Chapter 10
They arrived at his country estate that afternoon, and no one batted an eyelash as he had predicted when he pulled her from the carriage, hands still bound. He hadn’t bothered to stuff the kerchief in her mouth, and as soon as she saw a plump older woman wearing a clear uniform that designated her as the housekeeper, she said, “Help. Find the constable or the magistrate. He is holding me against my will.”
The woman stiffened, sending a shocked look at the marquess.
“She is of a similar state to my mother,” he said, sounding regretful. “I am hoping to help her.”
The housekeeper’s expression softened. “You are most kind, Lord Kressley.”
Maddy snorted her disbelief, but she made no further effort to try to engage help from the servants. They all seemed to look through her, and she had no doubt by the evening, rumor would’ve spread that she was as crazy as his mother. Though she had no idea how crazy his mother was, perhaps she could understand the servants believing the tale, especially when confronted with her versus the marquess’s word, but she was still angry and resentful that none of them would step forward to help.
He led her into a large chamber, and it was immediately obvious he intended to share this room, for it was masculine in appearance, and a quick glance at the armoire revealed men’s clothes hanging there. They appeared fresh and well cared for, and she assumed either the staff was trained to keep everything in order should it be required at short notice, or else he had sent word ahead of their arrival.
That seemed more likely, because he pulled her with him to the closet, opening the door to show her several racks of clothing, all feminine in nature. “I had these sent ahead for you. Well, I had my secretary order them and send them ahead. I apologize for them being premade items from the modiste, but there was no time for a custom wardrobe.”
“No, thank you,” she said tightly.
He sighed. “Do you plan to wear that same dress the entire time you are here?”
She looked at him, chin held high. “If necessary.”
He looked irritated, and he turned away from her. She started to run for the door, though she doubted there was much point. She simply refused to stand idly by though, but when he caught up with her a moment later, she confessed no surprise at his ability to do so. He seemed irritated with her, and he had a pair of silver shears. She trembled as she saw them, wondering what he planned to do to her.
His intentions were relatively benign. Seconds later, he had cut the bindings on her wrists. She pulled her hands apart and started rubbing her wrists, attempting to restore circulation. The bonds had not been unduly tight, but they had certainly constricted the flow. As she did so, she stared at him. “What now?”
“It seems prudent to establish who is in control here, my dear.” He sounded almost regretful as he reached for her, dragging her closer. Maddy immediately started to fight, though she was uncertain what she was fighting. When he pushed her down onto the bed, her stomach against the mattress, she screamed her outrage, tinged with more than a little fear.
She expected him to lift her skirts and plow into her like a savage beast, but instead, the scissors raked lightly against her spine as they shredded the cheap garment she’d worn, along with her shift and stays. She was naked before him save for her stockings and garters when he turned her over.
“You will wear what I have gifted you, and you will do it with a smile. You will learn to want to please me.”
“You will learn to burn in the fires of purgatory,” she said with intense anger. “I want nothing from you, and I will give you nothing.”
“You shall give me passion, and you will give me your response. You are unable to fight it.”
She wanted to continue arguing, but she was afraid that would press the issue, and he would feel compelled to remind her how vulnerable she was to him.
She might as well have admitted it to start with though, because he fell on her then, parting her thighs and burying his face between them as he had threatened to do the night before and in the carriage hours before. He held her tightly against him, and though she tried to squirm away, she was unsuccessful.
She started out screaming, but when his tongue traced her slit, it changed to a moan in spite of herself. She had never experienced anything like the warm, wet appendage sliding between her puffed lips, and her mound was swollen and aching with desire, her arousal leaking from her faster than he could lap it up.
He homed in on the bud he had stroked so pleasurably the night before, this time tracing it with his tongue, and she continued to weep fluid of arousal as she arched her hips against him, though she didn’t want to. She wanted to repudiate this, but there was no denying the onslaught of desire that filled her, and when he sucked lightly on the nub, her quim contracted. Even more fluid rushed from her as her body tightened and spasmed, causing a burning fire deep in her abdomen that seemed to be spreading outward to fill her.
