitor.’ His voice hardened over the last words, wondering who she could possibly be—certainly not Patricia, as she had departed an hour or more ago, never to return as far as he was concerned.

‘I believe Pendleton said the lady is your visitor, not mine,’ Pandora reminded him coolly as she once again moved out of his grasp.

Rupert’s eyes narrowed as his hands dropped back to his sides. ‘Pandora—’

‘Please, Rupert, you really should go,’ she insisted firmly.

He shot her another frustrated frown. ‘I wouldn’t have had this happen for the world, Pandora.’

‘You can have no idea of the truth of that statement when you have no idea, as yet, precisely what “this” is,’ she reasoned.

Whoever had dared to interrupt them on their wedding day was going to bear the brunt of the sharp edge of Rupert’s tongue. ‘I will return in but a few minutes,’ he promised before walking through to his dressing room.

But one look at the identity and agitation of the ‘insistent lady’ who had demanded to speak with him and Rupert knew that he had spoken in error …