Pride and Pleasure

Chapter 9

Jasper pressed a kiss to a freckle on Eliza’s thigh before sliding off the end of the bed. She curled onto her side, flushed and trembling, her slim, pale limbs drawn tight to her body. Her blue eyes followed his movements, looking dazed and sated at once.

His blood was raging, his cock throbbing. He yanked open the placket of his breeches and pushed them down. Kicking them aside, he took his penis in his hand and stroked the pulsing length. Crimson skeins of moisture-her virginal blood-clung to his fingers. The sight aroused him, luring his seed to leak from the tip of his cock.

He’d pushed her far and fast, needing to take her past the twin hurdles of inexperience and virginity so he could have her as he needed to. He had tried to warn her, attempted to explain, forced himself to give voice to a craving he didn’t understand. Small comfort to a woman overwhelmed by her first physical attraction.

Jasper had taken advantage of that fact, remembering how riotous the flush of first lust was, how ill-considered and desperate it felt. He remembered it well, because Eliza made him feel that way again. Hot-blooded. Randy. Impatient.

With harsh strides, he went to the washstand and grabbed a handful of freshly laundered towels. On the way back to the bed, he caught up the bottle of oil he’d purchased at Mrs. Pennington’s shop. He tossed the towels on the counterpane, then poured a small pool of the fragrant golden liquid into his palm. The bottle was set aside on the nightstand by Eliza’s head.

Deliberately, he rubbed his hands together, releasing the scent of bergamot and spice into the air. He’d chosen a masculine scent on purpose, wanting it to linger in her mind after the night was over, goading her to remember the things he had done to her body. Thus far she hadn’t been subject to the sorts of lewd imaginings he suffered through, but he intended that to change. Whether she was balancing her ledgers or dancing with blasted suitors, Jasper wanted her to be thinking of sex with him.

Eliza watched, riveted, as he gripped his cock at the root and stroked upward, pulling and stretching, swelling further until he was certain he’d never been this hard and thick. Ropey veins coursed the length of him, making him look as brutal as he felt. His bollocks were drawn up tight and hard, his seed churning with the need for release.

She made a soft, anxious noise.

“Are you frightened?” he asked for the second time that evening. Knowing she had to be. Aware that he would have been kinder to shield her from his size until she knew enough to appreciate it. But he was willing to cast aside what little gentlemanly considerations he had to gain what he wanted from her, using every advantage he possessed to distinguish himself from the others who hoped to win her and take her from him. She liked to look at him. And she was attuned to him on the most basic level. Her mind might shy away from his primitive display, but her body understood…and would react accordingly.

“Yes,” she answered softly, her knees drawing closer to her abdomen. “I have always known you were too much for me.”

“But you want me regardless. Face the other way.”

Rolling, she gave him her back. She curled in a manner that drew her feet up to the lush curve of her buttocks. The discovery of her voluptuous derriere had been a delightful surprise when she’d crawled across his bed earlier. On the surface, Eliza appeared as moderate in form as she was in temperament, but even in this, her private landscape was the most picturesque. He was certain her backside was the most perfect he’d ever seen.

“Who knew you hid such a curvaceous bottom beneath your clothes?” he murmured, joining her and pressing a kiss to a cluster of freckles on her shoulder.

“You tease me,” she accused without heat.

“You spoke of men who appreciate certain hues of hair.” Jasper wrapped his body around her, pulling her against his chest with an arm around her slender waist. “Is it so hard to believe I might have my own preferences?”

“For freckles and buttocks?”

“You, Eliza. All of you.” He inhaled sharply when she leaned into him, and he became further inflamed by the smell of her. “My patience is thinner than I would wish,” he confessed hoarsely. “I must beg you in advance for greater license. You trust me with your life; will you trust me in this? Trust me to give you pleasure, even if I am rough or hurried?”

She looked at him over her shoulder. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth and her eyes were shadowed, but she nodded.

With no further preliminaries, he took his cock in his hand and arched his hips forward. Her breath hissed out when he tucked the thick head against her and slid upward, parting the slick folds of her sex and gliding across her clitoris. Up, then down. On the downstroke, the furled underside of his cockhead caught the swollen knot of nerves. On the upstroke, the swollen crest rubbed over it. He notched the tiny protrusion into the weeping hole at the tip of his cock and stroked himself from root to crown with his fist. A hot pulse of pre-ejaculate flowed over her sensitive flesh. She moaned, arching backward.

