Passion for the Game

  “Have you changed your mind?” he prodded, tossing her words back at her.

  Her brow arched. “Perhaps I am not ready.”

  His brow rose to match hers; he knew she was lying by the high flush on her chest and cheeks, and the rapid lift and fall of her breasts. He knew she was wet, knew that watching him pleasure himself had also pleasured her. “I can make you ready,” he offered solicitously.

  For a moment she did not move, his dark-haired temptress with her creamy skin and deep red lips. Her chemise, corset, and underskirts were white, hinting at an angelic image that was ruined by those knowing eyes with their impossibly thick lashes. He could see her delicious nipples through the sheer cotton, and his mouth watered with the urge to suck on them. The tiny heart-shaped patch teased him to kiss that lush mouth, to slide his cock into it and thrust until he burst. More cum beaded on the tip of his cock and slid down the burning, pulsing skin of his shaft.

  “Would you allow me to take you with my mouth?” he asked. “It would please me to make love to you that way.”

  Her gaze darkened at his choice of wording and her lips parted on panting breaths. She nodded and stepped past him, her skirts swaying with her agitated stride. There was no hesitation in her. When she was decided, she never looked back.

  He followed, his brain in a fog of lust and deep yearning. She took a seat on the settee, her back ramrod straight. The pose was prim, until she hooked one knee over the curved wooden armrest and pulled back the masses of white material, baring first her beautifully curved calves, then her lithe thighs, and finally, the silken heaven between her legs.

  Christopher growled low in his throat, sinking to his knees without preamble, his large hands cupping her inner thighs and spreading her so wide that nothing was hidden from him. She was slick and hot, as he had known she would be. Luscious Maria, the Wintry Widow. Except when she was with him. Then she melted.

  “I love to see you this way,” he confessed. “Open to me, willing and craving.”

  Dipping his head, he licked up the seam of her sex, relishing the hiss of pleasure that escaped from between her teeth. After this night, she would never forget him. She would lie in her bed, remembering the feel of his mouth upon her, and long for the pleasure only he could provide.

  He surrounded her with his lips, his tongue flickering over the tight knot of her clitoris with light, teasing strokes. Her fingers drifted into his hair, caressing the sweat-dampened roots, her back arching into the intimate caress with a startled cry. He held her hips down, the circle of his mouth creating a soft suction that intensified her thrashing and brought her to harsh, panting breaths.

  “Christopher! Dear God…”

  She bowed upward, her grip in his hair painful but welcome. He dipped lower, thrust his tongue inside her, felt how tight and drenched she was, how deeply he affected her. Grateful that he could, because he was undone, his body trembling with need and tortured desire.

  He moved upward again, sucking the hard bed of nerves in an unfaltering rhythm, forcing her to take what he gave her, forcing her to see what they had—a deep affinity that grew more precious to him by the day.

  Her orgasm nearly prompted his, her cunt clenching around his tongue as he drove it into her repeatedly. He didn’t stop, refusing her attempts to push him away, his mouth working her, taking her, making her cry out in climax again. And again, until neither one of them could take any more.

  He rose, gripping the gilded lip of the settee back with one hand and aiming his cock at her slit with the other.

  His penetrating lunge into her body rocked the settee to its rear legs, the brutal jolt wringing a curse from him and a breathless cry from her. Christopher paused a moment, his eyes squeezed shut as her cunt rippled around him in the final throes of orgasm. Only when she lay quivering in the aftermath did he risk looking at her.

  “This is heaven,” he gasped. “I want to live inside you, feel you suck me deeper and deeper until we are one.”

  Maria stared up at the golden god who caged her so thoroughly and wondered how the events of the evening had spun so far out of her control. She was tender and swollen, oversensitive and stuffed full of rock-hard cock. His hands gripped the sofa on either side of her head, his lean hips cradled in the apex of her thighs, his rippled abdomen clenched tight and dripping sweat onto the pile of skirts gathered at her waist.

