B-ronken-R-ing 159...

"May I come in, Madam? If His Lordship's condition is as dire as you said-"

"He's such a bother," Cárcel muttered. Dropping his baldric on the floor, he began to unbutton his shirt, all the while keeping his gaze fixed on hers.

As the light behind him framed his head and features, his lips moved in the shadows. "Are you certain you wish to allow them in, Inés? You might be all right with it, but I am not."

"You are the one who did this to me, you know." Inés managed to reply indifferently.

Cárcel chuckled, though his expression didn't seem amused at all.

Neither of them believed that the faint-hearted Alfonso would dare to barge into a bedroom his master and mistress were in. He had witnessed too many things back in Calztela for that. Alfonso was, in fact, more worried about Madam Escalante, who had looked so desperate when she had demanded he fetch a physician for her husband, who had seemed completely fine under the dim light of the lanterns outside. The old butler, who had kept his gaze fixed on the madam, asking whether she was feeling all right even after hearing about her husband's symptoms, would never force open a closed door just to check on a man he wasn't even concerned about.

As expected, Alfonso seemed to have figured out what was going on and called out once more, saying that he and the doctor would be leaving now, before walking away. There was a moment of silence.

They exchanged a few meaningless words, but the atmosphere was strangely tense. Cárcel's uniform jacket hit the floor with a dull thud.

There was something peculiar about the way he looked at her. She was so focused on meeting his gaze and concentrating on what seemed so different about it that she hadn't paid attention to her own disheveled state. It suddenly occurred to her just how exposed she was.

Her dress, which was long enough to reach the floor, had been hiked up all the way to her hips along with her petticoat, leaving her underwear on display. Her corset top had been untied and loosened enough to slide down to her stomach, revealing her whole chest. Her bare bosom rose and fell along with her labored breathing.

He normally would have stared hungrily at her in such a state as though he were ready to pounce. He would look insatiable, barely managing to control his bottomless desire for her sake, fearing that he might hurt her even a little. He would have devoured her with his eyes.

But Inés noticed that he was still just staring into her eyes, not even sparing a glance at her bared body. There was a determined look in his gaze, as though he were trying to discern something by staring deep into her soul. Cárcel Escalante was certainly acting strange.

Just as her suspicion was starting to turn into certainty, Cárcel took off his shirt and dropped it onto the floor before he moved to cover her body with his. The shadow cast by his body swallowed her entirely. The moment of apparent patience he had displayed vanished in an instant, his breath ragged as he pressed against her.

Strangely enough, the weight of his large frame crushing her into the mattress felt comforting. Even as he tilted his head to claim her lips and began to fondle her mounds again, Inés kept her eyes fixed on his face. She noticed that there was a different kind of desperation in his expression.

She couldn't comprehend why he was suddenly acting like this. Could he have sensed the crown prince's nasty intentions? Cárcel had left the palace with her almost as soon as he had entered. Inés ignoring his cousin was nothing new, as she had acted that way since they were children, and Cárcel couldn't have noticed the way she had been on edge around Oscar from where he had appeared under the trees.

Inés wished for Cárcel to stay entirely unaware of the crown prince's ridiculous schemes, let alone the Oscar of her past life. They wouldn't be staying in Mendoza for much longer, and she would soon be returning to their little house in Calztela. If Cárcel were to display even a hint of animosity toward the crown prince, that petty bastard would most definitely make his life a living hell.

The thought alone made her shudder. There was no reason to fuel the flames of that disgusting debauchee's innate sense of inferiority.

As these coldly calculating thoughts went through her head, Cárcel, who had been hungrily twisting and sucking at her nipples, slipped his hand under her disheveled dress to caress her stomach. Her nipples were swollen from the painful attention and her pale skin was already covered in red marks from his ministrations. Greedily, he opened his mouth wider to take in more of her breast.

His previously cold skin was now so hot that she felt like he might burn her. Cárcel grasped at her other mound, already glistening with his saliva, pinching and twisting the nipple. It seemed he didn't intend to give her any chance to think, or perhaps he needed to distract himself from his own thoughts. Feeling as though she was being swallowed up by his urgency, Inés held onto his strong shoulders.

Her touch seemed to signal him to go lower, and Cárcel trailed kisses down her stomach. He then pressed his lips against her drenched underwear and began to leave marks on the tender skin of her inner thighs. He lifted her legs onto his shoulders before he straightened back up.

As he went lower and lower, his gentle kisses grew rougher. He sucked and nibbled at her knee, the sensitive spots on her shin and ankles, until he reached the silk stockings dangling off her feet, which he deftly removed with his teeth.

He pressed his tongue against the sole of her foot and licked up to her toes. He nibbled at the side of her big toe and trailed his way up her foot. Even as he lavished attention on her feet, a dominant glint in his eyes made her heart pound with anticipation. Inés squirmed, feeling her stomach tighten with arousal. It felt as though they were engaging in something illicit, despite being married, and a moan of desire swelled in her throat. She almost felt like she was the crown princess having an affair with Duke Escalante, the thrill of the forbidden act rushing through her body.

