Earl Lessons by Valerie Bowman

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hope and lust flared in David’s chest. “Are you certain, Annabelle?” He searched her face. She needed to be sure beyond any doubt.

“I’ve never been more certain about anything. There’s only one thing I ask…” She bit her lip.

“What’s that, love?” He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear and traced his finger along the line of her cheek.

“I cannot get with child.”

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll make sure.” It stood to reason that she would ask such a thing. Their wedding might not be for months, and a scandal would ensue if a baby came too soon.

She nodded, relief washing over her features.

That was enough. David allowed the lust to win. He was going to make love with Annabelle. First, he reached behind her and unbuttoned her gown. Then he slowly untied the sash. Next, he helped her pull the gown over her head, so she was standing in front of him with only a chemise and stockings. She’d already kicked off her slippers.

He let his gaze roam over her. “You’re gorgeous, Annabelle. Do you know that?”

“So are you,” she said with the hint of a smile on her face. She reached up and placed a hand on his rough cheek.

He leaned down and gently kissed her lips, but Annabelle clearly didn’t want things to be gentle. She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him with abandon. David reached down to pull her chemise over her head. She helped him and the garment was soon discarded on the floor.

David sucked in his breath. The sight of Annabelle clad only in her stockings would be burned in his memory forever. Her body was lithe and slender. Her legs long. Her breasts, supple and perfectly rounded. She looked like Venus having just emerged from the seashell.

Annabelle pulled the pins from her coiffure and placed them on the table beside the bed. Then she shook out her long blond hair so that fell in thick waves over her shoulders. He watched, in awe of her beauty.

“Take off your breeches,” she ordered after allowing his gaze to roam over her thoroughly.

“With pleasure, my lady.” He unbuttoned the fall of the garment, and pulled them down to his ankles, where he kicked them off.

It was Annabelle’s turn to look at him. “You’re gorgeous, David,” she breathed. Stepping forward, she placed her hand on his chest and moved it along the muscles of his flat abdomen where the skin jumped in reflex to her touch.

He closed his eyes briefly, allowing her to caress him. Her hand slipped down between his legs, and she closed her fist over his cock. David sucked in his breath. He clutched the canopy post, bracing himself against the unholy surge of desire that nearly brought him to his knees.

He had to control his breathing and his body’s reaction to her or he’d embarrass himself tonight, and all he wanted to do was make it special for her. So special. He allowed her to squeeze him inexpertly at first, but learning fast. Too fast. He plucked her hand away. He lifted her in his arms and laid her gingerly on the bed. Then he climbed in after her and lowered himself atop her. They kissed and rolled until they were in the center of the mattress.

“Please tell me I can take these stockings off of you,” he growled, his cock so hard it ached.

“Please do.” She pushed herself up, bracing against her wrists, giving him a seductive look from beneath her lashes.

David intended to enjoy every moment of this. He moved his hands down the soft plane of her belly, skimming over her womanhood, before caressing the outsides of her thighs. He started at the scalloped edge of the stocking, licking his lips, before reaching out and rolling it down her thigh, inch by silken inch.

Annabelle pulled up her knee to give him better access, but David took his time, moving the stocking down her leg, trailing his hot fingertips along with it.

* * *

Annabelle lether head fall back, her hair skimming the mattress behind her. She stared at the canopy and just allowed herself to feel David’s strong hands on her quivering thighs. He was going so slowly it was driving her mad. When he finally pulled the first stocking off her foot, she lifted her head and met his dark-blue gaze. His eyes had turned into deep pools. His jaw was hard, and his cheekbones pronounced in the soft candlelight.

She watched him this time as he went about removing the second stocking with the same excruciating slowness. “Are you trying to torture me?” she asked, panting a little in anticipation.

“How did you guess?” he replied, his tongue flicking out to lick his bottom lip.

She groaned in the back of her throat.

When the second stocking was off, he balled them both together and tossed them high over his shoulder. Annabelle couldn’t help but laugh when one of them landed on the edge of the canopy, hanging from it.

They were both completely nude now and stared at each other in awe, their gazes skimming each other’s bodies to take in every inch.

“Can I touch you, David?”

“God, yes.”

Annabelle reached up and caressed his chest, moving her hand down along his abdomen again. David closed his eyes.

“What does it feel like when I touch you?” she asked breathlessly.

“Torture,” he replied, opening his eyes again. “Can I touch you now, please?” The side of his mouth quirked up. “With my tongue?”

Her eyes flared. What precisely did he mean by that? She wasn’t entirely certain, but she desperately wanted to find out.

“Yes,” she breathed.

David pushed her gently down on the mattress and covered her with his body. Then he kissed her lips, her cheeks, her ear, her neck. He nuzzled down to her collarbone and hefted each breast in his hand, sucking the nubs and gently biting them. Annabelle’s back arched off the mattress. She pulled at his shoulders, wanting more.

