Captivated

her body, on his knowledgeable fingers that found the pulse of her pleasure and unerringly wrested it from her body until he had pulled her tight as a bow. And then, with perfect timing, he released hera pitch of arrows piercing her soul, and falling… falling… and fracturing her convulsing body until she could bear it no more.

That…

He rode her buttocks as she lay collapsed against him. She couldn't move. Her whole body felt fragile, explosive. A man ought not know that much about a woman's body.

He… he knew

And every inch of her was his, offered into his hands like the sacrifice she was.

At least there was somereward. At least there was this…

He heaved against her, rolling her onto her belly and canting her bottom upward. She felt him probing for her, and then the slick slide of him neatly and tightly into her in this reverse position.

Her body twinged as he covered her, and he lay with her, his penis embedded in her, quiescent, for all the rest of the morning.

chapter 7

He took her finally as the clock struck noon, riding her to a bone-jarring culmination that left them both panting, and then he left her luxuriating in his bed in the sex-soaked aftermath of their coupling.

He needed a respite. He needed five minutesa half hour away from her, away from her naked, seductive body. Away from his urgent erection and his insane need to possess her over and over and over.

Just a little time where maybe he could relax, not think about her, go through some papers that required his attention. Not that he could pay attention.

He was too covered with the scent of her to concentrate. It permeated everything: his head, his mind, his business.

Damn her. It didn't take him a half hour and his sex was driving to get into her again. And why not? The fawn was full of surprises, not least that she was as hot as a poker and tight as a drum, two qualities any man found easy to take. And she was sure as damn easy to take.

Damn it, he had to have her again. Now.

Whipsawed by his unruly penis and a hot-tailed lady.Damn damn damn damn…

But still, he raced up the steps and burst into his room to find her braced against the headboard, sliding the loops of gold over her protruding nipples.

He almost climaxed then and there. His penis was rigid as a pipe and primed to pop. He stripped off his clothes, climbed into the bed on his knees, and pulled her toward him.

No words, as he lifted her legs to brace them against his chest; no caresses as he poled himself into her as hard and deep as he could go. All he wanted was to climb onto her and ram himself into her. Once. Twice. Three times. He felt himself swelling, his muscles gathering, and not all the willpower in the world could have stopped him. He spewed his seed into her like a geyser, deliberately, purposefully, elementally, and drove himself home.

And it wasn't enough. He collapsed on top of her and he understood: it wasn't enough just to possess her.

It was the other thing he had to know.

He summoned Evie to him later that afternoon and gave her the abominable letter from Lenoir. 'You will give this to the mistress.'

'Oh, master…' Evie murmured.

'Give it to her. Tell me what she does, what she says. Do not stop her if she leaves the house. But I swear, you'd better tell me where she goes…'

Drue felt bruised right down to her toes. Court could be rough, unfeeling; that last coupling had been brutal and self-serving.

But that was herjob, after all. To service the master.

She got up from the bed and paced restively around his room. It was so like him: large and all-encompassing, every wall filled with massive furniture, the linens heavy cotton which did not wick away the ever-hovering heat.

Here, Evie had not been instructed to remove the bedclothes, the curtains. Here, in this chamber of lust, there was hardly any need. There was nothing she could conceal from him anyway.

And the windows were open to catch the faintest breeze.

No thoughts of jumping now. No chance of escape. Her lot was cast. She was Court's wife, Court's whore, and excising every debt every hour for the rest of her life.

Still. It wasnot unpleasant, except for this last coupling. And, truth to tell, even that was full of its own explosive excitement. This time,he had been out of control. Utterly. And driven still higher by the sight of his golden gift dangling from her nipples.

Even she felt a frisson of arousal when she wore them. There was something very erotic about the contrast of the whisper-thin gold surrounding and containing one of the most sensual parts of her.

Power. Yes. Where she wasn't looking for it. In her breasts. In her nakedness. Between her legs.

There didn't have to be love or affection. Just her sex and how artfully she could arouse him to the madness of wanting her.

Perhaps it would not be such a displeasing way to live.

She had all the tools, she knew some of the tricks. She walked over to the harness and caressed it. Here was an instrument made to drive a man to the edge of his control.

And hadn't she seen that in his eyes before she let her inhibitions squash her confidence?

Yes. And hadn't she been just a little excited to mount the apparatus, knowing how it displayed her body to him?

Yes, yes, she had been. Yes. And where he had thought to use it to conquer her, she had unwittingly used it to seduce him.

She saw that now clearly.

That, and the gold loops. And probably a dozen other little tricks and ploys that smart women knewor invented.

He had said it from the beginning. He wanted her naked and willing. He hadmade her willing, but now, she was a partner in this complicity of lust.

Now it would become easier and easier, until he tired of her and left her alone.

But until then…

Oh, until thenhe would give her all the creamy drenching pleasure she could handle…

And sheshe would make sure she was the most willing woman in the world, and that Court would never ever desire to plant himself or spend himself in anyone else.

There was a soft knock at the door.

'Mistress…' Evie's soft voice. 'Mistress' She entered, carrying a tray of covered dishes. 'Mistress must eat, keep up your strength.'

Drue climbed on the bed. 'I will. I'm ravenous.'

Evie put the tray down on the bed. 'Got biscuits and eggs and grits for the mistress. And strawberry. Coffee. And something else for Mistress.'

But Drue had already seen it. An envelope tucked under one of the plates, just the edge visible and just to her.

'What is this?'

'Man come and give to Louisa for the mistress; she give it to me. Don't dare tell Master. Don't know what to do, mistress. This big trouble if Master finds out.'

Drue swallowed, hard. 'He won't.'