Page 15 of Her Wicked Duke
“I am allergic to dogs.” Again, his nose wrinkled. “You must have a dog.”
“No dog,” she assured him, withering beneath the effort of smiling.
“It must be your perfume, I fear.”
Anne suggested he dismiss himself for his own health soon after, politely using that particular escape card to her advantage.
Another asked what color wedding dress she would wear, so as to complement his eyes. Another simply kept asking how she was doing and what her day consisted of, and when she tried to move past the small talk, it did not end up very well.
Most of her suitors were old and boring, while the rest were absolute drolls. She finished with them quickly, and politely.
She received a courtship offer from a man near her father’s age, but despite his large fortune, her mother insisted that she could find youngerandricher options.
It was not until the Earl of Satton showed up that Anne’s interest was truly piqued. She had danced with him the night before, and she had only half teased Alexander last night when she had said perhaps she would not mind being another of the Earl’s women.
However, now he was seated in the room where she received her suitors, and she was quite surprised to see him. He had been talking for a while about his family and how well-established they were in London.
“Surely, you have heard about my father? He owns one of the merchant ships currently docked.”
“Oh, I am sure I have!” Anne said, feigning excitement.
The Earl presented a good option, but there was an air of superiority about him that she was not sure she enjoyed.
“And my mother is highly involved with the church,” he continued. “We are a very religious family. My father even has a small prayer room on his commercial ships for the passengers.”
“Ah, you are a religious man?” Anne asked, trying to stifle a giggle.
A sinner by night and a saint by day? How hypocritical.
“Yes,” the Earl answered. “Religion is a big part of my life. I am a very holy man.”
She almost rolled her eyes. The way he had fondled and ravished the ladies outside the night before had certainly not been holy. Not only outside, but once or twice she had caught his hands wandering on his dance partners’ bodies, hoping to be hidden in the press of dancers. She could still hear the faint noises rising up, trying hard to be stifled but not quite managing.
But then, Anne’s mind shifted to the very man with whom she had witnessed those unholy acts, and how she had very nearly been one of those scandalous women, pressed into a shadowed corner, kissed breathless.
Would Alexander have touched her? Would he have bunched up her dress the way the Earl had with those ladies?
She let her mind wander, thinking of all the very unholy things she wished Alexander would do to her—things that might even surprise this rakish gentleman. Anne had learned many thingsover the years from books and gossip. She was not naïve. Even her own mother had not been entirely conventional with her education on how children were produced.
Her mother had told her there could be enjoyment in the bedroom. Clarice had backed that up. Her older sister, Mary, had confirmed it, too.
Now, while trying to focus on the Earl, who would be a wonderful match in the eyes of her parents and the ton, all Anne could think about was what Alexander might be able to do to her with his hands. With his whole body, if he so pleased.
Anne covered her smile with a fist.
“Have I said something to amuse you, Lady Anne?” the Earl asked.
“Oh, no, My Lord. Not at all. Please, continue. You were telling me how religious you are.”
She raised an eyebrow as if she wanted him to know what she had seen, but she resisted the urge to cause any mischief. The Earl was powerful, it seemed, and she did not want to make him an enemy.
“Ah, I was. Yes, my father always taught me how to be incredibly respectful and do my religious duties and follow the Bible…”
Anne tuned him out once again. She should not wish to be a sinner, but beneath Alexander’s hands, she would gladly be one.
Soon, her suitors’ visits were over. Anne stood up from her seat, almost afraid to look at the door lest she summon another knock. But she was finally free to retire to her bedroom.
Except when she went to her room, ready to collapse and maybe relax from her night of excitement, and think more about the Duke of Winsor, and how close they had been to her bedroom the night before, she stopped in the doorway.
