A Moment of Passion (The Ladies Book of Pleasures)

by Jess Michaels

  Jason pursed his lips in displeasure before he said, “Good day, gentlemen. Fine weather we are enjoying.”

  Dunnaby, of course, fell over himself to answer first. “It is, Lord Northfield. A very correct observation. I was just saying the same to Lady Reevis when I was at her home last week.”

  Jason managed not to let out a loud sigh at yet another marchioness in Dunnaby’s collection of claimed “friends”.

  Chesterton also seemed annoyed by the mention and took over the conversation. “It is the perfect day for this gathering, that is for certain. A capital idea from Lyndham and his beautiful new bride.”

  The four men looked out together toward the pall mall game and Bygale cleared his throat. “I say, Miss Downing has been improving significantly this Season, hasn’t she?” He turned his gaze on Jason. “I’ve heard rumors that you have taken an interest in the lady.”

  Jason shifted. The question was exactly the one he had wished to have asked, and yet he felt no pleasure at it or the answer he was bound to give. The answer was meant to gently encourage the suit of other men, but what he really wanted to do was place an immovable claim on Jacinda, one no one would dare interfere with.

  He swallowed that reaction and smiled. “Indeed. Miss Downing has captured my eye recently. I find her to be fascinating and no one can deny she is lovely, especially when she smiles.”

  Once again, the group’s attention moved to the field, but this time he knew they were all looking at Jacinda. She was utterly unaware of their interest, but obligingly gave a smile regardless as her game with the other ladies continued.

  “A lovely smile,” Chesterton agreed, his tone a bit too enthusiastic for Jason’s liking. “But I must ask, though it may be a bit indelicate, do you not find her lack of dowry to be troubling?”

  Jason jerked his gaze toward the viscount and fought to hide his shock at the question. He had been aware that with the way her family treated her that Jacinda’s dowry was very small. But nothing? That sent a clear message about Jacinda which no man could ignore.

  “A lack of dowry cannot concern men like you and me,” he said, tone leagues more jovial than he felt at present.

  Chesterton shifted, his gaze moving to Jacinda again. “I suppose,” he said slowly, but his thoughts on the matter were clear. The dowry forced all three potential suitors to think of Jacinda’s past, of the reasons why her family would so cruelly cut her off.

  Jason shifted. The issue would have to be dealt with if Jacinda was to be presented with any kind of suitable choice for a future. But as the men drifted into other small talk, Jason couldn’t help but be loathe to broach the subject with Jacinda. It would only bring her pain.

  That was the last thing he wanted to do.

  Jacinda had spent the years since her first Season feeling like she had to hide. Even before her disastrous fall, she’d never been comfortable in her own skin, nor able to relax in public. But in this moment, as the raucous ladies pall mall match began to wind down with much laughter, she felt...comfortable, both with herself and with those around her.

  The increased kindness she had been receiving all day was certainly welcome, even if it wasn’t given on her own merit. Seth, Isabel, Grace and Jason were the cause, a fact that stung when she pondered it too closely. Which was why she refused to do so.

  What did it matter why? Her current experience was certainly far better than her previous one. Perhaps there was something to Jason’s theory that simply being linked to him could save her from the mire her life had become.

  “A very good and unexpected game, ladies,” Isabel laughed. “And of course, the Duchess of Jameswood is our winner, but only because she uses cunning to distract others.”

  “A cutting accusation,” Grace scolded. “And one I own up to with pride.”

  The other women joined in her laughter and slowly everyone began to move away from the game area and back to the veranda, where the men were waiting with compliments and drinks. Jacinda hesitated to join them. Her increased comfort only stretched so far, she found.

  When she didn’t come up to join the others, Jason met her gaze and instead strolled down the short set of stairs to the lawn to meet her. Her heart began to beat faster at his approach and she admonished herself for the reaction. He only came as part of the ruse that they were courting. From the way he had barely spoken to her all afternoon, it was clear he was still frustrated with her after the previous night.

  A night that had made her blush whenever she looked at the wall beside her window. Who knew wallpaper could be so erotic?

  “You are surprisingly nimble and quite brutal when it comes to your sport, Miss Downing,” he said with a smile as he reached her.

  She laughed. “And I was not the worst. Did you see Viscount Rosecroft’s daughter? I thought she might strike someone with her mallet at one point. It was only the bare vestiges of propriety that saved us all.”

  He laughed loudly enough that a few heads turned on the veranda and Jacinda tensed. Was that his purpose in doing so, to draw attention to her? Was anything between them real?

  “Why don’t we walk together?” he offered, holding out his elbow.

  She skirted a gaze toward the others again. “For their benefit?” she asked, her words tight and forced.

  He arched a brow in surprise. “I suppose there will be a benefit, as a stolen private moment will bolster the idea that we are courting, but that was not my thought.”

  She looked up at him in pleased surprise. “No?”

  “I simply want to talk to you,” he said with a tilt of his head so he could look closely at her. “Not everything is for them, you know.”

  She took the elbow he offered with a smile that was not forced or pretended. “Then let us walk, my lord.”

