Chapter Ten

 

The gold dress was one of her favorites because of the way it shimmered in the candlelight. Its daring cut was more suited to a grand ball than a quiet country dinner but she didn’t care. She wanted to feel her power, to draw on that well of confidence within her like a shield. She felt more vulnerable than she had in a long time but also more alive. As Phillip sat across from her, her body was still tingling from their lovemaking, Serena prayed that he couldn’t read her.

“Did you have a good ride, cousin?” Delilah asked him innocently.

“What?” Phillip stiffened in his seat, his cheeks reddening before he realized his mistake. “Oh, yes…I went out for a ride. It was very brisk.”

“Good exercise, I’m sure,” James added as he helped himself to a fish fillet from the platter that Mr. Clayborne held out for him. “Wish I’d gotten out to join you. God, I am confined like a monk!”

Delilah’s eyes dropped to her plate and Serena did her best to intervene. “The demands of your business kept you indoors, did they? How taxing! I always imagine it is hard for men to be restricted so! Your energies must demand action, do they not?”

She’d meant to aim the barb at James but it was Phillip’s smoldering look that nearly robbed her of speech. God, this is like juggling on a tightrope!

“It is unnatural for a man to be trapped with a room full of ledgers!” James sighed, then glanced at Phillip. “Not that I might not have accepted an invitation to slip away if one had been extended to me.”

Phillip smiled. “The ride wasn’t planned. Perhaps next time I leave the house for exercise, I’ll include you, James.”

“Tomorrow, then!” James announced. “The weather promises to be fine and I am not going to be left behind, sir!”

“Very well,” Phillip conceded smoothly. “Though if you pout like a four year old, I may be tempted to slip out the back door to avoid you, cousin.”

James laughed. “As if you would dare!”

“There is very little I will not dare,” Phillip countered, his gaze shifting to Serena in her gold gown. “Would the ladies care to join us?”

Serena shook her head. “We will leave you to it. I shall keep my dear Mrs. Osborne company tomorrow. I have neglected her too much recently.”

Delilah smiled. “You are very kind.”

“She is very kind. Why is she not married?” James asked without preamble.

“James!” Delilah gasped.

“What? Lady Wellcott is your dear friend and can we not ask a simple question without you huffing and puffing like a hysteric over there, wife!” James tapped his glass for more wine and looked at Serena. “You are too young to play the matron, Lady Wellcott. Don’t you think?”

She took a sip of her own wine before she replied. “I am not married because I do not wish to be.”

James’ brow furrowed in confusion. “What woman doesn’t wish to be married?”

“This woman.” Serena wasn’t in the mood to give the man any quarter. “Did you misunderstand me, Mr. Osborne? I was so proud of myself for speaking plainly.”

James’ confusion didn’t relent. “Phillip! Here is your chance to jump in and make a case for all the lovely delights that marriage can bring!”

Serena laughed. “How amusing that a married man would defer to a bachelor to make his point!”

Phillip shook his head, smiling. “I was about to say the same thing.”

“A woman in your position must surely be seeking to find a good match!” James persisted. “Is it not the natural way of things?”

“Leave off it,” Phillip’s humor faded. “Lady Wellcott is your guest, James, and I’m fairly certain that badgering her about such personal matters is not in good taste.”

“It is in the worst taste, James,” Delilah said with a firm quiet. “What has gotten into you this evening?”

James scowled at her. “God! Since when did a question of practical matters become so unspeakable in decent company?” He stood abruptly and threw down his napkin. “Forgive me then. I’ll be in my study for brandy and cigars.”

He began to leave the room then hesitated at the door. “Phillip?”

Phillip didn’t move except to cut his fish. “I’m still eating.”

“Where is your loyalty?” James demanded.

“With my stomach and the dulcet presence of the ladies over your bellowing about your hurt feelings, cousin. But I will join you in a while if that appeases.”

“You’re a traitor.” James closed the door behind him and they all began to smile, like guilty children who had driven off an irrational tutor.

“I apologize. James is…out of sorts,” Delilah began.

“No need to apologize, Mrs. Osborne.” Serena said graciously.

