Page 58 of A Proposition for the Comte
‘My protection. Reputations like mine are useful sometimes. What was the weapon you held in your left pocket the other day at the park?’
Her mouth simply fell open. ‘How would you know of that?’
‘I watched you. There is much to be seen in the unspoken.’
Throwing caution to the wind she found another question. ‘What do you see in me now?’
‘You are not quite certain whether or not you have a serpent by its tail or by its teeth for you cannot understand how I know things and that worries you. But, the overriding emotion that shows on your face is relief. You want my body and you want to give me yours. Perhaps because you felt nothing with Harland and perhaps because I make you forget. I can live with those emotions because I understand them both.’
She looked as if she might cry, the tears in her eyes pooling and her glance falling away from his own. She looked little and lost and puzzled, a woman who was beautiful beyond belief and yet did not realise it.
His mother had had the same sort of artless beauty. He shook away this loss.
‘Wanting sex is not a sin, Violet. You are a grown woman who has the licence to do exactly as she wills. And I want you as much as you want me.’
‘Is it enough though, do you think, this want?’
‘I’ve offered more and you declined it.’
‘I declined it because lust is not a stable foundation stone for any marriage.’
‘Who said it was only that?’
‘Isn’t it?’
He smiled. ‘When you work out what you think this is let me know.’
‘I’d like to be in bed with you right now. Where is your town house?’
‘Close by.’
‘And how hungry are you?’
‘For food? Not at all hungry.’
His heart skipped a beat as she nodded and stood, placing the menu down on the unused setting. In a dream he called the waiter over, apologising for their sudden departure and placing a generous amount down on the table to allay any loss of business.
‘After you, my lady.’
He was amazed they managed to get to the carriage without touching each other, but once inside he felt the full force of her want as she lifted his hand and took his forefinger into her mouth, her tongue laving along the side of it.
His other hand fell to her skirt and the outline of her thighs before climbing upwards.
‘I want you naked in my bed. I want to lift your arms above your head and taste you and then...’
He stopped as she bit down on his hand.
‘And then you will understand, Violet, that when you play with fire you should expect to be burned.’
‘You promise?’ The words were whispered, dangerous, breathless.
‘Oh, but I do, my love, from the very bottom of my heart.’
He placed her palm across the erection straining against his breeches and she did not pull back but rather sat there feeling his shape. The streets of London passed by outside, the houses, the shops, the park, the people scurrying here and there. Ordinary happenings juxtaposed against what was inside, heat, breath and lust.
There was only a deep-seated need that he had never before felt with anyone in his life. He willed the town house on Portman Square into vision even as his heart sped into a rhythm that made him sweat.
An hour and a half later he wondered how he had lived without Violet. She lay beside him now asleep. Touching her lightly he watched her stir.