Jasper restrained her with a hand at her breast, fighting his turbulent need to pound into her and spew violently, expending his lust in a violent taking that would slake his craving. The sense of desperation was nigh intolerable. He couldn’t shake the apprehension that she might be removed from his grasp before he was ready. It was too soon. His need for her too sharp…

Eliza’s hand covered his.

Her nipple pebbled into his palm, tightening deliciously. He felt its sensitivity when he kneaded the whole of her breast. Her entire body trembled, and her hips pushed back. Her legs parted, one foot hooking behind his calf, giving her leverage to undulate against him.

She was finally unrestrained, and it was better than he’d imagined. She whispered his name. He pulled back, finding the clutching entrance to her body. There was a moment of hesitation; a brief second when reason reminded him that she was above him in station. Too good for him.

His jaw clenched. He pushed his cockhead deliberately into her tight, resisting flesh. She was scorching hot and drenched.

“Christ,” he hissed, seared by the silken heat of her. The delicate muscles inside her bore down on the exquisitely sensitive head of his cock. A violent shudder wracked his frame.

Eliza’s head thrashed against his chest. Her nails dug into the forearm he pinned her with. Her movements altered, writhing away instead of into him. She tried to close her legs, but he blocked her, moving his hand from her breast to her cunt in a lightning-quick lunge.

“Trust me,” he said gruffly, pushing deeper. “Breathe.”

Registering the tremendous strain in Jasper’s voice, Eliza tried to obey, gasping air into seized lungs. He slid deeper, despite the panicked clench of untried tissues. She understood the use of the oil now. It gave her body no traction to deny him, no means of resistance.

Her eyes closed on a shuddering exhale. Her mind filled with the vision of Jasper standing beside the bed fully naked, skin gleaming, abdominal and chest muscles rippling from the rough movement of his hands on his magnificent erection. She knew how to judge proportions. She’d known she could never accommodate him, but she wanted to. Needed to.

He withdrew a scant inch. She sucked air into her burning lungs, and his hips lunged forward, tunneling his rigid penis into her. She made a broken sound, unprepared for the feeling of being so utterly possessed.

“God.” He stilled, panting, his chest working like a great bellows against her back. His cheek nuzzled against her temple. “Am I hurting you?”

“No…Too full.” Stretched to the point of aching, but she was not pained.

“You can take me.” His fingers rubbed between her legs, starting a hot, sweet trickle of sensation in her core. “Let me in, Eliza. Don’t fight it.”

Eyes stinging, she gave a tentative, tiny swivel of her hips. He slid a fraction deeper.

“Yes,” he purred, nudging forward then withdrawing. “Like that.”

She forced her taut frame to relax, sagging back against his supportive chest and deliberately modifying her breathing. Slow deep breath in. Steady breath out. She concentrated on his touch, the way he expertly circled her clitoris with callused fingertips, urging pleasure outward across devastated nerve endings.

On her next inhale, he thrust, sinking into her until his thighs were pressed tight to hers. Her held fell forward on a low moan.

“Eliza.”

Dear God, he was so deep in her…

He pulled out with painstaking slowness, then filled her again. With every withdrawal and return, his movements became more fluid. Practiced. His expertise became apparent. He knew just how far to pull out, how leisurely to push in, how deep to penetrate to drive her mad for the feel of him inside her. Her enjoyment grew, until she sought the pleasure purposefully, writhing into his thrusts to feel the sweet fullness she craved.

A low rumble of approval vibrated against her back. “You like this.”

She gasped at a particularly masterful stroke. The intimidating size of his erection was now something she relished. He was so long and thick. The largeness of him ensured that he rubbed and stretched every sensitive spot, awakening a voracious hunger. She struggled against him, resisting the position he kept her in that prevented her from increasing his depth and pace.

“Tell me you like this,” he coaxed darkly, rolling his hips and fingers simultaneously, arousing her with consummate skill so she clenched greedily around him. “Say it.”

“Yes.” She whimpered in torment, aching every time he pulled out and left her empty. “But…”

“I can give it to you.” His tone was rough and deeply sexual. “Tell me what you want, Eliza, and you can have it.”