  He stared down at her with open lust and affection, shaking the very foundations of her life. How could she give this up? She whimpered as Christopher’s cock throbbed inside her. In this position she had no leverage, and his impressive endowments felt almost too huge to be comfortable. He withdrew and she spasmed around him, her body unwilling to give up the pleasure of his. Then, using his muscular legs to push forward and his arms to pull the settee downward, he lunged into her again, hitting the end of her, his heavy balls slapping erotically against her bottom.

  Maria moaned helplessly. Her only recourse was to clutch his waist and brace herself for his thrusts, which grew in strength and speed until the private sitting room echoed with the unmistakable sounds of hard fucking. Her cries rose in volume, competing with the rhythmic banging of the sofa legs against the floor and the curses that rasped from Christopher’s throat every time he sank into her.

  His cock was thick, long, and hot, and he conquered her with it, seduced her with it, giving her exactly what she wanted. And exactly what she could not have.

  It was raw, passionate sex. Lust tempered by far deeper emotions. Her gaze was riveted by the display of his clenching abdomen and the glistening length of his cock as it worked in and out of her with brilliant precision. The question of whether the memories of their first night together were embellished or not was answered. Christopher St. John was an expert lover, even when rutting at a fevered pitch. He plunged high and hard, hitting that spot inside her that had her toes curling.

  “Yes!” he growled when she whimpered in near delirium, his raspy voice filled with pure masculine satisfaction, his gaze hot as he watched her fall apart beneath him.

  Dear God, he was devastating her, making her care when she couldn’t.

  “No!” she cried, frightened by the feelings he evoked, her hands pushing ineffectually at his straining shoulders. “Stop!” She beat at him with her fists until she penetrated his single-minded focus.

  He thrust deep and stilled, his chest heaving, his thighs quivering between hers.

  “What?” he managed between labored breaths. “What is it?”

  “Get off me.”

  “Are you insane?” Then something flickered over his features, his gaze lowered. Before she knew his intent, his head dropped, his lips pressing a lingering kiss to her puckered scar. “Am I hurting you?”

  Maria swallowed hard, her heart beating so desperately it felt like it could burst. “Yes.” He was killing her, breaking her.

  “Christ.” His sweat-covered forehead pressed to hers, his harsh exhales gusting across her face.

  Inside her, he throbbed. Her body, uncaring about anything other than climax, sucked at his cock, luring it deeper.

  He inhaled deeply, then knelt on the edge of the seat and thrust his arms beneath her back, embracing her. He struggled to his feet with her clasped tightly to him, impaled on his rigid cock. How he made into the next room and the bed, Maria would never understand.

  Christopher sat on the edge and then fell back, keeping her atop him. “You ride,” he said hoarsely. “Take your pleasure from me in a way that will not pain you.”

  Maria nearly cried.

  Her fingers clenched convulsively into the velvet counterpane. Who knew the infamous pirate could be so sweet, so caring? The fierce look on his handsome face reminded her of who he was—a notorious criminal who survived in a brutal underworld by his wits and lack of conscience. But here he was, subjugating his raging needs for hers…offering himself to her, to do with as she willed…

  “Maria,” he breathed, his hands on her thighs, his eyes staring up into h
ers. “Take me.”

  Dazed by his generosity, Maria moved as if in a dream. She lifted, relishing the feel of the heavy length of his cock slipping wetly from her and the hiss of his breath between clenched teeth as she lowered again. Christopher remained still, as he had promised, giving her the lead. The only movement he made was the ticcing of a muscle in his jaw.

  She watched him as she rode him, enamoured with the sight of him. How beautiful he was! Even bruised and battered, he was a woman’s deepest, most wicked fantasy. His face—so angelic in its golden coloring and unrivaled perfection—looked enticingly devilish when unkempt. His body—long and heavily muscled—looked no less appealing when leaner. His eyes—those deep blue pools—were irresistible when filled with sexual promises and heated affection.

  Her fingertips drifted across his brows, then brushed lightly along the lines of cynicism that fanned out from the corners of his eyes and mouth.

