Page 50 of The Misfortune of Lady Lucianna

How did the sun’s rays touch every inch of his body?

She almost asked, but Roderick shifted below her, pushing up onto his elbows.

She flung her head back when he took her hardened nipple into his mouth, his tongue playing in circles, mimicking the motion she’d inflicted on his earlobe.

Ecstasy.

Pure, scorching hot desire flowed from her head to her toes.

Her core pulsed, demanding no clothes separate them, their bodies needing to be skin to skin.

“What is the bloody meaning of this?” her father’s voice thundered, bouncing off her walls and rattling the windowpanes at the same time the latch burst on her door. “Lucianna, what have you done?”

Roderick pulled back, releasing her nipple and returning her shift to cover her exposed breasts.

“Father…I…” She fumbled to refasten the buttons on Roderick’s shirt, but her fingers shook, and he pushed her hands away. Thankfully, her long, black hair shielded them from sight. “Do give us a moment.”

“Give you a moment?” The marquis fumed. Luci heard rather than saw him stalk into the room. Roderick lifted her from him and set her on the side of the bed before finishing with his shirt. “So you can continue to sully what is mine? In this ruined state, you are worthless to me. I fear I will have to pay—and pay handsomely—just to be rid of you.”

Luci realized her father thought her utterly compromised and beyond saving.

She opened her mouth to correct him but clamped it shut again, not bothering to hide her grin.

Chapter 19

Roderick stared into Lucianna’s face, expecting all color to drain as panic set in…instead, a coy grin had settled on her, and her shoulders straightened as she scooted to the edge of the bed and stood.

The pristine white nightshift billowed around her legs, covering her naked calves and teasing her bare feet.

The tilt of her chin and narrowed stare had Roderick thinking she was almost happy to face her father’s rage. Brushing her long hair over her shoulder, she slowly walked across the room toward her father.

When Roderick sensed his desire had subsided enough, he moved from her bed and trailed in her wake until he stood directly behind her. He set his hands on both of her shoulders.

“Lord Camd—“

She held up her hand, cutting off his words.

He watched Camden’s face redden, and his nostrils flare in anger, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. The man had every right to be furious, but not with Lucianna. If retribution were owed, it would be claimed from Roderick.

Roderick had been in the wrong. He’d known his course when he entered Lucianna’s bedchambers, though he never would have acknowledged it before.

“Father.” Her tone was laced with steel and conviction, as still and confident as the set of her shoulders. “You are too late. I am ruined. Solidly, unequivocally tarnished.”

Her chin only lifted farther when Camden narrowed his stare on her. “You have been trouble since the day your mother gave birth to you. I always imagined you doing something foolish to scandalize this family.”

Camden shook his head, feigning sympathy for Lucianna.

Roderick wanted to curse the man, tell him his daughter had lost nothing being caught in his embrace. If anything, she’d gained the world.

His world and everything he possessed.

Which wasn’t much, but his love was worth more than riches.

“You will leave this house immediately. You have brought disgrace upon your mother, your siblings, and me.” Camden pivoted and started toward the door, halting before he crossed the threshold. “And, Montrose, you can see your way out the same way you got in.”

Without another word, the marquis stepped into the hall and shouted for the family butler.

A shiver ran down Lucianna’s spine, and Roderick stilled himself from wrapping her in his arms, dispelling the chill that had settled along her arms.