James’ deteriorating mood was a good sign that he wasn’t faring well during his involuntary celibacy. Just as I’d predicted…

“I—I should—go check on—“ Delilah suddenly stood as well, the color draining from her face. “I don’t feel well.”

Phillip stood reflexively and Serena realized that it was fear on Delilah’s face.

Dell.

She is going to make sure that Dell is out of reach!

“Of course. Sir Warrick and I can entertain ourselves until you return.” Serena assured her before Delilah raced from the room without another word.

“My god! Is she…going to be all right?” Phillip said.

“Undoubtedly.”

He sat down slowly. “This has been a dinner I won’t soon forget.”

“A fitting end for the day?”

“I can think of better ways I would hope to end this day.”

“Can you, Sir Warrick?” Serena sighed flirtatiously, savoring the way he was looking at her, the way his gaze warmed her skin.

The rest of the meal transformed into a quiet playful duel as they each purposefully followed the strict rules and polite forms of conduct. With the footmen in the room, they deliberately kept the conversation to general topics; the weather, mutual acquaintances, impressions of Southgate Hall and its views.

They lingered over a final glass of wine and then bid each other a polite, courteous good night.

“Good night, Sir Warrick.” She stood and he immediately did the same.

“Lady Wellcott.”

It was a glorious little game where they climbed the stairs, Serena ten risers ahead of him completely aware of his steps behind her. Not another word was spoken as they each went to their respective bedrooms, readied for bed, dismissed their attendants and counted the seconds before she knocked on his door to gain admittance.

“Lady Wellcott,” he said softly. “What a delightful surprise.”

“Is it?” She rewarded him with a wicked smile that instantly clouded his intellect. “I wonder what you will say at my next effort to shock you.”

“No doubt,” he said as cavalierly as he could as his body began to tighten, “it will be something completely eloquent and—“

She slipped the lace edged robe back from her shoulders to let it fall at her feet, revealing that she wore nothing beneath. Her black hair was a cascade of silk down her back with several long tendrils that lay over her shoulder to draw his eyes down across her body, her breasts and the triangle of dark curls between her hips. She smelled faintly of jasmine scented water, the perfumed oil in her hair and the musk of sexual arousal.

Everything about her was an open invitation to his senses.

“What say you now, Sir Warrick?”

He wasn’t saying anything. He pulled her against him, kissing her in a thorough assault that had nothing to do with polite speeches or a slow, reserved approach to taking what he needed. Because God help him, whatever tame or measured thread of “want” he’d held onto was lost in a blaze of raw need. He needed her, as he needed to breathe. There was no question, no choice, no option left but this woman in his arms.

It made no sense but his life was worthless without the contact of her skin against his. He hated the gnawing realization that if he’d meant to “win her”, he’d been a fool. For there was only surrender to be had and he didn’t care.

She boldly reached out to caress him through the soft cloth of his pants. “What does it feel like, Phillip? To grow hard?”

“It feels…like fine hot sand sliding down my spine. It feels heavy and gloriously tight as if I’m stretching a muscle but without effort. No…no effort at all,” he sighed and shifted his hips forward to fill her hands and prolong her touch against his sensitive shaft.

She lifted her face to beg him for more kisses and any interest in education was abandoned. He bent over to lift her from the floor and carry her to his bed, kissing her all the while and sampling the siren in his arms.

He lay her down in the center of the great feather bed then shed his robe and pants to climb up onto the mattress. Phillip sat back on his heels and took in the beauty of Serena sprawled across his bed. Her breasts were firm and high, the dark points proudly jutting up toward the ceiling; her nipples already pebble hard with desire. Her thighs had fallen apart and she made no effort to hide her silky damp sex from him. She was a confection of wanton display and his eyes lingered to savor every detail.

“Phillip,” she said with a pout. “When a naked woman presents herself, it is not solely for study.”

He smiled. “Truly? Well, then. Let me see if I can remedy my lady’s impatient state.”

“I did not say I was impatient if—“ Serena gasped. “Oh!”

