She clenched her teeth against her father’s voice in her head, but it would not quiet. She snapped her eyes open and her head up to find Callum staring at her with amusement dancing in his eyes, as if he’d anticipated the reaction she might have. His gaze bore into hers as he spoke. “I want to show you, to teach you what will come, because I do not believe we will want to part. Don’t question it. Don’t let the doubt your father planted in your head grow any stronger within you. The things he said are not true.”
“Introduce me, then,” she said.
“You’re absolutely sure?” His voice sounded suddenly strained with repressed emotions.
She nodded, unable to speak now with her heart hammering in her throat. He gave her a wicked grin and then bent swiftly, startling her with the suddenness of his movements, and with his arm, he delved behind her to capture her under her legs. Before she knew what was occurring, he had scooped her off her feet and up against his chest, and he was striding toward the window seat where she had reclined for the past two sennights posing for him.
He set her gently down on the edge of the window seat, and then to her shock, he came to kneel before her. There was a tingling of anticipation and uncertainty in her stomach as his eyes held hers and his hands came to her legs. He slid his hands between her knees, pushing aside the layers of clothing, and then he parted her legs.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her blood rushing in her ears so loudly that she could barely hear when he responded.
She was fairly certain he said, “Introducing you to the exquisite pleasure found when a man pays special attention to a woman’s perfect spot.”
Her brows dipped together, but whether from his words, which she didn’t quite understand, or from the fact that he had lifted her skirts with amazing speed and was tugging off the undergarments buried deep beneath the layers of silk and linen, she could not say. She wasn’t even sure she would be capable of saying her name if someone were to ask it in this moment. She rather thought she was only capable of experiencing what he was giving her.
The slide of his fingertips against her bare skin as he drew down her stockings set her on fire. The cool air hitting her most private parts as all clothing underneath her dress was stripped away sucked all the air from her lungs and jolted her heart. But when Callum gave her a smoldering glance before bending toward her and spreading her wider, her pulse felt as if it would pound right out of her body. Her knees immediately tried to close, but he held her in place with his hands. “Don’t fret, just feel.”
And then his hot breath washed over her center, tickling her inner thighs and startling her so greatly that she yelped. She gripped the edge of the window seat, staring down at his back and his neck, but his head was obscured by the mounds of blue silk he was under. “Callum!” she exclaimed, both alarmed and anticipating. “You cannot mean to—”
His fingers delved into her hair down there, and before she could get over the shock of it, his hot tongue slid to part her center. She might have protested in utter embarrassment, but any thought to do so was drowned under such exquisite heady sensations that all she could do was lean her head back against the cushion behind her, close her eyes, and moan as he licked her in long, lavish strokes that sent her spiraling into the dark world of pleasure she’d not even realized existed until meeting him.
There seemed to be a coil within her that tightened more and more each time Callum drew his tongue up and down over her sensitive flesh. At first, the strokes were slow and gentle and built a pressure within her that had her yanking her own skirts up farther so that she could find his shoulders and grip him tight, but when his tongue found a spot that seemed to be at her very center, everything in her constricted, and she was no longer satisfied to simply grip him. She pressed him closer to her as she frantically and wantonly lifted her pelvis toward him.
She wanted more. And she wanted it faster. And God above, Callum knew, because he gave her exactly what she wanted, circling that nub with faster, harder strokes that morphed into suckling, which sent a dizzying current through her. It was a feeling that controlled her. It swept her up until she was writhing and crying out his name. His hands left her thighs, slid under her buttocks, and lifted her closer, and he flicked his tongue and suckled until the current that had taken her seemed to toss her up, her senses exploding, and then wash over with wave after wave of astonishing, warm pleasure.
She felt she was adrift at sea, languid and floating, and when she finally came to herself, Callum was rising, staring at her with adoration, his breath coming fast, his jaw tense. His dark hair was disheveled, his color high, and she could hardly believe she had caused such a reaction in a man as beautiful as he was. She felt suddenly powerful, and she wanted to give as he’d given, but she hadn’t a clue where to start.
“Callum,” she said, capturing his fingers.
He leaned down and kissed her fingertips before settling himself beside her, arranging her skirts over her knees, and tugging them down for her.
“Yes?” he replied, sitting straight now. He sounded strained, and she felt certain it was because he’d not had a release as he’d provided her.
“I want to do for you what you just did for me.”
He turned fully toward her and cupped her face in his hands. “I can honestly say there has never been anything I have wanted more than what you just offered, but I better see you home.”
“What? Why?” she asked on a frown.
He pointed to the window, and she turned, shocked to see that it was dark. “I sincerely doubt your mother will welcome my suit if she discovers you’ve been sneaking off to pose for me.”
She wanted to protest, but he was right, and though her mother could be more than maddening, she was her mother, and having her accept Callum’s suit would be far more preferable than having her oppose it. Not to mention that her mother would likely hear word of the wager once the gossips of thetonrealized Callum was not simply seducing her. So reluctantly, but with anticipation for tomorrow night, she relented.
Chapter Thirteen
January 1839
Present day
London, England
Callum glanced around at the men assembled in a private room at the Orcus Society, and considered once more if he could trust them completely. Carrington was to his immediate right, and though his acquaintance with the duke years before had started poorly, it had been entirely Callum’s fault, given he had agreed to help drive Carrington and his now wife, Guinevere, apart. The shame he felt for his role in Talbot’s plot, for kissing Guinevere when he knew Carrington would see them and think she had allowed the kiss, and then pretending to pursue her when, really, Callum had been in misery over having to turn away from Constantine… Well, the shame had not dulled. It had, in fact, grown stronger now that it was coupled with the dishonor he’d heaped on himself at the asylum.
He supposed he must have been staring at Carrington because the man arched his black eyebrows at Callum. Yes, he could trust this man who had, begrudgingly at first, and then miraculously much more magnanimously, forgiven Callum, even invited Callum to his home on multiple occasions and had come to Callum’s aid when he’d been injured. Carrington was a man of honor—much more honor than Callum.
Carrington cleared his throat, and Callum shook his head, dismayed by his straying thoughts, but Carrington did not comment on it. Instead, he said, “You’ve either assembled us here for advice on how to proceed with your marriage or you’ve assembled us here for revenge.”
“You believe what I said in the church?” Callum asked, probing. He expected to have to recount the story of the carriage being attacked and then work to convince them of its truth.
