Tamed by the Earl Read online

  Jo swallowed, not sure if she was excited at the prospect or frightened by it. “Surely it would hurt, no matter how stretched a lady is?”

  “Perhaps initially. Once a man’s cock is fully inside, the pleasure replaces the pain.”

  “Have you done that with other women?”

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know… You know because you have spoken to other men who have coupled in this way.”

  “Yes.”

  “I… Did they like it?”

  “Very much.”

  “Did the woman?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “Would I?”

  “You have already proven you are willing to be…adventurous, so I believe you might, yes.”

  “Now?”

  Daniel knew how unfair he was being to tease Jo in this way, but he was unable to resist punishing her just a little for her devilment beneath his desk.

  Except he could hear the thrill of excitement underlying the uncertainty of Jo questions… “You are nowhere near experienced enough for such intimacy,” he assured her lightly as he turned her over gently before pushing her farther up the polished surface until only her legs, bent at the knees, hung over the edge of the desk.

  The curls covering her mound were already damp and her pussy fully revealed to him as he nudged her knees apart and stood between them. Her nether lips were plump and slick with her juices, her red and swollen nubbin peeping out shyly from beneath its hood, further evidence of her arousal.

  Daniel used his fingers to part those folds, wetting his digits thoroughly in her juices before concentrating his attention on stroking and squeezing her clitoris until she was writhing and groaning on the desktop, begging him to do anything that would stop the torment.

  “I did not have any breakfast this morning,” he murmured before bending down to lick and lap up the nectar now gushing freely from her sheath. At the same time his fingers touched and caressed that opening without penetration. He meant it when he said he would not take her physical virginity away from her.

  Her sexual virginity was another matter entirely, however, as Daniel lost himself completely to the art of pleasuring her in whatever way pleased her, causing those explosions of her release again and again, the entrance of her pussy contracting with each release.

  Daniel ignored the throb of his own renewed arousal as he moved up her body to pull the front of her gown down so that he might feast on her breasts. He sucked and bit the nipples until she cried out again and again, her breath becoming gasping sobs as her climaxes began to crash into one another.

  Still Daniel did not relent. Would not relent. Could not—

  “Please, Daniel. You have to stop.” Her hands grasped his arms as she tried to push him away from that punishing assault on her breasts. “Please. I can take no more,” she begged.

  —until Jo begged him to do so.

  His tongue gave one last swirl over each of her red and swollen nipples before he straightened to look at her.

  Jo’s hair had come loose from its pins and was now tangled about the dampness of her forehead and cheeks. Her eyes were feverish, her cheeks flushed. Her bottom lip was red and swollen, not from Bates’s fist, but where she had bitten it to stop herself from crying out loud at the height of her climaxes. Her breasts spilled completely out of the top of her gown, the nipples hard from the relentless ministrations of Daniel’s lips and teeth. Her legs were sprawled apart, revealing that her nether lips were just as red and swollen as those of her mouth.

  She looked totally wanton and debauched, and far too satiated to be able to move unassisted—

  Daniel’s gaze moved sharply to the window across the room as he caught a movement there from the edge of his vision.

  A face was pressed against that window, one that recoiled back the instant it was discovered watching the two of them.

  A face that Daniel easily recognized as belonging to Mickey Bates!

  Chapter 10

  “What is wrong?” Jo prompted as she saw the expression of disgust on Daniel’s face before he turned on his booted heels to march to the door. He threw it open before hurrying out into the hallway and slamming the door behind him.

  She felt so satiated, it was almost impossible for her to move. Her body protested as she attempted to sit up with the intention of straightening her clothing.

  Jo had no idea where Daniel had gone in such a hurry or how much time had passed since Bedford left the study. She had lost all track of time, caught up in a haze of pleasure and euphoria. But there was every chance the butler might return at any moment to remove the tea tray Daniel had not even touched, and he must not find her lying half-naked across Daniel’s desk if he did so.

  She finally managed to sit up and adjust the bodice of her gown before sliding to the edge of the desk. Her legs felt incapable of supporting her as she attempted to stand, forcing her to lean back against the piece of furniture. Which was when the uncertainties set in.

  Where had Daniel gone so suddenly?

  Why had he?

  Did he regret what had just happened between the two of them?

  Had her forward behavior shocked him?

  Or, as was more likely, disgusted him…

  The expression on his face had certainly been one of anger and distaste when he left the study so abruptly.

  If that was the case, then Jo had no intention of still being in his study as a reminder of those two emotions when he returned.

  If he returned.

  Which, considering Daniel’s hurried departure, as if he could not bear to be around her a moment longer, was not guaranteed.

  Daniel’s scowl reflected his mood after he returned to the house some time later and discovered the study empty. He immediately returned to the entrance hall, where he had last seen Bedford. “Have you seen Lady Josephine since we last spoke?”

  The butler’s expression remained stoically unchanging despite the uncharacteristic aggression in Daniel’s tone. “Some half an hour ago, my lord. She complained of a headache and is now upstairs in her bedchamber. She asked not to be disturbed. She did look very pale,” he added with a frown.

