"He'd better," Clarry muttered.
"Is everything arranged?"
"Your bath is ready."
"That is not what I'm asking, Clarry, and you know it."
Clarry turned away from her ladyship's gentle voice. At the knock at the door, she opened it and took a folded note from the footman. She saw the ducal seal and took it to Antonia with trembling fingers.
Antonia broke the seal and read the few words. Admiration for his perseverance and dismay that he persisted warred within her. She glanced up at Clarry. "It's from Sutherland. He wants me to ride with him this afternoon."
"Good idea, that. You could use some fresh air."
"I will be busy at that time, Clarry. Remember?"
Clarry pursed her lips. "Wouldn't hurt to cancel."
Antonia rose and went to her small desk where she penned him a polite refusal. "Send this back, will you?"
"Why are you refusing the duke? He's perfect for what you want."
Antonia's shoulders slumped against the desk chair. "That's the trouble. He's too perfect. Oh, Clarry, he could ruin me."
"How?" Clarry asked bluntly. "He's got enough of everything. More than enough, if you can believe the gossip. Pots of money. An income to make the Prince his best friend. And he's not half bad to look at, either."
A Lady's Quest 23
"How do you know all that?"
"It's no secret that the Prince of Wales is always short in the pocket. Borrows from all his friends, he does, but not much chance of his ever paying them back."
"No, I mean about the Duke."
Clarry hesitated. "I hear things. That's why you wanted my help with all this foolishness, isn't it?"
"That's true." Antonia looked thoughtful. "What else have you heard?"
"About his grace?"
Antonia nodded.
Clarry sat and settled her weight comfortably, as if preparing for a cozy chat. "Well, he's got estates in Scotland. Way north, where the sun never shines."
"He is brown from the sun," Antonia demurred.
That didn't stop her maid. In full swing, Clarry continued. "Pots of money, like I said. He's good to his household staff. Only one mistress at a time. He's faithful, like."
Antonia laughed. Somehow the description Clarry offered didn't resembled the tawny lion she knew. She made him sound like a trusty hound, content to lounge at her feet in front of a warm winter fire, while the man she knew was all Hon, roaming his domain, intent on maintaining his rule. Her laughter faded as she considered her situation. She couldn't afford to see him again. She didn't dare, never knowing when she'd swoon at his feet and hope that he'd pick up and care for her heart as well as her person.
"Well, let's get on with it, then." Antonia shrugged out of the lace and satin gown and
let it drop to her feet.
After her bath and a simple coiffure that wouldn't be mussed later, Antonia donned an elegant afternoon gown and pelisse. She picked up her heavily veiled hat.
Clarry opened the door. "You don't have to go," she offered on a hopeful note.
Antonia shot her a thoughtful look. Clarry was up to something,
24 Bonnie Hamre
but she didn't have time to find out. Later, after the afternoon interview was over, then she'd get to the bottom of this. An hour or so later, once more wearing only her emerald silk robe and the matching mask, Antonia reclined on the bed in the boudoir of her rented rooms and waited for the last applicant to arrive. She heard the knock at the outer door, then muted voices as Clarry instructed him. After a few moments, Clarry knocked and entered.
"He's here."
"Show him in, then."
Antonia heard Clarry close the door and waited. Knowing that this man was her last applicant made her all the more aware that everything must go well. The strident calls of street vendors hawking their wares, the heavy wagons and carriages passing by were muted by the thick drapes at the windows and seemed very far away.
A log shifted in the grate. Antonia heard the hiss of new flame, then the steady flames and imagined them licking eagerly at fresh fuel. The man, if he had indeed entered the bed-chamber, was so still that Antonia began to wonder. Senses straining for some indication that she wasn't alone, she shifted position on the bed and wondered why he waited. "Is someone there?"
There was no answer, but she became aware of a presence, no more than the barest hint of another person breathing. A curious anticipation filled her as she detected the slightest disturbance in the air and then the soft footsteps. He approached the bed and stood silent beside it.
As though it was already her lover's touch, she felt his gaze on her body, nude except where the emerald silk artfully revealed her. She couldn't repress the warmth suffusing her skin.
"You may begin," she whispered.
He dropped on his knees beside her. Now she could hear him breathe, a slightly ragged sound that reassured her. He paused, as if contemplating what his first move would be. Antonia waited, excitement building. He exhaled, as if calming himself. His warm breath wafted over her. She shivered.
With a forefinger, he touched the tender skin of her bent elbow,
A Lady's Quest 25
then traced the delicate curve to her wrist. He bent and touched his mouth to the pulse there. Her throat went dry at the feel of his warm, firm lips on her skin. With just that simple beginning, she knew that this was no ordinary applicant.
He lifted his head. Linking his fingers with hers, he brought her hand to his mouth and pressed tiny kisses over the back of it, then turned her hand and repeated the kisses, nibbling now and then again, on the soft palm and each of her fingers.
They quivered in his. He took one into his mouth, sucking gently, twirling his tongue around the tip of it, then nipping. He laved the tiny hurt with his tongue, and suckled harder. Antonia sighed blissfully, anticipating how that would feel on her breasts.