“More,” she begged, shameless in her yearning. “Give me more…”

Jasper’s hand cupped her swollen sex and pulled her back into a powerful lunge of his hips. Heat washed over her. His pace increased, the flat of his palm applying just enough pressure to stimulate her on the outside as well as within. Sweat coated her skin and his, making them slide along each other, releasing the fragrance of the oil and Jasper’s scent into the air. The room became hot and the counterpane damp, creating a lush humidity that intensified the experience. He whispered lewd praise, his words slurring with pleasure, his abdomen and thighs flexing powerfully as he drove into her. Tears filled her eyes, the tension so fine she felt as if she might break at any moment.

“Please,” she sobbed. “Please!”

“Right there,” he groaned, holding still at the deepest point and grinding against her, screwing into her another fractional bit. “Right there.”

She arched violently. The climax hit, her vision narrowing until it blackened completely. Her mouth opened in a silent cry of pleasure. Inside, she convulsed, tightening on him in the most intimate of embraces. Blood roared in her ears, drowning out all sound.

A thick wash of heat flooded the depths of her. Jasper cursed and jerked against her, shuddering in unison with every wrenching spurt.

Eliza felt her name on his lips as he emptied himself inside her, his mouth moving against her shoulder in a sweetly broken litany.

There was no place in Jasper’s life for Eliza Martin.

He lay on his side with his head propped in his hand, watching her as she napped. Strands of her beautiful hair clung to her damp forehead and cheeks. Her lips were parted, her chest lifting and falling in the measured tempo of slumber. She lay on her stomach, baring twin dimples in each curve of her extremely enticing buttocks.

Spread out as she was, naked and rosy-skinned and debauched, it was easy to imagine keeping her there in his bed. But it was only an illusion. His gaze lifted and swept around the nearly empty room. Aside from the bed and washstand, there was only a wardrobe and chair for furnishings. This evening with Eliza was the longest stretch of time he’d spent awake in his bedchamber since he took up residence in the house. In the normal course of his life, there would be laughter and loud voices filtering up from the lower floor. He would be adhering to a tight schedule, working as many hours as possible to keep income flowing. After all, there was nothing he wanted done that didn’t require coin to see to it.

Try as he might, Jasper couldn’t picture Eliza in any part of his home beyond this private space. The men who worked for him were coarse and sometimes ill-mannered. They would have no notion of what to do with a lady like Eliza. He had no dining table at which to feed her, no formal parlor in which she could entertain what few guests would deign to call on her here. His home was less than half the size of Melville’s and located in a part of town that, while acceptable, had never been fashionable.

Things would have to change drastically…

Eliza made a soft noise. He looked at her and found her rousing. She blinked, then rubbed at her eyes. He watched her vision focus on him. Awareness swept over her face along with a heated blush. She grew unnaturally still.

“Ah,” he murmured, smiling. “You look scandalized.”

“You look smug,” she accused, but with warmth in her eyes.

“Do I?” He stroked his hand down the curve of her back. How could he resist, when she looked at him as she was doing now? “If I do, so should you.”

He knew some of her feelings were inspired by the aftermath of orgasmic bliss and gratitude for it, but some of them were more deeply rooted. God knew he had never expected nor wanted anyone to love him, but he’d have a better chance of keeping Eliza if her attachment deepened.

She looked at her fingers, which toyed with a wrinkle in the counterpane. “I did nothing.”

Jasper tapped the end of her nose with his finger. “You’ll have to take my word for it. There are many ways to have sex, ranging from horribly disappointing to quite nicely done. What you and I just experienced is another sort of matter altogether. It takes two people with singular chemistry to achieve such a delectable end.”

Eliza remained strangely quiet.

“Sixpence for your thoughts,” he said, aware of tension eating into his contentment. “Is regret setting in?”

“No. No regrets,” she replied carefully, glancing at him. “The first day we met, you spoke of rare skills in sexual congress, and clearly you have them. What woman could regret ending up in your bed?”

“Your thoughts on the matter are the only ones that concern me.”

“I fail to see how that can be true. I didn’t even touch you. You were required to do all of the work-”

Laughing, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Sweetheart, that was far from ‘work.’”

“I should have done something!” she protested, looking less shy and more animated. She set her chin in her hand, which elevated her torso just enough to bare the upper curve of her breasts. “I feel sorely inadequate.”

Jasper was somewhat startled by the ferocity with which he was stirring again, simply from the sight of her and the thought of her deliberately arousing him. “Rubbish. If you had been any more adequate, the business would have been done before I was inside you. That’s why I made a point of facing you away from me.”

