“I’m not sure I expected Sir Gerard’s ‘bit of fun’ to turn out to be hide-and-seek,” Leonora said as she clung to Freddy’s hand on their way up the stairs. He knew his cousin’s tastes ran to the childish, but he rather suspected that tonight’s game was conceived solely for the purposes of allowing some of the guests to spend an hour or so in seclusion with the person of their choosing. Be it their own spouse or someone else’s.
It was most decidedly not an appropriate game for a young unmarried lady like Leonora. But since Aunt Hortense had spent the entirety of their visit so far in her so-called sickbed, there was no one to call it to their host’s attention.
“You would be surprised at what my cousin finds amusing,” he said aloud to Leonora as they left the drawing room in an exodus with the other couples while Lord Payne—the unlucky fellow to be the counter—stayed behind and loudly began to count. “This is a man who still enjoys snap dragon at Christmas, you know.”
“I love a good game of hide-and-seek,” Lord Darleigh said with a grin as he pulled his wife into an empty sitting room, then shut the door firmly behind them.
“I suppose this puts a damper on the idea of questioning club members,” Leonora said wryly, her voice low as they continued on toward the upper floors. “It’s just as well, as I believe they are beginning to be suspicious of us. Perhaps tomorrow we will have better luck, during the archery tournament.”
Freddy laughed softly, causing the candle he was using to light their way to dance. “I think it might be best not to question people while they are aiming a dangerous weapon, my dear.”
“Ha-ha,” Leonora said sarcastically. “If so, then why are we here at all? Your cousin clearly has no intention of telling us anything. He wishes you to be a part of his silly little club and will spend the rest of his days evading questions about what really happened to my brother. I may as well have my maid pack my bags and take my leave tomorrow.”
Turning, he saw that she was looking more defeated than he’d seen in a long while. They’d reached one of the upper floors, but one he suspected was used for housing guests who weren’t all that welcome. Testing one of the doors, a quick look inside revealed that it was a small bedchamber overlooking the barn. Pulling Leonora behind him, he entered the room and shut the door.
“What is this place? As hiding places go, I suppose it’s all right. Your cousin is unlikely to come this far in search of us.”
“I have a feeling that there will be no searching, Leonora,” he said, kneeling to light the fire that had been laid in the hearth. “It’s the way these parties go. Every opportunity is given for couples to be alone, all under the guise of respectable party games.”
Leonora turned from where she’d been running her hand over the counterpane. “What? Why bother pretending if the games are all supposed to devolve into an orgy of sorts?”
“It’s hardly an orgy,” Freddy said, brushing his hands on his breeches before standing to look at her. In the firelight he could see the hollows of her cheeks and her eyes looked enormous. “That would involve much more public displays and there is no way in hell I would ever consider taking you to one of those. This, on the other hand, is only on the fringes of respectability and won’t damage your reputation too much. Else the other guests would risk their own reputations for a moment. And for their own reasons they’d rather not.”
She tilted her head to the side, revealing the soft skin between her neck and shoulders. Freddy felt himself harden as he considered the possibilities of their being closeted in this little room.
“Have you ever been to an orgy?” she asked softly, walking slowly toward him. “I must admit, the idea of being in the same room with other couples while they are … touching each other holds a certain excitement.”
She was close enough now for him to touch, and softly, he slid his hands up her sides until he grasped her by the waist. Then he stepped closer and her arms went round his waist. “It can be exciting.” He exhaled as he leaned his head down and kissed her oh so softly. “To watch,” he said, as he took her lower lip between his teeth and tugged a little. “Do you want to watch, Leonora?” he whispered as he leaned in closer and kissed her fully. When she offered a little gasp, he slid his tongue between her lips and stroked against her softness.
“Maybe,” she whispered, pulling back only enough to give herself a breath before opening her mouth more fully and letting him stroke inside again. Once, twice, he played against her tongue with his own, almost drunk with the heat, the sweetness of her. Her hands against his chest opened and closed restlessly as his own stroked up her sides and over the swell of her breasts. It took only the work of a moment to slip the sleeve down over her shoulder, exposing the soft curve of her breast.
The light was low, but it was enough. “Gorgeous,” he whispered, sliding the back of his knuckles over the pebbled peak while his mouth grew more desperate against hers.