He left her hand to trail kisses up to her elbow, until the sleeve of her robe stopped him. He switched his attention to her other arm, repeating the same kisses and nips until Antonia squirmed and changed her position on the plump pillows.
He undid the sash at her waist. With one hand, he parted the sides until the gap revealed her breasts and the curve of her waist and abdomen. His breathing told Antonia that he liked what he saw. She expected him to push the robe farther out of the way, but instead he left it where it was and with a touch so light that she imagined she barely felt it, he smoothed his fingertips over the soft down of her body. The tiny hairs, invisible to the eye, quivered at their passing. Antonia felt the slight stroking caress all the way to her bones. She trembled, waiting for more.
Only when he had caressed all the skin visible to him did he nudge the robe out of the way, an inch at a time. He continued his massage, fingering now the curves and planes he had left untouched before, making her aware as never before of the sensitive arch where arm met chest, of the tenderness of the sides of her breasts. He traced each of her ribs from side to front, learning her, until her eyes closed and her breath came shallow. He feathered her breasts and nipples, making her arch against his hands, mutely asking for more. Instead, he moved the robe out of the way and lightly touched her armpits. Ordinarily ticklish, Antonia felt no desire to laugh. She gasped when
26 Bonnie Hamre
he turned her, removing the robe in one swift motion.
On her stomach, she felt vulnerable and exposed to him, but the instant his fingertips returned to her body, she forgot her qualms. She wanted more. With the tip of his finger, he followed the curve of her back to her buttocks, stopping to explore the indentation of her spine. By the time he reached her buttocks, she was moaning.
The delay was excruciating. Antonia wanted more, and she wanted it all at once. That he made her wait while he pleasured every inch of her skin was unbearable, both thrilling and frustrating. She heard his breathing change as he varied his method and replaced his fingertip with his tongue.
She stiffened at the
first moist touch on the swell of her hip. Her shoulders came up off the bed as her head lifted. He pressed her back down into the mattress with both hands, a gentle inexorable pressure, until she subsided and lay supine for him.
With long, slow strokes of his tongue, he covered every inch that he had previously massaged with his fingertips. Antonia felt ready to scream. He followed his moist lapping with a gentle exhalation. The cool air on her skin after the warmth of his mouth almost drove her out of her mind. She gripped the pillows at her head and hung on.
He moved away only long enough to shift her to her back again. Antonia lay with her eyes closed, waiting expectantly for what he would do next. He didn't keep her waiting long as he bent his head to her and continued laving her, until he had attended to every inch of her except her most intimate feminine recesses. She waited for him to caress her there as well, but he skirted her mound, to move on to her belly, which quivered under his ministrations.
She felt stretched on the rack of sensuality, unwilling to stop and equally unwilling to have it end. Heat pooled deep within her, building to an inexorable ache. She was afraid that if he continued, she'd burn alive under his touch, yet she feared with an equal dread that if he stopped, she'd hang quivering, nerves stretched to breaking point. He was the most imaginative, tender and stimulating man ever to provoke such a response from her, and all he had used was his hands and his mouth!
A Lady's Quest 27
She moaned softly as she stretched under his touch. Her legs parted, inviting him, but he nuzzled at her neck through the silken mask and made her earlobes the focus of his attention. After a few moments, Antonia realized that she'd never put on another pair of earrings without thinking of this man. Vaguely she wondered where he had perfected his lovemaking technique, but her curiosity ended abruptly when he withdrew and sat by the side of the bed. She waited, barely breathing, for what he would do next.
His hand stroked her from throat to mound. Antonia knew he waited for permission to continue. She hesitated. He had shown her things about herself that she'd never known. How much more could he teach her?
"Please continue." Her voice sounded low and sultry even to her own ears.
Immediately, he bent his head and touched the tip of his tongue to a nipple. Already hard and ripe, the nipple ached and grew even more swollen. He eased his lips around it, sucking gently, etching circles around it, then suckling. A red hot burst of desire shot through her. She clutched his shoulders.
Even with her attention occupied by the marvelous sensations at her breast, she felt the hard muscles beneath his skin and gripped harder, her nails biting into him. When he raised his head to attend to the other breast, she eased up on him enough to smooth her palm over her back.
"Take your shirt off," she whispered.
He complied. She put her hand on his chest, smiling beneath her mask at the feel of him, all hard muscles rippling and the thatch covering him from flat male nipple to belly. She circled his nipple and murmured her pleasure in how quickly it hardened under her touch.
Her hand traced the silky curls until they disappeared under his waistband. He drew in his breath but said nothing. She let her hand follow the flat planes of his belly until it came to the unmistakable hot length of his turgid shaft. She cupped him through the material of his trousers, entranced by the unseen promise of his erection. It pulsed, hot and heavy, in her hand, as if eager to be free of the confines of his
28 Bonnie Hamre
clothing. Through the delicious haze, she wondered how it would feel to have him enter her, to stroke her, first slowly and provocatively, then fast and furiously.
She smiled, a slow satisfied smile at the knowledge that she wasn't the only one affected by his lovemaking. "You like that?" she murmured.
