Miranda nodded. She was actually touched by her maid’s concern. Though the fact that another person had some knowledge, however vague, about her relationship with Ethan made her heart skip faster with nervousness. The more people privy to her secret, the more likely it would be exposed.
“Thank you for thinking of my well-being, Angelica,” she said with a smile. “But you have nothing to be concerned about. I am well aware of Lord Rothschild’s reputation. I would not allow myself to be hurt.”
She flinched as she thought of just how hurt she had been since his dismissal, but shoved that away. Deep in her heart, she knew she could expect nothing from Ethan. If she kept a tight hold on that fact, he wouldn’t disappoint her when he finished with her and sent her away. It was inevitable, and she would be prepared.
“But Angelica,” she continued, crossing the room to take the girl’s hand. “It would make things very complicated for me if my family were to discover that he had sent a private note to me through such unorthodox channels. May I depend upon you to keep this a secret, even from my sisters? And certainly from my mother.”
The young woman hesitated and Miranda could see her concern was genuine and growing by the moment. But then she nodded.
“Seeing as you’re the one who makes sure we’re all paid, I’ll keep your secret. I wouldn’t want you to have any trouble.”
Miranda’s body went limp with relief and she squeezed Angelica’s fingers before she released her. “Very good. Now go and help Winifred. You may come back to me after you’ve finished with her and Penelope.”
With a quick curtsey, the servant left. Immediately, Miranda rushed to the fireplace where she would have the best light and tore open the missive from Ethan. Her hands trembled as she unfolded the sheet of paper.
“‘Dear Miss Albright,’” it began and she frowned at the proper address. “‘I hope you are not considering backing out on our arrangement. The terms still stand and you have much to lose if you do not come tomorrow at our appointed hour. I expect to see you then. Yours, Rothschild.’”
Miranda stared in shock at the terse, almost threatening words. Here she had been waiting and worrying that Ethan would throw her aside, but instead he sent her such a cold letter that it seemed he didn’t even recall their emotional exchange a week before. He acted as if she were to blame for their early parting, when he had been the one to push her away.
Her emotions began to bubble inside her chest, but they had changed with just a few sentences from him. Where she had once felt regrets, she now felt anger. Nervousness was replaced by indignation. Anticipation with irritation.
How dare he? How dare he play with her like a cat with a mouse? How dare he make veiled threats and quiet accusations when she had followed his every direction to the letter?
Well, she was finished with his games. And tomorrow she would make sure he knew it.
“Miranda, did you know that Angelica began with Winifred this morning?” Penelope asked as she pushed her sister’s door open and stepped inside. “Are you well?”
Miranda turned from the fireplace with a start, Ethan’s letter still dangling from her fingertips. “Penelope, you gave me a fright.”
Her sister cocked her head. “I’m sorry. What’s that?” She motioned to the missive.
All the blood drained from Miranda’s face in an instant and her hands began to shake. “Nothing,” she lied, pulling the note behind her back. “Nothing.”
Penelope came forward, hand outstretched. “You’re lying. What is it? What’s wrong?”
Her sister reached around behind her, as if to snatch the note away and Miranda pulled back.
“You needn’t concern yourself,” she insisted before she tossed the note far back into the fire.
Penelope’s eyes went wide at the action and she stared as the note disintegrated into nothing more than ash. Then her gaze moved to Miranda.
“What is wrong with you? You have been acting so strangely for a few weeks now. You won’t talk to me, you won’t explain yourself, and now you burn a letter rather than let me see it.” Penelope’s voice trembled. “We have never kept secrets, Miranda, not from each other. But now it seems all your life is a mystery to me. I’m afraid for you. Afraid for us. What was that letter? Was it more bad news about Father?”
Miranda shifted. She hated that she was troubling her sister, making her worry, when all of Miranda’s actions were designed to reduce Penelope’s anxiety and make her life more comfortable.
“Please, Penelope.” She gripped her sister’s hands in a lame attempt to comfort her. “It is nothing. Let’s pretend as if this never happened.”
Penelope shook her head and her blue-green eyes grew even darker with increasing alarm. “I cannot do that. Was the letter from one of father’s debt holders? Are they threatening you? Trying to make more despicable bargains?”
Miranda swallowed past the bitter taste of one more hateful lie. “Y-Yes. It was from one of father’s debt holders. A horrid man who doesn’t…he doesn’t know what he wants.”
Penelope backed away and scrubbed a hand over her face. “Let me help you,” she whispered. “Let me at least council you so you don’t have to do all this alone.”
Miranda sighed. “You cannot help me, Penelope. Not with this. But I promise you, the matter will be resolved quickly enough.”
Her sister pursed her lips, clearly upset that Miranda refused to allow her help. She couldn’t blame her sister. She could well imagine her own upset if Penelope were the one shutting her out after so many years of close friendship. But it was for the best. Her sister didn’t need to know what kind of bargains Miranda had made on the family’s behalf. She could only imagine her sister’s reaction if she ever found out.
