Led Astray by a Rake (The Husband Hunters Club 1)

Her eyes widened. “You mean…?”

“An orgy? Yes, why not? They’d be masked, of course, to intensify the excitement and the mystery.”

“Yes,” she said wryly, “I can see if you lived in a village you’d prefer not to know who you were lying with, in case it was your butcher or your baker.”

“Or the vicar.”

She looked shocked, and Nic chuckled.

“Do you think they made sacrifices on this stone?” she went on, recovering.

“No. I think the only sacrifices here were ones of the flesh. A willing maiden laid out for the master to enjoy.”

She shivered, but he didn’t think it was from fear.

“Here,” he said, and moved aroun

d to stand beside her. “Climb up.”

Olivia hesitated, her eyelashes shielding her eyes. She licked her lips, like a wild animal in danger, and he felt himself grow hard. He clasped his hands about her waist before she could protest, and lifted her onto the stone. She leaned against him, and he rested his cheek against the softness of her breasts, breathing in her scent.

“What if he comes back?”

“Why should he? He’s done what he set out to do.”

He clasped her hip, pressing her rounded flesh through her skirts and petticoats, and then slid his hand down her thigh. She lifted his face to hers and began to kiss him, slowly, taking her time, enjoying herself. Nic delved beneath her skirts, working his way toward his goal.

He could sense the tension in her, the excitement, as he drew closer. And then his fingers slid inside and Olivia gasped, a slave to her body’s demands and Nic’s clever fingers, as he began stroking her slick flesh. She groaned against his mouth.

“Nic,” she whispered. “Would it be wrong of me to admit that I want you?”

He grinned. “Very wrong indeed,” he teased, retaking her mouth with his. He tasted her passion, felt her need for him as she wrapped her arms about his neck and her legs around his waist, pulling him closer against her.

He thought about taking her now, him standing up, but he’d already decided to continue with the fantasy of the willing sacrifice, and he didn’t want to spoil it for either of them.

“Imagine it’s nighttime,” he began, his breathing ragged against her throat, “with the sky full of stars. The master stands over you, masked. He is touching you, just like this…” She gasped. “There are others here, and they want to touch you, too, but he won’t allow it. You belong to him and only him.”

She reached down to where his cock strained inside his trousers, rubbing her hand against him. “And he belongs to me,” she whispered, and he heard her smile.

Nic laid her down, arranging her on the stone—it was strangely warm—and then climbed up with her, straddling her as he unbuttoned his trousers. She watched, eyes half closed, waiting to see what he would do. Nic knew he needed to be inside her. The danger they’d been in, the possibility of death, was pushing him to take her now.

When he positioned himself above her, she slid her thigh along his, eager to have him inside her, but perversely he held back, if only to prove to himself that he could.

Slowly he unhooked her bodice, licking her pale skin as he uncovered her lush curves, and then fastening upon her nipples, giving each of them equal time. She arched against him, her eyes closed, her face flushed. He wondered if she was there, in their fantasy, in the star-filled night. Nic reached down to stroke her again, teasing her with promises of fulfillment, and then taking his fingers away.

“Nic, please,” she whimpered.

“Master,” he reminded her.

“Master, please,” she cried, not ashamed to throw herself into their game. “Make me yours. Now. While the moon is full and—and the stars are watching.”

Nic laughed. He couldn’t remember laughing before at such a point in lovemaking—he’d always been too focused on control—but now he was filled with joy. Olivia reached up and touched his lean cheek, her eyes bright and understanding.

“Take me, master,” she said, and smiled.

He entered her with one deep thrust. She cried out with sheer delight. He groaned, moving hard, willing himself to hold on, to make it last, but it was too late. He was already shuddering with the beginnings of his ecstasy, just as she reached her own peak, her muscles squeezing him and prolonging his pleasure.

It was perfect.