Page 69
He laughed. “Don’t jest. The man is a meticulous bookkeeper and nothing would make him happier than to go over every line of Oak Park’s expenses with me.”
She smiled and closed the door behind her. “How wicked.”
He dropped his head back against the chair again. “He’s a villain of the worst kind.”
He watched her circle his desk until she disappeared behind him. When her hands snaked down his chest and back up again, the tension between his eyes melted a little. She pressed harder, adding her thumbs to trace the lines along either side of his chest muscles, and he groaned deeply.
“You have no idea how good that feels,” he said.
“You’re giving me an inkling. Do you want to tell me what the matter is?”
“I’m lacking twenty years of preparation for administering an estate this size,” he said. He’d never admit it to anyone except Ina, but he felt as though he was drowning, overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the responsibility thrust on him. His world—their world—had changed in an instant and not in a way he would’ve chosen.
“I’m certain you’ll be just fine,” said Ina, her touch soothing him.
He stilled her hands and looked up at her. “How can you be certain?”
Her smile was sweet. “Because you, Gavin Barrett, are the most extraordinary man I know.”
She rounded his chair, her hand skimming a path along his shirt. His breath quickened as she lowered herself into his lap. Her arms looped around his neck, pushing her breasts up closer to his mouth. He sent up a prayer of thanks for the squared neck of her black dress, which exposed a generous portion of her décolletage.
“Sometimes when I’m downstairs in the drawing room, my mind wanders,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“What do you think of?” he asked, intoxicated by her touch.
“You, sitting up here. You’re behind this huge desk commanding an entire estate with the stroke of a pen,” she said.
“I don’t feel particularly commanding when I’m doing it.”
But he felt commanding right now, with her sweet backside grinding against his cock, which was already straining against the confines of his trousers. In an instant, this afternoon had gone from tedious to sensual.
She clucked her tongue. “Trust your wife. I see the respect Mr. Chase treats you with.”
“That’s owing to my title,” he protested.
She raised her brows. “That’s owing to you. You don’t understand how people see you, Gavin. You walk into a room and people notice. You have presence. Your opinion is valued and sought after. You’re respected.”
Delicately she pushed back a lock of hair he hadn’t realized had fallen over his forehead. He shivered when her nail brushed his skin.
“And you have no idea how women look at you,” she continued.
He cocked an eyebrow. “This I want to hear.”
She chuckled. “I’m sure you do, but I’m not certain I should tell you.”
“Worried it might puff me up?” he asked, sliding his hands around and up her back.
“Let’s just say that I suspect there were more than a few very jealous women the day we wed.”
He shook his head. “Of you wedding a second son with almost no income? I don’t think so.”
She bent her head as though to kiss him but stopped a fraction of an inch away from his lips, and whispered, “Of me wedding a handsome man with a kind heart and brilliant mind who takes delight in the world. I couldn’t ask for a better husband.”
Her words wrung him out, squeezing the last bit of breath from him. He’d tried to resist her and guard himself so he’d never have to feel the pain he’d once endured again, but she was his siren song. He couldn’t escape her allure, especially when she didn’t even realize how taken in he was.
“You make me believe I can be a better man,” he murmured against her lips.
Her nails scraped gently at his scalp where they played with his hair. Another shiver wracked his body and she leaned in so close her lips brushed his ear. “Then show me how to be the woman you need.”