He lavished first one nipple then the next with his rough tongue, sucking just enough to make her core ache. Her legs moved fitfully against the sheets. Her hands tangled in his hair. When he began to move lower, kissing her belly, her breath caught in her throat.

“What are you doing?” Her voice was hoarse.

“Kissing you…everywhere.”

She gulped, her breaths coming so hard it hurt.

His head moved lower, and he wrapped his arms around her thighs, pulling them apart gently. Annabelle forgot to breathe.

David’s tongue nudged between the folds of her sex, finding the same nub of pleasure he’d found last night. Only this time, he licked it. He sucked it into his mouth and nibbled it ever-so-lightly with his teeth. Then he brushed his tongue over it again.

Annabelle was mindless. Her legs turned to water, and she clutched at his dark head. She glanced down to see his mouth working between her legs and whimpered. If she’d thought last night had been unforgettable, tonight was going to break her.

David’s tongue settled into a pattern of stroking her in tiny circles again and again all while his strong arms kept her thighs locked in place. His tongue flicked out again and again to torture her and she arched her back again, bracing against her wrists once more.

Her eyes rolled back, and her breathing hitched as he kept up the gentle assault with his tongue until her thighs tensed and her knees quivered and she cried out, clutching at his head, wanting him to come up and kiss her, while spasms rocked her body.

David licked her until her tremors subsided before obliging her by moving up her body and kissing her deeply.

She moaned into his mouth, tasting herself on his tongue.

He parted her legs and moved his hand down between her thighs. “Do you know how wet you are?”

She nodded.

“Wet and ready for me.”

Her eyes went wide but she nodded again. “Take me, David.”

* * *

David positionedhimself between her legs and nudged gently into her wet warmth. It was unholy torture moving so slowly, but he remained determined to make this good for her. He slid into her an inch and stopped. “Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

“You’re not.” Her arms were locked around his neck.

He nodded, sweat beading on his brow. He nudged in another inch, this time using the expression on her face to gauge whether she was enjoying it.

He inched in again. “You’re all right?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Take me.”

David’s resistance broke. He pushed into her all the way, expelling his breath in a rush, then groaning. She felt so damn good, hot, and wet, and so tight she clutched his cock like a vise.

Her eyes flew wide, but a smile soon appeared on her face and she wrapped her arms around his neck harder.

“I want you, Annabelle,” he groaned. “I want you so damn bad.”

She lifted her knees to press against his hips. He pulled out and plunged back in, his hips pumping into her. “I want you. So. Damn. Bad.” Each word was another thrust and each time he thrust she moaned, the sound like music to his ears.

David thrust into her again and again, the feeling so raw and intense he had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from coming. He’d promised her that there would be no child, and he would keep that promise.

He allowed himself a few more strokes, just a few more moments to experience the unholy perfection of being inside of her. Then, he pulled out and flung himself back on the pillows beside her, breathing so heavily, he thought his heart might burst from his chest.

Annabelle’s eyes flew wide, and she leaned up on one arm to look at him. “Was that…? Did you…?”

David took her other hand and placed it over her heart. “Do you see what you’ve done to me?”

A frown wrinkled her brow. “But did you…? Feel the same way I did?”

She was asking him if he’d had an orgasm, and going about it in the most adorable fashion. “Annabelle,” he breathed. “There are many ways to make love. That is only one of them.”

“But you didn’t…” Her voice trailed off and her cheeks turned pink. She buried her head against her shoulder.

He cleared his throat. “If I had…ahem…finished, it’s possible you would end up with child.”

Annabelle peeked out one eye. “Oh. I suppose I didn’t hear that part when I was listening at the door as Lady Courtney was telling Marianne about it.”

David’s eyes flew wide. “What?”

She kept her nose pressed to his shoulder. “I wanted to know how it worked, so I listened at the door.”

“And you learned what exactly?” he asked tentatively.

“Enough to know that it was a lot like the horses at Bellingham Hall, but clearly not enough to know how a baby is created.”

Despite his still-labored breathing, David chuckled. He leaned up on his arm and kissed her forehead. “Promise me you won’t ever change, my darling.”

Annabelle frowned at that. “But David, you still need to…”

David had flopped back onto the mattress. He eyed her from the corners of his eyes.

“You said there are many ways to make love.” Her cheeks were pink again, but she held his gaze.

“So I did.” He glanced down at his cock, still standing at attention, more than ready.

“Show me,” she said, leaning over him and kissing his lips. “Tell me what to do.”

David stared up at the canopy for a few moments. Was it the proper thing to do to teach one’s future wife what he had in mind? Probably not, but in this case, he was the tutor, and she was the pupil. What a heavenly turn of events.

“Are you certain?” he asked, praying she said yes, but perfectly willing to stop if she had any doubts.

