Page 43 of Sloth: The Fallen Earl
The sounds of Cressida’s cries and screams as she’d achieved climax after climax filled his head. But something in hearing the other man speak so casually and crudely about the lady, who until only last night had been a virgin, threatened to send his fury over the edge once more.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Dynevor accurately inferred. He lifted his broad shoulders. “I’d hardly refer to this situation as the disaster you are making it out to be.”
Situation. Wakefield’s temperature climbed.Situation?He inhaled sharply through his nose, slowly trying to collect himself.
His efforts proved futile.
“Situation, Dynevor?” he ranted. “Situation?” His shouts echoed around the room and bounced off the walls and ceilings, mocking Wakefield with his lack of restraint.
Releasing a thunderous bellow, he grabbed the desk, prepared to haul himself across the monstrous piece and deliver the violent beating the bastard deserved.
Dynevor’s office door exploded open with such force it crashed into the wall. Anticipating one of the formidable guards had come to save their first liege, Wakefield turned to take the threat down and stopped in his tracks.
The stunned visitor glanced back and forth between the two men: Wakefield, on top of the younger earl’s desk, and Dynevor, still reclined as comfortable as if they’d been discussingtonevents and not what it was—the other man about to catch the beating of his lifetime.
Ah, the third partner, Mr. Lachlan Latimer, tall and broad as an oak—his street-toughened face bore nicks and scars that reflected the hardship he’d overcome and also the reputation he’d earned for being a merciless guard one didn’t cross. Latimer also happened to be Wakefield’s brother-in-law and the one who’d gotten Wakefield into this whole goddamned mess.
Latimer found his footing. He caught the door handle and pulled the panel shut hard. “What in the hell is going on here?”
Dynevor stood.
Calm enough now to register what a fool he must appear standing atop Dynevor’s desk, Wakefield jumped down.
Both earls held their silence.
Thick tension blanketed the room.
Latimer continued taking the situation in, looking back and forth between the two gentlemen.
“Surely, one of you intends to tell me what the hell is going—”
“You want to know what the hell is going on?” A fresh onslaught of rage sent Wakefield’s voice rising once more. “Why don’t you fucking ask this one?” He gestured angrily at the third member of their triumvirate.
“I didn’t take your brother-in-law as the emotional sort,” the young proprietor drawled.
Horror brought Wakefield whipping back in the other man’s direction. “My God. Thisisa joke to you,” Wakefield whispered.
“I wouldn’t say it is a joke,” the younger man clarified. “Your behavior and reaction, on the other hand, I—”
Wakefield only made it two steps when his brother-in-law came flying over and caught Wakefield by the shoulders.
He managed to wrestle free from the taller, stronger, more ruthless man.
“Hey,” Latimer said, catching him again in a firmer hold that Wakefield couldn’t shake free of this time. “Will one of you explain what the hell is going on?”
Wakefield and Dyvenor exchanged looks. Wakefield’s icy and blistering. The other proprietor, stony and mutinous, just like the goddamn child he was. A manipulative child at that. But then what had he expected? He should have thought better, given the future marquess was a known former arsonist.
“Is either of you going to say anything?” Latimer exclaimed.
Wakefield snapped another hand angrily in the young proprietor’s direction.
“This one here ruined me, trapped me. You both assured me the women taking part in the Virgin Auction are all eager wantons or Cyprians, and instead,” Wakefield seethed, his rage growing with every part he shared, “he gave me a virgin last night. A goddamned lady with innocent eyes, who was…innocent in every way.” Wakefield stopped himself from speaking and drew in a shaky breath. Thoughts came tripping in all at once of the woman he’d left abovestairs—Miss Cressida Smith,whom he’d fucked like a whore and whose virginity he had inadvertently taken.
His stomach revolted and he closed his eyes, fighting back that sick feeling that’d settled in his throat.
Another horrifying thought slipped in.Oh, God. She had been willing, hadn’t she?
He replayed their entire exchange and every passionate moment that passed between them last night. Horrified silence thundered in the wake of his admission.