Penelope shook her head as she moved to the bedroom door. “Miranda, I know all you do is to protect our family, but I fear you will sacrifice yourself in the process. That is why I know that I must find a good marriage, as quickly as possible. I promise you that I’ll succeed and take some of this pressure off of you.” She opened the door, but turned back before she departed. “I fear that my marriage will be the only way I get to see my sister…my real sister again.”
“I am your real sister,” Miranda protested. “But everything is changing now and I have no choice but to change with it if I am to keep our family together. Sometimes that means doing things that you might not understand or approve of. But in the end, what I do will help us all, I promise you that.”
Penelope regarded her for a long moment. “For your sake, I hope you resolve whatever it is that is troubling you. And do it quickly. Nothing, not even the family, is worth seeing you suffer.”
Then her sister slipped from the room and shut the door behind her. Miranda stared at the place Penelope had stood with wide, unseeing eyes. Yes, this situation had to be resolved quickly. And she intended to do just that. Tomorrow.
Ethan was sitting in his chamber down the hall from the room where he knew Miranda was waiting. She had been waiting for nearly half an hour by his pocket watch. By now, she was probably pacing, worrying. Wondering.
It was all part of his plan to show her, and himself, that he was in control of this bargain, not her. Just as his disagreeable note yesterday had been. And as unpleasant as it was, he would continue to exert that control once he went to her.
He shifted his weight, staring at the door and then his watch again. Just five more minutes and he would join her. The seconds ticked by and he checked the clock.
Four minutes, thirty seconds.
This wasn’t control. It was mind-shaking anticipation. If he couldn’t keep himself on a leash in his own room, how could he expect to maintain his calm when he actually came face-to-face with Miranda?
“Damn it,” he grumbled as he strode to the door, wrenched it open and made his way down the hall to the other chamber. He went inside, thrust his shoulders back and passed through the second door.
He was shocked when, the moment he entered the chamber,
he found Miranda waiting for him. Her arms were folded, slipper tapping beneath her faded skirt, her face a cool mask of anger.
Not what he was expecting at all and he came to a sudden halt at the sight of her. Dear Lord, when she was angry, she was even more beautiful. She wore all passionate emotions best, and he found himself wondering how he could keep her in this state constantly just to enjoy the fire in her stare.
“You,” she breathed, one finger coming out to point at him. “How dare you?”
“Make you wait?” he said blandly as he pulled the door shut behind him. “Your time is mine today. I may waste or use it as I see fit.”
She shook her head. “I don’t give a damn about the time, Ethan. I mean your treatment of me this week.”
He arched both brows. “My treatment of you? I don’t recall encountering you this week. How could I have offended you?”
She stepped forward, hands clenched at her sides. “Last Friday you sent me out of here like you could hardly stand to see me in your presence. And then you let me linger all week, wondering if I had displeased you so badly that you wouldn’t want me back. When you did contact me, it was to imply that I might not return and would back out of our arrangement. Well, I am tired of your behavior.”
He tilted his head, utterly confused. “What are you prattling on about?”
She gritted her teeth. “Do you want me or don’t you?”
He stepped back, surprised by her candor. He liked this bold Miranda, though her question took him aback completely.
“Because if this is all some twisted game you delight in playing, than you can keep your money and forget our bargain. Good day, my lord.”
She stalked toward the door behind him, but as she passed by, Ethan snaked out a hand and caught her elbow, drawing her up short.
“It is a game, my dear,” he said as he yanked her against him. She glared up at him, though he could see the trembling beginnings of desire in her stare. “I never claimed this arrangement was anything but a game.”
She yanked against his grip to escape, but he held fast.
“I don’t like being your pawn,” she all but hissed. Anger came off of her in waves, but there was also desire. “We made all kinds of agreements about what would happen if I refused to fulfill your desires. But what if you refuse to fulfill mine?”
Ethan stared down at her, utterly shocked. “Are you saying you have been left unfulfilled?”
She swallowed hard, but that was the only indication she gave of her nervousness.
“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying,” she said, her voice low and even. “Last Friday you sent me home before I was, er, ready.”
Ethan blinked. Not since his first sexual encounter over fifteen years before had anyone complained about his lack of sexual prowess. No woman had ever expressed any displeasure about his performance. Miranda’s implication was a slur against the one thing he knew he was proficient at.
With a little growl, he caught her other elbow and brought her flush against his chest. Her soft body molded against him, her warm curves settling into his and setting off a firestorm of reaction in his ready body.
“Well, I shall have to endeavor not to make the same mistake again,” he said softly before he dipped his head and claimed her lips.
The kiss was harsh, hard, punishing, but to his surprise the punishment was as much to him as her. Touching her, tasting her, it made his already hard body even more achy and wanting. It certainly did nothing to give him the control he so desperately sought.
He speared his tongue between her lips, driving into her with all the hunger he had been building up for nearly a week. He felt Miranda fighting to keep herself distant, and he gave her credit for as long as she did. She remained stiff for a few swipes of his tongue before her body began to melt against him. Her tongue began to tangle with his.
God, she tasted good. And her touch, which was growing bolder with each encounter, stoked the powerful needs deep within him. The ones that stole his control. The ones that told him that he needed to be deep inside this woman. That he needed to claim her in every animal way possible.
