Desire Me More

by Tiffany Clare

  “I didn’t say I wanted him back in my bed. No, I’ve found another to fill that role, though he’s not nearly as rough as our Nick can get.”

  Amelia felt her face flame. Not so much with embarrassment as with a rage unlike anything she’d ever felt in her entire life.

  “I miss that about him,” Victoria continued, as casually as though they were discussing the weather. “But I certainly don’t want the likes of you sinking your teeth in and biting off more than you deserve.”

  “If you were really his friend, you wouldn’t be saying any of this to me.”

  Victoria chuckled and turned just as Nick opened the door. Victoria practically threw herself at him, kissing both his cheeks in greeting as if she were French.

  Amelia wanted to haul the woman away by her perfect hair and push her down in the seat farthest from where Nick pulled his chair out. Victoria took his choice as an opportunity to sit next to him. Amelia could do nothing; their relationship had to remain a secret. Though why she bothered when this woman seemed to know exactly what was going on . . . had Nick told Victoria about them?

  “I thought you were coming alone, Nicky. To catch up on old times since we haven’t seen each other for an age.” Victoria pouted out her bottom lip and gave it a seductive lick before picking up an almond cookie and sucking it like she was sucking . . .

  Amelia dropped her gaze and focused on the tea in front of her. She didn’t think Victoria acted like that to draw Nick’s attention but more to rile up Amelia. And she would not give Victoria the satisfaction of knowing just how much it affected her.

  Taking a breath and raising her gaze only to Nick, Amelia smiled and said, “Victoria was just telling me how much she misses your company, but your schedules rarely allow you to spend time together.”

  That came out more jealous-sounding than she’d intended. The words couldn’t be taken back, and she refused to apologize for her tone.

  Nick sat back in his chair, narrowing his eyes in her direction, his question clear. She’d have to tell him that she and Victoria would never be friends, and it was unlikely they’d ever get on amicably. The one burning question she had for him was why he had to remain friends with his old lover at all. She understood that the woman was a friend of his sister’s, but that didn’t make him obligated to see her again.

  “What was your purpose in wanting to see Nick, Miss Newgate?” Amelia asked. “If it was merely to pass an hour, I’d be more than happy to wander around the store and let you have some time alone.” Amelia looked right at Nick, hoping he read her discomfort with this situation. That he would declare they needed to leave immediately and say he’d forgotten about a double-booked engagement—anything to get them out of here.

  “So that’s how it is,” Nick said. His steely gaze locked on Victoria. “I thought I was here to discuss Hart’s upcoming birthday celebration.”

  “You can’t blame me for wanting to see you again. You haven’t visited me in more than a month.” The first thread of discomfort filtered into Victoria’s thin excuse of an explanation. Amelia would have smiled, were she not seething with resentment.

  “Victoria, for the last time, we are friends. Nothing more.”

  “I’m well aware of that. Don’t be a ninny.” Victoria leaned forward, showing off her ample décolletage in the square cutout of her dress as she touched his arm. Her hand lingered there.

  Amelia pushed out her chair. The sound of the feet skidding across the wood floor broke Victoria and Nick’s moment, and she hated that it had taken something external to separate them. She couldn’t witness another second of whatever was going on between them. They had unfinished business they needed to sort out, and all she could do was leave them to it.

  Nick tried to grab Amelia’s hand as she stormed past, but she slipped out the door and through the teahouse. She didn’t skulk in the carriage as she wanted to; instead, she made her way into the department store and wandered around to look at all the beautiful wares available for purchase. Not that she would buy anything. She just needed space from that woman.

  Victoria and Nick had shared a moment, as if Amelia weren’t sitting in the same room with them. That might have been her overactive imagination making her see things that weren’t real, but the feeling of jealousy grew in the pit of her stomach and gnawed on her from the inside, making her feel ill.

  While her intention in joining Nick for tea was to ensure Victoria didn’t try to win Nick back, she knew, after his comment, that she had nothing to worry about. Or at least she hoped she didn’t have anything to regret in leaving them alone.

  “What in hell was that, Victoria?” Nick pushed out his chair, having every intention of following Amelia. She was hurt. He had seen that in her expression before he’d even sat down.

  “Some women are unpredictable when their emotions are overwrought. She’ll be well enough in time. I can send someone to follow her if you like.”

  “You have one minute to give me a good reason to stay.”

  “I’m trying to protect you.” She reached out to touch his arm in that familiar way of hers.

  He pulled back, looking at her hand as though it were a stinger. She was not at liberty to touch him. “Don’t. You have never had a reason to protect me from anything. What is it you, of all people, can guard me from?”

  “I see what she’s doing to you.” Victoria’s eyes were clouded with genuine concern. She was one of the best actresses he knew. “I’m worried you’ll fall into her carefully devised trap.”

  Nick wanted to laugh at the assessment. Nick was the one trying to trap Amelia, not the other way around. “And how do you think that’s possible? As you said, I haven’t seen you in well over a month, Victoria. And I will not allow Miss Grant to be trifled with.”

  Victoria fell back in her chair, a slight slouch hunching her shoulders forward. “I didn’t want to believe it possible when we met at the Langtry for dinner.”

