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Suzette sighed and shifted restlessly on the bed, her fingers moving to clasp his head now that his chest was denied her. When he then moved on to worship her breasts, she moaned. An ache began between her thighs and her legs began to tremble. Suzette could only think it was a good thing she wasn't standing because she didn't think her legs would have held her up.
"Daniel," she groaned, tugging on his hair as he nipped and suckled at first one nipple and then the other. The sensations he was stirring were still too new for her to take for long and she wanted him to stop and kiss her again, but this time he ignored her silent demand and instead, his mouth continued its exploration, dropping to lick the underside of her breast before trailing kisses across her stomach.
"Oh," she gasped, giving up on his hair and grabbing for the blankets she lay on for fear she would hurt him by pulling too hard on his hair. When he reached the line of her gown where it rested at her waist, Daniel ran his tongue along the flesh just above it, setting her stomach muscles jumping. Suzette twisted her head to the side and back, clawing and tugging at the blankets. She sighed with relief when he gave up that torture and rose up. Suzette thought at first that he would return to kissing her and she desperately wanted that, but instead he shifted down by her legs and began to ease her skirts up her calves.
Suzette simply stared at him. Daniel, in turn, sat on his haunches, watching her as he skimmed the material upward. He moved it all the way to her knees and then suddenly stopped and clasped the ankle of her left leg to lift it off the bed. When he then pressed a kiss to the outside of her ankle, she swallowed and licked her suddenly dry lips, but then gasped in surprise when he suddenly lifted her ankle over his head to bring it down on the other side so that he could kiss and nibble the inside of her ankle. The action made her gown slide even further down her legs so that it now pooled high on her thighs, leaving the rest of her legs naked and barely covering her core, but Suzette bit her lip and didn't protest, merely tightening her fingers in the blankets as he began to nibble his way along her calf toward her knee.
When Daniel paused to lick the crease behind her knee, she jerked on the bed in surprise at the tingle that sent shooting through her. Suzette was almost relieved when he set that leg back on the bed, but he set it down to the side of him, leaving her laying with her legs splayed and he between them. In the next moment, he'd shifted to lie on his stomach and begun to nibble and lick at her other ankle and calf.
Suzette bit her lip harder and raised her head to peer down at him, feeling ridiculously vulnerable all of a sudden. That feeling didn't go away when this time his lips continued past her knee and burned a trail up one thigh.
"Daniel?" she breathed uncertainly.
"Shh," he breathed against her thigh and nipped lightly, before whispering, "Let me show you it wasn't the punch."
"I think I know it's not the punch alread-- Oh!" Suzette cried out and clutched desperately at the blankets as he slid a hand up and pressed it against the core of her as he continued to nibble his way toward it. She didn't even notice that he was using his arm and face to urge her legs wider apart, until he suddenly withdrew his hand to press it against first one thigh as his other hand came up to press against the second. Suzette glanced down again then, startled to realize that her skirt now lay across her stomach with the bodice of the gown, leaving her completely bared to him, and then she watched in shock as he ducked his head between her spread thighs and began to do things she was sure the church wouldn't approve of.
Suzette lost the ability to speak then. Dropping back on the bed, she bucked her hips and writhed like a wild thing under the unbearable pleasure.
Daniel merely tightened his grip on her thighs, holding them firm as he licked and laved and sucked, drawing mewls and gasps, moans and groans. She began to make a high keening sound as the pleasure he was wringing from her mounted, and instinctively drew some blanket into her mouth and bit down to muffle the sound. But her hips instinctively rotated and bucked as she rode the waves he caused. When she next felt something pushing into her, Suzette spat out the blanket on a cry, her body arching and bowing on the bed as a rush of pleasure exploded through her that was so intense she felt sure she was dying.
As the shattering gave way to less extreme waves of pulsing pleasure, Daniel rose up and began to shift up beside her. Suzette hardly noticed until he bent over her and claimed her lips. She was still experiencing pulses of pleasure when his hand replaced his mouth and he continued to stroke her, his fingers dancing over her damp skin and then sliding inside her and withdrawing and then sliding into her again as he thrust his tongue into her mouth.
Suzette groaned, and clasped him tightly around the shoulders as a new pleasure began to build in her even as the old waves receded. As excited as she was, it was only moments before she was crying out and shuddering again as she was carried away on another explosion of pleasure. This time Daniel didn't continue to caress her, but slid his hand from between her legs and held her close as she rode out the waves riding over her.
It seemed a long time before the rush became a slow occasional pulse, and then Suzette opened her eyes and found him staring down at her silently, a curiously gentle expression on his face.
"It wasn't the punch," he said solemnly.
"No," she agreed.
"And you would not experience it with just any man," he assured her firmly.
Suzette smiled faintly at the combination of haughtiness and anger in his voice, and murmured, "Then I guess it is good you agreed to marry me. I should be very disappointed to spend a lifetime with a husband who did not make me burn as you do. You have ruined me for all others."
