Grinning wickedly, he drew down her drawers. Simple white muslin with a little trim of lace. Red-gold curls made a vee between her silky thighs. He couldn’t hang on any longer. Diving down, he slipped his hands under her rump and lifted her pussy as he lowered his mouth.
Her scent washed over him. Her nether lips glistened. Planting his mouth over her, he tasted her, teased her with his tongue.
“What are you—? Oh, oh . . . oh!”
She tried to slide back. Saucer-wide eyes stared at him.
“I love you, Portia. I want to show you how much. There’s nothing wrong with this. Nothing wrong with pleasuring each other sexually. You won’t lose your virginity. But you will have fun.” He bent back to her fiery curls and licked.
She squirmed. “It is good. And I want . . . I want more.”
He suckled her clit, flicked with his tongue. Slowly at first, then more demanding. He built up the pleasure. As much as his cock throbbed, he was patient. He would do this until he made her come.
And he thought, pride swelling, he was getting her close.
Suddenly her hands flailed out and hit the top of her head. She arched up, cried out. Her hips rose up, smacking him. He had to back off and watch her climax. She was so sweet, trying to smother her squeals as it happened. Surprise showed on her face, warring with the sultry look of erotic pleasure. It made him grin.
She clutched at the sofa as her body pulsed. Then she relaxed. She wriggled like a contented kitten. “I didn’t know it was possible to feel like that. You made me feel . . . oh, it was lovely.”
He laughed. Kissed her.
“Ooh, your lips taste all earthy.”
“They taste of you, Portia. You’re mine. All mine now.”
He’d said that. And he’d meant it.
It was the next day, when he announced the engagement to their families and his friends, that everything went to hell.
Serenity Island
June 1821
“ ’Ere we are, Yer Grace.”
Jerked out of his memories, Sin looked up. The cliffs of the island loomed over their craft, sheer and gray.
“Where do we land?” Sin shouted.
“There’s a cove—hidden from view until ye’re right upon it.” Sweat rolled down the oarsman’s face.
Restless and worried about Portia, Sin shifted forward, taking hold of one of the oars. The men protested, but he insisted.
Adding his muscle, the three of them pulled hard on the oars and brought the small boat into a notch in the rock. This was the cove—rounded in shape, with steep cliffs on both sides. At the end, steps had been cut into the rock. The oarsmen lashed the boat to metal rings. Sin agilely leapt out onto the dock and took the steps two at a time. The men followed him up the steps, at a slower pace, carrying his half-filled trunk. He’d been so concerned about Portia he’d interrupted his valet to start his journey before the man had finished packing.
At the top, the stairs opened out onto a terrace that faced east, toward the open sea. The terrace was formed from the natural rock of the island, dotted with chaises and benches, and beyond that stood the house. But his attention was instantly drawn elsewhere.
Right in front of him, two men sat on a bench with a woman sandwiched between them. The woman pushed down her bodice, giggling madly. Sin knew her. A young courtesan who had magnificently large breasts. Sadie was her name, Sadie something. Bold as brass, full of fun, and on the hunt for a very rich protector. She had been trying to seduce him for a year. Not to get into his bed—to get into his pocketbook.
It hadn’t worked.
Sadie lifted her tits. “This is all you can have right now. Not until after dinner, you naughty boys!”
The men leaned over and licked Sadie’s thick pink nipples. One was the Earl of Blute, a man of thirty-five, who enjoyed any sporting competition and considered an orgy to be that kind of event. The other man had raven-black hair and was loved by courtesans across London for his handsome looks and his almost freakishly enormous prick. He was the Earl of Rutledge.
The oarsmen stopped to stare at the threesome. Their jaws dropped and they sniggered like schoolboys. Until one groaned, and said, “If word gets back that we were lollygagging and watching those sweet tits, we’d lose our jobs.”
“Aye, though it might be worth it.” But even as the man said that, wistfully, he started off toward the house. “Some blokes have all the luck,” he muttered.
Sin presumed these men would include him in that group of blokes. Funny, he didn’t feel lucky.
Sadie moaned loudly. Sin realized the two men were sucking her tits, but she was staring at him. She watched him boldly as she opened the trousers of both men at the same time and reached in to fondle. She pursed her lips at him and blew him a kiss.