“Christ,” he muttered beneath his breath.“You are a temptation, Valaria.I cannot express to you how deeply I would like to cross this room, press you against any solid surface or piece of furniture and have my extremely wicked way with you until you’re moaning my name like you did a moment ago.”
Her eyes widened and he could see how much that description aroused her.He forced himself to continue, “However, today has been emotional.Both because of what we talked about regarding Silas and because of the unexpected nature of what happened a moment ago.And I don’t want you doing anything more until you’ve had time to consider without those high emotions guiding every thought.To think when I’m not perched between your lovely thighs.”
She shivered and her hands gripped at her sides.
He took a step toward her.“I don’t want to be unclear.I want you.I want to be with you, even more now that I know your taste and how you flush when you come against me.What sounds you make in pleasure.I want to feel you rock against my cock as you shatter.I want to say your name when I lose control, myself.”
Her breath was so short now that it bordered on nonexistent and she was trembling all over, much like she had when she came.Her pupils were dilated and she never took her wide, blue-gray stare from his.
“Thatis what I can offer you,” he said, softer this time because he had almost closed the distance between them.“Something sweet, I think you called it.Something just for you.Without expectations or pressures.Under your terms, and your timetable.For as long as you want me, or as short.”
“You’re implying that I would have control of this,” she said, and there was doubt in her tone.
He nodded.“You have all the control, Valaria.But I want you to go home and think about it.Take your time to decide.And when you’re ready, let me know.”
She lifted her chin, her nostrils flaring slightly.“And what if I told you this was all there could be?That we could never repeat what we just did?”
Her anxiety dripped from every part of that question.He tilted his head a little closer.“I would be very sorry to hear that.But I would accept it.And we would never have to speak of it again.”
She stared at him, her expression softening as she explored every inch of his face.“I’ll…I’ll consider it, Callum,” she said at last.
“Then let me escort you to your carriage,” he offered, motioning her toward the door.
She blinked and then nodded, following him but not touching him, he noticed.As if he hadn’t just worshipped between her legs not ten minutes before.He might have spoken to her more about her thoughts, but her maid appeared in the foyer a moment after they did.
He smiled at the young lady and noted that she seemed to have as much hesitation about him as Valaria did.There was a protectiveness in her stare even as she darted it away, as would be appropriate.It caused even more questions for him about Valaria and what she might have endured in the past.
Her carriage was brought around swiftly enough and Callum waved off the footmen who came to help.He assisted her maid in and then turned back to Valaria.
“Take your time,” he said softly.“I’m here and I shall be here.Waiting for you.”
She swallowed.“Yes, so you said earlier.And I…I will think about it, Callum.And what happened between us.I fear I shall think of nothing else.”
With that, she took his hand and climbed into her carriage.He released her as soon as she was settled and closed them in, watching as the vehicle rumbled off onto the street before the house.
“I shall think of nothing else either,” he murmured to himself, still tasting her on his tongue as he went back inside and tried to put some semblance of normalcy onto an afternoon that had all but changed everything.
* * *
“You are so pale, I fear you are going to faint even sitting on that bench,” Fanny said as soon as the carriage rolled onto the street and headed back toward Kent’s Row.“What in the world happened?What did he say?”
Valaria almost laughed.What had he said that she could share with any other person in her life?Should she say that he had made her come on his settee until she could hardly breathe?Or that he offered her even more pleasures without demand or cruelty?Or that when she looked into his eyes, she saw…well, things she did not wish to see.Felt things beyond desire that she didn’t want to feel.
Fanny already disapproved enough.
“He just wanted to know more about my life with Silas,” she said at last.“I was vague at best and he is so guilt stricken at the idea that his best friend might have been cruel and he didn’t see it that he didn’t press further.”
“Well, heshouldfeel that way,” Fanny said, folding her arms.“Anyone who could be friends with such a man cannot be entirely good, can he?”
Valaria pondered the question.She might have thought the same until today.It was part of why she avoided all Silas’s friends.But Callum…he was different.
“I…don’t know why they were friends,” she said softly.“Silas certainly did not share intimate details of his life with me.I think they were young when they met.Perhaps I’ll ask him at some point.”
She wanted to now.Felt increasing curiosity of how two such opposite men could be so close.
“You…you are going to spend more time with him?”Fanny asked, her face losing all color.“Your Grace…I…I fear this is a mistake.I know that isn’t my place to say.”
“It is,” Valaria said.“I know it is.You are at risk from someone who might pry as much as I am.I haven’t forgotten what you did for me, nor the risk you put yourself in by doing so.But I promise you, he isn’t going to find out anything I don’t want to share.Right now he has given me…I suppose I am in a position of power.”
