Under a new years enchan.., p.7
Under a New Year's Enchantment,
p.7
His nimble fingers finished with her stays and dropped them to the floor. She stepped out of them, and a draft travelled up under her shift, washing chilly over her privates. Oh, God. She was naked but for her stockings and shift. Desire caressed her in waves.
Now his fingers touched her bare skin, stroking her thighs, cupping her buttocks. He pulled the cheeks of her arse lightly apart, and she whimpered again. He skimmed lightly over her privates, and she moaned. He chuckled in her ear and slipped his fingers between her nether lips. She cried out, panting, and gripped his shoulders, throwing her head back.
“And we’ve barely begun.” He brushed his hand across her nipple through the fabric of her shift, exactly as in her dream. Slowly, tantalizingly, he lifted her shift—past her hips, skimming her waist, over her bosom and away. For a long, long moment there was silence. Was something wrong? She opened her eyes.
He stared at her, such heat in his gaze that an answering heat rose within her, a blush of desire across her breasts and belly and thighs. “You’re so beautiful, Dora.”
“Oh, Garrick.” Whatever happened, she would treasure this night forever.
He cupped one breast in his hand and bent, laving the nipple gently, then sucked it into his mouth.
She almost collapsed from heat. “Oh, no,” she breathed. “No, I can’t. It’s too much.”
“No, it’s not,” he growled. “You can take everything I have to give you. Undress me.”
She gathered herself and went for his breeches. She was shaking again, but she managed the buttons. His cock sprang out, long and hard, its musky smell curling into her nostrils. “Touch me,” he said.
She didn’t need any encouragement; she’d longed for it. She’d done it in her dreams. She took his cock in her hand, marveling at its velvety softness, running her hands up and down and over the head of it, while he hissed and threw back his head, eyes closed—just as she had done when he touched her. His evident pleasure gave her courage. He wanted this, too. That made it right.
All at once he stopped her, shucked his breeches and swept her off her feet, carrying her to the bed. He nestled under the covers with her and kissed her again, all the while caressing and probing and exploring. She clung to his broad back and quivered and shook and writhed, as he licked and suckled and drove her mad, exactly as he’d promised. He trailed his tongue down her belly and between her nether lips, and licked her sweet spot until she cried out.
“Garrick,” she panted. “It’s time.” At last she would get what she had yearned for so many years ago. “I can’t wait any longer. Make me completely yours.”
“It will be my pleasure.” He licked his way up her body and kissed her, the taste of her juices mingling with his. He kneed her legs apart and nudged her with his cock. She spread her legs, arching toward him. He ran the head of his cock up and down her privates, making her throb and throb. He centered it on her core and pushed. She opened for him bit by bit, each probing thrust welcoming him a little more.
He pushed hard, and all at once he was completely inside her. She squeezed, tightening herself around him as she’d done in her dreams.
“Oh, Dora,” he said. “You’re so tight and hot and perfect.” He kissed her hard, and she twisted beneath him. He began to move, and she moved with him, their bodies thrusting and parting in unison. She stretched her arms wide in utter abandon, and he laid his arms on hers and took her hands. They were connected everywhere. She flew, lost to everything but pleasure that built and built and built, finally exploding in a shower of gold and silver throbs.
* * *
He pulled out of her at the last second, expending his seed on her belly. “Christ,” he said, rolling off her and drawing her into his arms. “It took everything I had to pull out in time.” His breath came out in a laugh. “I wanted to stay inside you forever.”
She sighed. “I wanted that, too.” She lay still, too still, in his embrace, and he sensed the tension building within her, minute by minute, when by rights she should drift off to sleep.
She struggled out of his arms and sat up. “Thank you, Garrick. I’ll never forget this. I wish...”
“What do you wish, sweetheart?” He took hold of a lock of her hair and twisted it round his finger. She had the most lushly beautiful breasts he’d ever seen. If he didn’t stop himself from staring at them, he would be hard again in seconds.
“That I didn’t have to leave England.” Her voice thickened. “But I don’t have a choice.”
“Of course you do.” He gave in and lowered his mouth to one pebbled nipple. He blew on it, and she shivered. “Nobody’s forcing you to go.”
“I’m forcing me.” She heaved a sigh. “I should be able to travel. Lucille says I can become a woman of the world. That I shouldn’t let the restrictions and prejudices of society hold me back.”
He pulled her back under the covers. “It doesn’t matter what Lucille says. You have to do what’s right for you.” He kissed her and licked his way down to her breasts. He roamed her hills and valleys and grew hard again. “Doesn’t this feel right?”
