Too knowing, blast him.
“You know I cannot accept a farthing from you and maintain even a modicum of my self-respect.” He cast a glance in his friend’s direction. “And why should I want to bed a woman who is my nemesis?”
“Why indeed?” Decker raised a brow.
Fuck.Sin was torn this morning. Last night had been…
It had beensplendor.
There was no other way to describe what he had shared with his new wife. He had never experienced anything like it, and he had bedded any number of women in his life. Some of them, he had cared for—Celeste, once upon a time, and Tilly. Others had been beautiful and skilled, women who knew how to use their bodies and their mouths to bring a man to his knees.
Not one of them had ever made him feel even a modicum of what Calliope Manning had.
Sin took another lengthy draught of his whisky, savoring the burn. He deserved to be punished. Inflicting pain upon himself seemed the only solution for what ailed him. That, and burying his cock in his wife’s sweet cunny.
“Hang me, Sin,” his friend said into the silence. “Do not tell me you are getting soft for the evil little chit?”
He stiffened. “I am not getting soft. I am merely a man torn.”
“Fucking hell,” Decker muttered, taking a sip of his own whisky. “Need I remind you of what happened with your former countess? What happened with the Duchess of Longleigh?”
Sin drained the remnants of his glass. “Curse you, Decker. That was different. I was young and stupid when I married Celeste. I was thinking with my prick, and I had no notion of how mad she was.”
“And the Duchess of Longleigh?” Decker prodded.
“She was a respite from Celeste,” he admitted, realizing it was true.
He had not been in love with Tilly, and he understood that now, having seen her again. They would forever be friends, but they were not meant to be lovers. They had been two lonely, lost souls, seeking shelter from the ugly storms of their lives. He could only hope she was happy now.
As for Sin? He knew not if he could ever find happiness. He suspected it would forever elude him, and he had made his peace with that. As long as his mother could live out the rest of her life in comfort, he wanted for nothing more.
“And what of Lady Sinclair?” Decker asked.
It took Sin a moment to realize his friend was speaking of Lady Calliope—Callie. Their union was still so new, so fresh.
“What of her?” he asked, feeling defensive.
And confused.
And randy as hell whenever he thought of her.
She had been glorious last night. Her body, her response, her abandon. The way she tasted, the throaty sounds she made, the way she obeyed his commands in the bedchamber when she was so defiant in every other way…
Bloody hell, he had to stop all such thoughts.
It was deucedde tropto get a cockstand whilst enjoying a whisky with his old friend. Just how depraved was he?
“You like her,” Decker observed.
Did he?
He did notwantto like her, that much was certain.
“She is…” He hesitated, struggling to find the words.
A few, unwelcome adjectives came to mind. Beautiful, smart, seductive, sensual, alluring as hell.
“A conniving jade?” Decker supplied, tearing him from his ruminations.