  He grinned and led her down the paths that crisscrossed through Seth and Isabel’s pretty gardens. For a short while, they were simply quiet together, but Jacinda felt no discomfort in the silence. It was one born of friendship and ease rather than a lack of anything to say.

  “You seem to be having a good time today,” Jason offered when they turned a corner into the elaborate shrubbery maze that was placed in the middle of the property.

  Jacinda glanced up at him. “I am,” she admitted. “I feel more at ease than perhaps I ever have. I suppose I have you to thank for the kindness of others.”

  He held her stare a moment. “You may have it more on your own merit than you believe. Instead of standing on the wall, shifting uncomfortably, you marched onto a pall mall field and joined the fun. When you open yourself up like that, the returns can be well worthwhile.”

  She pondered his statement a moment and could not deny it hit home. “I suppose I’ve never been very good at joining the crowd. Even…” She hesitated with a blush. “Even before the Incident, I was never quite comfortable. And perhaps that did hinder my ability to make friends or be welcomed into the group.”

  “You had your reasons,” he said, turning toward her and stopping their forward progress in the maze. “I wasn’t judging you.”

  “Yes, my reasons,” she said with a sigh. “My father’s constant haranguing and pressure to be perfect made it hard to move at all, hard to have faith in myself on any level.”

  He nodded. “I understand the complications of familial relationships, that is to be certain.”

  She nodded. “I know you do.”

  He shifted with obvious discomfort and suddenly the air around them changed. All the ease she had felt with him vanished and she stared.

  “What is it?”

  His eyes widened ever so slightly. “And you say I read minds.”

  She laughed, despite the change between them. “What did you say to me last night? I suppose I just know you.”

  She expected him to smile, but her statement seemed to take him by surprise. He drew back from her slightly, sliding his arm away from her to place distance between them. She watched him go, noting his utterly expressionless face and eyes.


  Apparently he didn’t want her close. She had to remember that so she wouldn’t make herself so foolish.

  “This talk of your father brings me to a subject I unfortunately must broach with you,” he said, suddenly far more formal.

  She followed his lead and folded her hands before her. “What is it, my lord?”

  He glanced at her swiftly. “Your dowry.”

  Any pleasure she had left in the day bled away in an instant as memories flooded back. When she came out, her marital offering had been modest, but not something to put off men. After the Incident, her father had reduced it to a humiliating level, only a token, and placed a much larger amount on her sister. His bet had paid off, for Lisbeth had caught a man within months of her coming out and “raised the family fortunes”. Not enough, of course, for her husband was not titled. The blame for that fact had always been laid at Jacinda’s feet.

  She pursed her lips. “I realize it is pitiable. But so am I, you see, in my father’s eyes.”

  He flinched and his gaze filled with something akin to pity. Or perhaps it was empathy, turned ugly by her defensiveness.

  “Jacinda, there are rumors that you have no dowry at all,” he said softly.

  She froze, the words sinking in like icicles in her veins, pricking all along her soul.

  “No dowry offering,” she repeated slowly, the words so bitter on her tongue that she could scarcely stand it.

  He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  She turned away. “Don’t be sorry. It certainly isn’t your fault,” she said, wishing the tremor to her voice didn’t exist so she would sound carefree about the fact that her father utterly despised her.

  “It may not be true,” Jason hastened to add. “However, just the rumor could be damaging on its own, and doubly so if it is the truth.”

  She shook her head, still not looking at him. “I’m certain it is the truth, Jason.”

  “Why?”

  She swallowed hard. “Because I know my father. He would snatch that money away the moment he felt it was no longer needed. And he wouldn’t even bother to give the courtesy of telling me, even as he continued to rail on me for a failure to land a husband.” She shook her head. “It is his way, you see.”

  He was quiet and she appreciated that fact. The last thing she wanted were a lot of florid words of comfort in a situation where none could be found. When it came to her family, she had nothing. And she likely never would. It was a fact she had come to expect, even though these little humiliations still stung.

  “At any rate,” she said, turning on him with her shoulders back and her head held high. “I thought you were finding me some great love match, Jason, not someone who would marry me for a piddling dowry.”

  His lips thinned at her slightly mocking tone and she regretted it, even though it was one way to insure she wouldn’t make a fool of herself by bursting into tears.

  “Jacinda, you know as well as I do that a dowry is standard, especially since your father holds a small title.”

  She shrugged, even though she was anything but dismissive of the matter. “What would you have me do about it, Jason?”

  “Nothing,” he said swiftly. “I could talk to him.”

  All her bravado and coolness fled with that simple sentence and she rushed forward to clasp Jason’s arm with both hands.

  “No, Jason, don’t. Please. Please don’t,” she pleaded.

  He jolted at the strength of her response and covered her hands with one of his own. “Jacinda—”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want my father to be involved in any of this,” she continued. “He’ll interfere, he’ll spoil it.”

  Her entire body shook and he gripped her shoulders to steady her as his face filled with true concern for her well-being. “Jacinda, please you must calm yourself.”