“Yes.” She nodded.

He said a brief prayer of thankfulness before he let his hands drop on either side of his hips atop the sheets. “Very well.” Nearly panting in anticipation, he tried to control his voice. “There are at least two other things we can do that would produce the same result without creating a child.”

She leaned toward him, eyes wide, clearly interested in the topic. Thank Christ.

“What things?” she asked.

He closed his eyes and expelled his breath. “The first is…you can…touch me.”

“Touch you?” she repeated.

“Yes. Take me in your hand, the same way you did when I first took off my breeches.”

“Ooh!” Her eyes became even wider. Then a sly smile covered her face, and she moved her hand down his bare abdomen until she wrapped her fist around his length.

David swallowed and opened his eyes again. He was slowly breathing in and out, trying not to lose his mind.

“Like this?” she asked.

“Yes,” he groaned. “Exactly like that.”

“Now what? Should I squeeze it?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Str…stroke it.”

When Annabelle began slowly moving her hand up and down his cock, David stopped breathing. He fisted his hands in the sheets near his hips and clenched his jaw.

“Am I doing it correctly?” she asked, her voice a tentative whisper.

“So correctly,” he whispered back on a groan.

She stroked him again and again while David’s hips were captive to her hand. He thrust up into her clenched fist, while she watched in obvious awe. She stroked him again and again and again, while he bit the inside of his cheek, praying that he didn’t spill his seed in her hand.

“You said there was another thing to do,” she whispered in his ear. “What is it?” Her voice held a wicked note of debauchery.

If propriety was his goal, he was positive he shouldn’t tell her the next thing. But the overwhelming desire to see Annabelle’s full pink lips covering his cock was more than he could bear.

She stopped stroking him, waiting for his next lesson. Her hand remained wrapped around him.

“Tell me, David,” she prompted. “What else can I do?”

David briefly said another prayer before meeting her gaze and saying in hoarse whisper, “You can suck me.”

Unmistakable desire flared in her eyes as she moved to straddle him. Her knees on either side of his hips, she leaned down and kissed his mouth, then her lips moved to his cheek, his ear, his neck. Oh, God. She was doing to him exactly what he’d done to her. She ran her tongue down his chest, lightly scraping her fingernails against his nipples, before lapping at his abdomen and then going even lower.

The breath caught in David’s dry throat when her mouth hovered over his cock. He bent his neck to look down at her. It was an even more erotic sight than he’d guessed it would be. He throbbed.

She wrapped her thumb and forefinger around him before leaning down and licking just the tip. His hips nearly came off the bed. “Damn it, Annabelle. Don’t tease me.”

Her smile was sly. “Isn’t that what you did to me?”

His breath was coming in short pants. He couldn’t nod, couldn’t speak, all he could do was watch as her lips lowered over him, and she took the head of his cock fully into her mouth.

He gripped the sheets in both hands again and prayed for mercy. But when Annabelle’s mouth began moving up and down his length, every thought flew from his mind. An unrecognizable sound came from the back of his throat. It was half groan, half growl. A plea.

She stroked him with her mouth, the same way she’d done with her tongue, and David was mindless. He tried to keep his hips from moving, but they undulated on their own accord. When she began to stroke him with her hand and suck him, he reached down to pull her away. She was too fast of a learner. There was no way he wouldn’t finish if she kept at it.

Annabelle squirmed away from his arms, resisting his attempt to stop her. She lifted her lips off him and said, “I want to keep doing this until it happens.”

He eyed her warily. How much did she know? “Until what happens?”

Her mouth quirked up. “The same thing that would happen when you were inside me.”

He expelled his breath and rubbed both hands roughly through his hair. Jesus Christ. How would he ever explain this?

“Annabelle, you don’t understand. If you keep doing that, I’ll—”

“You’ll expel your seed,” she said, matter-of-factly.

David swallowed. Oh, God. He couldn’t laugh. Not now. Perhaps he should have explained all this before they began. Regardless, there was no going back now. “Yes,” he replied simply. But he wanted to be certain she understood. “In your mouth.”

“I know,” she replied, just before lowering her lips over him again.

“Holy Christ,” David breathed.

She was already sucking him again, and stroking him, too. Damn. Such. A. Quick. Learner. His bollocks tightened. His jaw locked. God. He hoped she wouldn’t regret this afterward. But when she pulled her wet lips off him and sucked his tip, before stroking down the entire length of him again, David knew it was too late. He moved one hand to the back of her head and gently grabbed a handful of her luxurious hair.

“Damn it, Annabelle,” he growled, grinding his teeth together as she slid down on him once more. “It’s too good.” He pumped himself into her mouth for the final time, his back arching, a tremendous groan ripped from his chest.

In the aftermath, he laid there, stunned. In his entire life he’d never had a climax grip him so hard. He’d wanted this woman for so long, and now that he’d had her, he only wanted more. And she was going to be his wife.

