Page 39 of Taming of the Rake
“Then you’ve … had many women? Even before becoming a courtesan?”
He did his best not to squirm under her scrutiny, feeling reluctant for the first time to give voice to his numerous conquests. “Yes.”
“That explains quite a lot, actually.”
“Does it?”
“One would have to assume there is a reason you know your way around a woman’s body the way you do. Though, I do wonder what Randolph’s excuse was for being such an abysmal lover. He had a new mistress every few months, and some actress or other waiting in the wings.”
“Apparently practice did not make perfect in his case,” he muttered drily. “As for me, I suppose you are right. You would have my first handful of lovers to thank for my expertise. Older, seasoned women know what they like and how to get it. They were also very patient teachers.”
“I find myself wanting to thank these women for the gift that is you,” she said with a playful smile.
David chuckled, pulling her tighter against him and inching her nightgown up her thighs. “It doesn’t bother you to know? Most of my clients prefer to think I fell from the sky and they were the first woman I clapped eyes on.”
She laughed, and David realized the more she did it, the richer the sound became. Her unused laugh was being finetuned, the harshness chipped away to produce the most pleasing sound.
“I prefer to understand the makings of a person. What business is it of mine how many lovers you’ve had? As long as you don’t currently have another, there is no reason for me to be jealous.”
She gasped when he inched his fingers up the inside of one thigh, her gown bunching around her waist to allow him access to the hollow between. Her gasp melted into a moan of surrender as he inched a finger into her.
“As far as I’m concerned, you’re the only woman in the world right now,” he murmured against her lips before taking them in a kiss. “Are you sore? I don’t want to hurt you, but—”
She cut him off by returning his kiss, her lips demanding and eager. “I am a little sore, but I don’t care. If you stop now I might be forced to do you bodily harm.”
He joined his first finger with a second, pushing her onto her back and nudging her legs wider. “Then I must continue, mustn’t I? As an act of self-preservation if nothing else.”
“Oh, yes,” she moaned, raising her hips as he slowly pumped his fingers in and out, his thumb pressing down on her clit. “Yes, please.”
David wasted no time giving in to her demands, spending what was left of the night showing her a variety of ways in which a courtesan could be employed. He collapsed atop her just as the sun began its ascent with sweat slicking his forehead, replete and drowsy. Regina slept like the dead, a soft smile curving the corners of her lips.
David didn’t seeRegina again until after the New Year by mutual agreement. Understanding how difficult this time would be for his mother, he had wanted to remain at home. The holiday passed quietly, with far less cheer than usual. As they sat to their modest dinner, trading stilted remarks, shame had fallen heavy on David’s shoulders. He had rarely bothered to visit over the past few years, finding it difficult to remain in the dispiriting environs of the crumbling family home. His selfishness had cost him valuable time with his father. It had also left him blind to the realities awaiting him. He deserved to inherit a crumbling pile of complications, problems, and debt. The quandary, of course, was that his mother and sisters certainly didnotdeserve to suffer such consequences.
He told himself that this was why he was so eager to return to Regina, a little over a week after their last encounter. Servicing her enabled him to care for his family, and he would have done anything to set matters right. However, following a day’s work, David found himself whistling while washing and changing his clothes. His reflection showed a mouth curved into a knowing smile and a pair of eyes glittering with anticipation.
His most recent night with Regina was never far from his mind, and David had called up the memories with pitiful frequency in the time since. Whenever he let himself linger over it, his fingers itched to touch that smooth porcelain skin and his mouth watered for a taste of her. His cock stirred, as if eager to repeat the performance. While it was typical for him to revel in the novelty of a new arrangement, David couldn’t avoid the obvious truth. This client was different, and so was his reaction to her.
However, lingering over such thoughts was dangerous. David had witnessed firsthand just how sticky such a situation could become when a courtesan fell prey to softer emotions. He toed a fine line between having affection for the woman in his care, and infatuation. If he had inched just a bit over that line … well, surely it was not too late for him to retreat back into safe territory. Seeing her again and performing the physical duties stipulated in their contract would reaffirm everything. It would serve as a reminder that what they shared was born of a contract and his keeper’s desire to experience pleasure for the first time in her life. There could not be more to it than that.
The ride to Regina’s house seemed to take forever, during which he succumbed to an uncharacteristic anxiety. What if everything had changed during their time apart? Regina had proved from the beginning to be a complicated woman, one with hidden facets and depths. He had a feeling the revelations she had shared about her dead husband were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to her past. Not understanding the whole of it, David was left fumbling in the dark and worrying over his every move. She certainly seemed to enjoy his attentions—not just that first time, but the several others that had followed into the night. It was his hope that she wouldn’t retreat back into herself again and shut him out. Considering her disconcerting notions concerning intimacy and intercourse, it should not surprise him to discover she might be wrestling with shame.
No matter. If she erected fresh defenses, David would simply dismantle them. He refused to go back to rutting on her in the dark while fully clothed, feeling sullied and wrong despite her insistence that it had been what she wanted. His mission to show her how enjoyable conception could be had not changed. His determination to earn the promised bonus was as strong as ever.
Those were the forces propelling him up her front steps as fast as his legs would carry him—not some desperate need to lay eyes on her after time apart. Because that would be ridiculous.
Powell greeted him at the door, his craggy face drawn and tight. “My mistress is in her chambers.”
David halted on his way to the stairs, noting the edge of something uneasy in the footman’s voice. It was their custom for the man to escort him straight to Regina’s chambers without so much as a word. Only during the most recent visit had Powell left them to their own devices, on Regina’s orders, David assumed. However, the man seemed reluctant to move from his place near the door. Hands clenched behind his back, he gave David a significant look—one that wasn’t easily interpreted.
“What’s wrong?” David asked, unable to suppress the alarm ringing through his words. “Is she all right?”
Powell’s frown deepened. “Her maid informed me she isn’t feeling well. I had thought to send word that you shouldn’t come, but Mrs. Hurst never gave the order herself.”
David was halfway up the stairs before the man finished, taking them two at a time at a near run. Worry spiked his heartbeat and his stomach churned as he contemplated all that could be wrong with her.
He knocked on Regina’s door but did not wait for a response before throwing it open. The small lump of her body under a pile of bedclothes snared his attention, and as his eyes adjusted to the low light he detected the spill of Regina’s unbound hair across the pillow.
“Mr. Graham, please,” called a voice from the other side of the room. “She’s resting … you shouldn’t—”
