Rogue in Red Velvet (34 page)

“That’s the beauty of this room,” Alex said. “When Julius lived here, he chose this room for a reason. Most of the rooms in this house communicate in a way that the maids can go from room to room in the morning and clean more efficiently. But this room is at the corner of the house and it only has three doors. The jib door, which I’ll lock, the outer door, which I’ll also lock and the powder room door, which is a dead end. No way in except through this room. Nobody comes in here, except the people I say and you’ll be perfectly safe. With me.”

He leaned forward and put the brush down on the table, the click sounding unnaturally loud in the quiet room. He swept her hair aside and touched his lips to her neck. “Or you can sleep alone and I won’t come near you again until Tuesday night. If that’s what you want.” He straightened. “You see? I’m doing my best to give you the choices you ask for.”

That surprised a laugh out of her. “You’ll kill yourself if you keep on doing it.” She got to her feet and turned to face him, one hand on the back of the chair. “Alex, be yourself. It’s you I want. We might argue and I’m sure we will but I don’t want you to be—careful—around me.”

He stiffened, gazed at her. Anyone seeing him now wouldn’t recognize him as the indolent aristocrat. Every line of his body was taut and tense, his eyes wild with need, the same need she was experiencing. “Beware of what you ask for. I have never felt so powerfully for any woman before in my life.”

“I am. I want you. All of you.”

He remained very, very still, so much that she knew he was fighting not to reach out for her, because when he did, there wouldn’t be any more talking for a long time. “You’ll get it, Connie my love.”

Something took hold of her heart and her breath stuttered. This wasn’t a figure of speech or a casual endearment. “Wh-what did you say?”

“You heard but just in case, I’ll make it clear.” He gazed into her eyes, sincerity patently obvious. “I love you, Connie. I started to fall in love with you the moment I saw you. Every day since has only confirmed it.” He grinned, his body more relaxed now. “You have to forgive me, sweetheart but I doubted what my heart was telling me. I didn’t believe that it could be possible. But it is and now I don’t want to wait to marry you a moment longer than I have to.” He reached out and caught her hand, twining his fingers between hers. “You don’t have to say anything in return. I want the truth, Connie, no more. No lies, ever, between us.”

“Not even a tiny lie about a gown costing half what it actually did?” She knew her mother had done that to her father a time or two. He’d recounted it to her fondly, trying to remind her that her late mother wasn’t a saint but a human being.

He grinned, gave her the bright, devil-may-care smile that lit up a room for her. “I might allow that. Neither of us are saints. But the truth, the honesty of our feelings. That I want clear.”

“So if I confess I love you, will you believe me?”

“I’ll believe you and be glad to.”

She gathered all her courage together, feeling the tension tighten. She’d told one other man that and been proved wrong. This time she was certain. “I love you, Alex. Though perhaps not as long as you’ve loved me. It was our first kiss that made me realize what life without you would mean.”

He tugged her hand, urging her closer. “What would it mean?”

“Boredom. Toleration, or so I thought at the time. When Jasper asked to visit my room but went to London instead, all I felt was relief. That was when I knew I didn’t want to marry him, but I had committed myself by then so I could say nothing.”

Alex’s dark eyes gleamed with incipient ire but he cupped her cheek gently. “I wouldn’t have allowed it. I felt jealous when I had no right to be. When I heard he’d become engaged to Miss Stobart, I was glad and angry. It meant she wasn’t pursuing me anymore, but I couldn’t wish the fate of Jasper Dankworth on anyone. My father isn’t exactly pleased I’m marrying you but he can do nothing about it and I want you, Connie. For my own, to have the right to care for and love.”

He lowered his head and kissed her. Gently at first, testing her lips, his tongue touching her, exploring. She opened her mouth and he slipped in. Not passionately, so much as lovingly. Appropriate for their first kiss after confessing their love.

She knew what he meant. There was no doubt possible between them. She could ask herself why, try to reason but it wouldn’t work because it just was. It existed.