As if by agreement, they moved backward toward the bed, and soon they were reclining, Leonora’s demands becoming more restless as she pressed herself against his fully clothed body. “Easy, sweeting,” he soothed even as his hands stroked over her naked breasts, his fingers drawing the taut skin to points that must have been as painful as they were pleasurable.
“Freddy,” she murmured as he kissed down her neck and made his way to where his fingers were teasing her. Finally, he took her in his mouth and suckled. An action that soon had both of them breathless.
“Want to feel you, too,” Leonora said restlessly as she arched into him. “Take your shirt off.”
Even as he pulled against her breast, Freddy felt her hands at his neck, unwinding his cravat. When that was off, he paused to shrug out of his jacket and waistcoat. Finally he was pulling the lawn of his shirt from where it was tucked into his breeches and pulling it off over his head.
Her hands were there immediately, sliding over the contours of his chest and waist, and when Leonora pulled him down against her so that her breasts were naked against his chest, he hissed.
“Lovely.” She sighed against his mouth even as he slipped an arm down to grasp the hem of her skirt in his hand and bring it up, exposing her stockinged legs.
For a moment he held back and just looked his fill at her, stretched out on the bed like a feast for the taking. “Beautiful.” He leaned forward to kiss her navel.
He had thought she might be shy, but when he felt her fingers clutching his shoulders, he realized his mistake. She might be untutored in this, but she was definitely not shy.
To his surprise, her lip quivered as if she were about to cry. “I mean it,” he said more harshly. “You’re beautiful.” He took her hand and placed it over the front of his breeches. “Do you feel how much I want you? This isn’t for show, Leonora. It’s real. I want you, and this is the proof of it.”
Her eyes widened as her hand palmed over his erection and he wanted to howl. But soon enough, she was stroking over him with a sureness that belied her unfamiliarity with the practice. With a curse, he pulled back and began to undo the buttons at his waist.
“Take off your gown,” he said, his voice harsh with unquenched lust. “I need to see you. All of you.”
She hesitated, but only for a moment before she grasped the bottom of it and pulled the silk over her head, leaving her there in her shift and stays.
While she removed those, he dispensed with his boots and breeches, and soon he was climbing up beside her on the bed, where she’d pulled back the counterpane.
In the firelight, her dark hair was spread out on the pillows in a cloud of softness and he would not forget the memory of her thus for the whole of his life.
“Beautiful,” he whispered against her lips, the feel of her naked skin against his more glorious than anything he’d ever known.
His hands on either side of her waist, he parted her legs with a knee and kissed his way down her body, pausing every few inches to lavish her skin with attention.
When finally he reached his destination, she seemed to realize just what he intended and gasped. “You cannot mean to kiss me there…” But ignoring her protest, he did just that.
* * *
Leonora caught her breath as his tongue swept over the heart of her, sending a maelstrom of sensation through her as he proceeded to worship her with his mouth.
She’d seen etchings that depicted the man with his mouth on that part of a woman’s body before. Once when she’d stumbled upon the restricted area of her favorite bookshop she’d seen drawings even more scandalous than that. But nothing could have prepared her for the utter devastation of his tongue touching her there.
Of their own accord her hands found the soft silk of his hair, holding him to her as he thrust first one, then two fingers inside her, moving in counterpoint to the stroke of his tongue on the bud of her pleasure.
When the climax came, it was more powerful than anything she’d dreamed of in her most lurid imaginings. Her body moved of its own accord against him in a rhythm she wasn’t even aware she knew.
She was still coming back to herself when she felt him move up to position himself at her entrance. “This might hurt a bit,” he said, kissing her swiftly before he thrust into her. “I’m sorry.”
It did hurt, but she bit back her cry in the knowledge that this was Frederick joining his body with hers. She reveled in the sensation of his weight pressing into her when he moved, and bending her knees, she gasped at how the change in position eased the pain into something like pleasure. “Better?” he whispered against her ear, as he stroked into her again. This time, the motion had her moving her hips to follow him as he pulled away.
“Better,” she gasped as she reveled in the way he filled her, her body clenching with the rhythm they set together. “Oh, yes, better.”
“Ah, God, Nora,” he groaned, his pace quickening as she felt herself hurtle over the edge into bliss.