She tensed and Darrius realized he’d made an error. Made her think he meant she was one of those wrongs. And she was…but that hadn’t been what he’d been thinking about in the slightest when he touched her, had her.
She lowered her head and refused to look at either of them now. “Is this pity?”
There was a long pause and Darrius sat up a little straighter, forcing her to do the same. “No.” He glanced at Benedict and, of course, found him watching him. Benedict was always watching him. Tempting him. Drawing more from him than he felt he could give. He cleared his throat. “When I want something I-I know I can’t have…I pull away. I harden myself. I think that’s why you saw me as cold toward you. But my desire for you…it is the furthest thing from pity.”
He was saying it to her, but he saw those words land with Benedict. Felt them soak through him. Felt them move him.
She sat up and ran a hand through her tangled hair. “I think I should go back to my room. We’ve given each other a great deal to think about tonight. And look forward to, assuming your offer still stands that we can continue like this.”
“For as long as you desire,” Benedict said.
“For as long as we’re here,” Darrius said, a slight correction, but a meaningful one. After all, he couldn’t imagine doing this forever. Could he? Or was it just that the image was too powerful?
She slipped from his bed and gathered her things. Benedict helped her dress while Darrius watched them with the same hunger he’d felt when she was being undressed. Their hands moving over each other, her skin against his skin, it was all intoxicating. Bordering on dangerous, because the hunger it unleashed didn’t feel controlled, nor did the emotions beneath the surface.
When she was fixed enough to depart, she took a long look at Benedict, still naked, then at Darrius sprawled across his bed, trousers only unfastened, and she smiled slightly. “Thank you for tonight. Thank you for making me feel so…so alive. I didn’t realize I was in a tomb until you did that.”
She said nothing else, but slipped away, out into the antechamber, away into the hall. Together they stared after her and then Darrius felt Benedict’s eyes slide to him. He returned the gaze and shivered at the absolute perfection of this man’s naked form.
“Should I go back to my room?” Benedict asked, his tone low and seductive.
Everything in Darrius wanted to say no. To take his hand and draw him in and surrender to every desire that had ever pulsed through his veins. Instead he nodded.
“I think it’s best,” he said, and wished his voice didn’t shake a little.
Benedict gave a half-smile, almost as if he’d expected the answer and won some kind of wager with himself about it. Then he tugged his trousers on and gathered the rest of his things over his arm before he started for the door. There, he turned back.
“Watching you fuck her? It’s amazing, Darrius. Gorgeous.”
He left and Darrius scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yes,” he whispered before he flopped back on the bed and covered his eyes with his forearm.
CHAPTER 9
Vanessa
Although Vanessa had, for most of her adult life, been an early-to-rise sort of person, that was not true the next morning. She had slept so poorly, tormented by memories of her time with the two men and thoughts of the foggy future, that she didn’t manage to get up until close to noon. When she got ready with the help of the maid that Darrius had assigned to her and dragged herself downstairs, she found Merritt in the breakfast room, waiting for her.
“At last,” the marchioness said as she got to her feet and crossed to her with a knowing smile. “They must have worn you out, my dear.”
“Merritt!” Vanessa gasped, and looked toward the door.
She laughed. “Calm yourself. The servants are busy elsewhere and your men seem to be abed still. Mine are out for a ride, though I’m not sure what way to take that. I suppose I’ll find out when they return by how happy they look.”
Vanessa sat down at the table and shook her head. “You are so matter of fact about everything.”
“It’s time that allows it,” Merritt said, and moved to the sideboard to prepare a plate. “To be honest, I’m thrilled to know someone else who is both aware of my relationship with them and also indulges in such a thing herself. I don’t have to pretend.” She set a plate before Vanessa and smiled. “Now eat. You’ll want to keep your strength up. At the beginning, it’s all about stamina.”
Vanessa picked at her plate a moment, and when Merritt arched a brow at her, she dutifully took a few bites. As she chewed, she stared at her friend. “Yesterday I asked you about the physical aspect of your relationship, but…”
“You wonder about the rest?” Merritt asked.
She nodded. “There’s such intensity when we’re together, even though we’ve just begun. It feels like more than physical.”
“If you are lucky, it will be. I was happy with Elliot,” Merritt said, referring to the marquess by his given name. “We were passionate together, we were well matched when we entered a room. He challenged me and was patient when I needed it. But when he brought Peter back to me…we had loved each other when we were young and been parted when the marriage was arranged…I realized something.”
“What was it?” Vanessa asked, leaning forward now. It was impossible not to—Merritt almost glowed with love and certainty and everything Vanessa longed for.
“That I was missing a piece of myself when I didn’t have Peter. But more than that, Elliot was missing a piece of himself. In fact, sometimes when I watch them together, I think that he might have needed him even more than I did. Our love for each other, as parts and as a whole, grows with every day we spend together. Whether we’re making love or doing something mundane like taking a walk or reading together…it’s magic.”