He finished the kiss and gazed at her, his eyes adoring now. “So what do you want for tonight, my love? Would you prefer to spend three nights on your own, waiting for our wedding night?”

She shook her head. “How foolish that would be, when I have you now. Will we have separate rooms after we’re married? Will you behave like a polite husband and ask permission to visit my chamber?”

“No.” He grinned. “If you’re expecting that, you’re in for a disappointment, my lady. Separate rooms, yes, because you will have a mountain of gowns and jewelry to store and care for. You’ll have levées, when the petitioners and dressmakers will visit you in your chamber.” He touched his lips to hers and smiled tenderly. “It’s not compulsory. At least, the levée part isn’t. The gowns and the jewels I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with. But there’s no reason we can’t spend every night in each other’s arms.”

He put her away a little and touched the brooch, which she’d pinned to her robe after Saxton had helped her to undress. “This gave me hope that you’d forgiven me. But we can dispose of it for the time being, can’t we?”

Careful not to let the pin prick her, he unfastened the brooch and laid it on the dressing table behind them. Her robe was easily dispensed with, as it fastened only with a couple of toggled frogs at her neck and a sash at her waist. That left her in her virginal white night-rail.

He undid the buttons at her neck and cuffs and pulled it over her head. She only moved to lift her arms. Her hair, still unbound, fell in a cascade around her shoulders and halfway down her back.

“You know you’re beautiful.” He watched her, his cheekbones tinged with pink, his eyes gleaming with desire.

She shook her head. “Not to everyone. But that I am to you is more than enough.”

“I’ll have the world declare you a beauty. They’ll all see what I do.” He paused, touched the tip of her nipple, which beaded at his command. “Not quite all. This sight is mine and mine alone.” His expression turned fierce. She loved that about him that he didn’t hide what he was feeling in front of her, as he did to the rest of the world.

She was naked. He was not. She didn’t understand why that made her feel powerful, except, perhaps, that he was letting her know how much her nudity affected him. Always a modest woman, wonder filled her when she realized she wanted to show him her body, to give him the pleasure he so obviously took from her.

He took her hand once more and led her to the high bed. “Get in, sweetheart. I’ll join you in a moment.”

A small set of steps stood by the side of the old-fashioned bed and she climbed in, pushing down the elaborate coverlet, the blankets and the top sheet. They might need them later but not now. She lay on her side, her cheek propped on her hand, and watched him undress.

He pulled off his dress wig and dropped it on the post of the chair in front of the dressing table. Then he stripped off his neckcloth, winding it around his hands and pulling it taut before smiling at her. “Maybe one day—” he broke off. “What is it?” He tossed the neckcloth to the floor and would have crossed the room to her but she shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter. It reminded me of something long ago. Don’t ask me now, Alex, please. I’ll tell you but not now.”

He stared at her, then gave an abrupt nod. “We will speak of it. But, as you say, not now. Because now I want to show you how much I love you. Forget everything else but me, everyone else but me. Because in a way we are starting afresh, are we not? I’ve never asked anyone to marry me before and—I’ve never loved anyone like this before.”

As he spoke, he removed his heavy evening coat and then his waistcoat, before dragging his shirt over his head and attending to the diamond buckles at his knees, stockings and shoes. His underwear came off with his breeches and then he was as naked as she, his erection rising eagerly to meet her. It bobbed as he approached the bed, climbed the steps and joined her.

His warmth and strength overwhelmed her. If she wanted to, she could melt against him and let him take control but she wanted to show him her love, as he said he wanted to show her.

He rolled her on to her back and she opened her legs to let him kneel between them. He gazed down at her. “If this is the only sight I’m granted for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy.”

Threading his fingers through her hair, he tugged it gently so it lay across the pillow. “Like a skein of gold. I love that you wear it unpowdered but you look marvelous with it powdered, too. I never expected that. Very dignified, my lady.” He paused. “My lady. The more I say it, the more I like the sound of it.”