An expression she couldn't name flitted across his face and then Daniel bent his head to kiss her again, this one sweet and slow rather than demanding and passionate. Suzette kissed him back, but that expression she'd caught now troubled her and she realized that while he had given her pleasure not once, but twice, he was still unsatisfied, his hardness pressing against her leg. It did seem unfair to her and she suddenly twisted on the bed. Daniel had laid one leg across her nearer thigh to keep her legs open as he caressed her, but now she threw her free leg over his and pressed her breasts against his chest even as she reached between them to find his hardness.
The moment she touched him, Daniel broke their kiss and growled, "No."
"But--"
"No," he said sternly. "This was for you. I'll not take your innocence."
"We are marrying. It is yours to take," Suzette pointed out, and then squeezed him insistently. "Besides, I want to feel you inside me. And I can feel that you want me."
Daniel remained completely still for a moment, and then suddenly released her and rolled away to get up.
"Daniel?"
Gritting his teeth, Daniel hurried to collect his vest and jacket and refused to turn and look at Suzette. He was holding on to his control by a very thin thread. If he turned and saw her there all tossled and sated, her gown twisted around her waist, he knew damned right well that control would snap. There would be no way to keep from doing what his body was aching for and bury himself deep in all that damp passion he'd brought about.
He had been an idiot for starting this in the first place, Daniel acknowledged as he quickly buttoned his vest and then pulled on his jacket. It was his damned pride that had made him decide he had to show her it wasn't the punch, and that not just any man could bring about this state. But he should have known better. After all, did they not say pride went before a fall? Like an idiot, he'd gone through with the urge, never considering the strain it would put on him. Or maybe he just hadn't wanted to. Maybe in his secret heart of hearts Daniel had hoped something would happen to break that control so he could finally claim her and find his release. Fortunately, Suzette had brought up the bit about marrying her and Daniel still had a sliver of conscience left. She was his best friend's sister-in-law, or would be once Christiana and Richard married. He was in his best friend's home and she was a noblewoman, not to be trifled with. Until he made up his mind to marry her . . .
Daniel grimaced at the half-baked thought. Who was he kidding? At this point, if it were legally possible, he'd grab the first priest off the street, drag him up here to marry them and then be buried inside the woman before the door had quite closed behind the man. Suzette was fire in human form, her body hot and liquid in his arms, her responses to him honest and unrestrained. He'd had several mistresses over the years, a few of whom Daniel had thought wonderful lovers, and they had been. Practiced and technically impeccable, they'd milked him of passion with a skill that spoke of experience but, he now saw, little real passion.
Suzette was different, her responses were honest, her need real not feigned to jolly the exercise along, and that passion in her had called out to his own. Feeling her tremble with excitement had excited him, tasting her passion had made his own hunger stretch and roar, and just watching her find her release had nearly brought on his own. He wanted to possess that, and if it took marriage to do it, then dammit, Gretna Green here he came.
"Daniel."
He stiffened and felt his jaw drop as she suddenly stood before him, completely naked, apparently having shed the gown he'd all but removed himself. Daniel had been struggling with his cravat as he'd thought, but now she brushed his hands away and took the ends as if to manage the task for him. However, she paused and peered up at him solemnly instead.
"It is very chivalrous of you not to want to take my virginity, and I do understand and think it's honorable, but in one of the books I've read, they wrote of a way I could give you the same pleasure you gave me without you actually putting your maypole in me."
"What the devil have you been reading?" Daniel got out in a choked voice as his erection jumped eagerly in his trousers.
Suzette grinned at his expression, but then leaned up to kiss him, one hand drawing his cravat back off as she reached down with the other to caress him through his trousers. Groaning, he started to kiss her back, but then stilled as the sound of men's voices came muffled through the door. Breaking their kiss, he urged her away to a safe distance and held her there with his hands on her upper arms as he turned to peer toward the door with alarm. It sounded like Richard and Langley in the hall, headed in the direction of the master bedroom. He frowned briefly, wondering what the devil Richard was doing, and then shook his head as he wondered what the devil he himself was doing. Really he had to start thinking with something other than his manhood. Though he suspected that wasn't likely to happen until he'd sated the damned thing.
Grimacing, he turned back to Suzette and sighed with defeat. She was impossible to resist and he had been fooling himself to think that he could spend time getting to know her before satisfying his desire for her. Truly, she was like a house on fire in the midst of a hurricane, sucking him into her winds and burning him up all at once. All his good intentions and sensible decisions were nothing against the temptation she presented.
"Get dressed," he said firmly, turning her away and urging her toward the bed and the discarded dress lying there. "We will head to Gretna Green as soon as we can."
"But--" Suzette tried to turn back, her gaze on the bulge in his trousers, but he turned her firmly away again.
"I shall survive until we are wed," he assured her dryly, though that was debatable. The woman was driving him insane, Daniel acknowledged and then glanced down at himself with disgust and moved to the window. Opening it, he leaned out briefly to inhale several deep breaths meant to calm himself before joining the others, but truly a basin of cold water poured on his groin would have been more useful. Sighing, he closed the window and turned back to find Suzette back in her dress and struggling to do it up. Leaving the window, Daniel moved to help her, quickly doing up her stays.
"You'd best brush your hair," he murmured as he finished. "I shall be downstairs when you are presentable."
