Law of Attraction Read online

  Jenny wanted to see what lay beneath.

  She dropped the last clip on the table and turned her head to let the curls drop down her back.

  Jack let out a soft breath that sounded close to a sigh.

  Now, with her hair down, her corset was too restrictive and confining. Jenny reached for the first hook at the top.

  Jack lifted his hands. “Let me,” he murmured.

  “You?” Jenny dropped her hands. “But…”

  Jack puts his hands around her torso, over the corset. He had big hands and his thumbs rested on either side of the heavy steel hooks. Then he compressed his hands, squeezing. The hooks all popped undone, one after another.

  He dropped his hands down to her waist and repeated the motion, and the middle hooks all obligingly opened.

  Then, over her hips. The last hooks dropped open and her corset fell away. Jack caught it and put it on top of his waistcoat. A smile played at the corner of his mouth.

  Jenny stared at him, astonishment warring with indignation. “You’ve done that before…!”

  Jack laughed and picked her up. This time, his hands pressed in against her flesh. She could feel the heat of them through the camisole. Her flesh seemed to shiver at the touch.

  He lifted her. Instinctively, Jenny wrapped her legs around him and his hand came under her bottom, supporting her…and far too close to the opening in her drawers.

  “Kick off your shoes,” he told her, as Jenny wrapped her arms around his neck and held on.

  She kicked and the slip-on shoes dropped heavily to the carpet.

  Jack moved over to the bed, then bent and put her on her back on top of the eiderdown.

  Jenny couldn’t draw a full breath. She sipped air in little pants, trembling, and watched Jack remove his own shoes and stockings and then the shirt, too. She marveled at the lines of his flesh that were revealed. He had thick shoulders and a heavy chest, with dark hair sprinkled over it. They matched his large neck and hinted at his strength.

  His hips were narrow, though. Jenny’s gaze dropped to the stiffness at the front of his trousers and she couldn’t shift away from it.

  Jack watched her with the same close attention. He moved her on the eiderdown so her lower legs were dangling from the edge of the mattress. His gaze met hers. “There is something I have wanted to do for a very long time now.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  He shook his head, smiling. “That, too,” he assured her. “Let me show you.” He bent and kissed her, which Jenny was more than happy to accept. He did not stop with just her lips. His mouth moved down over her chin, and her throat, his lips working against her flesh, making it ripple and her nerves to stir and fizz.

  By the time his lips reached the top of her camisole, she was panting. Her hips rose, as her back arched and her breasts thrust upward. The tips of her breasts were hot, hard nubs, rubbing against the cotton of the camisole with delicious friction.

  Jack undid the camisole by hooking his finger over the top of the long line of little pearl buttons and twisting. The buttons slid undone one after another, as he moved his finger downward.

  It bared her breasts to him and Jenny could barely breathe with the wickedness of the moment.

  Jack sucked the tip of her breast into his mouth. She knew then that what she thought was wicked was nothing. There were heights of pleasure ahead that she had not dreamed existed.

  His teeth against her breast, scraping and teasing, made her writhe. Her panting was interrupted by moans she was helpless to prevent.

  He moved his attention to her other breast and she gripped the eiderdown with desperate fingers.

  She was almost disappointed when he moved his mouth to her flesh between her breasts, then moved downward once more.

  His fingers played ahead of his mouth, teasing and stroking and making her flesh ripple with delight.

  He caught the band of her drawers and drew them down her hips and she sucked in a breath of shock and delight. He lifted her hips and removed them, leaving her in nothing but her stockings.

  Jenny lay still, her whole body throbbing and heated. She should be ashamed or embarrassed. Instead, she felt nothing but pride, for the look in Jack’s eyes told her that what he saw was pleasing.

  He kissed her stomach, above her navel. She drew in a shuddering breath. His mouth nibbled lower and his tongue pressed into her navel, making her gasp.

  Lower still.

