Page 6 of A Wager With A Rake
“Come with me, Pruett,” she said to the man.“You can bring that to the guest chamber and then send Jean to me.I wish to dress and then we shall dine at the inn tonight and depart early in the morning.”
“Tess,” Court called after her.“I shall escort you to dinner.”
“That is wholly unnecessary, my lord.”Her tone threatened to shift the season from summer to winter.
“It may not be safe for you on your own.”If she believed that he’d allow her to go to a tavern on her own, she was mistaken.Even if he had to go separately and watch her from another table.
Theodosia glared at him.“I shall have my staff, and you will find that I am quite capable of a great many things on my own.One must learn to care for themselves when they are repeatedly fucked and thrown to the wolves to feast on the remains.”
His jaw dropped open at the intensity and choice of her words.He felt for her, he very much did.Life had dealt her a shite deal, just as it had him.Well, perhaps his wasn’t quite as bad.He hadn’t been subjected to being bedded by a miserable, wrinkled old goat.
And he supposed he had earned his reputation, so he wasn’t entirely a blameless victim.Much as Theodosia wasn’t exactly innocent from the way he’d known her to exact her venom on the whole of society.But she had certainly suffered many injustices, and he should ensure her safety.It was the least he could do.
“Think of it as allowing me to enjoy your company.”
She rolled her eyes.“Even if I shan’t enjoy yours?”
“Oh, come now.Surely you haven’t decided to hate me for the rest of our days in the mere half hour you have been here.”
Her chest rose and fell from where she drew a deep breath and his gaze immediately fixed on her breasts again before he could stop himself.He was a singularly focused man at times.
“Very well,” she started, pulling his focus back to her piercing gray eyes where the storm raged and her flushed cheeks.“We shall depart in a half hour.If you aren’t ready, we shall leave without you.”
She turned on her heel and stormed from the room before he had a chance to respond, leaving him alone in his parlor with his cock throbbing against his breeches while he fought the urge not to chase after her and determine what other skills her sharp tongue might possess.
He found himself enthralled by the vibrant intensity of her spirit, a captivating mix of fierce independence and passionate vulnerability.A meek, biddable woman would never appeal to him.
And given Court’s age of eight-and-twenty and that he had yet to secure an heir, his father was on the verge of haunting him from the grave.But he was quite used to his father’s disappointment.
He was a mess, and he’d surely make a mess of marriage and family life.His father always said that Court was worthless, and any woman who spent too long in his presence would see it, too.
So he allowed no woman to get too close.His sister and Theodosia were the only exceptions, and he even kept them at arm’s length.He was the type of man who had long lost count of the women he’d enjoyed during his travels and the days spent distracting himself from the disdain of his father.
The effect of such distractions was wearing off, but he refused to contemplate that as it changed nothing.He was content in ensuring his estates prospered even greater than under his father’s control and that he righted the matters where his father had erred.That was enough for him.He had no need for a wife.
But given the reaction he had to his sister’s best friend, who he’d only just encountered for brief moments, and the wicked thoughts already running through his head, his desire for physical pleasure after an extended sexual drought was back in full force.
He adjusted himself, willing his erection to subside as he set off to his chamber to prepare to depart.It would seem that he’d play the part of a gallant protector to the beautiful widow, so he’d tempt himself all evening and then seek another out to tend to his needs after she departed.Because as much as he might want Theodosia, there was only one thing standing in his way from seducing her.
He wasn’t certain he could bed his sister’s friend.If she were to develop feelings and want more, he’d break her heart and Rebecca would never forgive him if he should do so.There was only one woman who was off-limits to preserve the peace in his family, and she would sleep under his roof that night.
Chapter 3
Court
CourtsatacrossfromTheodosia at the tavern in the local inn.The room smelled of ale, stew, and the stench of sweat from the onslaught of men who’d just stumbled in after completing a hard day of labor in the summer sun.It didn’t go unnoticed by him that Theodosia appeared to ogle one man’s form as he passed.
It shouldn’t have annoyed him as much as it did, yet he looked down at his own taut form in his finely tailored clothing, mentally comparing himself to the other man.
For a man of the peerage, he also cut a fine form, if he said so himself.Not that she’d taken to noticing.Beneath his clothing, he had hard lines on his chest and stomach, and his thighs filled and stretched his buckskin breeches.He flexed his calf, further stretching the fabric around his thighs in a display that was only for himself, it would seem.
If he were a less confident man, he’d challenge the brawny man by the bar, smiling far too widely at her, to an arm-wrestling match or something else that might allow him to display his manly brawn to the room.
Not that Court cared if she noticed him, he supposed.But was it a crime to find joy and satisfaction when a woman noticed him?And he could admit that he preferred to be the man that women showered attention on.And the woman before him appeared as if she would rather sit between the group of field laborers than give him a second glance.
He’d had to convince her to allow him to dine with her at all, let alone sit at the same table.And his jaw clenched as he wondered what she would have gotten up to if she had been left to find her own way.
“Your stew is getting cold,” he said to her, biting off only a small bit of his irritation.
