Jess Michaels Page 8

  She stared at the ropes as she shook her head. “No. He told me about them, of course, but he liked to have my hands free.”

  Clarissa smiled knowingly. “Then this will be a new adventure for you. I suggest you tie him down as soon as you get a chance. Use your most trusted servants to help you if you must. Once he is secured, you’ll be free to torture him all you like. I venture he’ll be desperate and begging if you toy with him long enough. After all, he is a man.”

  Bianca laughed as she took the ropes. The velvet caressed her fingers and sent a jolt of hot awareness through her.

  “You are a genius, my friend. No wonder you’re so popular,” she said with a laugh. For the first time since Hawk dominated her so completely, she was beginning to feel optimistic about her chances in the wager.

  “I’m certainly glad I can help.” Clarissa smiled. “Now, go. You’ll have preparations to make if you plan to use those tonight.”

  Bianca nodded, gave her friend a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried to the door. Only Clarissa’s voice stopped her.

  “Bianca?”

  She turned back. “Yes?”

  “If you ever want to share again, let me know.”

  Bianca paled at the thought of sharing Hawk with the beautiful concubine. It actually hurt her.

  Clarissa smiled at her silent horror. “You know, my dear, those ropes won’t keep him from your heart.”

  Bianca faltered at her friend’s clear vision. “My heart? Don’t be silly. I wouldn’t waste my time on love.”

  She hurried from the room before Clarissa could dissect any more of her soul. It was only in the carriage that she realized Clarissa had never said anything about love.

  Chapter Eight

  “This evening your supper will be served in your bedchamber, sir.”

  Hawk stared with a blank expression at the footman he didn’t recognize, while another equally strange servant took his coat. “The bedroom? I’m sorry, who are you?”

  “Lady Bianca gave your servants the night off,” the young man explained with a bow before he motioned Hawk toward the stairs. “And asked us, her own servants, to prepare a special supper and serve you. In your room, sir.”

  Hawk’s cock stirred. He liked the sound of this. Bianca had certainly been busy since they reluctantly parted ways that morning so she could tend to some family business.

  It pleased him that she had arranged an unexpected evening for him. Yet he wondered if there was something more sinister behind it. Since her arrival in his home, she had continued to struggle against his will, even though she always ended up yielding to him so sweetly in the end.

  Perhaps there was no ulterior motive. He could only hope she was simply beginning to lower the high walls she erected around herself. That her acquiescence was moving beyond her body to something deeper.

  One of Bianca’s footmen opened the door to his chamber. Hawk stopped in the doorway with a gasp of surprise. Hundreds of candles flickered from all corners of the room and a blazing fire warmed him even from the doorway. A small table had been put in the center of the floor and was ready with covered dishes and even more candles.

  “My God,” he murmured as he entered the room. “Bianca?”

  She stepped from the only darkened corner of the room silently and gave him a charming, but nervous smile. Her hair, as black as her silky, sheer wrapper, was piled on her head in a casual, sensual pile. Hawk longed to slide the robe from her shoulders and just suck on her long, gorgeous neck for a few hours.

  Instead, he motioned around the room and asked, “Is this for me?”

  She laughed. “Of course! Please, sit down.”

  He took the chair she motioned to and she sat beside him. “I wanted to do something special tonight. I hope you don’t mind that I excused your servants.”

  He shook his head as one of her men revealed hot bowls of soup from beneath metal covers. “Of course not. I like that you’ve made these elaborate plans for me. Though I do wonder at your motives.” He tossed her a wink and she returned a saucy one of her own.

  “My motives are clear enough, aren’t they?” she asked with innocence he knew not to trust.

  “Never,” he laughed. “I never know what you’re thinking, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Reaching out, he caught her hand with his own and held it up to his lips. He darted his tongue out to caress the sensitive webbing between her fingers and was rewarded by her gasp and the very obvious hardening of her nipples beneath the thin, gauzy wrap.

