“I am glad that I do not begin my life as a courtesan without any ability to seduce.”
“Indeed.”
Beatrice studied him again.He had never looked so handsome.When he was warm and relaxed, his face was transformed.Whereas he had appeared handsome almost despite himself previously, now he had a dangerous appeal.
She had long finished her wine, but his glass was still partially full.
Beatrice took it out of his hand, her fingers grazing his as she did so.She downed the rest of the wine remaining in his cup.
“Mm,” she said.“Fortifying.”
And then she leaned forward and kissed him.
She wasn’t sure what made her do it.
Perhaps she merely wanted to keep control of a life that had spun far out of her grasp.
Perhaps she hoped to shock him, if a man like him could be shocked, into seeing her as something like an equal, if such a mancouldsee her as an equal.
Or perhaps she just simply wanted to kiss him.
Because he was beautiful, and he had promised to bed her.
The kiss was as deep and rich as the wine they had been drinking.It tasted like it, too, sharp and savory and slightly drugging.
But it surprised her as well.His hand came up to her face, caressing her tenderly, and he parted her lips gently with his own.
It wasn’t the kiss she had expected.
She had expected him to be torrid and a bit selfish.
Instead, he kissed her as if he had all the time in the world to do so.As if their arrangement did not have the limit of a fortnight.
That tenderness made her flush.She felt warm all over.Her nipples hardened against the fine silk undergarments she had purchased at Mrs.Warburton’s.
It wouldn’t be a trial to bed this man.No matter what her future held, whatever keepers she would acquire and tire of and put up with for their coin, this first turn as a courtesan would not be a hardship.
It couldn’t be.
Not with the way her body was responding to his.
She squeezed her thighs together to stem the ache that had blossomed there.She could feel heat and moisture pooling in her core.
She thrilled at the prospect of what he would teach her.
With that thought, she drew back.“I think I am ready for my first lesson, Lord Leith.”
He stared back at her.He appeared slightly dazed.“Very well.”He swallowed.
The apartments at St.James’s had two adjoining bedchambers and she had grown quite partial to the one that had become her own.She stood, not bothering to wait for him, knowing he would follow her.She would rather this moment happen in her bedchamber.It gave her a greater feeling of control, and she needed that—when she felt so heady with lust.
When she walked into the bedchamber, it was dark, and she could hear his footsteps behind her.
She turned.“What should I do?”
“On the bed,” he said, his voice low.“Get on the bed.”
She did as she was told.
