Why was he asking? It was one thing to buy her a bunch of nosegays while on a stroll and another entirely to share confidences.
“London,” she said breezily.
“I’m a London boy myself. Took years to hoe over the Covent Garden accent.”
She looked up in surprise. So he could share something of himself — other than his copious seed, which he’d failed to direct away from her womb, as they’d agreed in the ducal hallway several months ago.
Lucy had felt the past few months that she was living in a moralistic novel: she, a maid and a maiden, seduced by the handsome and wealthy man; their immediate lust leading them to that fateful encounter; and her filled, first with his seed, and now his baby. At the end of the ecstatic, disastrous tup, he’d shoved a wad of banknotes into her hand and run off as if chased, barely getting his trousers secured before racing away.
Lucy, who had been so careful thus far, had landed in a real scrape.
She imagined what they’d say at the orphanage at which she’d been raised if they could see her now, some rich man’s fancy piece, and with a baby on the way to boot.
Having read stacks of books from the highest of moral literature to the works kept in secret rooms at less reputable booksellers,Lucy knew what would happen if she confronted Adam with the growing consequence of his error. Surprise, hurt, anger, and deflection.
If Lucy Makeblythe had one great sin, it was pride. A pride that meant she would not go quietly. He had decided to continue their relationship, and for that, she would extract a price.
The carriage slowed, and Lucy looked out to find that they were not outside the Astwell townhouse.
“Thought we could enjoy a refreshment at my own place afore I take you home,” he said as the footman opened the door to his spectacular carriage, which framed his even more stunning townhouse. Adam’s face was innocent, but she knew what this meant: a quick tumble and pat on the arse before she was sent back to service. She’d ignored the lessons in her books to her own detriment once; never again.
She was about to refuse to exit the carriage when he slid his gloved hand into her own. Lucy’s insides twisted, and not in the way they’d been doing each morning since shortly after the messy hallway encounter. Now, she recalled that irresistible pull that had led her there. That feeling of being entirely in this man’s control.
Lucy let him pull her into the house, but she decided she would use whatever means she had to get the upper hand on her erstwhile beau.
***
They’d toured the townhouse’s extensive gardens and enjoyed tea in his opulent drawing room. Lucy had remarked on liking the pattern in the watered silk used to upholster his chairs. She possessed the refined taste of a duchess, and he knew several.
Adam was so convinced that the afternoon was going well that he saw nothing amiss about Lucy’s request to tour the rest of the house. They’d had such a marvelous time in the duchess’s hallway. Maybe she wanted to tryst in his own place. He certainly did.
Adam adjusted himself discreetly in his trousers as he watched Lucy walk before him down the hall, her bustle swaying most appealingly. He knew from first-hand experience that the bits of her under all that fabric swayed most appealingly, too.
“Your rooms are this way?” she asked over her shoulder.
Oh, she wanted to see his bedchamber? He’d give her something to look at, something to feel, something to—
She stopped at the door to Adam’s own apartments, and he took out the key to unlock the door. Lucy plucked it from his fingers.
“Just what I needed,” she said, setting to work opening his door.
The lacing running down her back distracted Adam, so he didn’t immediately move when she entered his inner sanctum. The urge to lift her skirts overwhelmed him.
“Very nice,” she said, sailing by the grand four-poster covered in plush red. He wasn’t sure of the name for the blankets and pillows heaped on his bed — and they did have names, if the decorator’s invoice was to be believed, but home furnishings were not his domain. They came from France and cost a fortune, so he was pleased to let his girl see them. Perhaps she’d like to feel them on her back.
Lucy was skipping ahead and entered his dressing room before him. When Adam rounded the corner, Lucy was regarding his pocket watches, all displayed on ultramarine velvet.
“When I raised capital for my business ventures by being a stud, I never imagined I’d have so much money that even my pocket watches would wear jewels,” he said, admiring a particularly fine timepiece from Switzerland.
Lucy’s brow creased. “But there aren’t any gems on the case.”
Adam turned a watch over and popped open the back. “The jewels are inside,” he said over her shoulder. “To better keep the time.”
Lucy peered at the timepiece, her jaw slack. “It’s all hidden inside? You have jewels nobody can even see?”
Adam popped the back cases open for the entire row of watches, proud to show off the fruits of his business acumen.
Inside, Lucy raged. This handsome peacock was outfitted withsecret jewels,and she was about to be the destitute mother of his child because he couldn’t control his cock?
