She moaned in anticipation. She could hardly reconcile this confidence with his reticence when Evan seemed about to punish her.
He scooped her breasts to ensure they were fully in the cups of the corset top, making her moan again, then turned her to finish lacing it.
“Robert?” She bit her lip. It was easier to ask without looking at him. “Would you really have let Cheltie punish me?”
Chapter Ten
Robert had been so eager to see Beth in another of his creations that once he received the go-ahead from Evan, he’d surged into artistic rumination.
Beth’s question took him by surprise and made him frown.
Caught off-guard, he answered without thinking. “Given the choice, women prefer Bags. Far be it from me to stand in the way of what a woman wants.”
Beth turned and glowered at him.
That did not sound as bad in my head.
“Do you not think the woman should have a say in that? Did you not see the pleading look I sent you?”
“I thought you wanted me to accede.” He spread his hands and shrugged.
“What about the fact that Cheltie is here for Althea?”
“Admittedly, he seems to fancy her, but it has never stopped him in the past.”
“Right, then. Let me make this clear. I do not want Cheltie. I’m quite sure Cheltie does not desire me. But I do crave you. Enough that I’m furious with you for abandoning me over a fortnight ago, and I’m annoyed at not having seen you unclothed yet, when you’ve had me naked in positions that exposed parts of me I swear no one has seen since I was a babe.”
She wants me?That idea was so appealing, he was tempted to take a page from her book and bounce. But when the rest of her words sank in, he realized she still wanted to see him without clothes. His ardor cooled, and he swallowed back a shiver of fear. His naked form would not invoke passion. Quite the opposite, in fact. He should have known the little termagant would continue her demands to see more of him. He’d hoped she would drop the subject. “I told you, you’re prettier to look at. I am not.”
“And I told you, I shall judge that for myself. Now, can we please get through supper so I can take your punishment then see to your pleasure?” She arched a brow at him.
“Certainly.” He tugged at the laces to ensure snugness.
She shivered and gasped.
“Too snug?”
“No.” Her voice was breathy.
Wait until you have the final piece in place.
Her breath caught as he unlaced her petticoat tapes and it dropped away. He smoothed his hand up the inside of her leg and grasped the hanging strip of leather to pull it toward him, then upward.
“Oh no. Does this have another of those lumps that look like an innocent mistake but are actually a torture device?”
“Akleis? No.” Robert answered through a chuckle. “You need to be able to walk in this.”
Unlike the configuration she’d tried at Greenborough Park, this was one strap, thicker for the front half, then narrowing. Robert snugged it against her flesh, centered along her lips and the seam of her bottom. Then he slackened it a fraction and attached it to the base of the corset back.
He slid a finger along the inside, checking for the gap between her and the strap. When she walked, it would tantalize, but when she sat… He grunted another laugh at the thought.
Beth took a shallow gasp of air as his finger brushed her nether lips.
“Walk across the room for me, so I know I set it to the correct length, please.”
She moved carefully at first, then closer to a normal pace.
“Mmphf.”