He lifted her foot to plant a kiss on her instep, and then began to work his way upward effectively ending her planned speech. It was a leisurely assault that lingered on the sensitive concave hollows behind her knees and then feasted on the pillow-soft curves of her inner thighs. The scent of her body grew and he watched as clear honey coated her folds and betrayed his success.

He teased her, kissing the curls above her sex until she began to shake and writhe in frustration. He was as eager as she for the moment and finally yielded to his own need to taste her. He dipped his tongue into the red silk of her body and almost cried out in joy at the sweet flavor of her arousal against his mouth. He stilled her with his fingers firmly splayed against her hips to hold her in place and settled in to the quest to drink her release.

Every pass of his tongue over her clit made her buck and cry out, so Phillip slowed down the game, teasing her lips, kissing and suckling her until she was so ready he feared he’d held off too long. Feather light flicks of his tongue met the taut little pearl, steady and insistent, until the rhythm of his mouth against her sensitive nub caught up to her desires and overtook her senses completely. He mastered her with the barest contact, working her flesh until she was enslaved to it, until every nerve ending in her body was thrumming with the connection to this tiny place and the slick caresses of his tongue.

She came in a beautiful trembling cascade that he drank in, refusing to slow down or yield until he had had his fill of the intoxicating musk of her body. He lifted his mouth only to slip one of his fingers inside of the molten channel, gasping as her muscles tightened and gripped him, pushing into her release and extending the pleasure until she had to cover her own mouth to keep from screaming with it.

You are mine, Serena.

You are mine, Raven.

You are mine, woman.

He relented and withdrew his hand but kissed her gently as he did. He raised himself up on his elbows to assess how she was faring. Serena raised herself up on her elbows as well, blinking as if she had just woken up. Her color was high, staining her cheeks pink and she gifted him with an astonished smile.

“That was…lovely.”

“Was it?” he asked softly. “Well, let us see how we can improve the experience.”

“What?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t—think improvements are necessary!”

He replied silently by continuing the explorations he’d begun from her feet, bending over to kiss the rise of her belly, trailing his tongue around the miniature well of her belly button. He kissed it reverently before moving on to nip at the lines of her waist and then her ribs, tracing each one until she was once again a writhing siren beneath him.

He slowly admired every inch, every change that time had wrought, ignoring the impatient demands of his own body.

Now there was only Serena.

And his determination to take the slow road.

“I read once that some women can climax just from a man’s attention to their breasts.”

“How…brazen of them!”

“Hmm.” He eyed her breasts like a man contemplating a new approach to paradise.

“Phillip!” Serena covered her breasts defensively with her hands. “I see no need to prove every sexual theory that comes into your head.”

He smiled. “No? I am surprised at you, Lady Wellcott. Where is your adventurous spirit? Unless of course, you’ve shriveled up into some kind of prim version of—“

She punched him in the shoulder. “Quiet yourself, Warrick, or I’ll show you what a woman pushed to adventure is capable of!”

“God, yes!” he sighed. He kissed her so that she could taste herself on his lips, his hands replacing hers to cover her breasts, mapping her body to claim once and for all. His thigh slid between hers and he deliberately shifted up until her wet folds were riding the ridge of his upper leg. He kissed her deeper, the friction of his hand against her nipples and against her slick soft flesh, played out in a concert of worship and sensation.

She came again, this time in a ragged primal dance that inspired him to push her even further. He parted her thighs easily, lining up his body before she was aware of him, and buried himself inside of her, gritting his teeth to fight a quick finish. He moved only enough to draw out her release, only enough to change the rhythm of her body’s demands, slowing the waves only to build them one on top of another until she was mindless with it.

She bit his shoulder and he smiled at the pain as she inadvertently helped him to maintain control. My poor darling!

He relented slightly, easing up on the pace to let her catch her breath, but Phillip wasn’t about to stop. They’d both waited too long to be cheated.

She caressed his back with her hands then shifted them to trail over his chest, gently pinching his nipples and playfully exploring his body even as he continued to drive slowly inside of her.

She eyed with a sly smile. “You were skinnier then, sir.”

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “God, you know how to flatter a man, Lady Wellcott!”