  Daniel nodded tersely. “I will be in my study for the foreseeable future.”

  He very much doubted that Jo had a headache at all, and that her pallor was no doubt due to the intensity of their previous activity. Daniel should go up to her room and explain himself, but he was still so angry, he needed to calm down before he even thought of being near Jo again.

  He had managed to catch up with Mickey Bates before the young man disappeared into the labyrinth of the stables. Pulling the stable lad into the privacy of one of the empty stalls, Daniel had demanded an explanation for his intrusive behavior.

  The taunting abuse he had received in response to that question had resulted in him immediately dismissing Mickey, with the added threat that if he so much as spoke Lady Josephine’s or his own name once he had left Latham Park, he could expect a visit from Daniel. He had assured the cocky little bastard that he would find him, in whatever rat-infested hole he chose to hide himself.

  Still shaking with anger, Daniel then had to seek out his head groom and inform him of the dismissal. Thankfully, because he was the earl, Haynes had not expected Daniel to give a reason for terminating Bates’s employment forthwith.

  No doubt, now being two stable “lads” less than he had been two days ago, Haynes had more important things to worry about than the whys and wherefores of Bates’s dismissal.

  As Daniel stared out of his study window, the very same window through which Bates had spied on them, he knew he was as angry with himself as he was with the stable lad. For having allowed his better judgment to be overruled by this constant desire he felt toward Jo.

  Which was no excuse for his behavior toward her the previous evening or this morning. He knew better than to allow his emotions, his desires, to rule his head. He’d learned that lesson only too well during his unhappy marriage.

  Al
though he had taken care not to relieve Jo of her virginity on either occasion, he had far overstepped the line of what was and was not acceptable, touched and pleasured her in ways she would not easily forget. Not through any feelings of love on either side; Daniel did not fool himself that a young beauty like Jo could ever love a cynical bastard like him. She had acted out of curiosity regarding physical pleasure when she saw none in her future, and wished to experience it now, before it was totally denied to her. Daniel, as the older and more experienced of the two, should never have allowed things to go as far as they had.

  The sooner he received a reply to his letter to Lady Anthea Kendall, the more quickly he would be able to deliver Jo to that lady’s home.

  Far away from Daniel Somersby, the Earl of Latham.

  Far enough, Daniel hoped, for him to resist temptation.

  But, for the moment, it would be better, for both of them, if he left her to her own devices and gave her the time and privacy she obviously required to recover from this morning’s excesses.

  Jo had no idea how long she had slept, except to know it was dark when she finally awoke. Not that it was dark in the bedchamber. Someone had been in while she slept and left a lighted candle safely upon the fireplace. There was also a tray on the bedside table containing a glass and a jug of what looked like lemonade.

  She wondered who it was who had come into her bedchamber while she slept. Not Daniel, she was sure. There was no reason why he should. Besides which, he had already set the tongues wagging enough below stairs by bringing up her tea tray yesterday.

  Whoever it was, Jo felt grateful as she sat up and drank down one full glass and then another, the refreshing drink easing the soreness of her throat from hours of crying. Delaying, but only temporarily, thoughts of this morning.

  She had once again forced her attentions upon the earl.

  Had unfastened his pantaloons, taken out his cock and caressed and pumped that swollen member before taking it into her mouth and then torturing him with pleasure until he had lost control.

  In retaliation for her forwardness, he’d pleasured her until she had almost lost consciousness.

  And then he’d left her lying there on top of his desk, half-naked, after having touched and caressed and claimed every part of her.

  She could no longer stay at Latham Park.

  Not now.

  She could not face Daniel again when she had not merely submitted to intimacies that no respectable woman would ever have allowed, but actively encouraged them.

  A sob caught in her throat as she recalled that look of disgust upon his face before he left the study so hurriedly.

  Disgust for her.

  Because of her wanton behavior.

  She knew Daniel must now consider her to be a woman who was no better than the adulteress wife he had despised.

  He had warned her against running from him again, and in truth, Jo now feared the dangers discovered the last time she left Latham Park. If not for Daniel’s intervention, she would have been raped repeatedly, and then no doubt left to die where she lay.

  Yet what other choice did she have but to run again?

  To remain here, despised and ignored, until they received a reply from her great-aunt to Daniel’s missive?

  Jo could not bear the thought of it. She would rather take any risk than ever again see that look of disgust on Daniel’s face.

  Surely, after this morning, her agreement not to run from here again, from Daniel, was null and void?

  As far as Jo was concerned, it was. Daniel might feel differently about it, but once she reached her great-aunt’s and placed herself under Lady Anthea’s protection, there was nothing Daniel could do about this latest disobedience.

  Jo had not thought she would have to wear her boy’s clothing again so soon, if at all, but luckily, the maid who had removed her dirty clothing yesterday had not been instructed to throw them away. Consequently, the maid had returned them to Jo’s bedchamber this morning, laundered and pressed, to be put away in one of the drawers on the dressing table.

