A Ladys Pleasure Read online

  “Ah, yes. You prefer the peace and quiet of the countryside, I understand. But I would have expected you to have attended the wedding of such a close friend.”

  “I’m afraid I had contracted a terrible cold and so was unable to make the journey.”

  “Ahh…” He paused as they passed a stone bench, directing Lily past the jutting edge she was about to bump into. Halting her with one hand, he reached out and lifted her spectacles from her face with his other.

  Pure bafflement held her still for a moment before she could react. Finally she found her voice. “What…Your Grace, please give me back my glasses. This instant.” Lily was furious and wary. How dare he presume so.

  “Well, my dear, I would, but I fear you would end our little walk bruised and possibly battered as you blindly made your way around these curving pathways wearing these glasses through which you can hardly see. The stonework is not quite as forgiving as Caro and Stephen’s furnishings. Indeed, I believe I saw you bump into two tables, a sofa, and some sort of ancient Egyptian statuary tonight. Are you aware you spent nearly five minutes conversing to the back of Lord Welling’s head during dinner? No, I didn’t think so. I think I prefer you actually be able to see me while I’m speaking to you. You don’t need your disguise out here.” With that, she watched as he folded the spectacles and placed them in his pocket, and she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. He knew about her disguise.

  She decided to bluff it out. “I don’t know what you—”

  “Please, Lily. May I call you Lily? It’s how Stephen and Caroline refer to you, and I’d rather not be so formal right now, if you don’t mind. After all, I’m sure we’re going to become…close…friends.”

  She huffed, feeling an unusual warmth in her belly at the intimate note in his voice.

  A twinge of panic sped through her at her reaction. She straightened her spine and used her sternest voice. “No, I do not give you leave to use my Christian name, Your Grace. In fact, I’d prefer henceforward you not address me at all. You are quite unforgivably presumptuous, sir. Now, if you don’t mind, I think we should return. I fear I’m growing quite fatigued.”

  He reached out as she moved to walk past him and took hold of her arm. “Please. A moment more.”

  She saw him smile again and wanted to scream in frustration. Lifting her chin, she nodded for him to continue, “Say whatever it is you feel you need to say. I am eager to be done with this conversation, Your Grace.”

  His lower lip trembled a bit, and she had the impression he was trying not to laugh.

  He certainly seemed to find her amusing. Or maybe he was just a lackwit who didn’t realize when he was being insulted. Though she was afraid it was the former rather than the latter case.

  “I fear I must make a confession to you, Lily,” he continued as though she hadn’t spoken, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “What kind of confession could you possibly to make to me, Your Grace? As I said before, we’re virtually strangers.” She made her voice as cold as she could, striving to keep the tremble out of it.

  “I’m afraid I…accidentally…overheard the conversation you had with Caroline this morning.”

  A sinking feeling came over her. “Conversation?” Good Lord, did he mean… “You were eavesdropping?” she gasped out, closing her eyes in horror as memories of all that was said during that discussion came back to her in a resounding rush. What a disaster.

  She opened her eyes and glared. “For shame, sir.”

  “Yes, I know. I am thoroughly disgusted with myself.” She just stared at him in disbelief. He didn’t sound at all disgusted. On the contrary, he sounded quite pleased.

  “But I just couldn’t help myself. I found the exchange quite…enthralling.”

  Her cheeks heated, and she jerked her arm from his. “I find your total lack of manners appalling, sir. It is obvious you are completely unrepentant, so don’t try to cozen me with your empty flattery.”

  He laughed. Actually had the gall to laugh at her. “Oh, my dear. You are simply priceless. I don’t think I have ever known anyone like you before in my life.” He stepped back, his eyes studying tonight’s gown. It had a high, ruched neckline and long sleeves.

  Again, it was quite ill-fitting, giving no hint of her generous curves. “I must say, your disguise is quite thorough. Again. Though why you want to hide your light under a barrel still confounds me.”

