He accepted the papers from her, nettled by the tranquility in her countenance. She seemed so unaffected, and he longed to ruffle her feathers. To bring her down to the mud where he dwelled.
“Are there any lists contained within this draft?” he asked, raising a brow as he met her honey-brown gaze.
It was low of him to tease her in such ruthless fashion, and he knew it. But he was feeling rather low at the moment. Desperate, if he were honest. Despicable, pathetic, and randy as Priapus. He had been ruined by a slip of a girl, and he did not like it.
Her generous lips tightened. Her adorably stubborn chin tilted. “Forgive me, Mr. Decker, but I thought you had forgotten all about such matters.”
Ah.The corners of his lips mutinied, wanting to lift into a satisfied smile. He suppressed it.
“What is it you thought I had forgotten?” he asked with a calm he did not feel.
In truth, his heart was racing. Pounding. His restraint had been reduced to gossamer thread at the moment. He wanted to pounce upon her and kiss the pout from her delicious lips, and then strip her out of her smart navy promenade gown and…
Hell.
He viciously cut off any more thoughts in that vein.
Her lips had parted in invitation, and her dark eyes glittered, as if she knew exactly the nature of the filth that was happening in his mind.
“I thought you had forgotten my list,” she said, her voice cool. “It is just as well if your enthusiasm has waned, however. I have been thinking a great deal since the dinner at Lord and Lady Sinclair’s the other night. Surely completing each item with the same man will hinder my—”
“No,” he bit out, dropping the manuscript to the sea of other papers and stalking around his desk without thought. “I will be damned if I allow you to conduct any of the items on your list with Huntingdon or Quenington, or anyone else for that matter.”
His feisty Jo returned.
Her eyes glinted. “If youallowme?”
Wrong choice of words, old boy.
He grimaced. “You know what I mean to say, Josie.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Do not attempt to distract me by using yet another sobriquet for me, Mr. Decker.”
He reached her and then clamped his hands on her waist. “And do not call memister, damn it. Call me Decker or call me nothing at all.”
Her gaze had dipped to his lips. Something in the air changed around them, becoming heady, thick, poignant. His cock swelled to rigorous attention, lust roaring through him. But it was more than desire. It was…
“You do not have any sovereignty over me,” Jo said then, breaking into his musings.
His grip on her tightened. How he envied the layers between them—he was jealous of her corset for the way it wrapped around her, envious of her chemise, nestled next to her skin. He wanted that same connection with her, that intimacy, to absorb her, bask in her heat, in her proximity.
Fuck.What was wrong with him?
“Do youwantother men to complete your list with you?” he demanded.
Her long, dark lashes swept over her eyes, stealing from him those twin windows into her thoughts for a breath. When her lashes lifted, her countenance was grim. “No, I do not, and that is the trouble.”
Relief more profound than he wanted to acknowledge washed over him. “In that case, I fail to see the trouble. You want me to complete your list with you. I am here. You are here. Mayhap we ought to cross off another number right now.”
“It is the midst of the day, your Scotsman likely has his ear pressed to the door, and my lady’s maid is awaiting me in the carriage,” she said, quite dashing his fantasies of fucking her on his desk.
Yes, he knew those fantasies were just that.Fantasies.But a man could dream, could he not?
“My enthusiasm has not waned.” He lowered his forehead to hers. If she were not enshrouded in so many damned layers, she would know firsthand how hard he was for her, how ready, even now. “I was merely giving you time. You told me you were concerned about feigning another illness so soon, that it would have been suspicious to your brother.”
Indeed, she had in the last missive she had sent him. But her admission had not been his sole reason for avoiding her. Of course not. He had hoped some distance and time would lessen the effect she had upon him. He had hoped he would break free of whatever spell she had cast.
Thus far?