When he lifted his head from her a moment later, she had the obscene urge to drag him down for a kiss, to taste herself on his lips, and she hastily averted her gaze.
“That is what I want from you, and you will give it. You are powerless not to, the same as me.” As he spoke, he fumbled with his trousers, unbuttoning the fall, and revealing his cock.
She couldn’t see much of it from the angle he had positioned her in, but it seemed long and scary. She couldn’t imagine it would fit inside her. She had a rudimentary understanding of coupling thanks to Bella, but she had expected a man’s member to be far smaller, for otherwise, how could it fit? She whimpered in distress as he rubbed the head of it against her slick channel, coating himself with her fluid. “Please do not do this, Lord Kressley.”
“You will enjoy it. I promise you that.” He seemed consumed with her as he stared down at her, slowly guiding his head into her opening. “I will be the best lover you have ever had, and you will forget any man who came before me. That is what I demand of you, and you will give it freely, because you are unable not to. You must feel the same desire between us, this unending torment to have me as I must have you? I am obsessed with you in a way I cannot explain, and this is the only cure.” As he spoke, he surged inside her.
She was still wet from her own release, and his words had sparked some kind of reaction inside her that produced more of that slick liquid between her legs, but even so, there was resistance from her body, and a sharp pain accompanied his possession. He seemed unaware of it as he broke through the barrier of her innocence and continued to thrust in and out of her.
It hurt to start with, and she whimpered, but when he slowed his pace and started rotating his hips slightly, she cried out in shock as pleasure began to overwhelm the discomfort. Her mind didn’t want this, but her body was completely on board with the idea, and she dragged him closer, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her by the buttocks, driving forcefully into her as deeply as he could. It hurt, but it also felt incredible, and the pleasure was soon the only thing she felt.
Her walls tightened around him again, clamping as she felt an impending orgasm. He grew impossibly hard in her, his cock straining toward what she assumed was his own release, and as it started to spasm, filling her with spurts of his arousal, she let out a keening cry as another orgasm overtook her, making her clamp her thighs around his waist and hold him against her as she rode the tides of passion, until she was left as little more than a coalescence of bliss.
He seemed to be in a similar state, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. There was something tender about the gesture that underscored just how raw his possession had been, and how it had pleased her physically but failed to touch her emotionally.
She blinked quickly and looked away as he stood up. At first, she was certain she’d offended him by not responding in another, more enthusiastic fashion, but he simply left her and returned moments later with a cool cloth that he ran between her legs, cleaning her. She looked at him in shocked wonder, surprised at his thoughtfulness after he could so carelessly force her to recognize and accept the attraction between them.
He was scowling when he looked down. “You are bleeding.”
She flinched. “Is that normal?”
“Only for virgins, or perhaps someone who hasn’t had sex for a while. Maybe.” He sounded doubtful. Then his eyes widened, and he looked horrified. “Were you a virgin?”
She bit her lip as she nodded. “I was.” There was a hint of bitterness in her tone, but she confessed to not being overly attached to her maidenhead. After all, she had no intention of marrying anyone, so it didn’t matter if she remained pure.
As an actress, she’d already acquired a reputation for loose morals, so if she had ever changed her mind about marriage anyway, it would’ve been to a man of a similar class, who didn’t care overly much about such things. Of course, she never would’ve changed her mind about that.
He looked so horrified that he stumbled back from her quickly, laying the cloth thoughtlessly on the footboard as he almost fell over in his haste to lift his pants and button the fall. He mumbled something to her and rushed from the room, leaving her staring after him in consternation. What was he doing? This had been what he wanted, wasn’t it? Had he decided now that she had succumbed to his passionate touch that he was done playing the game and was ready to return her to London?
She clung to that hope, praying all it had taken was her capitulation to make the marquess see reason. Yet part of her, a paradoxically annoying part, was disappointed at the thought, and she couldn’t deny she wouldn’t mind learning more about the passionate arts under the tutelage—and body—of Lord Kressley.