  “I-I suppose I’m glad to keep you off balance if that’s what you like,” she said with a coy smile. But beneath the expression, he saw how much he affected her. For a woman with such vast experience with lovers, her reactions remained disingenuous and spontaneous. Hawk loved that dichotomy. It was a fleeting glimpse of her true self.

  As the footmen presented the next course of their meal, he watched Bianca. Tonight she was different. Her beauty in her simple hairstyle and scandalously sheer wrap was amazing. But beyond that, he was being treated to a taste of her gentility. She was the perfect hostess as she served him wine and quietly directed her footmen about courses and other matters. It gave Hawk a glimpse of the lady she still was beneath her untamed and wanton exterior.

  The lady she surrendered in trade for a life of shocking sensuality. But her gentility came so easily it was clear she once planned for a more traditional life. Her open, sexually charged existence with Oscar had probably shocked the proper girl she’d once been. Slowly, she had surrendered her own dreams. Her own plans.

  And found whatever power she could in her body.

  But watching her, he found he liked the lady as much as he liked the wild woman who swept into his life like a storm at sea.

  “You went out today?” he asked, allowing himself to pretend, just for a moment, that they were a normal couple sharing their supper.

  Her fork faltered on its way to her plate, but she recovered quickly. “Yes. My father demanded my presence.”

  Hawk frowned at the sudden nervous tension in her expression. Though he knew very few details, it was clear the relationship between Bianca and her father was terribly strained. Even more obvious was how much that strain wounded her.

  He touched her hand lightly. “It’s difficult, I know.”

  She smiled and it softened the lines of her face. “Yes. You do know. You and your father were at odds before his death, weren’t you? And you avoid your brother at all costs. Oscar once told me you refuse to go to parties if you discover Landon will be there.”

  Hawk nodded though the mention of his older brother sent a shot of angry pain through him. Since their father’s death three years ago, Landon had taken over both his father’s title and his contempt of Hawk. The two rarely spoke except when forced into the same room by their mother, who loved them and wanted to see them reconcile. Hawk didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t cope with his brother’s overbearing opinions and orders.

  Landon didn’t seem to understand Hawk had made himself into an independent man. He no longer bowed to the Hawkins purse strings. His brother’s highhanded disapproval often spurned Hawk to seek out activities that shocked his brother’s high and mighty sensibilities.

  Still, he sometimes longed for the days of their youth, when the brothers had been friends.

  “I would hate to see you go through such an estrangement,” Hawk said with a sigh. “Especially since your father and brothers obviously love you a great deal.”

  “They told you that while making threats on your life at Lady Langley’s party, no doubt,” she said in a dry tone.

  Hawk laughed. “You know them well.”

  Her smile fell inexplicably. “Yes, too well. They are misguided in their belief that I need their protection. And my family will do anything to keep me under their wing.” She seemed to go to a faraway place for a long moment. “Anything.”

  Hawk wrinkled his brow. He hated to see that
quiver in her lower lip and the distance in her eyes. More than anything, he wanted to take both away.

  “After you saw your family, did you do anything else?” he asked in an attempt to change the obviously painful subject.

  Bianca’s eyes came back in sharp focus on his face. “No,” she snapped a little louder than he’d expected.

  Hawk arched an eyebrow. “Visiting old lovers, were we?” he teased, though the thought of such a thing stung him.

  Her smile was brittle. “You know me better than that, Hawk. I am a faithful mistress… unless my lover wishes me to make love with another.”

  His eyes fluttered shut at that thought. How could Oscar have watched his wife in bed with another man and find that arousing? Observing Bianca as she found pleasure was one of the greatest aphrodisiacs in the world. Hawk was growing more addicted to it every day, every hour. But he didn’t know that he could bring himself to share her with anyone else.

  “I don’t wish that of you,” he murmured as he looked at her through heavy lids.

  “Good,” she whispered.

