Page 35 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
‘Katherine,’ he said into her mouth, sounding as breathless and desperate as her as his fingers rubbed her intimately between her legs through the layers of clothing.
She had spent years craving this. It was just the two of them in the world. It was wrong, she knew it was, but it felt so right and she did not care. She was like her mother. She had always been told it. This had been inevitable since her birth. The sins of the parent visited on the child.
Her body pressed against his, arching with its need.
It was so perfect what he did, how could it be wrong?
The feelings inside her whirled in a spiral of heated delight, rising up and overwhelming her, and then they seemed to break on a high tide that swept through her body, leaving her panting and weak.
His fingers braced her cheek again as he kissed her more urgently for a moment.
She could no longer kiss him back.
When he broke the kiss, she opened her eyes. He was looking at her face. He sighed, appearing to look right into her soul, the pale blue in his eyes glittering like melting ice.
Her fingers combed through his dark hair.
‘That is what I can give you, Katherine,’ he said quietly, as though that was everything. It was his love she wished for. ‘Will you meet me in my grandfather’s tower tomorrow at two o’clock?’
‘Yes.’ Her answer was caught on the breeze and swept away.
8
Thoughts of Katherine hovering in his mind, John strode along the servants’ hall, ready to ride out to meet her. The image of her had stayed with him, along with a subconscious feeling of companionship.
When she had ceased fighting her desire yesterday, the beauty of her submission had been a revelation. A hundred times last night he had vowed to honour the trust she was giving him.
He was impatient to see her. So hungry for her he had hardly slept, burning with restless frustration. He itched to have her, but he had made her a promise and he would temperate his lust. Yet there were many things a man could do without taking a woman’s virginity, and his mind had contemplated all of them last night.
He had visited tenants earlier and returned to look at the ledgers again over luncheon. There was still nothing untoward there. Now, he was searching for Wareham, who apparently kept the key to the folly. John had come himself because it gave him another opportunity to try and discover what Wareham was up to.
The office door was shut. John turned the handle without knocking, the door was locked. An ill-temper flared. He rapped on the door harshly, angry at being excluded from a public room in his property.
A chair scraped on the floor within, and a moment later the lock turned. Then the door opened.
Wareham’s expression was insolent – antagonising. Like the other day, there was no deference.
An urge to grip the man by the throat and shove him up against a wall tightened John’s hands into fists. ‘Must I remind you of your place again…’
Wareham turned his back and returned to his desk. ‘You need not remind me. I am well aware of it.’
The deliberate refusal to use John’s title, made John want to throw one of his fists and punch him.
When Wareham stood behind the desk, he looked at John and barely bent his head, as though it would suffice. ‘Your Grace, to what do I owe this honour?’ Then he sat.
Unbelievable!John’s servants were to always stand in his presence. ‘I have come for the key to the tower.’ John held out his hand. Let the man bring it to him.
‘And why would you want that, Your Grace?’
‘That is none of your business. The key, Mr Wareham.’
He stood, walked to a tall narrow cupboard and took out a large iron key. Then walked towards John, holding it out, but when John reached for it, Wareham pulled it back.
John exploded. ‘Give me the key and stop these games at once!’
‘Games, Your Grace?’ Wareham taunted with a gleam in eyes. ‘I am a bit old for games. It is not a game I am playing.’
John snatched the key from his hand. Blast the missing money, he was not short of that. Let Wareham have it. He would rather just be rid of Wareham. ‘Do you truly think I will tolerate these insults?’ John was calmer now, back in control. ‘You are dismissed. You will leave immediately. I will have you escorted off the estate and send your belongings on afterwards.’
