Authors: Kate Pearce
Simply Carnal (21 page)
“They aren’t her family. They are her husband’s family. I believe she has relatives here. I intend to restore her to her rightful position in English society.”
“And you call me a hero,” Richard muttered. “Look, I will bring my client to meet you when he arrives, but I insist on being present.”
“That is acceptable to me.” Christian rose to his feet and clasped a hand on Richard’s shoulder. “I appreciate your cooperation.”
“I don’t want any harm to come to anyone you care about.”
“Then keep my mother and father out of my business.”
Richard chuckled as he escorted Christian to the door and down the stairs. “I was thinking more of our mutual female acquaintance, but I understand your concerns, and I’ll do my best.”
Elizabeth was approaching the kitchen when she heard Ambrose’s and Marie-Claude’s voices raised in an argument. When her name was mentioned, she slowed her steps and paused at the door. She peered through the crack and saw Marie-Claude taking off a black pelisse and hanging it on the back of a chair.
“I need to get this coat and bonnet back to Elizabeth’s room before she notices they have gone. Do you know where she is?”
“I don’t, Marie-Claude, and I repeat, please do not tell her about what occurred.”
“I’m hardly likely to do that when I still don’t understand it myself. What on earth was Mr. Richard Ross doing at the newspaper offices? Surely Elizabeth would have known who he was? He looks just like Mr. Delornay!”
Elizabeth put her hand over her mouth as several things fell into place. Christian must have attempted to contact RR by himself, and the mystery man had turned out to be his very own half brother. No wonder RR had looked familiar—she was sharing a bed with his sibling!
Had Christian known all along that his brother was involved, or had he been surprised to see him there? Or was it even worse than that? Elizabeth swallowed hard. Had Christian engineered the whole situation to get her to betray herself? Surely if he already knew about her French family, he would have done something about it before now. She bit her lip. She had no doubt that Richard Ross would share everything with Christian.
Should she try and run? Take her jewels to the nearest pawnshop and head back to France to confront Armand and steal back everything he’d taken from her? She had a terrible sense that if she didn’t act soon, all her choices would be taken away.
“Elizabeth, are you all right?”
She jumped when Ambrose put his hand on her shoulder.
“What happened at the newspaper office today?”
Ambrose looked pained. “I can’t tell you. I promised Mr. Delornay.”
“Why would Mr. Delornay’s half brother be aiding my enemies ?”
“You heard that?”
“Yes, I was just coming to find you.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t you have a cup of tea and wait for Mr. Delornay to return? I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.”
She shook off his hand. “You know that he will do no such thing. He is as reluctant to share information as I am.”
“Which is what put you in this predicament in the first place,” he reminded her gently.
“I have to leave,” she burst out. “I have to find someplace to pawn my jewels and get back to France.”
“I can’t let you go,” Ambrose said, his brown eyes full of regret. “You are still in danger.”
“How do you intend to stop me?”
He shrugged. “I’ll lock you up if I have to.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Elizabeth, I would do anything to keep you safe. By now I’m sure your assailant has probably worked out where you live. I can’t let you leave here.”
Elizabeth thought quickly. “Will you at least escort me to a pawnshop to sell my jewelry?” There was always a chance she could lose him in the crowded streets of the city.
“No, because I don’t trust you,” Ambrose said. “In truth, I’m not going to let you out of my sight until Mr. Delornay returns.” Elizabeth glowered at him, but he didn’t even flinch. “Now come into the kitchen and have some tea.”
18
C
hristian walked into the kitchen of the pleasure house deep in thought and was surprised to find quite a reception committee awaiting him. Ambrose and Paul flanked Elizabeth, and Marie-Claude sat opposite her. None of them were smiling, and Elizabeth looked particularly grim. Christian took his time taking off his hat and gloves and placed them on the table before finally sharing a gaze with Ambrose.
hristian walked into the kitchen of the pleasure house deep in thought and was surprised to find quite a reception committee awaiting him. Ambrose and Paul flanked Elizabeth, and Marie-Claude sat opposite her. None of them were smiling, and Elizabeth looked particularly grim. Christian took his time taking off his hat and gloves and placed them on the table before finally sharing a gaze with Ambrose.
“Is there something wrong?”
Marie-Claude made an impatient sound. “We’d all like to know what Mr. Richard Ross was doing at the newspaper offices.”
“I’m sure you would.” Christian smiled at her and returned his gaze to Elizabeth. Something about the determined slant of her mouth set him on edge. “I’m sure you’ll understand if I wish to converse with Mrs. Smith about the matter first before I share any more details.”
Marie-Claude waved a dismissive hand. “Of course, Mr. Delornay.”
“Would you like to come into my study, Mrs. Smith?”
“If Ambrose will allow it.” Elizabeth sniffed. “He’s scared that I’m going to bolt.” She rose and patted her skirts.
“She wanted to leave and I told her she couldn’t,” Ambrose explained, and Christian nodded.