  The quiver in her tone drew Hawk’s attention. Her demeanor when she told her story about her sexual adventures with Oscar and other lovers had implied she didn’t mind. But her expression now belied that assertion.

  Bianca wanted faithfulness.

  And that gave him enormous hope.

  With her slight nod, the footmen cleared away the rest of their plates. She leaned back in her chair. “Did you get enough?”

  Hawk stirred as he looked at her from head to toe. In the firelight he saw the faint outline of her nipples through her dressing gown and the darker shadow of the soft hair between her legs. His body lurched with excitement he could no longer control.

  “To eat?” He leaned forward to set a hand on the gentle slope of her knee.

  She swallowed hard at the passing graze of his touch. “Yes.”

  “Of food, yes.” He gave her a suggestive smile she very clearly understood, by the way her body stirred in response.

  “And to drink?”

  He tilted his head. Why the inquisition?

  “Yes,” he said slowly.

  “Very good.” She motioned over her shoulder to the three footmen who still stood in wait at the door. “Tom, Richard, Andrew, will you please finish here?”

  Hawk opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, the three men crossed the room like lightening and grabbed him. They wrenched his arms back as Hawk barked out a curse and struggled against the unexpected and unprovoked attack.

  “What the hell is this?” he howled as they hauled him off the chair. His foot caught the edge of the table and it flipped, sending dishes and wine clattering across the floor. Bianca barely leapt out of the way as she hurried to her feet.

  The men yanked him toward the bed. Hawk fought as hard as he could, but he was no match for the three of them together.

  “Bianca!” he barked, but her face remained immoveable except for a tiny, knowing smile. She folded her arms and suddenly everything became shockingly, painfully clear.

  “Strip him, if you would,” she ordered as calmly as if she’d only asked the men to bring them another bottle of wine.

  Hawk bellowed in rage, but in a matter of moments, he’d been stripped to his bare ass and thrown onto the bed. He kicked and attempted to throw a few punches, but none of them even approached an effective defense as the footmen easily dodged his wild blows.

  “The ties.” Bianca almost sounded bored as she said the last two words.

  Hawk’s eyes widened as they flew to the bedposts. He hadn’t noticed when he came in, but there were four velvet ropes, one on each post. With a few turns and twists, the men bound his wrists and ankles, then stood up and backed away, leaving him spread helplessly across his bed.

  Bianca nodded with grim determination. “He’s secure?”

  “Yes, my lady,” one of her goons said with a grin in Hawk’s direction. “He ain’t goin’ no where until you let him.”

  “Thank you, gentlemen. You may collect this mess and go. And tell the others I won’t require their service any more tonight. As soon as you’ve finished here, you may return home.”

  “Thank you, my lady.”

  Bianca stood at the foot of the bed watching Hawk as the servants collected the plates and empty bottles scattered on the floor.

  Hawk resisted the urge to fight. He refused to show strangers that he was incensed by his helplessness. Even if he could loosen his ties, with them still in the room he would be quickly corralled and back in the same position. It was best to wait and let Bianca be the recipient of his frustration and the punishment he would dole out as soon as he was free.

  Finally, the door closed and they were alone. Bianca’s little smile stole Hawk’s composure and he growled in frustration.

  “What is this?” he bellowed.

  She stepped closer, her eyes moving over him. Her expression was greedy, like a child suddenly let loose in a sweet shop without supervision. His anger bled away, replaced by a titillation that swelled his cock against his will.

  Bianca glanced down at his lengthening member with a wider smile. “I think that’s obvious, my dear,” she murmured. Her tone was low and husky. It struck a chord in Hawk’s body that made him stiffen even further.

  She placed one finger on the coverlet beside him and ran a fingernail parallel to his leg. Hawk squirmed as he leaned toward her. His body ached for her touch.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he repeated, but the heat in his voice was no longer the fire of anger.

  “I am finally having my way,” she whispered. “You wouldn’t give it to me, so I’ve been forced to take it.”