  She pulled away with a little cry and paced to the center of the maze. Drawing deep breaths, she managed to make her heart and mind stop racing with thoughts of what her father could...and likely would...do if he found an interest in her again.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you think me foolish. I simply don’t want my father intruding upon the life I have created. That is the only benefit for my aunt’s home. She may be quite awful, but she is a peach in comparison to him.”

  “I understand,” Jason said, moving toward her with caution. “I hear what you are saying.”

  She nodded with relief as she looked at him. “Good. Then the matter is resolved. Now we should go back to the others.”

  He arched a brow as he moved closer. “We are courting, remember? A walk in the gardens for a moment alone is not entirely inappropriate.”

  His voice had changed to that deep, seductive sound that seemed to wend its way through her body and settle between her legs. She shivered as she met his gaze.

  “The way you do it, it is,” she teased gently, even though she didn’t feel very amused in this moment. Of course, his sudden interest had also erased her tension and her sour memories, as well.

  A great feat indeed.

  “Are you concerned I will seduce you?” he responded, reaching out to take her hand.

  The electricity between them immediately sparked as he drew her a fraction closer. Not so much that if they were stumbled upon it would be a scandal, but close enough that her heart began to beat faster with anticipation and her sex began to moisten with unspoken promises.

  “Jason,” she said, meaning her tone to be warning, but instead it came out as a small, needy whisper.

  He laughed. “I suppose I could. We both know I won’t since I wouldn’t jeopardize your return to Society or your chance at a future.”

  Jacinda bent her head. Of course she was grateful for Jason’s discretion and thought for her already damaged reputation, but there was a part of her—a very strong part of her—that wished he would simply do as he teased.

  He slipped a finger beneath her chin. “You seem disappointed.” His rakish grin was instant and bright. “Oh, such temptation, Jacinda, you do not even know, for I look around and all I see are places where I could have you.”

  She looked into his eyes, so bright and yet so filled with wicked intent. She could be lost in them. Lost in him. Even though she knew there would be no good end to it, it was utterly worth the pain.

  “Such as?” she whispered.

  His eyes went wide, but then he smiled. “Do you see that bench over there?”

  She followed the slight incline of his head until she found a stone bench. It looked rather uncomfortable for a tryst.

  “Yes?”

  He leaned in close to her ear. “I could bend you over that, flip up your skirts and have you moaning my name before the next bird chirped,” he promised. “Or there is an ash tree just on the other side of this maze. I must have climbed it a dozen times as a boy. Its bark is smooth, hardly a splinter. I could press you against it, duck under your skirts and lick you until you could no longer remain upright.”

  Her body tingled with every word, her gaze locked with his as he continued, unwavering, to tell her his wicked thoughts in a tone no one would suspect was a seduction. She squirmed with every syllable, her sex clenching against emptiness, her nipples hardening against the bodice of her dress.

  “Don’t stop now,” she managed to choke out. “Do continue—this is fascinating.”

  He grinned at her challenge. “Oh, I have not even begun. There is a lake over the hill and down toward the very edge of this property. It is right against the barrier where we could hear the carriages roll by in the park on the other side. I would strip you of your clothing, take you into the water and drive my cock into you until you had to muffle your screams so the neighbors wouldn’t hear. Or perhaps I could take you to the greenhouse and make you as wet as the tropical flowers. I could take you in the gazebo, under the stars…”

  She finally turned away. Her breath was short and her knees were shaking as all those erotic images collided and merged in her mind. She was on the brink of
orgasm and he hadn’t even touched her.

  “I see your point,” she said, smoothing her skirts. “Thank you for the education.”

  He leaned in, his breath warm on her neck. “The pleasure was all mine. But now we must return to the house. Although I demand you speak to me of very boring, tedious subjects.”

  She spun on him with a shake of her head. “Why?”

  He motioned downward and she looked to find a fine, full erection blooming his trousers outward. “Oh my,” she whispered, consumed by the desire to unfasten the fabric and free him for her hands and body.

  “There are only three ways to resolve this,” he said with a chuckle. “Two of them are out of the question in the garden. One of them is for you to calm my excitement by speaking to me of things that take my mind off stripping you bare.”

  Jacinda nodded, wracking her mind for something that would return both of them to a more proper state. But before she could speak, he leaned in close again.

  “Not that we won’t finish this tonight,” he promised, his voice a low growl.

  She shivered, but then returned her mind to the task at hand. “I’ll see what I can do to help your problem, my lord. Let me tell you all about my aunt’s thoughts on the various ways to properly tend to an ivy vine.”

  He smiled, though his voice was still tight with desire when he said, “That ought to do the trick nicely.”

  She launched into the repetition of a conversation she’d had with Cordelia a dozen times, but even as she droned on, the desire Jason created in her remained at a peak. And she could hardly wait for that night to come for relief.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Giving pleasure can be almost as magnificent as receiving it.”—The Ladies Book of Pleasures

  When the window to her chamber swung open at midnight, Jacinda was more than ready for Jason. In fact, she had been for three-quarters of an hour, lying in her bed, teasing herself without allowing herself release.