Taming the Rake Read online

  He was completely at her mercy. He’d wanted to control her, but it was clear that she was the one in control. The irony was laughable, an experienced rake completely undone by the innocent ministrations of a virgin.

  The warmth of her mouth enveloped him once again. He couldn’t bear it. “Take me deeper,” he begged, nearly shaking with the urge to thrust, “please.”

  She willingly complied.

  “Dear God,” he groaned. He’d died and gone to heaven.

  His fantasies had done her an injustice. The sensation of her mouth on him was better than anything he could have imagined. Instinct was a mighty weapon. She used her tongue and the sweet suction of her lips with a skill that was inexplicable, were he even capable of rational thought.

  Whether it was the combination of her own burgeoning sense of power or her natural inquisitiveness, he didn’t know, but soon, with the slimmest of instruction, she was doing things to him that only the most practiced whores had tried. As she took him deep into her mouth, he moved her hand to his bollocks, showing her how to hold him as she sucked, harder, deeper, faster.

  He’d shocked her, though she’d managed to hide it.

  Gina had never dreamt of such intimacies, though perhaps she should have. She remembered how her pleasure had heightened when he replaced his hands with his mouth on her breasts, sucking her nipples and driving her toward a shattering release. Would her mouth on his body do the same to him? She had to find out.

  When her lips enfolded the velvety skin of his erection, the answer to her question was obvious. His guttural groan of ecstasy echoed in her ears, sending a sharp thrill through her, a fission of warmth spread between her thighs. The pure pleasure she was giving him could not be denied.

  The act itself was strange, her mouth around his most private part, but Gina discovered that she liked it. She liked the wickedness. The hot, salty taste of him clung to her tongue. She’d surprised herself by her daring. It unleashed something inside her, something barely repressed. The bold adventuresome woman who wanted to learn the sensual arts of pleasure. Who wanted to keep pace with a rake.

  She wrapped her tongue around his swollen head, tracing the bulging vein that ran down the long length of him. His size gave her pause. In truth, it frightened her. Despite his assurances, she was not convinced it would work.

  She’d urged him further with her mouth. Pumping him with her lips and tongue, taking him deeper down her throat as he’d instructed. Her own body grew damp and clawing with need. His primal sounds intensified. His body shook with an urgency she did not understand. As if he was trying to contain something that could not be contained. She’d sucked harder, urging him to let go, challenging his control. Begging him with her mouth to let go.

  He couldn’t stand it anymore; the urge to come deep in her throat was overwhelming. But he couldn’t. Not like this. Not for her first time. He wanted to be deep inside her, looking into her eyes when he spilled his seed. He lifted her to his lap, kissing her with all the agony and fury of a starving man.

  Damn her. He tried to push her away, but she met him at every point. She wouldn’t run. Though in truth, he no longer wanted her to.

  So he’d destroy her. If not today, then at some point in the future. The way he destroyed everything.

  He broke the kiss for only long enough to spread his coat out behind them on the divan and remove his boots. There wouldn’t be much room. He was tempted to carry her up to his bedchamber, but two things prevented him. The servants and the delay.

  By the time he’d finished, despite the intimacy of what they’d just shared, she was shivering with renewed nervousness. He pulled her into his arms and gently kissed her trepidation away, allowing her to grow accustomed to the sensation of her skin against his before he lifted her chemise over her head.

  When he looked at her, his breath caught. He’d never seen anything more beautifully erotic. Reclining on the divan with her golden brown hair spread out behind her, wearing only her stockings, her gorgeous breasts still pink from his kiss, her legs gently parted… she was a goddess.

  He wanted to tell her so, but he found himself strangely overcome, at a loss for words.

  He slid off his trousers, enjoying the weight of her eyes on him. He bent over her, naked, every inch of his skin tingling, ready to slide against hers. He wanted to feel her nipples rake his chest as he moved inside her, feel her silken legs wrap around his buttocks, feel the press of her hips as she lifted to meet his thrust. He couldn’t wait much longer. He tested her with his fingers, finding her hot and deliciously wet. Next time he’d taste her and return the pleasure she’d given him. But right now, he had to make her his.

  Her eyes closed as she gave herself over to his fingers.

  His heart began to pound erratically as he realized how close she was. And how close he was to finally having her. “Tell me what you want, Gina,” he said softly.

  She opened her eyes. “You.”

  His heart hitched. She sounded as if she were asking for his soul. Or what remained of it. A gift he might willingly bestow. He shook the feeling away. He was being a fool. She was a virgin in the throes of passion. That was all.

  He slid over her, positioning himself between her legs. Inch by glorious inch he pressed himself inside her. She was tight and hot and gripped him like a silken glove. His muscles tensed and sweat gathered on his brow as he strained against the impulse to thrust.

  Her eyes were wide with pain as her body struggled to accommodate him. Never had he wished his cock smaller, but knowing the pain he would cause her, he did now.

  A few more inches and he was halfway there. He couldn’t hold back any longer. “I’m sorry,” he groaned. In one quick stroke he plunged through her innocence, covering her cries with his mouth.

  Breathing deeply, he forced himself not to move, giving her time to stretch and soften around him. When he saw her expression and the tears shimmering in her eyes, an indescribable pain squeezed around his chest.

  He had to know. He felt drained of all his resistance. “Why, Gina?” His voice was ragged. “Why are you doing this?” He paused. “With me.”

  She gave him a brave, wobbly smile. “Because I love you.”

  His chest squeezed. He didn’t want to believe it. “Why?”

  She framed his face lovingly with her hands. “You need me.”

  He tensed, recalling his humiliation. “I don’t want your pity.”

  “You don’t have it. You have my love.”

  She couldn’t love him. Why was she doing this? Confusing him. Complicating everything.

  Her words forced him to examine his own feelings, something that he didn’t want to do. He was too afraid of what he might find—the weakness that had nearly destroyed him.

  He hated this feeling, like he was all twisted up in knots. Vulnerable at a time when he was supposed to be in control. He’d pushed her and pushed her, and still she spoke of love.

  Damn her.

  And damn himself for how much he wanted to believe her.

  “Don’t,” he warned angrily. For so many reasons.

  She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “It’s too late.”

  Coventry closed his eyes and tried to close out the pain. The hope. The realization of how much he wanted to believe her.

  He fought to block out everything other than the sensation of being inside her. This is all he wanted to feel. He moved back and forth, plunging deep and hard.

  The pleasure built even greater than he could have imagined. He knew he was being too rough, but he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted it hard and fast and furious. He wanted to hurt her as she did him. For tearing down the fortress of indifference he’d fought so hard to erect.

  “You pretend not to feel anything,” she whispered in his ears. “But I know you care for me. I don’t think you are indifferent at all.”

  Her words enraged him, shattering his veil of civility. He reacted the only way he knew how. By taking her in a storm of pas