Page 42 of Worth Any Price
“I am,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ve been indiscriminate. In fact...”
“In fact?” Lottie prompted.
He looked away. “Nothing.”
“You were going to tell me that you haven’t had all that many women, I suppose.” Her tone was loaded with skepticism. “Although the concept is obviously subjective. What is ‘many’ for you, I wonder? A hundred? Fifty? Ten?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said with a scowl.
“I wouldn’t believe you if you claimed anything less than twenty.”
“You would be wrong, then.”
“How far off the mark would I be, then?”
“I’ve been with only two women,” he said curtly. “Including you.”
“You have not,” she exclaimed with a disbelieving laugh.
“Believe what you like,” he muttered, rolling away from her.
He was clearly annoyed, as if he regretted what he had just told her. As he left the bed and strode to the wardrobe, Lottie watched him in slack-jawed astonishment. She couldn’t quite bring herself to accept his claim, and yet there was no reason for him to lie to her. “Who was the other one?” she couldn’t resist asking.
His broad, well-muscled back flexed as he shrugged into a burgundy velvet robe. “A madam.”
“French, you mean?”
“No, the kind of madam that owns a brothel,” he replied bluntly.
Lottie nearly toppled from the edge of the bed. She managed to keep her face relatively composed as he turned toward her. “Was it a long... friendship?”
“Three years.”
Lottie absorbed the information silently. She realized with dismay that the heaviness in her chest was caused by jealousy. “Were you in love with her?” she brought herself to ask.
“No,” he said without hesitation. “But I liked her. I still do.”
A frown worked across her forehead. “Why do you no longer see her?”
Nick shook his head. “After a while, Gemma believed there was nothing more to be gained on either side by continuing the arrangement. I’vesince come to realize that she was right. And I haven’t slept with anyone else, until you. So you see, I don’t have a problem keeping my trousers buttoned.”
A tide of relief swept over her. Just why she was so pleased at the notion that she might be able to keep him all to herself was not something she wished to ponder too closely. Leaving the bed, she hurried to pick up her discarded dress from the floor, and held it over her front. “I will admit that I am surprised,” she said, trying to appear casual with her nudity. “You are certainly not predictable in any regard.”
He approached her and closed his hands over her bare shoulders. “Neither are you,” he replied. “I never expected to receive such pleasure from a rank novice.” Taking the dress from her hands, Nick dropped it to the floor and pressed her body against the velvet front of his robe. Her skin tingled at the plush softness that caressed her from breasts to knees. “Maybe it’s because you’re mine,” he mused, his hand covering her pale, round breast. “No one’s ever belonged to me before.”
Lottie smiled wryly. “You make me sound like a horse you’ve just bought.”
“A horse would have been cheaper,” he replied, and grinned as she attacked him in mock outrage.
She pounded at his chest, and he twisted her wrists neatly behind her back, causing her breasts to thrust forward. “Save your strength,” he advised, smiling against her hair. Releasing her wrists, he rubbed the small of her back withone hand. “You must be sore. I’ll draw a hot bath for you. When you finish, we’ll have something to eat.”
A hot bath would be wonderful. However, the thought of lacing herself into a corset and dressing for dinner was distinctly unappealing.
“Shall I have a supper tray sent up here?” Nick asked.
“Yes,” Lottie said immediately and gave him a quizzical glance. “How do you do that? You always seem to know what I’m thinking.”
“Your face shows everything.” Removing his robe, he placed it around her, the heavy velvet warming her with the lingering heat of his body.