  “You know exactly why since you listened to a private conversation that was none of your concern. I’m sure I was quite clear. I have no desire, Your Grace, to have to fend off the attentions of unwanted suitors.” She glared at him, knowing he would understand that she was including him in her statement.

  “Touché, my dear.” He grinned again, and she wanted to stomp her foot. “But why do you not welcome such attentions?”

  Her chin lifted. “I find that gentlemen have nothing to offer me of which I wish to avail myself.” There. That should put the scoundrel in his place. But no. He laughed again.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my lady.” His hand reached out, and one finger slid down the curve of her cheek. She jerked back from his touch, but the heat of that brief caress lingered on her skin in a way that shocked her. “I believe that the right man might have much to offer you.”

  “Much what? Much flattery? Much effrontery? Much arrogant condescension?”

  “Much pleasure, Lily. Very much pleasure.” His voice was the low purr of a predatory beast, and she shivered in reaction but attempted to brazen it out.

  “Humph. It has been my experience that men are concerned mainly with their own pleasures and not those of their partners.”

  “Not all men. There are some men who want nothing more than to bring the woman they’re with to total and complete bliss.”

  “Oh? And I suppose you think you’re such a man?”

  “I know I am, sweet.”

  “Ha! I think you flatter yourself, Your Grace.”

  “Shall we find out, then?”

  He pulled her against him, molding her to his body, and his mouth came down to cover hers.

  She stiffened, determined to give him no reaction to his bold move. At first, the only thing she was aware of was the incredible hardness of the body that was pressed so tightly against hers, the slide of his hands as they moved to encircle her waist and hold her even tighter. Then his lips moved, hot and seeking, against hers, and she registered amazement at her own body’s unwilling response. Her lips parted at the probing caress of his, and she shivered at the wet glide of tongue against tongue.

  Her body trembled as his lips moved against hers, his hand reaching up to clasp her head, turning her, moving her, so that their mouths fit even tighter together. She had never felt anything so exciting, so arousing. She heard a small whimper and distantly realized it had come from her. The sound shocked her out of the haze of desire into which she had fallen. She pulled out of the duke’s arms, backing away a few steps to put some distance between them. She noticed his elevated breathing that matched her own, the moistness of his lips, appalled at the realization that she wanted nothing more than to return to his arms. So much for giving him no reaction, she thought with dismay.

  She met his gaze for a single second before she turned and rushed farther into the darkened depths of the garden, seeking to escape the knowledge of her response. As she hurried forward, she prayed he would not follow. She was heading toward a private bower tucked away in a back corner where she would have the solitude she so desperately needed so that she could try to figure out what had just happened to her. She had never reacted to her husband’s embraces as she had to the duke’s. Even now she could feel the ache of need. What had he done to her with just one simple kiss?

  The bower loomed ahead of her, but just before she reached it, the realization struck that it was already occupied. She was about to intrude upon a lovers’ tryst. She froze, about to head back the way she had come, when a pair of hands closed over her shoul
ders.

  She barely stifled the startled shriek as she realized it was the duke. He pulled her back against him and to the left of the path so that they were concealed somewhat by the large rhododendrons that grew there. Yet, in the brightness of the moon, it was still quite easy to see the lady and gentleman who had taken advantage of the privacy afforded by the hidden bower.

  Lily’s eyes almost bulged from her head as she peeked around a leafy branch and observed the gentleman’s head as it descended to the lady’s bosom. She closed her eyes and turned to whisper to the duke. “Oh, we must leave at once, and as quietly as possible so they do not realize they have been observed.”

  His hands tightened on her shoulders, and she felt him lean down to whisper back.

  “But why? I do not think that either party would even care if they knew we were here. In fact, I know they would not. That is Sir Evan Spencer and his latest mistress, Lady Eleanor Parkington. Believe me when I tell you, it would take a lot more than our watching them to embarrass them or interrupt their pleasure. It would probably add to it.”

  She felt his lips brush over her ear as he spoke, sending a shock of heat between her thighs that was so startling that it took a moment for his words to sink in.

  She shuddered as his implication sank in, disbelief warring with interest. “You mean they enjoy being seen? I don’t believe you. That’s ridiculous.”

