Her Mystery Duke(22)
A reddish black haze appeared before his eyes.
“Now!”
His knees buckled and he veered toward the bed, falling across it.
“God, what were you thinking?” Her voice rose with a shriller note of panic this time.
He gazed up at her, confused. He’d always been able to press through any fatigue. “I must get back to my life.”
“You may send a message for your carriage, first thing tomorrow morning.”
He opened his mouth to protest. To tell her that he must send for it right away. He needed to get back to the House of Lords. But blackness rose up and swallowed him whole.
Chapter Five
David’s face burned pleasantly from the razor. There was nothing like a clean shave after feeling so beastly. The scent of elderberry tea wafted up, a faintly nauseating odor. He was thoroughly sick of the horrid-tasting stuff. He pushed the cup aside, took the bottle of ale, and poured a generous libation into another cup and took a deep drink. What he wouldn’t give for a cup of good, strong, plain, black tea.
“Here are the latest newspapers from this week.”
He looked up at Jeanne but without truly seeing her. His mind was filled with the need to know what had transpired in the House of Lords in his absence. He all but jerked the papers from her grasp. The second- or third-hand wrinkled paper bore splatters of tea or coffee or God knew what. He scanned the headlines. The bill had squeaked by and passed the committee by one vote.
Relief flooded him and he sat back in the chair, then he glanced back at Jeanne.
She shrugged out of her pelisse and laid it over a chair. Beneath, she wore only her nightdress. Morning sun filtered in the dingy little window. It made her hair glow like gold and shone through the thin fabric, casting her curvy body in soft light. Small, pale pink nipples strained against the cloth. Her softly curving waist and luscious hips and thighs were like a goddess’s.
His gaze traveled back up and focused on her lips. He recalled how soft and warm they had been on his cock. But he had not yet tasted them. And suddenly he wanted to, very badly. She was so young, and with her large eyes, short, button of a nose, and rounded, rosy cheeks, she was very pretty, in a fresh-faced country-girl kind of way. Quite a change from the sophisticated courtesans of Mayfair. He quite liked it.
She had so obviously enjoyed sucking his cock. He didn’t think he’d ever known a woman who had enjoyed it as much. He certainly had never enjoyed it as much, despite the brevity of the act due to his own weakness. Well, he wasn’t feeling so weak now. What must she be like to ride? He couldn’t seem to think of anything else but burying himself cods-deep inside her.
Yet her very desirability made her wholly unsuitable for the way he lived. He’d tried keeping a mistress once and it did not mesh well with his life.
Passionate women were always trouble.
And Jeanne was very, very passionate. Even more so than Thérèse.
An image of his former mistress’s dark, youthful beauty, and then the corruption and ruin of that beauty, rose vividly in his mind, cooling his ardor. He took a deep breath. No, he couldn’t bear another disaster like Thérèse. He’d never risk it again.
He should leave here directly. He should forget this girl with the perfect form. He would never have even become involved with her if he had been in his right mind. He looked down at her and opened his mouth to tell her farewell.
Her clear, blue gaze met his, full of such hunger that he caught his breath. Heat entered his blood, filling his cock. He shouldn’t do anything about it. He ought to just say goodbye and leave. “Jeanne, you know I am leaving soon.”
* * * *
A cold, heavy weight settled in Jeanne’s chest. But why? It was best if David went on his way as soon as possible. “Yes, you must leave soon.”
“I shall never return. There’s no room for you in my life.” His absolute tone left no doubt he spoke the truth
The weight in her chest pressed harder. “Goodness. What’s all this about?”
He rubbed her shoulders gently. Just the slightest touch yet thrills passed through her, stiffening her nipples. “I want to feel your softness beneath me. I want to put my cock in you.”
“Oh.” The image his words provoked was unbearably beguiling. Her breathing quickened and heat began to pool deep in her belly.
“At least once. Otherwise, I think I shall go mad wondering what it would have been like.”
“Yes.” She licked her lips. “I think I would too.”
“Would you really, darling?” Desire vibrated in his deep tone. No one had ever looked at her like he was staring at her now. As though he would consume her whole.