He tried to remove his hand but she moved it higher on her thigh. He looked over at the duke but he had turned away from them and was snoring lightly. He looked back at Leila. She was gorgeous. Her brown hair was pinned back and her eyes looked so big in the dark. Her mouth was parted slightly and he could tell she was aroused.
He closed his eyes as she guided him higher up her thigh until he felt the curls. He was so hard and wanted nothing more than to empty his seed inside her.
“Leila, I can’t—” he whispered to her.
“You can,” she whispered back.
Merde!
He pressed a finger against the curls and he saw Leila bite her bottom lip.
“I won’t hurt you,” he assured her.
She smiled in the dark. “I know.” She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth just as his finger slipped inside her wet core. She was deliciously wet and slippery and he could feel the ridges inside her.
A tiny moan escaped her mouth and Etienne smiled. His finger slipped inside her deeper as they kissed, tongues entwining. He imagined his cock inside her anywhere she wanted—against a wall, in a bed, anywhere where he could feel her—oh no! No!
His finger suddenly came upon what he had not thought possible. He had thought she was a little slut who had had been sent to Paris because of a broken engagement or an impending divorce. No. That wasn’t why she had been sent to France. Not at all.
Etienne moved his finger out of her and pressed her back to her side of the carriage with a determined look on his face.
“What happened?” Leila asked, confused.
Etienne wiped his finger against his breeches when all he really wanted was to taste her. “Why were you sent to France, Leila?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered vaguely.
“Wrong answer.”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes looked so blue, almost black in the dark.
“What exactly did you think I would find while playing this little game?” he asked bluntly in a harsh whisper.
Leila blushed. “I don’t know.”
“You’re a virgin. You must have done something and your father sent you here.”
“Oh, that.” She settled back.
“Yes, that. I thought maybe you had been married and it didn’t work out. But they sent you here to safeguard you, didn’t they? Do you understand?”
“I don’t care about it. I don’t want it anymore. It’s a hindrance.”
Etienne shook his head. She was playing with fire. Some man would come along and rape her for all her teasing.
“You’ll marry and then it will be gone.”
“I’m old enough to experience it,” she pouted.
“That will be up to your father to decide whom you marry and then you’ll experience it. In the meantime, stay away from me. No more of your little games. You do it again and I’m going to tell your brother,” he threatened.
Leila was silent for several moments. “I’ve decided you’re the one I want.”
Etienne almost shuddered. He leaned into her. “I’ve no wish to die in a duel by your brother’s hand, who incidentally is my good friend.”
Leila smiled. “He won’t hurt you.”
“Leila. You seem to not grasp this concept. You are a virgin. You must give it to your husband, not someone you’ve chosen for the night. You aren’t a whore.” He was getting angry.
“I want you. No other will do,” she said simply.
Etienne closed his eyes. He was in hell. His best friend’s sister was winding him up until all he could imagine was them both naked and entwined.
“It’s not your choice, Leila,” he said with determination and finality.
Afterwards, the carriage ride was silent but filled with the words that had been said by them both.
***
Following dinner, everyone settled into the large salon as the butler and footman circulated coffee to the guests. Madame Necker, Germaine and Sophie sat near each other in conversation with the three intellectual men discussing politics and government.
Etienne and Sebastian played billiards in an adjoining room while the duke and Leila played chess. Eugenie sat before the fire embroidering while keeping an eye on her granddaughter. A glass of sherry was at her right hand.
“How was the journey here?” Sebastian asked his friend as he took up his cue.
Etienne wondered what his friend would do if he told him the truth. Snap the billiard cue over his head, most likely.
“Fine.”
He would lie this time, but it would be the last. He was absolutely resolute that the next time the little temptress approached him he would go straight to her brother. He didn’t know what she had done but it must have been substantial for her to have been sent to her brother in France.