Drue shot him a look of pure outrage. He closed the door on her.
A glint of light on the floor caught his eye. He bent and picked up one of the thin golden loops she'd worn around her nipple.
He rubbed it between his fingers, feeling himself swelling and thickening still more.
'Master…'
He pulled himself up groggily. It was morning and he was in his bedroom, but he remembered very little of how he got there.
He thought he had had a glass of wineor two, or three to quell the gnawing desire, to calm his rampant body.
He shielded his eyes against the incandescent sun. 'What is it, Evie?'
'Another note, master. From Louisa, who give it to me.'
'Maybe she find a way to write to him in secret.'
He didn't choose to comment on that. 'Where's the note?'
'I have it here.' She gave him the envelope, but he waited until she'd left the room to open it.
He didn't want to open it.
Who in his house had betrayed him?
He picked up the envelope and removed the note.
He slammed his fist against the wall.
chapter 8
She rolled over in her bed and stared at the morning sun pouring in through the window. The window was open now. The bed had been covered with a crisp cotton sheet. There were curtains on the windows suddenly.
Changes that she hadn't even perceivedor expected. Changes in herself, changes in him. Changes in her wants, her needs, her desires. Her power.
She wanted Court.
Thank God she hadn't answered Gerard's letter. What would she have said to him? What
Her body twinged. Already she wanted more, she was ready for more. And to think, this ravenous electric joining with Court would now be the tenor of her life with him.
She shivered with anticipation.
She stretched languidly, reveling in the freedom and safety of her naked body. If he came right now, this minute, she would spread her legs for him willingly.
She drew a deep hissing breath.
She reached across the bed for the veiling that had shrouded her head and draped it across her breasts. Her nipples protruded, erotic and mesmerizing against the black veil.
And bare. She bolted upright. The golden loops! They were goneoh, Lord… they were gone!
But had she even been wearing them when she came upstairs last night?
She'd worn them last night. Yes… she remembered exactly the feel of them on her nipples as she'd done her erotic little dance to entice him.
So then… when? That thrilling moment when he had picked her up? The unbelievably disappointing moment when he set her down?
She got down on the floor and crawled around. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Not even dust, a testament to Evie's housekeeping skills.
… where?… She
… waitthere by the door…
… only one
She picked it up and held it to the light. It was so light, so thin, malleable…
And even more erotic just adorning one nipple.
She stared at herself in the mirror, cupping the one breast, trying to see what
The bedroom door opened behind her.
But it wasn't fantasy: he was there, bare-chested, his trousers just barely hanging on his hips, the bulge of his