  “Yes,” he crooned, holding her waist lightly to balance her. “Love me as you will.”

  Maria bent and pressed a lingering kiss to his lips, soaking up the low groan he gave. This was the last time she would have him like this. The last time she would touch him in this manner and admire him naked. Even as her heart ached at the loss of what she wished they could have, she felt warmth blossom in her chest at the opportunity to say good-bye to him properly. When she left here tonight, she would have closure. It was why she had come, and she was grateful to leave with it.

  So she took her time, her lips following her fingertips as they brushed over every flaw. Every cut, scratch, and bruise. His big body twisted beneath her, the muscles in his arms bulging as his hands fisted in the counterpane, helpless to their passion. Just as she was.

  “Maria!” he gasped as her tongue played with his nipple. “I must come, love. Come with me.”

  She nipped him with her teeth and he cursed.

  “Please!”

  Her mouth covered his, her lips wet and soft against the firm line of his. Christopher groaned and thrashed more, twisting.

  “I want this to last,” she breathed, never wanted to stop, never wanting to lose the feeling of him stroking inside her, plunging deep and hard.

  “Take it,” he urged, the crests of his cheekbones flagged with high color. “Take me.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.

  Her eyes slid closed as she pumped faster and stronger, plunging her cunt up and down his thick cock.

  Christopher’s powerful body arched, his neck corded with strain, his hands steadied her as she fucked him frantically, his golden head tossing from side to side as she rode him to the finish.

  “Maria,” he moaned. “Maria.”

  Bending at the waist, she took his mouth again, kissing him ravenously, her eyes stinging with the fervor with which he kissed her back. Her skin was so hot, feverish, covered in a fine film of perspiration. She ached to climax, to hear his cries, to feel him explode inside her.

  Settling her hands on his chest for leverage, Maria lifted and fell in measured rhythm, feeling his great size stretching her, forcing her slick tissues to part and accept him. Her passion rose, her climax primed from his mouth and his blatant expertise. She was so wet with pleasure and desire that soft sucking noises filled the air.

  Christopher moved with her in perfect timing, his hips rising to meet her every descent, falling on every ascent.

  “Yes…Maria…dear God…yes!”

  He thrust upward hard, his pelvic bone hitting her swollen clitoris, and she cried out in orgasm, unable to stop it, her body quaking around his wildly pumping cock.

  He growled his triumph, and the sound flowed through her, making her come harder, her cunt spasming desperately as he joined her, spurting his seed deep inside her in hot, hard bursts.

  She fell over him in a tangle of sated limbs, whimpering as he held her hips slightly aloft and continued to stroke his cock inside her until he was emptied.

  Finally, gasping, he released her waist to clutch her tightly to his sweat-slick chest.

  Maria pressed her fist to her mouth and stifled the sob that fought to leave her. She feared her feelings had already progressed too far. She wanted to remain like this forever, warm and safe in Christopher’s embrace. But how much of this was real? How much of this was simply an effort to achieve his goal? Was Christopher truly the haven he presented himself as? Or was he the means of her destruction?

  There were too many questions and no definitive answers. With Amelia’s life in the balance, Maria could not take the risk.

  And so she waited until his breathing was deep and even beneath her cheek, betraying his slumber. Then she extricated herself from his embrace and left the bed.

  “Farewell,” she whispered, her gaze raking the naked, magnificent length of his frame before she turned her back to him and made her egress. The bedchamber door shut behind her with a soft click of the latch.

  Stepping into her ruined gown in the sitting room with shaking legs, she collected her blade and donned Christopher’s coat, refusing to breathe through her nose for fear of smelling him. She would cry if she did, and there was still some distance to be crossed.

  She remembered nothing of her journey down the stairs and out the front door. Was she watched? Had she garnered an audience? Did Christopher’s lackeys witness her dishabille? She did not know, and she did not care. She knew only that she maintained her pride.

  Until she was safely ensconced in her carriage. Then she allowed her tears to fall.

