“Come in,” she said, throwing open the door. “Quickly, before any of the staff sees you.”
“I’ve worn my shirt,” he said, beginning to smile.
“Yes, but your derriere is quite visible, Douglas, not to mention…”
“Other parts?”
She frowned at him, but that didn’t dim his smile.
Pulling her wrapper closed, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The terrace was as good a place as any to retreat, and she did so, waiting for him to join her. He didn’t.
Finally, she returned to the bedroom to find that he had dispensed with the shirt and was standing there as unadorned as one of the statues in the Greek Garden.
Oh, he was fascinating, and so much better constructed. His body was warm and alive, and tanned in places that shouldn’t be tanned.
“Douglas, you really have to start wearing clothes more often.”
“Really?”
He allowed her to stare for several moments, his only response a growing smile and something else growing as well.
“Come here, Sarah,” he said gently.
She shook her head. It was better if she was on the other side of the room.
He began to walk toward her, and she would have been wiser if she’d gone back out to the terrace andclosed the door between them. But he was so beautiful and she was so transfixed by that hard and jutting part of him.
“How can you think I’d want to dissolve our marriage?”
She looked up at him. “I thought you didn’t want to couple with me anymore. That what happened in Scotland wouldn’t happen at Chavensworth.”
“Where in hell did you get that idea? I want you every hour of every day, Sarah.”
Her eyes widened.
“Shall I show you what I learned as an adventurer?”
“From all your women?” She frowned at him.
“From the pleasure palaces,” he said. “From books and drawings.”
A wiser woman would have held up her hand to forestall him, or left the room, perhaps. But a wiser woman would have had to be blind not to be captivated by the sight of Douglas, naked. Douglas, with what made him male rigid and reddened, and altogether fascinating.
She turned again, forced herself to breathe deeply.
He moved to stand behind her, so close that she could feel his instrument against the curve of her bottom. His hands slid around her waist and pressed against her stomach, pulling her back against him as if he wanted to impale her.
He bent his head and whispered in her ear. “My mouth could bring you indescribable delight, Lady Sarah.”
She shivered.
“Shall I show you?”
“You already have,” she said.
“I don’t mean on your beautiful breasts,” he said,stroking his thumb against a nipple, barely covered by the sheer fabric of her nightgown.
“Douglas.”
