Page 21 of Mentor to the Marquess
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was private.”
Thel worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “What did you think?”
It was suddenly, painfully, obvious he was the writer. Another remarkable trait she hadn’t expected him to possess. The man surprised her at every turn.
“I loved it,” she said quickly. No other answer would suffice. She did not want to crush his spirit.
He grinned. “Truly? I worried I made the main characters too unlike how they are in the book.”
“It’s an improvement,” she said. “In the book, the character of George is abrasive, almost unlikeable. Your version of him is much more appealing.” He flipped through the pages, then held the book out. “There is another section I think you would enjoy.”
She dropped her gaze and read. It was another scene with the same characters. Her eyes flew over the lines until she reached a bit that made her jaw drop. In the scene, George caught Helen snooping through his desk and metered out a rather titillating form of punishment.
“Do you like it?”
She set the book on his desk, then spun around and put her palms on his chest. “After reading that, I wonder ifyoushould be the teacher, and I the student.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist. “My knowledge was gained through research, not experience.”
“Perhaps we should bridge the two.”
She had always wondered what it might be like to take on a role as part of amorous congress. It was something the earl would have been eager to try, except the role he would’ve made her take would’ve been far from pleasant. But the earl was no longer around to constrain her.
She leaned over the marquess’s desk and assumed an exaggerated posture of shock, with one hand at her breast and the other on her cheek. “H-Husband, you are home early! I promise I was only looking for a letter opener.”
Thel ruffled his hair, tilted his head, and narrowed his eyes. “This is the third time I’ve caught you rifling around my desk this week, wife, after I told you to stay out of this room. You must be disciplined.” He gestured toward the desk. “Assume the position.”
The command in his tone had her hands trembling as she leaned over, jutting her rear out as far as she could. It was an awkward pose to hold, but she did not intend to be in it long.
Thel flipped her voluminous skirts up and over her head, obscuring her sight and leaving her nearly bare to him, from the waist to the ankle, aside from her drawers and stockings.
The first shock of his palm on the tender flesh of her rear made her knees wobble. She squeezed her thighs together, but it did not stop the pulse of sensation. She tolerated three of the same before she had enough.
“Please, husband, I cannot bear any more of this treatment,” she said.
He scooped her up and set her on top of a cabinet. It was rickety and hard on her rear, but she could meet his gaze without craning her neck.
“Is it too soon to ask for another lesson?” he asked.
She licked her lips. “I was hoping you would ask.”
He slid his hand beneath her skirt. “I would like to see what I am doing. May I undress you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, even though she ached for him to shove his fingers inside her. She was glad she had chosen undergarments that were easy to remove in anticipation of such an event.
He slipped her boots off, letting them thud to the floor. Then he hiked her drawers up to her knees and untied her garters and unrolled her stockings, one at a time.
He kissed the inside of her thigh at the spot where her drawers split, trailing kisses until he reached her quivering, sensitive mound, then passed over it, brushing the flesh with his beard, before kissing her other thigh to her feet. As his whiskers brushed her big toe, a jolt of pure lust shot up her leg and made her moan.
“Show me how to bring you pleasure,” he said.
She guided him to the place that cried out for his touch.
“You are very wet here,” he said as he slid his fingers along her crease. “You would accept my cock easily.”
The rasp in his voice sent shivers up her back. She pressed his forefinger directly against her clitoris. “A circular motion works best.” She moved his fingers accordingly, and a jolt of pleasure streaked down her legs. “If that does not work, then a back-and-forth motion.” She demonstrated again and this time, the sensation was so sharp, it startled a whimper from her lips.
Thel chuckled. “Quite a powerful reaction.”