  Jenny realized what he intended to do as his mouth pressed against the sensitive skin above the patch of hair between her legs. She should be horrified or disgusted, yet all she felt was a rush of fierce sensations that made her moan and move on the bed, her thighs falling helplessly apart.

  Jack lifted her knee and spread her open. He held her knee aside, and his thumb stroked the flesh of her inner thigh, making her jump.

  His gaze was on her private parts and she moaned again.

  He bent and slid his tongue against her flesh. Then again, this time separating the fleshy lips and probing deep against the most sensitive core of her.

  Jenny clutched at Jack’s head, as the thrilling sensations tore through her nerves and made her back arch and her hips to thrust. She couldn’t breathe properly and tossed her head from side to side as Jack pressed and stroked the little nub. His hand on her thigh held her steady for him, and he drove her mad with the pleasure. She had no thought except for the deep excitement welling in the pit of her stomach and making every inch of her tremble and leap.

  The excitement climbed and climbed, reaching for…something.

  The pleasure peaked, gripping her in wave after wave of astonishing, thrilling perfection. Every nerve she had seemed to explode with feeling, leaving silvery afterimages dancing in her vision.

  She lay, breathing heavily and trembling, as Jack lay down beside her. He was smiling.

  “Oh…my…” she whispered.

  “Indeed,” he agreed. His fingertips drifted over her belly, up to her breast. He did not touch them, though. He teased flesh in between, in little strokes and circles.

  At first, Jenny thought he was merely passing time. Only, despite the deep weaknesses that gripped her after the moment of extreme pleasure, her nerves stirred in response to the little caresses. Her breath grew shorter and the tips of her breasts tightened once more.

  She shifted on the bed and realized that she was trying to drive his fingers closer to her breasts.

  “Mmm…” Jack breathed. He lay his hand fully on her flesh, then moved it to her breast and cupped it. The tip of her breast caught between his fingers. The tiny tugging was delightful and the little nub of flesh he had been stroking with his tongue seemed to beat with promise.

  “Can that happen again?” she asked, astonished.

  “Many, many times,” Jack breathed. He kissed her. As their lips pressed together, he picked up her hand and pressed it against the swollen mass beneath his trousers.

  Jenny felt heat and soft flesh and rigidness. Astonished, she explored the shape of the shaft beneath. It was far larger than anything she had seen carved in marble.

  She glanced at Jack. There was a heat in his eyes that made her shiver. “May I?”

  “I might turn insane if you do, but yes.” His voice was even more strained than before. He was excited by her touch.

  She put that together with the delight he had given her with the touch of his mouth and hands. Why would it not work the other way? Why could she not pleasure him in the same way?

  Jenny pushed herself up onto one elbow and worked at the top button of his trousers. One hand wasn’t sufficient for the task. She sat up and faced him. “Lie down,” she told him.

  Jack lay back on the eiderdown. He was breathing as quickly as she had been and that told her he was enjoying her attentions.

  Jenny worked the button loose, avoiding the tented fabric below her hands.

  The next button, beneath the placket, was more difficult to release because the fabric was straining against the shank. Th
e third, contrariwise, was easier, for there was so much pressure upon the buttonhole it gaped open. Jenny had merely to tip the edge of the button into the hole and the button popped open.

  Jack hissed and his hips shifted, pushing upward.

  Jenny’s pulse leapt. Doing this to Jack was giving her pleasure, too. Her heart raced and she licked her lips.

  “The look on your face…” Jack said.

  She glanced at him, startled. “How do I look?”

  “Delicious,” he replied.

  Jenny didn’t bother with the remaining buttons. Instead, she gripped the waistband of his trousers and pulled them from his body in the same way he had removed her drawers.

  He wore his own underthings. The garment stretched over the swollen mass of his groin and Jenny could see his shaft outlined against the strained wool.

  She was too impatient to tease the way Jack had done with her. She dealt with the drawers the same way as the trousers, pulling them from him in one long movement. Jack cooperated again, lifting his hips to accommodate the removal.