"Don't... do that, Cárcel. It's dirty..." she whimpered in a breathy voice.

"What is?"

"My-" Her protest was cut off by a moan escaping her lips.

"No part of you is dirty, Inés."

His lips had traveled from her foot to her ankle, then her knee and thigh until they reached her wet folds and pressed against them. Her legs parted without resistance. He ran his tongue along her folds, exposed by her bunched-up undergarments, with a long, sensuous stroke, swallowing the juices that had already soaked the fabric before he nibbled at her sensitive bundle of nerves.

She could feel his Adam's apple bobbing up and down through his mouth firmly attached to her most private parts. "You're driving me crazy, Cárcel... Please, aah-" Her wide eyes searched for his gaze as she pleaded with him, unsure of her desires.

His nose pressed against her tender flesh, Cárcel drew in a shuddering breath. These moments of sudden, reckless indulgence punctuating his otherwise careful and tender movements sent a thrill shuddering through her body.

Inés clawed at the sheets, clutching and pulling at them, trying to keep hold of her sanity. She was frightened she might succumb to this intense feeling invading her. It felt like she might lose all control at any moment.

It was far too easy for him to make her foolish and vulnerable.

"Did you know that you smell delightful down here as well, Inés?"

"Hnn... Aah, Cárcel..."

"It's as though you are trying to make me lose my mind."

"Cárcel, hnn... Please, I-" she whimpered, her moans intensifying.

"I can think of no other explanation."

She let out a gasp as she hit her climax.

"Hmm? Tell me, Inés."

Cárcel moved up, placing his hand next to her shoulder as she trembled from her orgasm, and quickly covered her body with his again. He pressed his lips, glistening with her juices, against the corner of her mouth. As Inés let out wordless gasps and pulled his head closer, their lips met in a way that made it feel like their bodies had always meant to be connected in this way. Their chests, shoulders, and arms pressed against each other heatedly.

She bit his upper lip and he her lower lip over and over, their ragged breaths mingling. As their tongues intertwined, she could taste herself on him. Her brows furrowed in distaste, and he pressed his forehead against hers as if to soothe away her frown, lightly breaking their kiss.

"What is it?"

"It tastes unpleasant."

"I think it tastes wonderful."

"Well, you're a rogue who licks feet, so... Yes, I can see that," she muttered coolly.

"If I'm a rogue for licking your feet, what does it make you, Inés Escalante, for being aroused by it?"

Their lighthearted banter interrupted their kisses, but Inés noticed the haunted look still lingering in his eyes, and that he was still touching her with that same desperation. The only change seemed to be a slight relaxing of his shoulders, now that he had driven her to climax.

The fact that he seemed satisfied just by pleasuring her, despite the urgency in his movements, made her frown. If his actions were based on a need to confirm that she was his, he could have taken her as soon as they entered the room. He could have spread her legs immediately and thrust his heavy erection against her, emptying himself into her. That was the usual and distasteful way men tended to mark their territory, after all.

But if that was what he needed, Inés would have been fine with it. As long as it was Cárcel.

She wrapped her arms around his torso and ran her hands down his bulging back muscles. She felt like she wouldn't mind even if he did whatever he wished to her. It was a thought she could entertain because she knew he would never go so far. She, too, liked to confirm that Cárcel Escalante belonged to her, so the thought of him ravishing her in such a way didn't strike her as repulsive. Instead, she would take pity on him and indulge him without resisting. It was fine, because she knew she could ravish him just the same.

Inés enjoyed biting at his neck like an angry beast and being on top. Whenever she did, she felt like she was conquering him, and she liked that sensation. And so, if he wanted to do the same to her, she wouldn't mind it. As long as it was him conquering her.

Because, in the end, he belonged to her. Because perhaps, she had become his, too.

"Cárcel..."

He raised his head as her fingers caressed his strong jaw.

"If you promise to stay the night, I'll do anything you want tonight."

It was a sly bargain, seeing that she also desired what he wanted. He would never want anything she did not.

He narrowed his eyes wordlessly. A glint of doubt shone in his strangely darkened eyes, and they regained some of the light she was used to.

Suppressing a laugh, she parted her lips to continue, "I'll let you do everything you've wanted to do to my body. So stay the night."

"Have you lost your mind?" he asked her in awe, his expression utterly familiar now. He wore the same look whenever Inés did something entirely unexpected.

She couldn't help but laugh at his dumbfounded response. It was ridiculous just how relieved she had felt as soon as his expression had turned into something familiar. The worry in her heart had subsided all of a sudden, like a stormy sea turning still.

As he continued to stare down at her in stunned silence, she pulled him into an embrace. She drew in a long breath, taking in the lingering scent of Logorño Hill's wind on his hair. She could hear the sound of the peaceful ebb and flow of the waves by the beach. This comforting sensation was difficult not to love and miss ardently.

"You can leave in the morning, as soon as you rise. If that's too late, you can leave at dawn," she whispered. "So please, abandon that harebrained plan of yours and promise to get at least a few hours of sleep here, Cárcel."