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that.”

  “You’ve fallen in love with her. That’s the only reason I can think why you’ve been avoiding me.”

  “We go back too far for me to lie to you about something like this, Vic. So the truth is, you’re right. But if you think for one minute I’ll let you interfere, you are sadly mistaken.” He stood from the table, done with this conversation. Done with Victoria, if she didn’t see the grave mistake she’d made today.

  She wrapped her hand around his forearm. “Humor me, Nick. How long have we known each other?”

  “A decade, give or take.”

  “And in that time, I have never known you to fall for any woman. Whoever this Miss Grant is, she’s trouble.”

  Nick gave her a droll look. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am. I talked to Sera. She said you’d brought your new mistress around to the school.”

  Nick clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw cracked. “I’ll be sure to correct her.”

  Victoria nibbled on her lip and batted her lashes. She knew better than to try that kind of tactic on him. He crossed his arms over his chest, eager to leave but needing to know what his sister had said so he could correct her assumptions immediately.

  “She might not have put it that way exactly.”

  “Victoria, my patience is running thin . . . ”

  “I let her know that I had met your lady friend.”

  “Let us get one thing straight. Amelia is not a lady friend. And you will treat her with the respect she deserves.”

  “You’ve lost your head with her.” Victoria’s voice was slowly rising; her frustration in this argument was not endearing Nick to her cause.

  “I know precisely where my head is. The only thing you risk is cutting off our friendship if you insist on treating her poorly.”

  “We had a conversation, nothing more.”

  “Don’t come around, Victoria. Don’t send notes. Don’t talk to me until you can apologize to Amelia.”

  “That’s not fair.” />
  “Life generally isn’t. Though that’s not something I should need to remind you.”

  He left her standing in the middle of her private room. Eyes were focused on their glass enclosure, and while patrons likely hadn’t heard their exchange, they would be well aware that there was a new rift between them. Something for the gossip columns.

  Nick stopped at the front counter. “In which direction did the woman wearing the blush-pink dress head?”

  “Through the shop, sir.”

  He headed into the department store, not sure where Amelia would have gone. If she was merely browsing the counters, he’d find her eventually. Surely she wouldn’t leave without him. Ladies’ Wear was on the third floor, so he’d check there last, as men weren’t supposed to be up there. The first floor was antiquities, porcelain, and silver. The second floor was jewelry. He found her walking between two rows of glass cases, with a salesman two steps behind, should she need assistance.

  All Nick knew was that he was happy to have found her. Victoria didn’t know the danger Amelia was in, so he couldn’t blame her completely for the episode that drove Amelia away. But he was happy to see her safe.

  Nick nodded the salesman over. He came quickly, Amelia was not even aware she’d been followed around. “I’ll signal to you if the lady wants anything.”

  The man was younger than he originally thought, maybe eighteen. His face still had spots. “Yes, sir,” he said enthusiastically.

  Nick walked between the rows of glass cases and made his way to Amelia’s side. She paused over a series of lockets—gold, silver, a plethora at her fingertips.

  “Do you see something you like?”

  She jumped, her shoulders hitting his chest as she let out a small squeal of surprise. She pressed her hand to her chest and inhaled deeply. “Nick. You scared the devil out of me.”

  He caged his arms around her and leaned close enough that he could talk quietly in her ear. Their conversation was for them alone. People could assume what they wanted with his blatant fawning; he didn’t care. There was one thing of which Nick was sure: Amelia was his. And everyone in this shop would see and know that. And anything that was his was not to be trifled with.

  “Not my intention to scare you.”

  “What are you doing up here?”

  “Apologizing.” Nick ran his fingers over the glass display case mere inches from her hand. He wanted to take it up and press a kiss to the inside of her wrist, but the shop was too busy for such an open display of intimacy. “Perhaps a gift is in order.”

  Amelia ducked her head, shaking it. “No,” she said, so quietly he almost didn’t catch it.

  “Why not?”

  “I was only reminiscing.” She pointed to a rather plain silver locket in the case with minimal detail stamped in the face. “This one reminded me of one I once had.”

  “Ah. Did you have something you wanted to put in the locket? I’m happy to make the purchase.”

  Her white-gloved fingers trailed a seductive path along the edge of the case. “The day we met, mine was stolen, along with my money. I never cared about the money; it wasn’t rightfully mine, but the locket was a gift from my parents. I wasn’t wearing it because the chain was broken.”

  “Then let me buy you another. It’s the least I can do after Victoria’s abhorrent behavior.”

  She turned her cheek enough to show him her faint smile of appreciation. “It’s not the locket that held value but what lay inside. And your friend Victoria is a topic for another time . . . when there are fewer ears present, I think.”

  “I can agree to that for now.” Nick motioned to the room around them. Jewels, hairpieces, even diadems filled every case. “I want you to pick something else. Anything.”

  “That’s kind of you, but no thank you. I was passing the time in here, waiting for your meeting with Victoria to end. I don’t need anything.”

  “Humor me.”

  She blushed a pretty shade of pink. “It’s too much, Nick. Buying me a present now will prove your friend right.”