  Jenny studied what she had revealed. The shaft was red and throbbing, with a tracery of veins along its length. The tip seemed almost purple, with a little ridge. The divot at the very tip oozed a single pearl of liquid.

  The sacs nestled beneath were thick and round.

  Jenny reached out to touch him and hesitated.

  “Go on,” Jack encouraged her.

  She curled her hand around the shaft. “So hot…” she breathed. Yet it was the silky, soft touch of it that surprised her the most. She ran her fingers over it, as Jack drew a shuddering breath.

  He pressed her hand around him firmly, guiding her. “This way,” he said. “You will render a man speechless and helpless, that way.”

  Her instincts seemed to agree with him. She stroked her hand up and down the shaft. When her hand bumped over the flaring edges of the tip, Jack groaned and his head rolled back.

  The sound of his delight made her heart surge. She repeated the movement and Jack gripped the eiderdown with clawed hands. His hips made the same little lifting motion as before.

  She liked that movement. She liked having caused it. Jenny continued the stroking, enjoying her power over Jack and her ability to make him writhe as he had made her.

  Surely, this must end the way it had ended for her? With the explosion of pleasure that had stolen all thought and reason? That would make sense. It would explain why men were so interested in carnal pleasures they would pay a woman to achieve them.

  Who could not want more of this?

  Jack grabbed her wrist and yanked her hand away from him. He trembled. “No more,” he gasped. “Not now.”

  “But…”

  He levered himself up and laid her down once more, turning her so she lay along the length of the bed.

  Jenny’s heart gave a little leap. She recognized the moment. They would be joined now.

  Jack spread her legs and settled between them. His weight against her was minimal, for he held himself above her with his arms.

  Jenny held her breath, wondering what he would do next. She had heard all the speculation and chatter among debutantes, while married women were closed-mouthed about the real activities of the bedroom.

  Jack’s eyes met hers. “Breathe deeply,” he murmured. “And relax.”

  Jenny tried to comply. She drew in a sharp breath as the blunt end of his shaft pressed up against her inner folds.

  Just that simple movement set off a cascade of associations, bringing together everything she had ever heard about sex and she breathed out her understanding with a deep sigh.

  She spread her thighs even farther, as Jack pressed deeper inside. He moved with creeping slowness, easing open her flesh. She felt tightness and pressure inside her.

  Jack paused. He was breathing as hard as she and there was a gleam of perspiration at his temples.

  With a tiny shift of his hips, he pushed deeper. The tightness released with the suddenness of a bubble popping and he slid deeper.

  The slowness of his movements allowed Jenny to experience every tiny sensation. Her channel opened, the ripple of flesh around his shaft. It was not uncomfortable. The more she focused upon the sensations, the more pleasurable they seemed to become.

  Jack grew still. She looked up at him, her hips shifting with impatience.

  “You are every bit as delightful as I dreamed you would be,” Jack breathed.

  She could not lie still. The flesh wrapped around his shaft throbbed. So did the nub of flesh he had delightfully addressed. His body pressed against it, stroking it indirectly. “I feel…oh, Jack, this is wonderful!”

  He kissed her. It was a rough, hard gesture.

  He withdrew his shaft and Jenny clutched at him, surprised, until he drove himself back into her, this time with greater speed and effort.

  Jenny moaned at the exquisite sensations the thrust imparted.

  Jack lifted her knee, bringing it up against his hip. “This makes it even better.” His voice was almost unrecognizable, for it was distorted by lust.

  The movement opened her up. Jack withdrew and thrust again, and she drew in a shuddering breath in response, for he was right. It was much better this way. Her other limb lifted quite without her thinking about it, as Jack thrust in hard, deep movements, his body straining against her. Even the effort and tautness of his body seemed to increase her pleasure. Everything about this moment was stimulating.

  Jenny gripped his broad shoulders, encouraging him. With every thrust, her pleasure built. The promise of another peak of excitement built inside her.

