“I have learned to keep my circle of trust close and select. I think the staff of my household are the only ones in which that trust is currently bestowed upon, and even then, only two men have my complete confidence, and only one knows what I just told you.”
“I know it is no use to simply ask that I be added to that trust circle,” Cecilia murmured. “But I hope my actions will show you.”
She reached up to take his hand, straightening his fingers so that his palm lay across her cheek. She closed her eyes and Lionel felt a shiver run through him at the look of sheer delight on her face. Such delight from a simple touch to the cheek. And yet it was the same thrill that he felt, touching that cheek. She opened her eyes and he saw the shining desire there. Saw his own passion reflected. There was a flush now to her cheeks, spreading to her neck as her breathing came faster.
“You now have information that only one other has, besides myself. With it, you could give advantage to my enemies by telling them what I know. Or by leading them to this place where I plot my revenge.”
Cecilia’s lips parted, her face moving closer to his. His hand went from her cheek to her lovely throat. His fingers closed partially around it, savoring the feeling of power it gave him. She looked up at him, biting her lip and letting her hands fall. She was helpless before him, utterly in his power, and if he was any judge, utterly entranced at the prospect.
“Then secure your secret and keep me here, a prisoner,” she whispered huskily.
The flush deepened as she spoke, as though she had shocked herself at her brazenness. Lionel’s lips twitched into a smile and he saw a tentative reflection from Cecilia.
“A prisoner?” Lionel asked. “Would you be tied to the wall in here? At my mercy?”
Cecilia let out an involuntary gasp, a whimpered squeak from the depths of her throat. Lionel intended to let his hand fall, but instead, it came to rest upon one of her breasts. He pressed through the dress, recalling how those breasts had felt. He felt a sudden, urgent need to see them, unclothed by darkness as they had been before.
“Yes. If that is what you wish. Keep me prisoner and… and use me as you desire.”
Lionel could feel his body responding to her wanton words. He had never heard a woman speak like this. From her shining red face, Cecilia was also new to it. But, novice or not, it was as though she were reaching into his mind and plucking imagesfrom his deepest fantasies. Cecilia was now pressed against him and his hands were gliding down her back before finding the gentle swell of her hips and derrière. The image of her olive-colored skin under the revealing glare of daylight came to him as he explored. Her buttocks were round but with the tightness of a woman well exercised. Pressed against his own he felt the strong thighs of a rider, thighs that had clamped around his waist weeks before, shaking with the agony of her ecstasy. Her pert breasts were hard against him, nipples evident even through the fabric of her dress. Lionel knew that his own arousal would be evident to her. As his body responded with increasing intensity, he felt her breath catch in her throat. Then her hips pressed against his own even harder than before.
“Am I being seduced by a spy for my enemies?” he whispered.
“Perhaps the spy has been bewitched by your body and your masculinity,” Cecilia replied, playfully.
Unable to resist any longer, Lionel bent his head to kiss her. But Cecilia leaned back, placing a finger on his lips. He took the finger between his teeth, tasting her skin and biting gently. She gave a squeal, pulling it back and Lionel darted in, mouth fastening on her throat, kissing and licking. She moaned softly, arms wrapping around him and holding him tight.
“Then you have become my plaything, utterly under my power, your own will subsumed. I can command you to do anything…” Lionel whispered.
“Anything!” Cecilia gasped as he bit her throat.
“Undress,” Lionel commanded.
As the week before, his passion and desire for her overrode his paranoia. The burden was too much. The burden of keeping secrets and keeping her at arm’s length. The freedom of being able to speak freely was as intoxicating to him as the lust he felt for her.
Cecilia stepped back, watching him from beneath heavy lashes as she reached to the back of her neck to begin undoing the buttons of her dress. Lionel said nothing as she managed to undo it and push it down to her waist, then beyond that to fall to the floor. No sooner had it left her that she bent to pick up the hem of her petticoat, lifting it and revealing the white stockings, concealing her legs to the thigh. The garment was tossed aside to reveal bare breasts and womanhood. But she did not stop. She slowly rolled down each stocking before flicking it aside with her toes. All the while a smile played across her face, part seductress, part innocent. Her cheeks were flushed, even as her eyes sparkled with delight.
“I told myself I would not give myself to you again until I had your word that we would be man and wife proper,” Cecilia whispered.
“I have taken that choice away.”
He moved around her, examining her naked loveliness from all angles. Stepping close enough that she would be able to feel his warm breath on her skin, he nevertheless refused to touch her.Instead, he watched her twitch and jump as she anticipated the first touch.Anticipatedand was denied.
Lionel stooped to lift one of her stockings and, as he passed behind her, he suddenly looped it around and over her eyes. She raised her hands towards the makeshift blindfold.
“Hands down,” Lionel snapped, “by your sides.”
She obeyed instantly and that submissiveness made Lionel’s arousal almost painful. He was driving himself to distraction with his prolonging of their coming together. After doubling the stocking over her eyes to make the material opaque, Lionel stepped back.
He quietly moved around, watching her breasts heaving with excitement. Without warning, he leaned in to enclose one of her nipples within his mouth, sucking on it and caressing it with his tongue. Cecilia squeaked again and then moaned aloud. She began to raise her hands to touch him, but he thrust them down and then pinned them behind her with one strong hand. Picking up the second stocking, he swiftly bound her hands together behind her. She whimpered and he kissed her, darting in to steal and then darting away, leaving her licking her lips for the taste of his own.
Lionel began to undress, saying nothing until he stood before her naked. Then he moved close, letting her feel his nakedness with her own. His loins melded with hers and she moaned aloud before gasping his name. He gripped her derrière, his manhood pressed between them, announcing itself to her withits hardness. She moved her hips obediently against his, in the motion of love-making. With each thrust, the movement became desperate and more pronounced, the gasping moans rising from her more urgent.
Again, Lionel sought to prolong the pleasure. He stepped back again, walking behind her. Cecilia’s head turned this way and that, searching for him. Lionel let her feel his touch when he reached down, fingers slipping beneath her thighs to find her womanhood.
“Bend,” he commanded.
Cecilia obeyed and he watched her bound hands clench and unclench as he caressed and delved. With his other hand, he reached around to cup her perfect breasts, tweaking her hard nipples. She was gasping in short, frantic bursts in between whispering his name.