  “I don’t care what Victoria thinks.”

  She pinched her mouth on a smile. “Please, let’s go if you’re finished.”

  “I’ll cede this once, but only because I’m embarrassed by the way Victoria treated you.”

  Amelia would be lying if she said she wasn’t feeling a little defeated by the events of the afternoon. The only thing that made her feel better was that Nick had followed her shortly after she’d departed the teahouse. It might be petty, but it proved that Nick cared more about her than Victoria in that particular instance.

  Then there was the guilt she felt. She’d been the cause of their rift. She’d been the one to let Victoria pick a fight with her when Amelia had ample time to fix the direction of their conversation.

  Nick had dropped her off at the house and come in long enough to give her a kiss good-bye and apologize once again for his friend’s cruel treatment. The second Huxley had arrived, Nick had left for what remained of the afternoon. Amelia wasn’t sure where he’d gone, as he had only one appointment in his book, at four, but that was neither here nor there; she had a lot of paperwork she needed to sort through and that would be difficult with Nick hovering over her shoulder.

  He came home just as she was closing the study door. Huxley was talking to him, so she remained straight-faced and aloof, as though she hadn’t been waiting to see Nick all evening.

  They both looked up when the door clicked shut behind her. “Would you like me to open up the study again?” she asked. “I just turned down all the lighting for the night.”

  “I have some letters to send out before I retire,” Nick said.

  She ducked her head for the benefit of Huxley, who was still standing there, and backed into the study to turn on the lamps and light the candles.

  “It’s nearly ten,” Nick said as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “I thought you would be in bed by the time I was home.”

  “I wanted to wait for your return. I had to tell you that I was partially to blame for the disastrous tea with Miss Newgate this afternoon.” When he opened his mouth to dispute that, she put up her hand. “Let me finish before you tell me I had nothing to do with it. I did. The reason I agreed to go with you today was because I hate that you’re friends with her, Nick. It eats me up inside, knowing that she had you first, she knew you first. And I was afraid she’d try to tempt you back into her bed.”

  The last bit she sort of mumbled through because it was difficult to admit that out loud—no matter how many times she’d gone over this speech in her head. “That woman being a part of your life is the only thing that has ever struck a jealous chord in me, Nick. I could have been the better person today and turned the conversation around, but I chose to pick at her comments. I was part of the problem and cause in escalating the sour note you came in on. That’s not to say I leave her blameless; she has plenty to be blamed for.”

  Nick cupped her cheek and gave her one of his rare smiles. “I don’t expect you to get along with her, Amelia. But Victoria and I go back too far for me to cut her completely out of my life. The one thing that I can promise you, however, is that I’ll never find my way back to her bed, nor she mine.”

  Hearing him say that eased a lot of her troubles.

  “And I don’t know how we’ll work it out going forward, but eventually, I promise to try. Everything is too new between us for you to ask that of me right now. So please give me time to adjust to her. And here . . . ” Amelia held out a linen envelope. “It arrived a few hours ago.”

  As tempting as it was to burn whatever contents were inside, she knew it was Victoria apologizing for her own bad behavior this afternoon.

  He took it and set it on his desk. A small part of her wondered if he wanted to hide whatever contents were contained within the pages of that letter. But the much bigger part of her was saying that he put it down because right now was about them.

  “Am I forgiven?” she ask
ed, turning her cheek into his palm and stepping close enough that their bodies brushed ever so lightly from breast and chest and stomach to hip.

  Nick’s hand wrapped around her waist, and he maneuvered them toward his desk. “I don’t know. What do you think would make a good peace offering for all the trouble you’ve caused today?”

  There was a teasing quality to his voice that had her smiling, though she tried to keep her expression serious and play along.

  “You didn’t lock the door,” she pointed out.

  “I’m aware. How about we live dangerously tonight?”

  She raised one eyebrow at that. “I see. And how does living dangerously look?”

  He hitched her up on the edge of his desk and hiked her skirts out of the way so her stockings were visible all the way up to the garter. He bent over her, saying, “Something like this.”

  Opening the slit in her drawers, his hands slid under her buttocks to tilt her pelvis up so he could lick the seam of her sex. After a swipe that had her cream flowing liberally, he blew a stream of air over her. Amelia fell back on her elbows, spreading her legs wider, wanting to pull his head closer.

  Books, paper, and pencils jabbed into her buttocks, as did the bustle fastened around her waist, but she didn’t have the wherewithal to concentrate on anything aside from Nick’s tongue lashing out and tasting between the folds of her labia, over and over again.

  He sucked at her clitoris, flicking his tongue around the swollen nub and making her cry out. Her hands tangled in his hair and pulled him in tight to her body, where he continued the onslaught of pleasure with his tongue. When she started to thrash, her body desperate to be closer to him, to feel him harder against her, he came over her, shoving his trousers down his hips.

  His cock sprang out and rubbed along the wet folds of her sex. He rubbed the head of it around her clitoris. “Do you like that?”

  She bit her lip to keep her noises to a minimum but nodded heartily. “Kiss me,” she cried out. She needed his mouth on her, to smother the sounds she couldn’t keep from making when he tortured her with pleasure.