“You weren’t as muscular and fit then and—Phillip Warrick! You know very well that you have a very handsome physique and are a breathtaking example of male prowess! There. Does that soothe?”

His cock hardened even more at the compliments despite his intent to pretend he was unmoved and try to get her to keep going. Apparently hearing Serena praise his body was no small pleasure without impact. Her smile evaporated with a gasp as the change in his physique registered on her own.

“Did you want to say anything else, Serena?”

“You mean, besides making the gentle observation that you mysteriously smell like jasmine bath oil? A very intriguing change, do you not agree?”

“Oh, you’ll pay for that jest, woman.”

He withdrew quickly and flipped her over onto her belly. She squeaked in mild protest as he pushed a pillow under her hips to raise them for his pleasure. Phillip allowed himself a second or two to admire the view of her bottom in the air like a ripe peach with the inviting seam of her sex; but a second or two was all he allowed.

“Phillip!”

He notched the plum-sized head of his cock against her, closing his eyes at the shiver of lust that seized him as her molten flesh stretched to encase him. He knew she was almost too sensitive for more, but Phillip couldn’t show her mercy.

She was teetering on the edge. Phillip took one deep breath and plunged ahead, pushing them both on until there was nothing in their way. He came into her slowly, with small measured thrusts that gave her no time to settle before he withdrew and then pressed a little deeper. She writhed at the sweet torment until he was finally buried inside of her completely. She wriggled her hips and lifted them higher only to cry out at the tight spasm of pleasure that seized her when the searing hot head of his cock came in contact with her inner core and a surprising hidden trigger that promised nothing but ecstasy. Serena’s eyes widened at shock. She’d long considered herself a woman entirely aware of her own anatomy but here was something new.

But apparently not an unknown thing to her lover.

Phillip moved quickly to take advantage of her reaction, unable to hold back any longer. The coil of tension between his hip bones exploded in an orgasm that robbed him of breath. He climaxed in a jet of a white hot release that ripped a primal growl from his throat. Phillip shuddered at the waves, marveling that intensity of his pleasure bordered on pain.

Damn it. If I come to my senses and realize I’m crying, I swear I won’t be surprised…

Thankfully, he wasn’t unmanned with tears, but it was several long minutes before he could remember how to talk.

“Holy…dear god…that was…” Phillip struggled to catch his breath.

“Phillip?” she said softly, as they gently disengaged to collapse in each other’s arms.

“Yes?”

“I am becoming convinced that…slow is…a feast I shall have to grow accustomed to…” She kissed his shoulder. “I shall never tease you about rushing again.”

“Ah, then it was worth it!” he said with a proud smile. “Although, we can make a rushed attempt if you need to make another objective comparison. Just…give me a few minutes to recover.”

She sat up in astonishment drawing the sheet up around her. “You cannot be serious!”

“You are as addictive as opium, Lady Wellcott. But, alas…no. I may need more than a few minutes before I can forever impress you with my prowess and staying powers.”

She laughed. “Thank God!” She was quiet for a few seconds and then looked at him flirtatiously through the veil of her lashes. “I’d forgotten how transformative the act is. It is a wonder that anyone bothers to do anything else!”

He shook his head with a smile. “What a wicked thing you are!”

“To your benefit apparently.” She tipped her head to one side. “Is it not strange that you say it like a compliment when I am naked but as an insult when I have my clothes on?”

“You mystify, Lady Wellcott. One moment I think I know you, then the next…”

“Blame my upbringing. Lord Trent civilized me just enough, didn’t he? He refined my manners so that I could blend into any good salon or charm at the dinner table but not so much that I wouldn’t remain a wild creature inside. I was hungry for affection and pleasure and he never dissuaded me. There were no moral lessons in my schoolroom and no boundaries between my desires and my actions.”

He shook his head. “You—were not unaware of right and wrong, Serena.”

She laughed. “Perhaps. I was a child then. Trent made sure I was ripe for the taking and I still marvel at fate. For if not you, it could have been any man if Trent had been diverted from his path, his hunger for vengeance. I wanted love like a flower craves the sun. Trent saw to all of it. He put me in your path. He’d trained me like an animal to never say no to a man’s wishes and my own whims and impulses were fuel to the fire.” She shrugged her pale shoulders. “I was a virgin but I was far from innocent. I was like a feral creature in the guise of a porcelain doll and I’m wise enough to see how appealing that is to a man.”

