Page 26 of Taming Ivy
“All’s fair in love and war,” Ivy whispered. She was drunk on that kiss he gave her, shuddering, intoxicated by it.
“A sentiment usually touted by the victor, wouldn’t you agree?” His eyes glittered.
Where might this dark path lead? Whatever ensued from this point on was as much in her control as it was his. Resisting him was useless. It would probably damn her soul to hell, but Ivy did not care. If he were dangerous, she would deal with the consequences later.
Her hand slid to his cheek, applying gentle pressure until he faced her. The distance placed between them was erased as the soft rocking of the coach invariably moved them to closer proximity. If he were to turn just so, move over her, pull her closer, just a little more, he’d be between her legs. What might happen once he was there?
“Ishouldslap you.” Her voice was shaky.
“But you won’t, will you?” His lips curled into that wolf-like grin. They both knew complete surrender was at hand.
“Why is that?” Ivy’s brow furrowed.
“Because I’m going to kiss you the way I wanted the moment I laid eyes on you. And you want me to do just that. I can see it in your eyes.” The harshness of his tone indicated he held onto his desire by a mere thread. But still, he waited for her permission.Ifshe gave it…
“Yes.” Although her words were shy, she bravely met his gaze. “Yes, please kiss me.”
Sebastian did so with a thrilling ferocity, his tongue thrusting to mate with hers. The banked fires within Ivy roared to blinding life. His roughness should have shocked her, but it did not. She did not understand the need to be closer; she only knew it must be so. Whatever he wanted, whatever he asked of her, she would gladly give him, everything if only he continued kissing her.Dear God, she wanted more. Needed more…needed something…something only he could show her…
Sebastian devoured. He claimed. He licked and teased until Ivy was faint with breathless excitement. Deep inside, where she hid from the world, sensations burst into full bloom, desire stamping out caution. There was no protection from his advances or the threat of inevitable misery. Her moans of pleasure silenced the last of the alarm bells.
At last, he seemed disconcerted by her. He felt the same madness after all, for an agonized groan escaped him; his hands moving from her upper arms, to her waist, then higher beneath the cloak until he cupped the underside of her breasts. Her shuddering pant of response caused them to swell near to overflowing the gown’s midnight blue edge.
I want your mouth there, on my skin.If he stopped plundering her mouth, Ivy would utter the command aloud. But his kiss was too deep, too greedy, too ravenous and without mercy for any words to rise between them. One hand roughly weighed the fullness of her breast, his palm burning and hot through silk and leather while she wished not a scrap of cloth existed to bar the earl’s touch. Arching into his palm, a mystifying urge to be petted and stroked drove her almost mindless. Whimpers of frustration escaped her, and Sebastian growled in complete male response, a conqueror ready to claim his prize. He jerked her closer, fingers curved in readiness to pull the bodice of her gown low so tender flesh would be bared to his mouth.
The coach came to a stop, jolting them to awareness, shaking them apart.
An awkward silence crept in, time dripping steady as raindrops as they stared at one another. Their breaths, heavy in the warmth of the coach, combined with the chill of a spring night in London to leave a foggy condensation on the leaded windows beyond the drawn curtains.
Sebastian, with a marked lack of haste, removed his hands from her body. Like a beautiful jungle cat, he unfolded until he no longer reclined against her, no longer between her thighs where Ivy wanted him so fiercely for reasons she could not begin to comprehend.
He gave her a rueful smile. “We’ve arrived, my dear.”
Brushing aside her fumbling hands, he realigned the frogs of her cloak, holding her gaze with a hypnotic force. Her pearls were readjusted, stray curls tucked back into her coiffure, then, with exquisite tenderness, he trailed one finger across her cheek. It was the barest of touches, but it sang straight to Ivy’s soul. Eyes fluttering shut, her head tilted back, lips parting to receive a kiss that never came.
Her eyes snapped open as the grinning footman swung open the door and the world intruded with a rude, bustling intensity into the charged, steaming interior of the coach.
Taking a deep breath, Sebastian stared at Ivy as though she were something quite dangerous and very rare. His words, so softly spoken, held a touch of regret.
“Never have I despised the opera as much as I do this very moment.”
CHAPTER 6
Sebastian anticipated a curiosity regarding his escort of the countess. It was expected the first time he appeared in public with her officially upon his arm. People would whisper and point, speculating on their relationship and what it possibly meant when the Earl of Ravenswood spent every possible moment at Lady Ivy Kinley’s side.
Reality was Society’s fanatical need to witness it firsthand. The enveloping chaos as they descended from the coach was overwhelming. Snippets of conversation strung out in their wake in the struggle to gain the entrance of the opera house. One statement in particular, stood out from the rest.
“One must wonder, who will ruin whom?”
Ivy surely heard the taunts. Her tranquility amazed Sebastian. Perhaps it was why she surrounded herself with the Pack. They provided a dubious insulation from the daunting cruelty of theton’slarger predators.
“Introduce us, Ravenswood!”
To his great annoyance, while Ivy grinned, he found himself doing just that. A ridiculous undertaking, as most were already familiar with the countess. Sebastian ground his teeth at their little games. Many of his old friends were a dissolute bunch, with more than a fair portion of debauched exploits, some he initiated. Watching as she interacted with them left him a tangled mess, burning with an impotent desire to prove his possession of her.
It was difficult to say from where this violent strain of jealousy erupted. It inched along Sebastian’s veins with insinuating stealth until he nearly strummed with it. He waited with clenched fists to witness the alleged exercise of Ivy’s feminine wiles, but those artifices were missing here too, as they had been for the past two weeks.
It defied explanation, but a surprising edginess existed within the countess. He discovered the more enthusiastic a man’s pursuit, the more remote Ivy’s demeanor became, a faint air of unattainability swirling about her like an exotic perfume. That aloofness carried an enticing magnetism, her cool half smiles drawing male attention with a perplexing lack of effort. Every time she spun away in another’s arms, men twisted in her wake, mute with longing. Did she know her casual indifference could drive a man mad with the need to tame her? Or did she not care?