“You made certain I could not participate?” Eliza frowned. “I find that very unsporting.”

“Unsporting?” He grinned, enjoying her immensely as always. In all of his days, he’d yet to bed a woman who wanted to put more effort into pleasing him. Leastwise, not any he hadn’t paid for their services.

He gestured at his cock, which was half-hard. The semi-erection should not have been possible, not after the galvanic orgasm he’d been devastated by only a short time ago. “Men are easily enticed into the necessary physical state for sexual congress. It takes considerably more effort to arouse a woman. That’s why so many are left disappointed-in the race to climax, men always run the distance faster.”

“Disappointed? How can-”

“You asked me for more,” he reminded. “Imagine if I had given you less, or worse, said I was finished and it was a shame you couldn’t keep pace.”

“Oh…But you would never do that.”

“I would never do that,” he agreed. Even if it meant nearly killing himself every time he had her.

She pushed up, stealing his wits with the unexpected view of her perfect breasts. They were neither large-as he’d erroneously thought he preferred-nor small. When she sat back on her heels with her hands on her knees, he found himself speechless.

Then, her eyes widened and she bit her lower lip. Red-faced, she made a move as if to leave the bed.

He caught her wrist. “What is it?”

“I need a towel,” she whispered.

Sitting up, he grabbed one he’d thrown on the bed earlier. With his other hand, he gestured for her to widen her kneeling stance.

“Jasper…” Eliza was clearly mortified.

“It’s mine,” he said, tapping his shoulder in a silent order for her to put her hand there for balance. “Let me.”

His cock hardened at the visible evidence of how explosively he’d climaxed. She was soaked with his semen. Thick trickles of it coursed down either thigh. He could hardly believe he was ready for her again. By all rights, he should be drained dry.

He cleaned her as gently as possible.

“You knew to have towels ready,” she noted breathlessly, as he parted her delicately and dried the dark red curls between her legs. “I should have suggested sheep-gut condoms. I…I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“It was my responsibility to do that.”

“It’s my body.”

“Only in public and when you are dressed. When you’re naked, your body belongs to me.”

Her chin lifted. “Does your body belong to me when it’s bared?”

“Clothed and unclothed, for as long as you’ll have me.” If he had his way, even longer than that…

Jasper looked her in the eye. “I always use French letters, Eliza. I haven’t gone without one since I was young and too ignorant to know better. I assure you, that was many years ago.”

“Did you forget tonight? Or find you lacked-”

“I never forget.” He paused in his ministrations. “Tomorrow, when you’re repaired and rested and feeling entirely in control of your mental faculties, we’ll discuss everything that transpired tonight.”

Her fingertips dug into his shoulder. “You deliberately spilled your seed inside me? Did you not think of the consequences I might face? Have you no care for me?”

Dropping the towel, Jasper caught her around the waist and tugged her against him. “I would do anything for you. Break any law, violate every rule, circumvent any competition-”

“Montague,” she interjected, comprehension leaving her jaw slack. “You know he visited with Melville, and why.”

“To hell with Montague,” he said fiercely. “I want you. That’s all there is to it.”

“I gave myself to you freely.” Eliza tried to wriggle away. “You didn’t have to…mark me, as if you were marking your territory.”

“I did.” He gripped her with as much tenderness as her resistance allowed. “The moment you saw me, you knew what I was. My nature is no surprise to you.”

“I hired you to protect me!”

Jasper inhaled sharply, cut to the quick by the truth of what she said. “Christ, Eliza.”

He released her, but she didn’t pull away. Instead she stared at him, breathing roughly. With her face and pale shoulders framed by gloriously hued tousled locks, she was the loveliest creature he’d ever seen.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair.

“Not for what you did,” she surmised. “But because I’m unhappy about it.”

There was nothing he could say to that. Lying to her was not an option.

The silence stretched out. They were only inches apart, both kneeling. He sat on his heels; she was upright, bringing them nearly eye to eye. He waited on tenterhooks, wondering if she would want to leave and what he could do to convince her to stay. Seducing a woman in a temper often led to hot sex, but the fury afterward was hotter still. He couldn’t risk pushing her any further away.

Damnation, he would give anything to know what she was thinking…

“I can almost hear your brain working,” Eliza said, studying him. “Care to tell me what thoughts occupy you so completely?”

