Page 25 of Avoiding the Merry Viscount
“That’s it. Good girl,” he whispered. “Eyes on me.”
The light from the moon cast shadows on his masculine face, but the intensity in his eyes held her.
“Don’t you dare close them when you come, Beautiful.”
He applied a bit more pressure with his thumb and it shoved her hard over the edge of bliss. She bucked beneath him, and it took everything in her to keep her eyes trained on his, while she experienced a more intense climax than she had even realized was possible.
It came in wave after wave, over more than several seconds. When the last bit of pleasure reached the tips of her fingers, her body stilled and she fought to catch her breath.
She felt him slowly withdraw his fingers and then he shocked her when he brought them up to his lips and sucked them into his mouth, not taking his eyes off of hers.
He pulled his fingers from his mouth, licking them as he did so. “Mmm. Tastes sweet.”
She whimpered at his words, and he lowered his lips to hers again, sweeping his tongue into her mouth, tasting something unfamiliar on his tongue. He kissed her for several moments and then raised his head.
“Is that what you wanted?” he asked, lowering her night rail to cover her legs again.
“And more,” she replied, opting for honesty after all that had occurred between them. “Is there something I can do for you? Like touch your…” She would have never felt comfortable offering such a thing to the man she almost married, yet Elias made her feel safe, and if she were honest, even more wanton.
He came to a stand, and she could see the frown forming on his face. “Did this man require you to touch him?”
“No. Never,” she said quickly, sensing the jealousy in his tone.
In hindsight, given how she’d never trusted the man, she must have known the entire time that the bounder wasn’t the husband for her. But then she caught him with a maid’s head between his legs and didn’t have to give the matter a second thought.
His expression softened. “This was about giving you pleasure, Beautiful,” he said, helping her to stand, then pulling her robe closed, and retying her sash for her. “You needn’t worry about me.”
Her heart sank into her stomach like a rock. He had no need of her or her inexperience when he had a willing widow sleeping in the very house. For a moment, Lydia had allowed herself to forget that Elias already had an arrangement with a woman.
Part of her found it hard to believe that a man who had shown her such tenderness and care could also be such a cad to go climb on top of another woman, especially after he dared to sound jealous of her past. A past which paled in comparison to the one he was so notorious for.
She should have let it go, but the notion irritated and nagged at her insides to the point where she was about to explode. “Elias?”
“Yes? I’m afraid I will be of no use to set your hair to its rights, but I couldn’t resist seeing you thus.”
She drew a deep breath, at war with what she knew of his reputation and what she had witnessed between him and Lady Billings, compared to how he had been with her this evening. How he called her “Beautiful” and looked at her as if she were precious to him.
It would be far better to know the truth. Besides, she’d go mad ifshe didn’t ask. “Are you going to leave here and seek Lady Billings’s bed?”
He flinched as if she had slapped him. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“You have before. Probably last night, even.” She didn’t bother to hide the hurt she felt. Although she knew he was a rake when she made her request. So she was the only one to blame.
He cupped her cheek, and her heart raced again. “I haven’t been with that woman in a few years, and I shall never do so again.”
“You don’t have to lie to me,” she whimpered, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, which she instantly hated herself for. She had no right to react in that way about such things, especially when she told him she expected nothing from him.
“I’m not lying.”
“Just stop, Elias,” she said, pulling her face from his hand. “I heard you that first night. And besides, I suppose it’s none of my business anyhow.”
“Lydia,” he whispered, stepping closer to her. “You must not have heard the part where I told her I didn’t want her. Ever. And that is the truth.”
She closed her eyes, allowing him to cup her cheek again. Fool as she was, she believed him. “I’m sorry. I just thought…”
“Please don’t apologize. I am well aware of what my reputation is. But I would never have so little respect for you to share what we did and then pursue another woman.”
She nodded, her throat thick with emotion. She reminded herself not to lose her heart to him, as nothing would come from what had occurred.