“Thank you, Ambrose.” He inclined his head to Elizabeth. “Mrs. Smith?”
She walked ahead of him down the hallway like a queen and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk with a thump. Rather than retreating behind his desk, he took the seat next to her.
“What exactly did Ambrose tell you?”
“Absolutely nothing. The only reason I knew there was an issue was because I overheard Marie-Claude wondering about Mr. Ross’s presence at the newspaper offices.”
“Ah.” Christian considered what he might reveal and how best to coax information out of her. “Is that why you were trying to run away?”
“I wasn’t running away. I was simply planning on returning home.”
“A home you hate.”
“Yes.”
To his consternation, her eyes filled with tears. “I left too quickly. I behaved selfishly.”
To his consternation, her eyes filled with tears. “I left too quickly. I behaved selfishly.”
“If there are legal matters that need to be attended to, rest assured that we can deal with them from here. All you have to do is tell me or my solicitor exactly what the issue is.”
She stared at him and slowly nodded. “Perhaps that would be for the best.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m agreeing with you. Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Because you only agree with me when you are planning something else entirely.”
She met his suspicious glare, her gray eyes now clear and guileless. “Perhaps I have run out of ideas.”
“I doubt that.” He reached across and took her hand. “Elizabeth, I—”
“It would help if you took me to pawn my jewels tomorrow.”
“For what purpose?”
“So that I can reimburse you for any services your solicitors provide. I don’t want to be dependent on you for everything.”
“I understand that.” He paused. “I know a man with a shop on Cornhill who will give you a fair price for your jewels.”
She seemed to relax. “Thank you.”
“By the way, my half brother, Richard Ross, sends his compliments.”
“Did you know he was involved in all this?”
“No. It was a complete surprise to me.” He was glad to be able to tell her the truth about something. “Richard has lived on the Continent for years, so I hardly know him myself.”
“May I ask how he got involved?”
“Apparently, he works to restore the lost to their loved ones.”
Her small smile made him hold her hand tighter. “I was neither lost nor taken from my loved ones. I was the fool who ran away.”
“He did not know that. I told him about the abduction attempt and it made him far more willing to help us.”
She fixed her gaze on their clasped hands. “You will send me back to Armand, then?”
He waited for a long moment until she looked up at him, her beautiful face still and afraid.
“No,” he said softly. “I will not.”
“What if you cannot prevent it?”
“That isn’t possible. There is always something you can bargain with.”
“I do not deserve your help, Mr. Delornay.”
The sudden strengthening of her voice made him uneasy. “Did you kill him?”
“My husband? No, but there were times when I thought about it.”
“I’m not surprised.” He paused. “Even if you had killed him, I would still support you.”
She reached forward and cupped his cheek. “That is because underneath all that bluster you are a good man.”
“Bluster?” He tried to smile. “I’m a man who has allowed his troubled past to dictate his future. In retrospect, I’m not sure whether that was a wise decision at all.”
“We all carry our pasts with us, Mr. Delornay. We all have regrets.”
He turned his face until his mouth met the palm of her hand and kissed it. Yet again, her words echoed his mother’s. He pushed that old hurt down and focused on the present. “Come to bed with me, Mrs. Smith.”
She didn’t reply, but when he rose and held out his hand, she placed hers in his and followed him to the door.
Elizabeth let Christian take her to his bedroom and close the door behind them. None of the staff would dare bother him now. Poor Marie-Claude would have to wait until morning for her explanation. Elizabeth felt as if she stood on the edge of a precipice. She had to leave before Christian found out all her secrets, and yet she didn’t want to go. He’d said he’d absolve her of anything, but she wasn’t so sure about that. Some things were simply unforgiveable, especially to a man with his history. She doubted Jean-Pierre and Evangeline would ever be able to forgive her for leaving them behind.
She waited in the center of the room for Christian to join her. If she managed to get the money tomorrow, she would be able to leave that night. There were always times at the pleasure house when all the staff was occupied, and she would take any opportunity she could. Tonight was hers, though—hers and Christian’s. She intended to make it as memorable as she could so that during the long, lonely years ahead she could remember how Christian had forced her to feel and breathe and exist again.
“Elizabeth?”
She looked up into his concerned hazel eyes and rose on tiptoe to kiss him on the mouth. Such a beautiful man, and such a pleasure to be taken by him ... He kissed her back slowly and languorously, as if they had all the time in the world. She tried to deepen the kiss and pressed herself against him, but he would not be hurried.
Eventually, he caught hold of her wrists and pinned her hands to the small of her back so that all she could do was concentrate on his never-ending kisses and moan his name.
“There’s no need to rush, Elizabeth. We have all night.”
She tried to bite his lip, and he withdrew his mouth from hers and stared down at her. “My terms tonight, Mrs. Smith, not yours. I want you screaming and begging for me to fuck you. I want you desperate.”