“I am.” She reached up and he turned his head, pressed a kiss into the palm. “As you’re my lord. My love.”

A rush of heat enveloped her as she said it and he bent his head and kissed her. This kiss had less to do with emotion, more of passion. He tasted her, then pushed into her mouth, tasting and exploring, as if he’d never done it before.

She’d fallen in love with him after he’d kissed her for the first time. She’d fall a little bit deeper every time his lips touched hers. Which meant she was already deep and the end of the journey was fathomless, because she intended to keep kissing him for the rest of her life.

He drew away after a long time and gazed at her, his eyes glazed with desire. Lifting her hand, she threaded her fingers through the short strands of his hair. “I love you like this, knowing that I see you at your most intimate.”

He chuckled. “It doesn’t get much more intimate, my sweet. But I hope I’ve shown you that I’m never safe.” At his reminder of what had happened downstairs, Connie heated and made a small sound at the back of her throat.

His expression softened and he bent, kissed her ear, the hollow below it and down her neck to the spot at the base where she was particularly sensitive. By now, she wanted him, badly. Her body yearned to feel him again, to have him close and then deep inside her body.

Alex wasn’t done with caressing her yet. He swept his hand from just under her arm to her hip, stroking her skin into high awareness then returned to her breast, where the movements of his hand were soon joined by his mouth, as he touched tiny kisses to the soft skin there. “So pretty,” he murmured. “So tasty.” Without warning, he took her nipple deep into her mouth, sucked hard then released it again so cool air washed over the wet tip.

Connie couldn’t have repressed her moans if she tried to but now she had the opportunity to make all the noise she wanted to.

“That’s it, sweetheart, moan for me. Show me how much you want me.”

She cried out when he fingered her other breast, pinched it and then stroked it, so it peaked for him, the tip going tight and hard. When he touched it, his caress was almost unbearable and she wanted him to press harder, stroke her everywhere. Opening her legs wider, modesty abandoned, she pressed her back against the bed and pushed her pelvis up, urging him to take her.

He kissed as far as her navel, licked it and kissed her stomach, before returning to her. His cock stood close to the plush hair between her legs and when she arched, she grazed the damp tip. Now he moaned and kissed her, as she felt his shaft come into contact with her clitoris.

Already those names seemed almost natural to her, the way he’d taught them to her by showing her, exploring her body with the delight she felt when he did it. He lifted her head and watched her. “I live to serve you, my lady.” He slid further down, then drew away to do it again. “Do you like that?”

“Oh yes, Alex, yes I do.” The movement stimulated the pearl of flesh, made it swell against him, as it had earlier against his tongue.

“One day I might find something you don’t like. Until then, we can carry on, trying out positions and going on sensual journeys together. But tonight we’re going to make love. Pure and simple.”

She curled one arm around his neck, gazed up into his eyes and knew there was nothing simple about Alex Ripley. “I want to feel what it’s like to hold you inside me, everything you are.”

He slid down once more but this time he slipped inside her. He forged his own way and didn’t stop until he had sunk his shaft deep into her body and his balls touched the base of her buttocks. “Everything I am,” he murmured. He filled her totally and he watched her as he withdrew and plunged inside, making her his.

Everything outside this room fell away. She’d do anything for him, now and forever and although she knew how dangerous it was to think like that, she still gave herself to him.

His smile told her he knew. “I will serve nobody but you and I will spend the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me.”

He drove inside her. When she responding with a moan, pushing her body up to his, he lifted up to rest on his elbows and changed his position slightly.

That made him graze her sweet spot with every stroke. She cried out, then she arched up. More, she wanted more. Like a helpless addict, she’d take it all and still hunger for more. He gave it to her and took for himself.

“You know how good this feels?” he murmured. “No, how could you? Better than anything else I can remember. My love, oh, my love,” which wasn’t a very extraordinary thing to say but it pleased her more than she could articulate.