  Jack stiffened and groaned. He grew still, his eyes closed. The furrow between his brows could have been mistaken for pain, yet Jenny’s slamming heart told her it was the opposite. Jack’s pinnacle of sublime pleasure appeared to be as sweet and addictive as her own.

  She recalled how useless and weak her body had been afterward, as Jack sagged over her. Only, he did not allow his full weight to press against her. Instead, he rolled to one side and fell upon the mattress.

  He trembled. She could feel it where their shoulders pressed together, and where his thigh rested over hers.

  Jack forced himself to movement, enough to press his lips against her cheek. He fell back once more, with a deep sigh.

  Jenny turned on her side. The movement drew her attention to the dampness between her thighs. That coupled up with whispers from maidens.

  Jack’s seed.

  Delight touched her. She was a true woman now.

  Jenny settled on her side, facing Jack.

  His eyes were nearly closed. Only a sliver of green showed. He was watching her.

  Jenny rested her hand against his cheek. “That was marvelous, Jack.”

  The corner of his mouth curled up. “Thank you.”

  “Can we…would it be possible to do that again?”

  His smile formed completely. “Once my heart has recovered, yes.”

  “Good.” She glanced at the window, and the broad daylight beyond. “How long can we stay here?”

  He brushed her hair from her face. “As long as we can. Then we must go back to our lives.”

  The sadness came rushing back. Jenny thrust it aside and with her burgeoning experience guiding her, leaned and kissed Jack, pressing her body against his and running her hands over his body. She used the same light strokes and teasing touches he had used on her, to rouse her once more.

  It did not take long at all for Jack to stir and push her back upon the mattress and return the favor.

  * * * * *

  Five Years Ago: The Great Family Gathering, Innesford, Cornwall. October 1862.

  The sun was turning the late afternoon sea silver when Jenny forced herself from the bed, to dress and hide all evidence of her afternoon of pleasure in Jack’s arms. Jack did not merely lay and watch her as she had presumed a man would. He rose and thrust his legs into his trousers, then assisted her with her toilet, fastening buttons and tying strings with
a facility that spoke of experience.

  Jenny liked that he was a man of the world and knew such intimate things. Besides, his assistance made dressing much easier and ensured she not overlook a button or other detail that might give others a hint of how she had spent her afternoon.

  When she was fully dressed once more, Jack drew her back into his arms. Jenny rested her cheek against his bare shoulder and closed her eyes. “It is better this way,” she whispered.

  Jack nodded. She could feel the movement through his shoulder. “I hate that you are right. This is the only way.”

  Jenny made herself step back from him.

  Jack stood with his hands by his sides, making no attempt to keep her there.

  Jenny looked toward the door. Her heart thudded. “I can’t make myself leave,” she whispered. “Even though I must, even though we agree on it, still I cannot go.”

  Jack kissed her. His big hands held her face, as he pressed his lips to her nose, her cheeks, her forehead, then her mouth once more. With gentle pressure, he turned her and moved her to the door. His body pressed up behind her, making her hoops sway and bend.

  He reached for the key in the lock. Jenny caught his hand, not to stop him, but to help him, even though she had no strength in her fingers at all.

  The lock turned with a heavy sound that she would hear for the rest of her life.

  The door opened.

  Jack kissed her neck. “Go,” he whispered. “Don’t look back. Just step through the door.”

  Jenny trembled. With a convulsive jerk, she stepped through the doorway.

  Panic gripped her. She whirled back to the door.

  It was already closed. Jenny rested her hand against it. There was a keening sound in her mind and her heart hurt as if a knife had cleaved it in two.

  The sea breeze and the late sun brought every day concerns back to her. People might be looking for them. How late was the hour? How far away was dinner? She must change…and wash, first.

  Jenny gripped the wooden stair railing and stepped down onto the top step.

  Then another.

  One more.

  It did not grow easier, although she was in motion now, which allowed her to continue down the stairs, then round the house to the maze on the other side. Even faster now, to the back of the house and the big French windows.