  “No. Not ridiculous. Titillating. They find pleasure in others observing them. There are many ways to find pleasure, sweet Lily. You have barely even scratched the surface.

  Just watch.”

  She was torn. She should leave. She knew it. But somehow her legs wouldn’t move.

  “I shouldn’t. We shouldn’t.” She heard the uncertainty in her own voice.

  “Lily, you know I heard you this morning. I know you’ve never experienced pleasure in the marriage bed. You think you’re content without it because you’ve never known it.

  But I believe that you’re wrong. Give me a chance to prove it to you. Watch.” His hands turned her to face towards the lovers again.

  Spencer had managed to unfasten the lady’s gown, and it gaped away from her chest.

  Her bare breasts were in his hands, and his mouth descended to take one ripe red nipple into his mouth. Lily gasped at the expression of ecstasy on the lady’s face.

  “You can see how much she is enjoying his attentions, Lily. I can assure you, he is enjoying himself just as much. A lady’s breasts are a bountiful treasure that a man wishes to caress and kiss and suckle, much as a babe would. Did your husband ever perform such a service for you, my sweet?”

  She dazedly shook her head, unable to speak as she observed the man moving his mouth from one peaked breast to the other, tugging a hardening nipple between his teeth as the lady cried out with pleasure and pulled his head more tightly against her.

  The duke gently massaged her shoulders before moving his hands to begin unfastening the row of buttons that ran down to her waist. She knew she should stop him, but she couldn’t. As the night breeze caressed the skin that was revealed with each button that slipped from its hole, she trembled. Then he pressed the shoulders down, down, binding her arms to her sides and revealing her breasts covered by no more than a sheer chemise held together with a satin ribbon. A quick tug and the ribbon parted, and the duke’s sure, long-fingered hands slid beneath the material to cup her aching breasts. She gasped and desire streaked through her as he stroked over her nipples, drawing them into taut peaks. Around and around he circled the creamy mounds, and Lily’s head fell back to rest against his broad shoulder.

  “I wish I could taste these beauties as Spencer does his lady’s. I would love to pull them into my mouth and use my tongue, my teeth, to draw you closer and closer to ecstasy. I bet you taste just as you smell, of strawberries and cream.” His words inflamed her as much as his hands, as much as the scene they were witnessing. It was as if he had mesmerized her, and her body was no longer her own. She moaned softly.

  “Careful, my sweet, or you’ll give away our hiding spot. We wouldn’t want Spencer to come over to investigate, now would we? Think what he would see. Your breasts, bare to the night breeze. My hands touching you, caressing you. You body, taut with need.”

  He tweaked a nipple, and her hips arched back, feeling the steely proof of his desire for her as it nudged against her buttocks. He laughed softly. “Oh, yes, Lily. He would see you in all your lovely, aching desire. Would see how your body moves for me, responds to my touch. Would you like that? Would you enjoy knowing another could see you like this?” He pulled on her nipples again, showing her the proof of his words. A pulse of fluid gathered between her legs, and she felt a hot rush of shameful need. As if he read her mind, he directed her attention back to the embracing couple.

  “Ah, I see Spencer has decided to perform a most intimate duty for his lady. Look, my dear.”

  Lily’s eyes had drifted shut with arousal, but she forced them open. The sight that met her eyes was more than shocking. Sir Evan had sunk to his knees and had lifted the lady’s skirts. The woman leaned back on the wooden bench and held the ruffles clasped tightly in her hands as the gentleman removed her bloomers. Lily bit her lip and raised her hand to cover her lips as the lady’s private parts were revealed. Dark hair covered her woman’s mound, and Sir Evan reached out to spread her open even wider before bending his head and pressing his mouth to her womanhood.

  “Oh, my God. Do you see what he is doing to her?” She couldn’t contain her startled whisper.

