Page 16 of Sloth: The Fallen Earl
The guard’s muscles, firm and broad, jumped under her touch. Her feverish body, aware in a way it’d never been before, betrayed her, and she gripped him more tightly.
His eyes grew heated.
Disgusted with and ashamed by her body’s response, she yanked her fingers back.
Mauley’s demeanor abruptly changed. He examined her more closely. “Would you like me to call the carriage?”
She opened her mouth to immediately reject that offer, and then stopped. His hadn’t been a statement but rather a question. Which meant she wasn’t being shown out.
Which also meant she’d been bought by someone after all.
Funny that for all her panic of moments ago, she didn’t feel so much as a hint of relief.
Although, why should she? She didn’t want to let some stranger put his hands on her and his manhood inside her. The prospect her friends had once described and declared magnificent, Cressida had already decided sounded horrific.
“Lady Aurum?”
She jolted and returned her gaze to a narrow-eyed Mauley. Confused, she stared at him. What had he been saying?
“As you know, Dynevor gives you the freedom to leave, my lady. You’ll receive a small stipend for your troubl—”
“No!” she exclaimed, this time in full-throated defense. “I want to be here.” Had to, anyway. “Wh-why was the auction stopped?”
“It isn’t my place to know.” He shrugged. “The Devil doesn’t answer to anyone, miss, but he’s found you someone,” the guard promised, leading Cressida onward.
That fickle emotion called hope flared to life. Wakefield’s figure flickered in her mind, and she couldn’t stop the thoughts from rushing in of the earl holding her close, cradling hertenderly in his arms, and taking her lips in a gentle meeting that would be her first kiss.
The image proved too great, too real. Cressida moaned.
She shot a hand out and grabbed the guard’s forearm. “Who is the gentleman that secured me this night?” she asked breathlessly.
This time, the man’s ginger brows shot up and his nostrils flared as he took her response to be a product of the hunger buffeting her body and not for the hope it was.
“I can’t say.” Guilty color flooded the man’s thick neck. “I’d love to be of assistance, my lady.” The big man’s hooded eyes failed to conceal his desire and regret. “But Dynevor said no one’s to put a hand on you.”
Realizing she still touched him, and the way he misconstrued her response, Cressida swiftly released him.
“No!” she exclaimed, her humiliation growing by the second. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to imply…” Cressida trailed off. What was the point in defending her virtue?
Clearly appeased this time, the handsome guard turned and, without waiting to see if Cressida followed, led them eastward down the opposite hall.
Cressida made herself quicken her steps and followed along after him. All too quickly, they arrived at a set of stairs. He paused and gestured for Cressida to precede him.
She looked up the length of the marble steps and then began her ascent.
With Mauley at her back now, and her fate getting closer with every step, it felt as though the walls were closing in. Her panic began to spiral. Everything was happening so fast. The horrific reality facing her became embedded as an immediate nightmare and no longer as an abstract event that would eventually befall her.
They reached the main landing. Surprisingly well-lit and with gilded sconces, crystal chandeliers, and Giallo Siena marble floors, this space of sin was elegant enough to be any respectable peer’s residence.
Maybe that’s the reason for the effort and coin the earl had put into these suites. With the luxury to match the lifestyle of his lofty clients, it presented an illusion that they were still good, honorable noblemen.
She despised them all.
“Dynevor wants you escorted to the Juno-Jupiter room,” Mauley explained. “He’s waiting for you.”
Her stomach fell. “Dynevor?” she echoed hollowly.
“Aye.”
