“And spoil my fun?” laughed Constanza nervously. “Never!”
Claire slipped from the room and, with much show, descended the staircase. Her blond hair was piled high. Her sky-blue eyes sparkled with malice. Her skin was very white except for the cheeks, which had been reddened with pomade. Her nipples were rouged. She wore a deep-blue gown so entirely transparent that her body was plainly visible. She was adorned with ropes of pearls. “Lord de Grenville,” her feline, husky voice purred. “Welcome! Welcome to you and your guests. I recognize you, Sir Robert, but the other gentleman is a stranger.”
“Niall, Lord Burke, Claro. He’s looking for a bouncing lass and some good bedsport.”
“I shall see to him myself,” smiled Claro broadly. The thought of bedding the man who had loved Skye O’Malley was simply too tempting.
“By God!” muttered de Grenville enviously. “I’ve been trying for months to pry those plump white thighs apart, and she’d have none of me. You merely walk through the door and she’s at your feet!” Niall eyed Claro dispassionately. Yes, she would do quite nicely. In his depression over Skye he had been disinclined to seek his wife’s bed for several weeks, and yet he needed a woman to vent his frustration upon. This one would do quite nicely. With her big, pillowy, white breasts and avid, wet red mouth, she was totally unlike his dainty, gentle little Constanza. He smiled boldly at her, a smile that did not reach his cold silvery eyes, Claire noticed. She could feel the suppressed violence in Niall as he slipped a hard arm about her, and she shivered with delight. Maybe this time, for the first time since that last wonderful time with Dom, she would feel something.
She smiled coyly up at him. “Come on, lovey,” she said in that husky voice. Taking him by the hand, she led him up the stairs to her room. The door had barely closed behind them when he was pulling her into his arms and kissing her with a brutality that left her breathless. She heard the sheer gown rip, and felt the cool anon her skin. He picked her up, tossed her on the bed, pulled his own clothes off, and flung himself on her. He plunged into her without ceremony and she gasped with the pain he was inflicting on her in his desperate rutting. He was even bigger than Dom had been. Thrusting her hips to meet him, she felt her climax building. Yes, it was the first time since Dom that she had felt any satisfaction from a coupling. And, to her great surprise, he delayed his own pleasure until she had had hers. No man had ever done that for Claire. The release was a purely physical one for Niall. The woman beneath him was a coarse creature, but she served her purpose and he had to admit she moved well. He had thought to take her once and leave, but now he decided to spend the night, as she apparently expected him to do. Why not? “You’re a good tumble.” He grinned and laughed when she shot back, “So are you, Niall Burke!” He hoped de Grenville and Robert Small were having as good a time as he was.
They were. The room in which Claro showcased her most famous whore was not used by anyone else. It had been decorated at great expense. In an age when glass was a rare and almost prohibitively expensive thing, the Book Lady’s room had a great mirror built into its ceiling and two large standing mirrors in gilt frames on either side of the bed. The bed was enormous, with ruby velvet hangings, large fat pillows, and a red fox coverlet. Before the great fireplace was an Oriental type of couch, set low to the ground and covered with pillows. Next to the bed was a walnut bookstand upon which rested the famous book. Over the fireplace were hung dainty silver chains with gold wristlets, and next to the fireplace stood a tall white vase with a supply of hazel switches. Heavy red velvet brocade drapes shielded the windows. The floor was covered by a thick blue and red carpet from Turkey.
The three occupants of the room were all naked, poring over the book of love. The woman sat between them on the large bed, each man absently fondling a firm golden breast. “Impossible!” muttered Robert Small, studying the picture. “Not at all, Captain,” came back the breathy answer. “It simply takes a bit of time and some patience. Would you like to try it?”
Robert Small looked at the petite golden-skinned creature and was rather shocked by what he saw. The woman was lust incarnate. Constanza pressed herself against him and, reaching down, fondled his sex. “Such a great weapon for such a little man,” she murmured. “Can you wield your sword well, Captain?”
“Aye,” he growled as he kissed her open mouth. “Come on, de Grenville, let’s teach this hot little minx a good lesson!” De Grenville’s eyes glittered as he pressed against Constanza from behind. “Damme, Robbie, it’s going to be a good evening! Geoff will be sorry he didn’t join us!”
At that moment the Earl of Lynmouth, having reached his home, entered his bedchamber and found his wife lying on the bed, asleep.
His valet entered silently behind him and closed the door. Geoffrey Southwood looked tenderly at the picture she made. She was wearing a demure white silk nightgown. The deeply scooped neckline offered him a generous view of her pretty breasts. Smiling, he drew off his clothes. Geoffrey bathed in the warm water set out by his valet, then waved away the white silk nightshirt offered him. Placing the sapphire on the bedside table, he said pointedly, “Good night, Will.” The valet chuckled as he left the room. Marriage had not paled Lord Southwood’s appetite!
For a few moments Geoffrey watched Skye in sleep. She was so outrageously lovely that his breath caught in his throat. What he had learned tonight was astounding in one sense, yet not truly surprising. It had always been obvious that Skye was a lady as well as an educated woman. Now that he knew her to be the mother of two sons as well as the adorable Willow, Geoffrey was greatly encouraged. Surely the child she now carried beneath her heart was his son and heir, and not another daughter.
Suddenly he became aware of his great need for her and, gently rolling her over on her back, he kissed her mouth. She murmured and stretched. Pulling her gown down over her shoulders, he bared her to the waist. Then, with a shrug, he pulled the gown off entirely. The sight of her slim body, the belly just beginning to round, roused him painfully, the desire slamming into him sharply. He buried his face in the valley between her breasts and murmured her name. Her arms were quickly about him. “Geoffrey, my love. I fell asleep waiting for you.”
“I’ve been watching you sleep and, God help me, even in sleep you rouse me, my love.” His mouth was closing over hers, his tongue exploring the roof of her mouth, then flicking downward to tease at her sensitive breasts. She caught at one of his hands and pulled it downward to the sweet core of her. She rubbed against him and he felt the wetness of her.
“You see, my darling, what a shameless creature I am. I desire you too!” Then catching his tumescence in her hand, she guided him to her and sighed with pleasure when he thrust deep. “Witch,” he muttered, “wives are not supposed to enjoy their husband’s attentions so much.”
“I shall say my prayers then,” she teased, wriggling provocatively beneath him.
“You must say them to Venus, the goddess of love,” he growled. He redoubled his efforts and soon she was crying out. Satisfied that he had mastered her, he took his own release. Niall Burke might play the old family friend all he wished, but Geoffrey Southwood knew a man in love when he saw one. Skye, however, was his alone, and he would never let her go.
Recovered, she leaned over him and demanded, “Where is my surprise?”
Muttering about greedy women, he reached over to the bedside table and dangled the gift before her.
Skye gasped. “Oh, Geoffrey, it’s magnificent!” She sat cross legged before him and slipped it over her neck. It dangled provocatively between her small impudent breasts as he had known it would. “And you went out especially tonight to get it for me. Thank you, my darling!”