“Yes, but it’s impossible, and you know it. Garrick, I’m so sick of being caged in by propriety. I want see the world. I want to go to Paris and Venice and Rome, but it will be so—so lonely there.” She couldn’t bear to look at him; from now on, she would have to forget him. She lowered her forehead to his chest.
“Why would you be lonely? I’ll be with you.”
* * *
At first, it didn’t register. Slowly, she raised her head. “You’ll be with me?”
“You can’t rescue the fair hero, take him to bed and then abandon him,” Garrick said. “You have to take me with you wherever you go.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She pushed away again, shoving the coverlet off, flapping her hands at him. “You can’t possibly come with me.”
He propped his head on one hand, watching her. His other hand slithered across the sheet towards her. “Why not? I want to go to all the same places as you. I have a perfectly good steward to manage my estate and a man of business in London. I can go anywhere I please.”
This was utterly absurd, and yet his voice, his face, were so serious, his eyes so intent.
“But you’ll have to marry me first,” he said.
* * *
“No!” She slapped his wandering hand away, and his heart stuttered with dismay. She had to marry him, ghostly fiancé or not. There simply was no choice.
“Don’t you dare be all respectable and proper and—and start thinking you’ve compromised me, because you haven’t,” she said. “I did this of my own free will, with no apron strings attached.”
His heart resumed its usual steady beat. “And I’m asking you to marry me of my own free will.”
“No, you’re being chivalrous. Well, I forbid it!”
“I’m not being chivalrous. I’m not the least bit inclined that way, as you should know by now.”
“You don’t want to marry.” She shivered. Her teeth began to chatter. “Y-you said as much earlier.”
“I didn’t want to marry yet,” he said. “I didn’t want to marry the ladies my aunt chose for me. I wanted to be alone with my sorrow.” He pulled her close again and covered them both.
“Dora, you’ve brought me back to life. I was angry and unhappy, but I think that’s passing at last. I’m so thankful you’re here for me to love—and I do love you, with all my heart.” He paused, willing her to feel the same. “I hope you can learn to love me.”
* * *
He loved her? “Are you sure you’re not being chivalrous?” Theodora demanded.
“Absolutely sure,” he said, rolling on top of her. “I’m being utterly and completely selfish.” Just to prove it, he kneed her legs apart and poised himself at her entrance.
She moaned softly. “Oh, Garrick. You really do want to marry me?”
He kissed her. “Indeed I do, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
She let out a long, trembling sigh and admitted it. “Of course I love you. How could I not?”
“Er, your erstwhile betrothed,” he said. “My ghostly competition.”
She gasped, half laughing. “He’s no competition. I didn’t love him. I didn’t dislike him, but my family pushed me into that engagement. I was sad for him when he died, but very, very relieved for me.”
“You’re sure about that?” Garrick said. “You’re not being chivalrous, either?”
She caught her breath, half sob, half laugh. “You’re making fun of me again.” She thought about telling him how much she loved him, how she’d daydreamed about him for years and years, when a ghastly thought came over her. “Oh, no.”
“What is it, my love?” He pressed his lips to her hair.
“I’m a dreadful person, and I didn’t realize it until now.” She hung her head. “I thought I was protecting you, but that wasn’t it at all.” How could she have fooled herself so completely? All along, she’d wanted him for herself—forever. “I really was setting my cap at you, just as everyone said.” She shuddered. “Chasing you.”
“You naughty girl,” he said. “Just the kind I like.” He pushed slowly inside her.
“The kind a man doesn’t want for a wife, remember?” Sometimes he made her so furious—such as now.
“If it’s the right woman chasing him, he does,” Garrick said, and began to move.
She gave up and gave in; at last she was wholly his. But no, she wouldn’t tell him she’d been in love with him all along. He would never let her hear the last of that.
* * *
Afterward, Garrick pulled Theodora into his arms, nestling her on his shoulder. He considered telling her the truth—that she’d been tricked into chasing him, and he’d been forced into embracing life and happiness once more.
No, he wouldn’t tell her. She might turn chivalrous again and reject his offer of marriage. The Offices of the Incubi and Succubi wouldn’t accept failure; instead, they would persevere and make his life intolerable. He and Theodora were perfect for one another, and he didn’t intend to go through this folly again.
After all, it couldn’t end better. Val and Lucille would report their completed missions, and someplace in London, an extremely self-satisfied spymaster and spymistress would congratulate one another on the success of their matchmaking scheme. Garrick and Dora would marry and travel wherever their fancy took them.
One day, when they were long past questioning one another, he might, just might, let her know.
* * * * *
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* * *
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ISBN-13: 9781459255555
UNDER A NEW YEAR’S ENCHANTMENT
Copyright © 2014 by Barbara Monajem
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Barbara Monajem, Under a New Year's Enchantment