He said nothing but the way his member grew, harder and longer, in the palm of her hand told her everything she needed to know. "What would you like to do next?"
In response, he moved his palm, cupping her mound in return. He toyed with the curls, drawing them through his fingers as the skin of her belly contracted. He stroked her muff, his finger at first gentle and slow, then moving faster as her body responded. He slipped a long finger into the moist warmth, gently separating the plump outer lips until he found her bud. He stroked it once or twice, then circled it, and traced the opening to her inner passage. She clawed at the sheets as pleasure shuddered through her. Sensation centered in that one throbbing bloom.
She moaned when he took away his hand, but as his mouth replaced his fingers, Antonia breathed out, a long shuddering exhalation. She sighed in relief, then felt the inner contractions that surrounded his finger even as he did. He had to know it.
Instead of continuing, he withdrew. She moaned in distress. He palmed her once again, drawing her moisture into his hand, then spread it in sensuous circles around her navel. He followed his hand with his mouth, licking every drop away from her quivering skin. She arched under him, offering him more, begging for mare.
As if he had heard her plea, he returned to her privities, licking and nipping in tiny bites. She thrashed on the bed, head tossing from side to side, strung out on a rack of desire and aching for release. She lifted her knees and parted her thighs to make room for him between her legs, but he ignored the blatant invitation and stuck to his instructions. Her breath came in short pants and the flames threatened to consume her.
"Now," she cried. "Oh, please, now!"
He pushed one long finger within her, then two, stroking hard,
A Lady's Quest 29
mimicking the thrusts his body would make. He put his mouth to her breast and suckled one while his hand attended to the other. Wracked with pleasure, every susceptible nerve in her body hummed with passion. She closed her inner muscles around his fingers, pulsing around them, milking them, until her last shivering cry died away.
His breath coming as harshly as hers, he pulled free. She barely noticed how he arranged her lax body and rested briefly beside her. They lay quietly together until their breathing calmed.
When she turned her head to thank him, he pressed his lips to hers. Sated, exhausted and pleasured beyond belief, Antonia had no strength left to protest. She felt the desire, fiercely controlled, within him, and pushing the mask aside, she opened her mouth to him.
He refused the invitation, and left her.
30 Bonnie Hamre
CHAPTER FOUR
That evening, Antonia hid a yawn behind her hand as she waited for her partner to draw another card. Though she had slept for two hours after the applicant left her this afternoon, her body was still lax and exhausted. She would have sent her regrets to Lady Fox's whist party, but that would have disarranged the numbers, and Maude Fox was unforgiving when it came to disrupting her card evenings.
She gritted her teeth against the need to yawn again. The man, whoever he had been, had satisfied her like no other lover. His touch had made her body come to life and go up in flames before he had finally allowed her release. Just thinking about the way he had pleasured her made her legs go limp. Thank goodness she was sitting down.
If he could make her feel as she did without his body entering hers, what could he do when their bodies were joined? She felt a flush creeping up her breasts to her throat and placed a hand over her bosom to cover it.
"Are you feverish, Lady Blair-Sutworth?"
Her hand dropped as her gaze flew upward to the man standing by her table. Dougal MacDonald, that insufferable seventh duke of Sutherland, looked down at her with a quizzical smile on his leonine features. With his tawny hair perfectly in place, his evening attire clothing his body like a lover's caress, he appeared to be very much in control.
She stiffened. "I am quite well, your grace. How kind of you to inquire," she added cooly when she saw the curious looks cast their way
A Lady's Quest 31
"Not kind at all," he denied. "Your skin is quite flushed." He bent closer and studied her. "Your eyes have a strange look to them. Quite dreamy
. Are you sure you are not ill?"
She leaned away from him. "I am not ill. It is a shade too warm in here."
He straightened but didn't take his gaze from her. "Perhaps a breath of fresh air?"
Though she hadn't noticed the temperature of the room before now, it was suddenly unbearably close. A few moments out on the terrace would be just the thing to clear her brain. Excusing herself, she rose from the card table and took Sutherland's arm. He guided her through the mass of tables to a set of doors open to the night air.
She tried to ignore the feel of his muscled arm beneath her hand, but the heat rose through his clothing and added to her feverish sensation. Though he was the soul of discretion as he moved her through the crowded room, acknowledging acquaintances and friends, she knew he was intent on getting her alone. It didn't bother her this time, since she was now immune to his sexual lure. After all, with a lover like the man she'd tested this afternoon, she had no reason to succumb to Sutherland's masculine allure.
She confidently stepped outside and she the cool evening air into her lungs.
"Better now?"
She glanced at the man at her side. "Very much so."
Grateful for the dark that hid his intense interest, he turned slightly away from her and gestured to a couple strolling off a path into the darkened arbor. "Those two have the right idea. They'll come to an agreement in the shrubbery. He'll emerge with a satisfied look on his face, I wager, while she will come forth with her hair and clothing awry and an equally satisfied expression."
She had to laugh. "You are far too observant."
"Perhaps we should find our own bit of greenery," he offered in an off-hand voice.
"I have no desire to be mussed, thank you."
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