  The silence of the night was broken by the approaching clatter of horses’ hooves and the rhythmic sound of carriage wheels across cobblestones. Mist hung low to the ground, chilling the feet and legs of the man who hunched his shoulders and held his threadbare jacket close to his neck for warmth.

  As the equipage rolled to a stop, the man stepped forward and peered inside. The interior of the unmarked coach was darker than the outside, effectively hiding the occupants.

  “Two daughters,” he whispered. “St. John’s coves found the one. Young gel in Lincolnshire.”

  “I require the direction.”

  “When I works wiv a flash, I get paid.”

  The barrel of a pistol appeared.

  “Right, then.” He dug in his pocket and withdrew a grimy, folded sheet, which he held out. “If you read it, I’ll tell yer if ’e got the way of it.”

  A moment later, he nodded. “That’s it. Bobby is a peevy cull.”

  A bag of coin was thrust out and grabbed with similar swiftness. “God love yer!” he mumbled with a tip of his hat, then he melded into the shadows and was gone.

  The coachman urged the carriage on.

  In the darkness of the interior, Eddington settled pensively into the squabs. “Bring me that girl before St. John takes her.”

  “Yes, my lord. I will see to it.”

  Chapter 15

  Amelia peeked around the corner of the house, her lower lip worried between her teeth. She searched for Colin in the stable yard, then heaved a sigh of relief when she found the area empty. Male voices drifted on the wind, laughter and singing spilling out from the stables. From this she knew Colin was hard at work with his uncle, which meant that she could safely leave the manse and head into the woods.

  She was becoming quite good at subterfuge, she thought as she moved deftly through the trees, hiding from the occasional guard in her journey toward the fence. A fortnight had passed since that fateful afternoon when she had caught Colin behind the shop with that girl. Amelia had avoided him since, refusing to speak with him when he asked the cook to fetch her.

  Perhaps it was foolish to hope that she would never see him again, given how closely their lives were entwined. If so, she was a fool. There was not an hour of the day that passed without her thinking of him, but she managed the pain of her grief as long as he stayed away from her. She saw no reason for them to meet, to talk, to acknowledge one another. She only traveled by carriage when moving to a new home, and even then, she c
ould associate exclusively with Pietro, the coachman.

  Espying the waited-for opening, Amelia hopped deftly over the fence and ran to the stream, where she found Ware coatless and wigless with his shirtsleeves pushed up. The young earl had caught some color to his skin these last weeks, setting aside his life of bookwork in favor of hard outdoor play. With his dark brown locks tied in a queue and his cornflower-colored eyes smiling, he was quite handsome, his aquiline features boasting centuries of pure blue blood.

  He did not set her heart to racing or make her ache in unfamiliar places as Colin did, but Ware was charming and polite and attractive. She supposed that was a sufficient combination of qualities to make him the recipient of her first kiss. Miss Pool told her to wait until the right young man came along, but Colin already had, and had turned to another instead.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Benbridge,” the earl greeted with a perfect bow.

  “My lord,” she replied, lifting the sides of her rose-hued gown before curtsying.

  “I have a treat for you today.”

  “Oh?” Her eyes widened in anticipation. She loved gifts and surprises because she rarely received them. Her father simply could not be bothered to consider such things as birthdays or other gift-giving occasions.

  Ware’s smile was indulgent. “Yes, princess.” He offered his arm to her. “Come with me.”

  Amelia set her fingers lightly atop his forearm, enjoying the opportunity to practice her social graces with someone. The earl was kind and patient, pointing out any errors and correcting her. It gave her a higher polish and a deeper confidence. She no longer felt like a girl pretending to be a lady. Instead she felt like a lady who chose to enjoy her youth.

  Together they left their meeting place by the stream and wended their way along the shore until they reached a larger clearing. There Amelia was delighted to find a blanket stretched out on the ground, the corner of which was held down by a basket filled with delicious-smelling tarts and various cuts of meat and cheeses.