A shiver tripped down his spine. “Not just a simple twist of fate, Serena. Not just any man. Me. You were meant for me and I don’t care how casually you wish to belittle it. This fire between us is far more than the work of fate’s clock.”

She touched his face, cooling the heat of anger there but also subtly reigniting the embers of his desire. “You are right. It could not have been any man. I don’t think even in Trent’s wildest dreams he accounted for how completely I would fall for you or how it would change me.”

She stood and turned, retrieving her robe from the floor to shake it out and pull it back on. She tied the sash firmly around her waist and raked her fingers through her hair to magically tame it back into a single twist that fell down her back. “There, I am restored.”

“Stay.”

She shook her head. “I dare not. For whatever would the servants think, sir? I am a respected woman and must do all I can to protect my good name.” Her smile was bewitching as she resumed the illusions of social order. “As you must recall that you are a guest in your cousin’s home and bound to not dishonor your family with scandal.”

He sighed. “What would it be like to love you openly? How is it that I am always trapped in a strange web of deception when it comes to you? If James is eager to play the matchmaker and Delilah is a dear friend and sure to approve, why are we lurking about in darkened hallways again?”

The playfulness in her eyes evaporated. “If you wish to earn my trust and affection, you will do as I bid. You may be ready to play out some public show of…” Her lip curled in disgust. “I am not so inclined. I am not ready to risk humiliation and destruction at your hands, Sir Warrick. You and I are not…” She crossed her arms defensively. “The risk would once again be entirely mine. You think a tumble or two means that I am at your feet, sir? I may crave you but that is a condition you can either continue to enjoy, or we can end it now.”

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Whoa! No need to hiss and spit! I will keep your secrets for as long as you wish. Though truthfully, I intend to outlast your fears, Lady Wellcott. I will prove that the last things I would ever bring to you are humiliation or destruction. There will be no repetition of the mistakes of the past, Serena. How could there be?”

She pressed her lips together into a tight line of unhappiness, her eyes clouding with wary distrust and frustration. “How? How could there be?” She sighed. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

She slipped out the door and shut it behind her before he could think of an answer to soothe the storm in her eyes.

She wants me but she doesn’t trust me.

He couldn’t blame her for it. His own wounds were troublesome enough but they surely paled in comparison to all that she had suffered. Phillip couldn’t retrace his steps. All he could do was pray that there was still a path ahead to let him prove to her that the future they’d lost was still within reach.

In the meantime, he would close his eyes and try to enjoy the dictations of Lady Serena Wellcott as she engineered a dizzying game of sexual cat and mouse in a physical contest of catch and release. For Phillip, he accepted that he would dare anything to achieve her. No woman had stirred his heart since the nightmare of Trent’s making and he was hungry to finally repair his life and move forward.

I’ll hold steady and she’ll abandon her need for secrecy.

In time, she’ll see that secrets serve neither of us in the end.

 

Serena made it to her room before her composure began to crumble. She stumbled with a surprised cry into a small table by the door and swallowed the bitter bile that rose in her throat. Every bittersweet exchange with him was costing her too much. Serena had put her heel on the neck of more men than she could call to memory, but Phillip eluded her control. Worse, he brought back memories she’d long banished and provoked her raw emotions to such an extent she was sure to say too much and stumble against him.

To stumble against him and never let go.

He sought to heal the rift between them unaware of how wide the chasm stood. Whatever part of her hungered for him, needed him, there was a deadly streak of awareness that there would never be a happy ending for the woman that she had become.

Serena took in a few slow breaths and waited for her heart to accept what her mind knew as true. She waited until the echoes of pleasure inside of her faded and there was nothing left but the beating of her own heart.

Whatever it is between us, it is fleeting.

It is a simple distraction that will have to be managed.

And when my business with Mrs. Osborne is finished, it will end.

Once and for all.