She cleaned his belly first, then carefully dried his shaft. He’d gone slack but began to stir. She arched a brow at him. “You’re becoming aroused again?”
“Apparently,” he said with a wicked grin. “Ignore it.”
“I shall. For now,” she added, giving him an openly seductive stare. She tossed the cloth aside, then snuggled against him, laying her palm against his chest. He had a dusting of dark hair between his nipples, and his muscles were taut and well-defined. She could feel his heart thumping madly.
“I hope you didn’t alert the servants,” she said. “You were quite loud.”
He glanced down at her with a wry smile. “So were you. I’m not concerned. With any luck, they are two floors above us and two floors below. In any case, I’m not sure I could have modulated myself. It’s been too long.”
“Despite that, I’d say you didn’t appear to be out of practice,” Ellis said. “In fact, I would say your expertise is unparalleled. At least in my experience. But then, no one has ever put their mouth on my sex before. That was extraordinary.”
He grinned with equal parts pride and arrogance. “I’m thrilled to be the first.”
The notion that someone in the household might have overheard them niggled at the back of Ellis’s mind. She rose up and looked down at him. “I truly hope no one heard us. That could be quite bad.”
Smiling, he cupped her head, threading his fingers through her hair above and behind her ear. “No one heard us. And my household is incredibly discreet. I would trust them with your secret, but it is not mine to share.”
“Thank you. For both those sentiments.” She turned her head and pressed a kiss to his upper wrist. “It’s too bad my bedchamber doesn’t have a door to your dressing chamber.”
“It is. However, your bedchamber is supposed to be for guests, and I would not want them barging into my bath. You, on the other hand, are more than welcome to join me whenever you like.” He brought his thumb to her mouth and stroked her lower lip.
She licked the tip, and he drew in a breath. “Why have you been celibate since your wife died?”
He moved his thumb back to her hairline. “Why have you been celibate since your last lover?” His mouth tipped into an adorable smirk, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“The question I expected was, ‘why have you had a lover at all?’” She sobered. “If you don’t want to answer me, you don’t have to. I appreciate you letting me hold onto the things I’m not yet ready to discuss.” His trust in her made her feel more important and special than she had in a very long time. Perhaps ever. The moment he’d learned her real identity, he’d continued to believe in her and to show her a profound understanding that shocked her—in the best way.
“I wasn’t driven to take a lover,” he replied. “I was focused on my marquessate and Lacey and Company.”
She knew how hard he worked at both, and his dedication to his father-in-law’s business was both surprising and inspiring. It was one of the many things she found so irresistible about him. “You are very involved with that, more than I would have thought from a man of your station.”
“I know it’s unusual and even derided by many.” He held her gaze. “Do you find it odd?”
“Perhaps, but I understand why you’ve undertaken that level of involvement.” Ellis positioned herself partly on top of him and rested her head on his chest. “I think I’m more surprised that Mr. Lacey has included you as a part-owner of the company.”
Roman stroked her spine with his fingertips. “Truthfully, that shocked me too. I asked for that as part of the marriage settlement, thinking he would refuse or at least require me to wait some amount of time to see how—or if—I would actually participate. He gave me a very small holding when I married Clarissa, and it has increased annually.”
“You could own even more in the future?” Ellis asked.
He nodded. “The maximum I will own is forty-five percent.”
“I take it that was her dowry?”
“No, which is why it was so shocking. That was separate from her very generous dowry. Don’t judge Josiah harshly, but he very much wanted Clarissa to marry into the peerage. He was willing to pay a good sum, and I was in need.”
“Then she died,” Ellis said softly, wondering what had happened to her and how deeply her death had affected him. She wasn’t going to ask, though. Roman would tell her when he wanted to—or not. “Is that why Mr. and Mrs. Lacey hope you will marry Margot?”
“Yes.” He paused, and his hand stilled. “You seemed upset upon learning that Margot and I were to become betrothed. Dare I hope you were jealous?”
Ellis turned her head and buried her smile into his chest, then she kissed him just below his nipple, drawing him to press his palm against her spine. She heard his breath catch.
“Not jealous, for I’ve no desire to wed, but I was—I am—attracted to you, and I had the impression you might feel the same.” She feared she really had been jealous, for she had to admit that she was drawn to him in many ways that went beyond the physical.
Pushing that disquieting thought aside, she kissed him again, for longer, using her tongue to taste his flesh. He shivered, and she continued talking. “But then I wondered if I’d imagined that. I didn’t think you would engage in a liaison with me whilst becoming betrothed to someone else. And if you did, well, my opinion of you would plummet.”
He laughed, and the sound vibrated his chest beneath her. “Your impression was correct. I’ve been attracted to from the moment I realized you were a woman, and perhaps even slightly before that, much to my shock.” She licked his nipple, and he moaned. “Something about you is devastatingly alluring.” He traced his fingertip up her spine and grasped a lock of her hair, tugging on it gently. “It pains me greatly to think the next time I see you, this gorgeous mass will be hiding under that terrible wig.”
She lifted her head. “My wig is terrible?”