“My brain isn’t as refined as yours, so I am at a loss for what to do. Tell me how to sweeten you toward me again.”

“I’m mystified by the ferocity of your possessiveness. You could have anyone.” She swallowed hard. “The only thing distinguishing me is my fortune. Is that what you covet so strongly?”

“You don’t believe that,” he scoffed. “And I will point out that you, too, could have anyone.”

She gave his shoulder a little push. “Lie down.”

Jasper fell to his back without reservation, willing to do whatever she required to redeem himself. However, there was nothing repentant about his cockstand, which eagerly extended almost to his navel. He’d progressed from nearly erect to flagrantly so the moment she became aggressive.

“Since your body is now mine, by your own admission,” she murmured, “I should like to examine it.”

He lay unmoving, submitting…for now.

Eliza gestured at his penis. “I should like to see it at rest sometime.”

“Little chance of that happening. Merely thinking of you makes me hard.” He should, perhaps, couch his sentiments more delicately, but since his lust for Eliza was raw, it was more honest to word it thusly.

She reached out and caressed his biceps. When the muscle twitched beneath her touch, she pulled back with a squeak.

Jasper caught her hand and put it back. “Don’t be frightened or shy. Whatever you do, I promise to enjoy it.”

“I do not want you to simply enjoy it,” she argued, meeting his gaze. “I want to be exceptionally good at pleasing you. I want to be memorable.”

Jasper exhaled in a rush, the allusion to temporariness goading every proprietary instinct he possessed.

Eliza’s fingers moved featherlight over the flesh of his upper arm. Then, she grew bolder and squeezed.

“You are so hard,” she whispered. Her gaze moved over his chest and abdomen, followed by her hands. She lingered over his stomach, tracing every ridge of muscle. “And large. You are like a great, sleek beast. A virile animal.”

A visible shiver moved through her, which set off an answering response in him. “You like that about me.”

“I shouldn’t. You are too wild and undisciplined. I’m not woman enough to tame you.”

“You wouldn’t want me tamed.” He caught her hand again and urged it to his cock, prodding her fingers to wrap around him. Her tentative touch was like lightning, causing the hair on his legs to prickle. “Part of you may be appalled at my primitive approach to certain matters, but part of you wouldn’t have me any other way.”

“You are very arrogant.”

“I take no credit for your attraction. My parents are responsible for my appearance, and my ruthlessness is equally inherent. I am, however, grateful they win your regard. Contrary to your opinion, you are the perfect female for me.”

Her other hand joined the first, cupping him. Her hands were so slender; she could not circle him in her grip.

“What wins your regard?” she asked, tracing a thick vein with her fingertip.

“Your honesty and good s-sense,” he hissed, shuddering as she clasped the head of his cock in her palm. “Your agile mind and independent thought. And the way you respond to me physically. By God, I cannot get enough of that. You melt for me, softening all those hard edges you use to keep others at bay.”

Eliza’s tongue followed the curve of her lower lip. Her eyes had grown heavy-lidded, betraying how well she enjoyed touching him so intimately. Or perhaps it was what he’d said. Jasper reached up and cupped her breast, his thumb and forefinger surrounding the delicate peak and tugging. She made a soft noise of pleasure.

“Lie atop me,” he said hoarsely.

She hesitated, looking unsure. He showed her the way, steadying her with his hands on her waist as she draped her slim body over him. Cupping her nape, he pulled her lips down to his. He kissed her with open-mouthed hunger, drinking her in with deep draws on her tongue. She kissed him back with equal fervency, her lips slanting across his, her hands clutching the counterpane on either side of him.

He groaned, feeling ravenous but wanting no more than this for now. It wasn’t enough and yet it was too much, the act of kissing both erotic and sweet. The feel of her slight weight stretched across him was one he adored, and the sudden smattering of tiny kisses she pressed all over his lips made him laugh with delight.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, knowing he could never give up this intimacy. He was willing to grovel to keep it. “I will make mistakes. I don’t know how to do this, how to be what you deserve.”

Eliza kissed him quiet. “We’ll show one another how to be what the other needs,” she breathed. “I want to be the one who gets inside you. The one you cannot forget…”

Jasper thrust his fingers into her hair and took her mouth in a long, deep kiss. He had no notion of what time it was, and he didn’t care. He just knew he didn’t want it to end.