  It took barely any time at all for Jo to remove the day dress and once again strap down her breasts before donning the shirt and breeches. To pull back her hair and secure it at her nape.

  Even so, a glance in the mirror reflected a young woman wearing boy’s clothing rather than the young stable lad Jo Turner. She was no longer that innocent young lady she had once been, and now knew exactly what it was to feel completely a woman. That knowledge was there in her reflection, her eyes were wide and knowing, her lips swollen from being ravished by Daniel’s, and no amount of strapping detracted from the swell of her breasts and the soreness of nipples which had remained swollen from the attentions of Daniel’s mouth and teeth earlier today.

  Jo turned away from the mirror in disgust. Daniel had told her that Hampshire was not so very far away from here. Admittedly, it was dark outside, but that would aid in her reaching her aunt’s home without being seen by anyone and so recognized as the woman no male clothing could disguise.

  A horse would transport her into Hampshire far more quickly than she could manage on foot. There was also less chance of her being apprehended if she was on horseback.

  Dare she take one of Daniel’s horses without his permission?

  She dared if it would keep her safe.

  Safe from everyone but Daniel himself.

  If she left here on foot, he might be so angry with her he would wash his hands of her and just let her go. Taking one of his horses guaranteed Daniel would come after her.

  Was that what she wanted him to do?

  Did that mean… Was it possible she…

  God, no, she could not have been so recklessly stupid as to have fallen in love with him.

  Reckless and stupid, because Daniel had made no secret of his aversion to love, relationships, and marriage. In fact, he had made a point of telling her exactly how he felt about them and why he did. At the same time, he had warned her there was no future in intimacy between the two of them.

  But that had not stopped her from becoming enthralled with him. Fascinated by him. Falling in love with him.

  That realization only increased her urgency to leave here. It would be beyond humiliating if Daniel were ever to recognize she had feelings for him.

  A love he had already made clear he did not want and never would.

  Jo gave a last wistful glance around the bedchamber that had been hers for such a short time. The room where Daniel had made love to her for the first time.

  Lovemaking that she had instigated by challenging him.

  As she had initiated their lovemaking this morning too.

  Daniel might not believe in love, but he was still a man, and one who obviously had strong sexual appetites. Appetites Jo had made it all too apparent she was willing and eager to fulfill. A man as sensual as Daniel would not and had not been able to refuse her.

  Tears of humiliation burned her eyes as she left the bedchamber and stepped out into the shadowed hallway. It was best for all concerned if she just left quietly. Perhaps, if she could somehow return the horse before Daniel came looking for it, they wouldn’t even have to see each other again. Her aunt may have a servant or groom who could be given that task.

  The house was quiet as Jo moved stealthily down the staircase, only a single candle alight beside the door, and no Bedford in sight, thank goodness. The reason for that became obvious when the tall clock in the hallway sounded the hour of midnight as she crept across the marble floor toward the door. She unbolted it quietly before moving silently out into the night.

  She kept to the shadows of the house and moved toward the stables, heaving a sigh of relief once she was inside. She lit one of the lamps there before allowing herself just a few minutes to say good-bye to Lady Midnight and her foal and then moving farther down the stable to Rex’s stall. The horse was getting on in years, but he was steady and sure-footed, and that was what she was going to need tonight if she was going to—

  �
�I was ’oping’ as I might see ya agin.”

  Jo let out a piercing shriek at the sound of Mickey Bates’s voice coming from the darkness behind her. She dropped the lamp in her surprise, and it smashed at her feet before bursting into flames.

  “It’s the reason I ’ung round.” He stepped forward, seemingly unconcerned by the flames that were now catching hold of the clean hay scattered about the stable floor. “Watchin’. Waitin’.”

  Jo had no idea what he was talking about. “We need to get the horses out of here.” Jo held on tightly to Rex’s mane as he would have reared up, the flames grow higher and licking along the straw toward him. “Now!”

  Mickey leaned against the doorway of the stall. “I’m tempted to just leave ya here wiv ’im. If yer lucky, the old fella might trample ya to death before the flames get ya.” He gave an evil grin at the thought before sobering. “But there would be no profit in that for me.” He stepped forward to grasp her arm, fingers digging painfully into her flesh. “Time we was leavin’.” He pulled a struggling Jo along behind him and out of the stall before closing the door.

  “Please.” Jo gasped as Rex let out a piercing whinny. “You can’t just leave the horses in here to die.”

  Mickey eyed her coldly as he continued to drag her along behind him. “I’m not the one ’as dropped the lamp and started the fire, now am I?”

  “You startled me and made me drop it!”

  “Did I?” He glanced around a stable in which there were only horses. “I don’t see anyone as can back up that story, do you?” he taunted. “You’re the one started the fire. Which is exactly what the earl is goin’ to think when he finds his stables ablaze and you gone,” he added with satisfaction.

  Jo knew exactly what Daniel was going to think. Whom he was going to blame when all his horses, including his beloved Lady Midnight and her foal, perished in the fire. Her absence from the house would look as if she had started it as a diversion to her escape.