She swallowed hard, and for a moment he thought she might simply turn on her heel and run away. Not that he would blame her. But instead, she drew a long, deep breath and slowly closed the door behind her.
“Have I displeased you already?” she asked, lifting her chin as she shoved her shaking hands behind her back.
Alexander tilted his head, mesmerized by the strength of her character as much as the beauty of her countenance. There were few ladies of her rank who would be so bold as Marianne proved herself to be every day. Few who would stand up to him, certainly.
“Your Grace?” she whispered.
He shook off his thoughts. “You have not displeased me,” he said.
She pressed her lips together, almost as if she were annoyed by his response. Slowly, she placed her hands on her hips and speared him with a withering look.
“If I have, I really must demand that you be honest with me, or this arrangement will not work. And I need it to work.”
“Demand,” he repeated, shocked that her impertinence inspired in him a desire to smile. He wasn’t certain he actually knewhowto smile anymore.
She nodded. “Yes. I am well aware of my failings, Your Grace—”
“I thought we had agreed on Alexander,” he interrupted, coming around the desk and leaning on the edge.
She huffed out a breath. “Very well. I’m aware of my failings,Alexander. My limitations when it comes to the realm of physical pleasures. I don’t have experience, as you well knew when you began this. But I liked what we shared.” She turned her face and a dark blush colored her cheeks. “I liked it a great deal, actually. And I would like to learn. I want to…topleaseyou.”
“Have you ever seen a lion, Marianne?” he asked.
She wrinkled her brow and her attention returned to him. “A lion?”
“In a circus like Astley’s or something of the like?”
She shook her head. “No. My father didn’t like that sort of thing, so we never went. Why—”
“The lions are quite ferocious looking,” he said, stepping toward her. “With their manes and their roar and their battle-scarred faces.”
He watched her gaze flit to his own scar and then refocus on his eyes. “And?” she asked.
“But in the wild, it is the lionesses who do the hunting. They’re bolder even if they do not look it.” He stepped closer, his cock throbbing with every inch that vanished between them. “It turns out that you may very well be a lioness, for you are very direct, aren’t you? Very brave.”
She swallowed as he reached her and dragged his fingertips down her cheek. “I do not feel brave,” she whispered. “I feel utterly terrified of how much I want those things we shared in the carriage and last night in the bed at the inn. I’m afraid of never getting to experience that feeling again. And I’m afraid of…of you.”
He froze, leaving his hand cupping her chin gently. “Afraid of me?” he repeated. “Because of my appearance?”
“You think that scar makes you frightening?” she scoffed. “Quite the opposite. I’m not afraid of your scars, Alexander. I’m afraid of the things you wake in me. Things I’ve been told my whole life were wrong.”
He stared down into her face, so earnest and so alive and so beautiful. Also so filled with desire, plain and pure andhis. Suddenly he wanted to do such wicked things with her, to her. He wanted to ruin her entirely and make sure she would be branded by his touch forever.
He wanted to claim her utterly and completely and never let her go.
The last thought jolted him, and he dropped his hand from her cheek. He turned away, fighting for composure even as his heart pounded and his body thrummed with desire.
He looked at her again once he had reined in the foolish needs in his mind. “Pleasing me may shock you,” he whispered. “Are you truly prepared to fully dedicate yourself to passion?”
She didn’t waver or hesitate as she said, “Yes.”
He flicked his head toward the door. “Lock it.”
Her eyes went wide, but she did as she’d been told, tracking to the door and turning the key. Then she leaned back against the surface and stared at him. “And now?”
He lifted his hand to the fall front on his trousers and unhooked the buttons there. The flap fell forward, and he watched as she blinked at his hard cock beneath the fabric, then licked her lips swiftly. God, how he wanted her mouth on him. And he was going to have it. It would be a test of how far she’d go anyway. If she was going to resist, this would be the way to find out. It might be better for her anyway, to decide he was far too debauched for her.
“Come here,” he ground out, his voice strained with the need that seemed to pulse through his every nerve ending.
