Page 89 of To Ensnare a Duke

"And you're not angry? You do not feel trapped?"

Chuckling, I dab at the wound with my shirt, staunching the bleeding. "No more than you've already ensnared me. Close your eyes, wife. Look deep into your heart."

"Oh," she cries out. "You're not angry!"

"If you ever have a worry, you need only look within. But I do fear that you've leashed yourself to a monster. You've yet to know the depths of my depravity. What I've given you is only the surface."

"Then show me. I want you. All of you."

I glide my fingers down her arm, reveling in the soft feel of her skin. "If we do this… If I let myself…"

She places her hand over the claiming bite resting above my heart. "You do not frighten me, my husband. Your demons are no match for my need."

"We shall see about that. Climb over onto the bed face up."

"Yes, Your Grace."

I bite back a groan as I cup myself. "When I'm playing with you, driving you out of your mind with pleasure and pain, you will now call me Master. Everywhere else, you will call me by my Christian name. Say it. Say Benedict. I need to hear it fall from your lips."

Her eyes darken as she steps forward, sliding down to her knees. "Hurt me, Benedict. I need my Master to drive my lustful insanity away."

CHAPTER 40

BENEDICT

Igaze down at my wife, noting the ease of her submission. Through the bond, I feel her genuine need to have me hurt her, to give her the absolution she needs and craves. Though the full bond is not complete, I hope she can feel my emotions as well as I watch her kneeling before me.

My balls ache as they draw up painfully tight. Right now, the only thing I can think of is burying myself within her. I want to lose myself in the pleasure of her cries and gasps.

"How you vex me, minx," I growl, but this time, there's no animosity there. "Rise and go to the bed."

She lifts herself off the floor in one graceful sweep of limbs and saunters over to the bed at the far corner of the room. The sheets, though clean, will be inadequate for what I plan to do. Perhaps if she shows an affinity for my knives, I'll procure some oilcloth to serve as a barrier.

Clearing my mind, I turn from her and stride over to a small cabinet. Though I don't typically play down here in this way, I find it better to keep my knives stored with the other implements and not where they can be seen. The questions alone can be quite obscene.

I gather my tools, examining each blade of my lancets and scarificator. My body quivers as my knife joins the set. Never in my life did I dare hope to use these on my wife. Yet, even through the bond, I feel no fear.

Her excitement is contagious. Turning, I note the lust in her eyes as she smiles at me and spreads her thighs. Soon, her virginal blood will join the rest. My knot pulses as I take my treasures back to her side.

She looks at them, her excitement waning just a touch. "You mean to bleed me?"

"Not like you think. I am not a physician and will never claim to be so." With a quick flick of my fingers, I remove the necklace and lay it to the side. “Be a good little wanton for me, and someday I’ll show you the pleasurable agony this necklace provides.”

I ease her back down so she's lying flat and turn to caresses my tools. "You have your demons, and I have mine. Yours are eased when I provide pain and pleasure. Mine are eased when I see blood welling to the surface."

She nibbles on her lower lip as indecision wars within her. God, but it makes me even harder seeing that hint of fear as she willingly submits to the unknown.

"And you'll stop if it gets too much?"

I lay my hand against her heart. "I'm intertwined with you now. I'll know when you're at your capacity."

Again, she bites down on her lip and turns her head to the side. I don't worry about her hiding away from me anymore, not when I can feel all the emotions fluttering through her like wings.

"I hear that too. Yes, me claiming you will allow us both to feel things far more keenly than we do now. But you do not want me to bite you. Not like this. The agony would be unbearable."

The minx has the audacity to purr and writhe beneath me. Her arousal perfumes the air as she rolls her hips. God, but she's intoxicating.

Her lips slide into a seductive smirk. "I know you can make it hurt so very good."