James let out a light laugh as he removed Constantine’s shirt next.
“Oh, please do not pay any heed to it, Your Grace. It is just silly chatter among the staff. What matters most, of course, is that she makes you happy. Does she, Your Grace? Make you happy?”
Constantine frowned as he looked down at James, who had knelt to take off his shoes. He was not at all sure how to answer. The circumstances were certainly not happy. And it was clear that the two of them did not enjoy one another’s company. Yet…
A knock on his bedroom door saved Constantine from having to answer.
“Who is it?” Constantine called.
To his surprise, the door opened, and there, in the hall, stood the woman in question. Constantine’s eyes greedily swept over the modest white lace, floor-length robe she wore, and he noted with curiosity that her bare toes peeked out from the hem of the fabric.
Elara’s cheeks flushed as she looked from Constantine to James, whose eyes were as round as saucers as he took in his new mistress. A sudden, surprising frustration flared through him at James’s astonished expression, and he snapped his fingers.
“You may go, James,” Constantine barked.
The valet jolted at Constantine’s gruff tone and immediately bowed low at the waist.
“Of course, Your Grace. Forgive me, I... um. Yes, I shall go,” James stammered. He bowed at the waist once more as he reached Elara.
As James scrambled out of the room, Constantine turned away, irritated—though not at James, if he were being honest with himself. James was red-blooded and had simply reacted as any young man would to a beautiful woman appearing unexpectedly in a doorway. Constantine could hardly fault him for that. And yet...
What irritated him was the sudden, irrational surge of displeasure he felt upon seeing another man look at her that way. As if she were his to protect from such looks.
She is my wife,he reminded himself.It is only natural.
But even as he thought it, he was not entirely sure he believed it.
“Your valet seems nice,” Elara mused, turning back to Constantine with a raised brow. “James, is it?”
Constantine grunted.
“What are you doing here, Elara?” he asked, trying to ignore the irritation surging through his veins.
His muscles tightened as Elara drew her bottom lip between her teeth and slowly let her gaze drift down his naked chest while her fingers fiddled with the white bow tied just below the swell of her breasts. They might not like one another’s personalities, Constantine thought, but it was obvious they both enjoyed the way the other looked.
“It is our wedding night,” she said, her tone coy as she stepped toward him.
Constantine raised a brow as his cock stood at attention in his breeches.
“It is,” he agreed.
“I thought it was customary for the husband to come to his wife’s rooms on the wedding night,” Elara said, walking a slow circle around him. “However, I got tired of waiting, so I decided to come to you.”
“Impatient, are you?” he goaded.
Elara let out a laugh, the sound of it sending heat spiking through his loins.
“Perhaps I am,” she agreed, sliding her fingertips over one of the silk bow’s tails at her breasts. “Perhaps I am simply looking forward to knowing my husband better.”
Constantine swallowed as the sound of his heartbeat filled his ears; his eyes were fixed on Elara’s body and on what she was doing with her fingers.
What is she doing? Is she...
The bow at her breasts unfurled then, and with a slight shimmy of her shoulders, Elara’s robe fell away.
Constantine did not move. Did not speak. He was not entirely sure he was breathing. A low growl escaped his tightened chest as Elara revealed her naked form. The swell of her perfect breasts and the delightfully dark, small nipples made his mouth water. He curled and uncurled his fingers repeatedly, fighting the urge to close the space between them and trace the delicate lines of her flat stomach, the flare of her hips, and down to the apex of her legs. Legs, Constantine noted, so perfectly long and formed that he instantly imagined them wrapped around his waist as he thrust into her.
She would let him. He knew she would. And God help him, every part of his body was screaming at him to seize this opportunity.