He waited for his breathing to set back to rights, while Annabelle snuggled against his chest with a grin on her face. He glanced at her twice. She didn’t look appalled. She looked…proud.

He pulled her toward him in the crook of his arm and kissed the top of her head. “That was…amazing.”

“Funny. That is the same word I would use to describe what you did to me,” she agreed. “I hope I wasn’t talking too much.”

He cracked a grin. “Love, when you touch me like that, you can talk as much as you want.”

She pushed herself up on one arm and leaned down to kiss his lips once, hard.

“I’m glad we did that,” she said, already sliding off the bed. “I’ll remember it forever.”

Warning bells sounded in the back of David’s skull as Annabelle pulled on her chemise.

He pushed himself off the bed, pulling the sheet with him to cover his hips. “The next time will be even better,” he said, watching her face carefully.

Her head snapped to face him. “Oh, no. David. This can never happen again, and of course, you mustn’t tell anyone.” She turned to stare at the bed. “Which reminds me. We should probably do something with the sheets, so the maids don’t—”

Dread poured through David’s veins like ice water. “I’ll take care of the sheets, Annabelle.” He couldn’t keep the desperation from his tone. “What do you mean ‘it can’t happen again’? You asked me to make you mine.”

“Yes, and it was…” She sighed and stretched her arms far above her head. “Lovely. But I think you’d agree that if we continue as lovers, it would only end in pain.”

He cocked his head to the side and stared at her as if she didn’t understand what she was saying. “‘Lovers’? ‘End’? I thought you’d changed your mind. I thought you wanted to marry me.”

Annabelle’s mouth snapped shut and horror doused her features. “Oh, no, David.” She shook her head so vigorously her hair flew over her shoulders. “I thought I was clear last night. I’ll never marry.”

“You only wanted me for one night?” he ground out, narrowing his eyes on her. “That’s what you meant when you said, ‘make me yours’?”

Annabelle reached out to cup his cheek, regret etched on her face. “Anything more would be too much of a risk.”

Letting the blasted bedsheet drop to the carpet, David grabbed his breeches from the floor, and pulled them on. Then he stalked over to the sideboard and poured a brandy. He downed nearly half the glass, guzzling it, before turning back to face her. “No, Annabelle. This time it’s not so simple. You’re not leaving here without telling me why. Why won’t you allow yourself to try?”

“You’re drinking?” she intoned, staring at the glass in his hand as if it were a poisonous snake.

David was so incensed by her sudden change of attitude he barely registered her words. She was trying to change the subject again and he had no intention of allowing it. He raised his voice. “Why are you so unwilling to commit to a man? Why are you so afraid of marriage?”

Annabelle’s face turned to stone. Her nostrils flared. “Just because I don’t fall at the feet of the first man who comes courting doesn’t mean I’m afraid.” Her eyes flashed ice-blue fire.

He tossed a hand in the air, and the rest of the drink down his throat. He set the glass back on the sideboard with a thud. “Oh, that’s right, you won’t fall at the feet of any man who comes courting! You just want to collect them all around your skirts.”

The moment the words passed his lips, he regretted them. But it was too late, and he was too angry to take them back.

“How dare you!” She leaned over and scooped her gown from the floor, pulling it over her head.

David came around the bed and towered over her. He was still incensed, but he didn’t want her to leave her like this, and there was still the issue of her getting back to her own bedchamber without being seen. He had to put aside his anger and help her dress at least. “Damn it, Annabelle,” he ground out as he flung up his arm to retrieve her errant stocking from the canopy.

A small cry issued from her throat and Annabelle ducked and crouched into a low ball on the floor.

David’s eyes went wide. He lowered his arm and stared down at her in disbelief. “Oh, God, Annabelle. You didn’t think—” He quickly crouched beside her, studying her face. “Please tell me you didn’t think I was going to strike you.”

“No.” Her voice shook. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “No, of course not.” She pushed herself to her feet again and took the stocking from him. He watched helplessly as she pulled on the rest of her clothing the best she could. The last few seconds played over and over in his mind. She’d denied it, but it was too late. He’d seen the look of terror in her eyes when she’d ducked. She had thought he was going to strike her. He was certain of it. He was horrified.

“Annabelle.” He reached for her, but she quickly moved away from him toward the door. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” She couldn’t leave like this. He’d never be able to live with himself. He’d scared her. He’d truly scared her. He’d seen the fear in her eyes.

Her clothes were askew. Her hair was a mess. Her gown wasn’t buttoned, and her sash wasn’t tied. But apparently, she intended to sneak back to her own room that way.

She opened the door a crack and peeked out.

“Annabelle, wait—” David called, in a last desperate attempt to get her to talk to him.

“Good-bye,” she whispered, before slipping out the door.