“I’m already desperate,” Elizabeth whispered. “I want—”
He put his fingers over her lips. “I’ll give you what you want—you know that. Do I have to tie you down?”
She tried to pull out of his grip and he smiled. “It seems that I do.” He led her toward the bed, and she didn’t resist him. “Sit.”
He went to his chest of drawers and returned with several long black silk scarves, which he laid on the bed beside her.
“Do you not wish me to undress?”
He put his hands around her waist and laid her flat on her back in the middle of his vast bed. “I don’t think so.” He busied himself tying her hands to the bedposts with the long scarves, stretching her arms wide and making the seams on the thin muslin of her bodice strain. He eyed her breasts appreciatively but made no move to touch them.
He took off her kid slippers and then tied the scarves around her ankles and attached them to the bed frame as well. The scarves were tight but not unbearably so, and she could move a little if she wanted. He leaned over her and kissed her gently on the lips.
“You can fight me as much as you want now and you still won’t win. I’ll be able to do whatever I want to you.”
She shivered as he kissed her nose and straightened to remove his coat, cravat, and waistcoat. She could see the thick outline of his erect cock through his breeches and thought about how he would taste and feel when she finally had him inside her mouth or sex.
He sat beside her and removed his riding boots, bracing himself against the bedpost to detach the tight-fitting leather from his stockinged foot. She tensed as he rolled over and covered her mouth with his own, teasing and tormenting her with his clever tongue and teeth. His hands stayed maddeningly at her shoulders. There was nothing she could do to encourage him to explore her body except kiss him back with all the ferocity she was capable of.
When his hand slid lower and finally cupped her corseted breast, she moaned into his mouth. He did nothing but hold her in his palm like a ripe fruit and continue to kiss her. His other hand settled over the junction of her thighs, the heavy pressure igniting a pulse of interest in her clit.
More kisses and then the slightest movements of his hands shaping and tweaking her breasts, rubbing the many layers of fabric against her mound until she thought she would die if he didn’t so something more, something more
definite
.
definite
.
“Please ... ,” she whispered, and he lifted his mouth from hers to stare down at her.
“Be silent, Elizabeth. I’d gag you, but I need your mouth.”
“But ...”
His hands stopped moving and she wanted to sob.
“My terms, Mrs. Smith. You can have your turn later—if you have the energy left to fight me.”
His mouth fastened over hers, and she sighed as he started to touch her again. Eventually she lost track of the time as his kisses deepened and the bone-deep ache he was creating low in her sex grew and grew until she climaxed. She hadn’t known it was possible to climax without being penetrated.
He watched over her as she trembled and cried out his name, his expression inscrutable, his fingers under her chin so that she had to look at him. He straddled her waist and brought his hands underneath her to loosen her dress. He then dragged it down over her shoulders, exposing the swell of her breasts within the tight confines of her corset. She shivered as he shoved his fingers down and found her nipples, pinching and pulling them until she felt the ache all the way to her sex.
His bent knee pressed against her skirt-covered sex, making her arch her back into the grinding pressure and close her eyes as she started to come again. She felt him smile against her mouth as she spasmed and shook, his fingers finally releasing her nipples and returning to her back to release her corset, making it gape at the front.
“Very nice, Mrs. Smith, but we’re not done yet.”
She knew better than to attempt a reply this time and lay quietly as he slid a pillow under her upper body, raising her slightly. He knelt over her, one hand slowly unbuttoning his breeches to reveal his stiff cock. Wetness gleamed at the swollen tip, and Elizabeth instinctively licked her lips.
He smoothed a hand up the length of his shaft and then brought his wet fingers to Elizabeth’s mouth. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you all the cock you’ll ever need.”
He gathered her breasts in his hands, positioned his cock between them, and started to thrust, each motion making her flesh wet. His thumbs settled over her already-sensitive nipples. “Bend your head and lick me.”
She realized it was possible to reach the crown of his cock with her tongue, and she willingly obliged him. His salty taste slid against her lips, and her sex clenched on nothing and wanted everything.
“Ah ...” He pulled back and she watched as he came all over her breasts.
He climbed off her and went back to the chest of drawers. Elizabeth waited anxiously until he returned to the bed, her gaze fixed on the items in his hands. He showed her the clamps and the two narrow phalluses.
“I know you like these.” She didn’t even nod and his smile widened. “I enjoy you being tied up, Elizabeth. But I think I prefer it when you are fighting me with every ounce of your energy.”
He carefully folded up her skirts and stood looking down at her exposed sex. She gasped as he flicked her swollen clit with one finger. “You’re already wet and ready to come again.” His finger moved lower and circled her opening. “You’re ready for my cock too.”
He retrieved the oil from the nightstand, anointed one finger, and pressed against her arse, opening her tight bud with the gentle insistent glide of his probing finger. The jade phallus was barely two fingers wide, and Elizabeth wondered why he had chosen it. He of all men knew she’d taken much larger cocks inside her than that. But she couldn’t even ask him or he might stop touching her altogether.
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