  He watched in fascination as she slowly untied the knot on her wrap. She opened it bit by bit until it slipped off her shoulders to fall in a pool at her feet. Hawk gasped. He had seen her naked many times since their wager began. Each time her body still aroused him and her beauty still moved him.

  By this point in most of his conquests he was tired of the women in his bed. Not Bianca. If anything, he felt like he was only at the cusp of discovering her secrets. And he wanted more.

  “Bianca,” he whispered.

  She reached out and pressed two fingers against his lips as she crawled up on the bed to straddle his chest. The moist heat of her pussy gave his stomach a humid kiss and he hissed out pleasure as her thighs tightened around his sides.

  “Shhh,” she murmured as she carefully removed the pins from her hair. It fell around them like a black cloud, teasing his sensitive skin and filling his senses with exotic scent. “I wouldn’t want to gag you, as well. No more arguments. I’m in control tonight.”

  Hawk growled as she slowly slid down his body, but it turned to a harsh moan when she let her nether lips pass over his swollen erection. The wet heat of her grasped him temporarily, then left him cold and throbbing as she glided between his legs.

  Bianca looked up at him, meeting his eyes with a stare of blue heat. She dipped her head and licked the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. Hawk bit his lip to keep from crying out. Bianca wasn’t going to have all the control.

  “Mmm,” she murmured. “You are delicious and I didn’t have any dessert.” She arched an eyebrow at his pained expression. “Do you know what I’m going to do?”

  His lips thinned as she started massaging his hips gently.

  “Ask me,” she ordered.

  “What are you going to do?” he ground out through clenched teeth.

  “First I’m going to suck your cock until you can’t control yourself and you come. Then I’m going to make you hard again and ride you.” Her breath came short and her eyes never left his. “And you won’t be able to do anything about it because tonight you are mine to do with as I please. And before the night is over… you will be the one begging.”

  He shut his eyes as her hot breath came down on his cock, followed by her wet lips. Grasping the base, she let her tongue glide over the head, swirling
the sensitive peak with long licks. Hawk couldn’t stop from groaning with pleasure. She smiled against his cock and went back to work in earnest.

  He shivered when she took him deeply into her throat, then worked him back to the head over and over. Her rhythm was slow and steady, meant to take him to the edge, but keep him from going over until she was ready for his seed.

  When she gently nipped his cock, Hawk jumped and strained against the velvet binds. To his surprise, one of them loosened just a fraction.

  All the binds had been tied tightly except one. With a few subtle tugs, he could easily be free.

  Bianca rolled her tongue around and around the shaft of his swollen penis. Hawk bit back a cry. Her mouth felt so good on him. If he stayed bound, he could surrender. The rewards of her skillful tongue and lips would be many. He had no doubt she would follow through on her promise to drain him, then bring him to a ready state again.

  With difficulty, he opened his eyes and looked down at Bianca. Her eyes were closed and her hips thrust in time with her mouth as she pinioned her head up and down in slow rhythm on his cock. Her nipples were dark and hard. She was as excited by pleasuring him as he was.

  It was a tempting prospect. Yet in the end, his surrender could mean his downfall. Both in their wager and beyond. The last thing he wanted to do was prove to her that all her power came through sex.

  If only he could be strong a little longer, the rewards would be much higher. As his mistress, he would enjoy not only the pleasures of her body, but spend more time in her arms and in her life.

  Ultimately, the moment’s pure pleasure could wait until he had won her.

  He tugged on the loose rope surreptitiously, straining as she worked him ever closer to completion with her sure, wet licks. Hawk’s vision began to blur as his seed moved within him, straining to burst into her hot mouth.

  With a cry, he yanked the bind free.

  Bianca’s head came up with a gasp. She let out a little scream as he used his free hand to wrench away the three other binds. She scrambled off the bed and nearly fell on her shapely rear end. But Hawk was already off the bed, right at her heels and ready to dole out the punishment that most definitely fit her crime.