“And are you a woman of your word? Do you keep your promises?” There’s an ache and a warning in his blue eyes.
“I do.” But my heart twinges with regret, because I don’t always keep my word. Which makes this my first lie to him.
His gaze pins mine, and his fingers push deeper inside me while I squirm, half guilty, half longing for another orgasm. When he takes his hand out, his fingers are wet with my arousal and his cum.
“I’m not sure you’re ready to taste yourself yet,” he says. “So I’ll do it for you this time. But next time, you’ll taste your own cum as well as mine. Yes?”
“Yes, my lord.” I give him a saucy little smile, and his cock stiffens noticeably.
“Get dressed before I fuck you raw,” he says, low. “Follow the torches out of the garden. Your transportation will be waiting.”
I pull on my damp underwear and my corset. He helps me with the side laces, then drops my dress over my head and holds the sleeves for me as I slip my arms through them.
With my hand on the curtain, I pause. “You must promise me something, too.”
“And what is that?”
“Don’t kiss or fuck anyone but me.”
“You see this?” He points to his erection. “There are lips beyond that curtain that would feel like heaven on my cock. Am I supposed to deny myself that pleasure for your sake?”
The inexperienced girl in me wants to back down, to hastily assure him that he owes me nothing, that he can do whatever he likes, and that I’ll be satisfied with the scraps of his attention. But I’m also a stubborn woman, and I refuse to yield. I will not share him.
I walk back to him with measured steps, lean down, and take his big, warm cock in my fingers. “You see this?” I say,with lethal gentleness. “This is mine until our next meeting. Surely you can wait that long.”
Admiration and satisfaction glow in his eyes, and I get the distinct feeling that I’ve just given him the response he actually wanted. He was toying with me again, coaxing out my true feelings.
Holding his gaze, I drag my hand along his cock and then let it go. He releases a hissing breath.
“I’ll take your promise now,” I whisper. “I know you’re a man of your word.”
“I promise,” he says. “I’m yours alone until our next meeting.”
“Good.” I give him a smirk and a curtsy. “Thank you, sir, for inviting me this evening.”
And I leave him there, naked and wanting, bound to me by his vow.
5
The next day is gray and rainy. My head aches a little from the wine I drank the night before, and I’m exhausted. I want to stay in bed all day and tell Anne and Mama I don’t feel well. It would be the truth. But I promised myself I would go see Grandmother Riquet, and I told Theron Beresford that I’m a woman of my word. Maybe I haven’t been one in the past, but for his sake, I plan to live up to that claim in the future.
While Anne and I are doing the breakfast dishes, I tell her and my mother my plans for the day. “I’m going to see Grandmother Riquet again. She hasn’t been taking care of herself properly. I spoke to Marduc about the situation, and he said he would send Herron to check on her, but I think I should go myself. You know how Herron is.”
Mama was about to pour the last of the coffee into her mug, but she sets both the pot and the cup down quickly. “Herron went to check on Grandmother?”
“Yes, I assume so. Why?”
“I went to the store yesterday to swap a few bags of chestnuts for coffee. Marduc asked me if I’d seen Herron. Saidhe went into Wormsloe Wood two days prior and hasn’t returned.”
“He’s been missing for days?” I exclaim. “Have they sent people to look for him?”
“You know how people feel about Wormsloe, Sybil.” Anne gives me a sympathetic wince. “The woods are full of demons.”
“Demons that are harmless,” I counter.
“Maybe not all of them are harmless,” Mama says quietly.
“It’s probably nothing,” Anne says. “You know Herron. He tends to wander off sometimes. He always comes back.”