He pushed her backward toward the bed step by step, thrusting his tongue into her mouth the way he’d soon thrust his cock into her clenching sheath. But before he could reach their destination, she pushed against him with a groan.
“No, no. This is just part of your game,” she whispered, her voice harsh and low with desire. “You’re toying with me.”
He nodded as he continued to back her against the bed. “I intend to toy with you, Miranda. And by the time I’m finished, you’ll take back what you said about being unfulfilled. I’ll have you begging me before you leave here tomorrow.”
Her eyes widened and she pushed back harder. “No—”
He cut her off with another kiss as he lifted her onto the bed and quickly covered her body with his own, pinning her down with his weight. She arched, fighting him, but he could feel her body’s surrender even as she struggled.
He broke the kiss. “Still no? Now who is playing games? Your pretty little mouth says no, but the rest of your body says yes.”
“No,” she whispered, but she stopped lifting against him. Her stare held his, filled with confusion, interest, and just the barest tinge of fear.
He flicked the buttons on the front of her dress open and peeled the fabric away. He tugged at her chemise and bared one breast. The nipple was hard, thrusting toward him.
“Look, Miranda.” He nodded his head toward her revealed flesh. Miranda’s gaze flitted down and a blush darkened her cheeks. He smiled. “As I said, your body says yes.”
He rolled his thumb around her nipple before he stroked his tongue across the nub.
“No,” she said, but it was on a moan as her eyes fluttered shut.
He continued to suckle at her breast, drawing her nipple into the hot cavern of his mouth as he let his hand slip down the apex of her torso. Her body shook and quivered beneath his fingertips, driving him on until he cupped the mound between the legs. She shivered and her fingers clenched against his upper arms. He bunched her gown up, pulling at the layers of fabric until he managed to slip a hand beneath. He glided his hand up her inner thigh and found the heated slit there.
Despite their battle, she was already wet. Ripe and ready for the taking. He stifled a groan as he stroked her. He wanted so badly just to pull his cock free and plunge into her. Take her until he was spent and satisfied.
But this encounter was about control. Control over her and control over himself.
She moaned, turning her head to the side as his fingers parted her slick folds, seeking the nub of her clit. He found it, stimulating her with his thumb as he worked one finger deep inside her. She fluttered around the digit, her body sucking him further into her depths.
“Still no, Miranda?” he whispered as he let her nipple slip from his lips with a quiet pop.
Her eyes opened and snagged his gaze. Her pupils were dilated with hot want and from the way her body clenched at his fingers, it wouldn’t take much to drive her over the edge. But she continued to fight him.
“No,” but it was a whimper now. Weak and unbelievable.
“Hmmm,” he chuckled. “Well, I won’t take you until you admit you want me. Until you beg for my cock.”
She shook her head. “I won’t.”
He curled his finger, stroking over the hidden bundle of nerves within her wet body. Immediately she shivered on the edge of release.
“You will,” he promised.
“Why are you doing this?” she choked out as he thrust his finger in and out with a lazy, tormenting rhythm. Her skin was beginning to flush as the pleasure overwhelmed her.
He smiled. “You asked me if I wanted you or not.”
Leaning in closer, he nearly let their noses touch. She caught her breath at their suddenly close proximity, but she didn’t try to turn away from the stir of his breath against her cheek.
“I want you, Miranda Albright. I w
ant every part of you. I want to make you surrender everything to me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I cannot. I can’t give you everything, Ethan. It’s too much.”
“There’s no such thing as too much,” he murmured before he let his lips brush ever so lightly across hers.
She moaned as he increased the pace of his fingers and he took advantage of her open lips to kiss her even deeper. Miranda relaxed a fraction beneath him and it was enough to send her body over the edge.
Ethan was taken off guard by the power of her release. After all her resistance, it seemed that being controlled by him gave her as much pleasure as anything else he’d ever done. Her body pulsed wildly, clinging to him, gushing wet heat over his fingers. Her back arched, pushing her breasts against his chest as she broke the kiss and cried out his name in the quiet room.
She went limp beneath him as her orgasm faded away and he withdrew his fingers from her body. Rolling over so that he was on his side, Ethan looked down at her.
“You’ve proven your point,” she said quietly. “That you can satisfy me. Even when I don’t want you to. Are you finished with your games now? May I leave?”
He frowned. “Only if you wish to forfeit the bargain.”
He lifted his finger to his lips and sucked the sweet nectar of her arousal away. Miranda’s eyes widened, but he also saw her exposed nipple shoot to attention again at the action.
“Miranda, I have not yet begun to prove my point. Or end my games.”
She shivered. “What do you want from me?”
“Get up. I want you naked.”
She pushed herself to a seated position and looked at him. “You want to watch me strip my clothing off for you again?”
A shudder of lust moved through him at the memory of the first Friday they shared.
“No, Miranda. This time I want the pleasure of unwrapping your body myself.”
Ten
Miranda stared at Ethan for a long moment. For the first time since making the bargain with him, she realized just how dangerous an agreement it was. Even when he took her virginity, even when he ordered her to touch herself for his pleasure, even when he sent her away…she had never felt so vulnerable as she did now.
Everything Forbidden Page 11