  “Indeed. It is the nectar of the gods the gentleman tastes. As I would like to taste yours, my lovely Lily.” The low timber of the duke’s voice rumbled in her ear, setting her insides to quivering at the picture of his head between her own legs. It must be the most wicked thing. Wicked and…sinfully delicious, she thought, as the lady’s cries of pleasure echoed in the darkness.

  While she had been preoccupied in observing the startling embrace, the duke’s hands had been steadily raising her own skirts, which she only realized as a breeze feathered over her exposed legs. “Your Grace, you shouldn’t…”

  “Oh, yes, indeed I should, Lily. I really should. And my name is Richard. Say it.”

  “I don’t think…” she gulped as his hands went to the fastening of her underdrawers.

  “Good. This is no time for thinking, Lily. Say my name.”

  Her drawers dropped to the ground, and his hands slid between the slick folds of her quim in a possessive stroke. She gasped. “Richard!”

  “Yes. Oh, yes, I like the sound of my name on your tongue, Lily. I want to hear you cry it as you reach ecstasy.”

  His fingers moved again, rubbing across a spot that seemed to contain the center of her pleasure. “Oh. Oh.”

  “Do you like that, my dear? Tell me if you do, and I’ll do it again.”

  She bit her lip, aghast for a moment at her unashamed response.

  “Come, Lily. Do you like it?”

  “Yes,” she gasped out. She heard his faint laughter but didn’t care as his fingers again brushed over the sensitive spot. Again and again he caressed her, exploring thoroughly. His mouth moved across her neck, dropping kisses and stinging nips that added to her pleasure. One hand returned to her breast, tweaking and rubbing her nipple until it was all she could do not to scream with wicked delight. What was happening to her? Is this what Caroline had meant when she’d spoken of her husband’s talents? Her thoughts were a jumbled mess of which she could make no sense.

  Then Richard’s finger slid up into her eager channel, and she could not think at all.

  She moaned as he pulled out only to push in again. Two fingers this time. She arched against him, needing them deeper, deeper. Wanting something else…something more.

  “Yes, Lily. That’s it. Show me what you need, my sweet.” Again and again his fingers withdrew only to plunge back in, her hips slamming forward with eager force to meet each stroke. Faster and faster he pumped. She felt his thumb stroke
across that rigid bundle of nerves he had caressed earlier, and her body tightened in anticipation of something. She didn’t know what but it was there…just out of reach. Only a little more.

  She whimpered. “Please, Richard. Oh, please…”

  “Good, baby. That’s so good. Let go now, Lily. Come for me.” His hand released her breast and clamped over her mouth just as her body jerked and exploded into ecstasy. Her harsh screaming of his name was muffled against his palm, and he held her tight until the pulses of pleasure finally ended, and she collapsed against him limp as a rag doll.

  Chapter Three

  His Grace, the Duke of Carlisle, impatiently cooled his heels in the entry hall as he waited for the arrival of his riding partner. For two days the wily lady had avoided him using one pretext after another. Finally, with Caroline’s assistance, he had managed to corner her after dinner the night before and had wrung a promise from Lady Morley…Lily…to join him this morning for a horseback ride. He had remembered hearing Caroline remark how much Lily enjoyed equestrian pursuits and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get to know her a little better, and to allow her to become more comfortable with him. His time was short, and he knew he must make every minute count if he was going to woo the lady into matrimony. Why he was so convinced she would make him the perfect bride he was not quite sure, so he thought that spending more time with her would help him to confirm his idea or complete disabuse him of it.

  She had tried to beg off, of course, using as an excuse the fact that she had brought no riding habit with her, but Caroline had eagerly offered one of her own habits for Lily to borrow. With no other excuses readily to hand, she had been forced to accept his invitation, though he had seen the chagrin on her face when she realized she’d been outmaneuvered. The matter settled to his satisfaction, he had left her with no more than a brief kiss on the hand and a promise to see her on the morrow.

  He was quite eager to observe how she was planning on comporting herself this morning when they were alone together, considering everything that had occurred between them that night in the garden. He could feel his body hardening at the memory of her unfettered response. How could she possibly imagine she would be content with a passionless existence! She was obviously made for the joys of physical love.