The Seduction (Notorious 1)

She gave a start and stared at him in puzzlement.

His eyebrows rose. “What’s wrong, love? Have I frightened you again?”

“I suppose I was just… startled. Roger could never-” She broke off in embarrassment, evading his gaze.

“Could never what?”

“Become… aroused again. Once his desire was spent, he left me alone. I used to pray that he would… finish quickly.”

His eyes soft, Damien pulled her into his embrace and whispered a promise in her ear. “I intend to make you forget he ever existed,” he vowed. “We’ll banish all your ugly memories. From this night on, we start anew.”

He heard her sigh. She lay trustingly, with her cheek pressed against his heart, her hair spilling like a curtain of silk over his skin. His hands swept her back lightly.

“Some men can last longer than others, become stimulated more quickly,” he explained. “When a man desires a woman as much as I desire you, his arousal is never entirely sated.”

“Do you… desire me?” The soft question was serious, holding no coyness.

His fingers were moving on her back, sending cascades of shivers through her. “Immensely,” he answered with complete honesty. “What red-blooded man would not find you irresistible?”

His hands moving to clasp her upper arms, he made Vanessa lift her head to look at him. “From the moment I first saw you in that gaming hell, I wanted you.”

She gazed solemnly back at him, her dark eyes reflecting moonlight. “I never would have suspected. I thought you wished me in Hades.”

“That was before I tasted your sweet lips…” He kissed her softly, and her lips trembled against his. “I could make love to you for hours, I have no doubt.”

She hesitated. “Hours?” There was both wonder and skepticism in her tone.

His mouth curved in amusement. “I fear my reputation as a lover has been maligned unjustly.”

Her own mouth fought to hold back a smile. “Unjustly? But then you are not a particularly objective observer, I suspect.”

“You require proof, my lady?”

“Would you be greatly put out if I said I did?” she asked with a combination of boldness and shyness that was enchanting.

A melting tenderness infused his laughter. “Greatly, indeed. Very well, love, at your insistence, we shall put my stamina to the test.”

She could not find the breath to answer, for he was kissing her now with the fevered softness of a lover.

A spark ignited and flared upward between them as his magical hands moved over her body, and he whispered against her lips, “Let me show you how many ways I can pleasure you, sweet siren…”

Chapter Nine

It was a night of pure enchantment, and over too soon. In the dawn of early morning, he escorted her back through the secret passage to her own chamber.

Impossibly, the kiss Damien gave her upon leaving roused her as much as the first touch of his mouth had, even though Vanessa thought herself so sensually drained, she couldn’t conceivably feel any more desire or pleasure.

She slept deeply, replete and exhausted, and woke far later than usual. For a moment she lay there, remembering the night. She could still feel Damien’s warm, elegant hands on her flesh, his sleek, lithe body pleasuring her, his soft, murmured words of praise and satisfaction as he brought her to ecstasy again and again.

He had swept her away with his consuming passion, into a world of rapture, and, in so doing, had banished her feelings of dread, her memories of pain. More remarkably, his exquisite lovemaking had left her shaken with the realization of her own passion.

Properly she should feel shame for acting like such a wanton, yet she couldn’t bring herself to wallow in self-reproach. She had dutifully endured a joyless marriage and the misery of carnal relations with her husband, never knowing what it meant to be fully a woman, to feel cherished, desired, wanted. Damien had given her a taste of real passion-perhaps the only one she might ever know-and she wouldn’t disavow this fantasy, however fleeting.

She closed her eyes, savoring the memories of his worshiping caresses. His male scent still lingered on her skin, and she felt an absurd reluctance to wash it off…

The thought of washing was an intrusion, although a pleasant one, for it reminded her of the plans for the day. This afternoon Damien intended to introduce Olivia to the bath he had built for her in the conservatory.

Rising with an elated feeling of anticipation, Vanessa rang for her own bath.