Leaving her then, Daniel turned and crossed the room. He slid out into the hall with more haste than thought and was pulling the door closed before checking to see if the corridor was empty. It wasn't. Richard was presently locking the master bedroom door, and while there was no sign of Christiana, Langley was with him. Daniel suspected this meant that both Christiana and Robert Langley now knew the particulars of what was going on. That was a relief of a sort. A secret like that was almost impossible to keep and they now had allies to aid in keeping it.
"I think perhaps you're right," Richard commented as he finished locking the door and straightened. "I will talk to Daniel and see if he can come up with any faults in the plan."
Straightening his shoulders, Daniel started toward them, asking, "Faults in what plan?"
Both men turned his way.
"Where did you come from, Woodrow?" Langley asked abruptly, his eyes narrowing suspiciously and moving to the door to Suzette's room.
"Oh . . . I . . . er . . ." Daniel waved back along the hall, but came to an abrupt halt as he heard a door open behind him.
"Daniel! Daniel, you forgot your cravat."
He turned sharply at that loud whisper to see Suzette hurrying for the stairs, apparently thinking he'd headed straight below.
Daniel rolled his eyes with a sigh, and then said sharply, "Suzette!"
She came to a shuddering halt, and glanced back, eyes widening as she spotted him, Richard and Langley in the hall.
"Oh." She turned slowly to face them and waved back toward the stairs, but then quickly jerked her hand behind her back as she noted the cravat waving about. "I was just going downstairs."
Richard made a sound that was half cough and half laugh behind him which drew an immediate scowl from Suzette. She then heaved an exasperated sigh, stomped the small distance to Daniel, shoved the cravat at him, and simply whirled away to march silently off up the hall.
Daniel quickly tied his cravat in its intricate knot around his neck, but his gaze was on Suzette as she went and a smile was trying to claim his lips. Any other woman would have been mortified at what had just happened. She however was annoyed and even exasperated. There was nothing usual about Suzette Madison. If nothing else, she would certainly keep him entertained the rest of his days, and not just in the bedchamber. Somewhat reassured by that thought, Daniel turned back to Richard and Langley as he finished with his cravat, and then grimaced when he saw Langley's glowering look.
"We are getting married," he announced at once to forestall any outraged accusations the man might be nurturing at that moment.
"You've decided for certain, have you?" Richard sounded amused.
"I am not sure that is the correct phrasing for it," Daniel admitted with a wry smile. "It would be more fitting to say I have bowed to the inevitable. The woman is a force of nature."
"That she is," Langley agreed, appearing to relax. "So, when is the trip to Gretna Green to occur? I should like to accompany you."
"The sooner the better," Daniel decided grimly. "If Suzette jumps out and drags me into one more room, I cannot guarantee she will reach Gretna as pure as she is now, and she is already less pure today than she was yesterday."
Chapter Seven
They're going to be very, very angry."
Daniel noted the way Richard grimaced at Robert's prediction, but held his own tongue. He was pretty sure Langley was right and the women would be angry at their defection, but then he wasn't too pleased about it himself at the moment.
It was nearly midnight the day after he'd encountered Langley and Richard in the hall. As he'd suspected, Christiana and Robert Langley now knew about George and all he'd done. Taking everything into account, the men had decided to head to Gretna Green at once and had immediately joined the women in the parlor to make the announcement. The suggestion had been met with horror and the assurance that "they couldn't possibly!" What the men hadn't considered was that the women would want to look nice for their weddings. They'd insisted they needed the rest of the day to pack and that they couldn't possibly go without their maids.
Rather than the swift journey in one carriage that the men had planned on, they had ended leaving the next morning, that morning in fact, with three carriages to carry the six of them, as well as the girls' maids and several chests. Three of the chests contained dresses, one held clothes for all three men, and one held George's body.
With such a large party, they had started the journey at a desultory pace, planning on stopping for meals and to take rooms at night to sleep. It would have ensured probably four days of travel to get to Gretna Green. Daniel hadn't minded that so much. While he'd basically decided to marry Suzette, he'd still welcomed the opportunity to get to know her a little better beforehand. However, he'd quickly learned he wouldn't get that opportunity. During this first morning of the journey, Christiana and Richard had ridden in the lead Radnor carriage while Daniel and Suzette had ridden in the Woodrow carriage behind it with Lisa and Langley as chaperones. Langley's carriage had followed at the rear of the small caravan, holding the maids.
However, Daniel's hopes of getting to know Suzette better hadn't come to fruition that morning. Langley had been decidedly quiet during that portion of the ride, giving grunts and one-syllable answers to Lisa's efforts to speak to him, so she'd turned to speak to Suzette instead, and Daniel had been left mostly to listen to their chatter. He supposed he'd learned a little more about her through the conversation he'd witnessed, but it wasn't the same as actually talking to her himself as they'd done in her room. Daniel would have liked to have asked questions about her childhood and got her talking about it. He had revealed what he felt was a great deal of his own experiences growing up and now wanted to hear hers, but that hadn't happened. Instead, when they'd returned to the carriages after a stop for lunch at Stevanage, the girls had decided to ride with Christiana in the first carriage, leaving Richard to join the men in the second one.
