“I’ll thrash you,” her husband growled. “Come outside withme now. I’ve promised Nell that I won’t trounce you in her home.”
“How kind of you, but I’m afraid my pugilism days are over.One too many broken noses.” He tapped the knot on his otherwise perfectfeature. “The ladies don’t prefer it, or so I’m told.” He winked at Maggie.
She nearly groaned aloud. He was digging her a hole with hiswords, and soon she would be buried in it up to her neck. The rigid set of herhusband’s jaw told her she would not escape her antics unscathed. She had toremove herself from the situation unfolding before her and could only hope thatSimon would follow her. After all, she hardly wanted him to engage in a bout offisticuffs with the earl. Even if she secretly enjoyed the jealousy evident inher husband’s rigid stance and dark tone.
“As much as I’ve enjoyed the evening, I’m afraid I’m wearyand must retire,” she said, hurrying to fill the conversational gap lest thetwo men decided to continue trading potentially lethal barbs.
“I shall escort you,” both men offered simultaneously.
Good heavens. She winced and accepted her husband’sproffered arm. “Good evening, Lord Ravenscroft. Thank you for theconversation.”
Emitting only a growl, Sandhurst all but propelled her fromthe room. If the earl responded, Maggie would never know. Her husband was toobusy hauling her to her reckoning.
Chapter Five
He took her to his chamber rather than hers, perhaps forfear the earl would seek her out in the quiet of the night. Maggie would neverknow the reason behind his decision for certain. The door was barely closed athis back before he turned on her, his hands gripping her arms as he hauled herup against the wall, pinning her with his large body so that there was noescape.
Maggie blinked, startled by the virulence of his reaction.She reached for his shoulders. “What in heaven’s name are you doing?”
“Punishing my wayward wife,” he told her in a tone that wasat once velvet and whiskey to her senses, seductive and shocking. He pulled upher skirts and wedged a hard thigh between her legs.
She felt the unfamiliar abrasion of fabric against the openslit of her drawers and couldn’t keep herself from straining into him. She washungry for him already, warm and wet and willing. But she wasn’t about to givein to him easily.
“What have I done?” she asked on a half-gasp, prolonging theinevitable. She had expected to spark jealousy but not anger. Then again,perhaps the two were not that far apart in the realms of emotion.
His hands were at work beneath her skirts, finding theclosure on her drawers and sliding it open. “You know very well. Don’t play theinnocent with me.”
She stiffened as he swept a hand over the bare skin of herupper thigh. Her drawers slid down over her limbs. She forced herself toprotest. “Simon.”
“You intentionally sought out Ravenscroft.” His gazeskewered her, holding her to the wall as surely as his body did. Fingersskimmed her inner thigh, tantalizing her.
“You were doing a fine job of monopolizing Lady Needham,”she pointed out, having difficulty forcing her brain to function properly withhim so near to her aching center.
“I told you to stay away from him,” he muttered, ignoringher completely. His expression was drawn with a combination of desire andirritation. “Were you intending to make me jealous with your littletête-à-tête?”
Of course she had. “Not in the slightest,” she lied,squirming when he continued to dance around the hungry flesh where she most longedfor his touch. “What were you and Nell discussing so intently?”
If he wanted to question her as if he were her jailer,surely she could do the same. It had seemed to her that he and Lady Needham hadbeen discussing something very serious. Indeed, she hadn’t liked theirproximity or the gravity of their expressions. She had seen the moment Simontook Nell’s hand in his, and she hadn’t been particularly warmed by it.
He’d stilled. “What Nell and I discussed is none of youraffair. We are merely old friends.”
Yet another of his old friends. An awful part of Maggiewondered if he had ever bedded their hostess in his past. Or if he wished to inhis future. The heat building inside her collided with ice. “What manner of oldfriend is she?” She had to ask, even though she didn’t truly want to know theanswer.
“She’s not the sort you’d like the bloody earl to be,” hegrowled, his hand curling around her thigh in an almost punishing grip.
“Stop,” she cried out, trying to shrug from his grasp. Forthe first time, she was realizing she had been playing a game she hadn’t theexperience to play.
“Stop what?” He lowered his head, his lips grazing hers.“This?” At last, he took her mouth with his, claiming her in a kiss thatpunished as much as it incited her need. He cupped her bare bottom, grindingher sensitive cunny against his rigid thigh. “Or this?”
She moaned, unable to keep herself from feeling thedelicious sensations he stirred. But she wasn’t willing to be thrown from hercourse so summarily. “Stop being unkind to me. I did nothing wrong.”
“Aside from consorting with the biggest lothario in all ofEngland?” he scoffed, lowering his mouth to explore her neck. “I’ll be damnedif I’ll share another woman.”
She had tipped back her head to allow him better access toher throat, but his words gave her pause. Who else had he shared? She had beengiven to understand that Lady Billingsley had been his exclusive paramour forthe last few years. “I don’t understand,” she murmured, wondering if perhapshis rage had not been solely provoked by her after all.
“It’s nothing,” he muttered. “We made a promise to oneanother. A month, yes?”
“Yes.” She was more confused than ever by his behavior. Onemoment, he was about to devour her, the next he was angry, telling her half astory she’d never read before. “But what has that to do with this moment?”
