Page 7 of Lucien's Gamble

Julienne La Coeur smelled heavenly. Her skin was like the finest silk, her breasts full and generously swelled as they pressed against his chest. Lucien didn’t understand why she’d called him back, but he wasn’t about to ask for an explanation.

“Sweet Julienne,” he murmured feverishly against her throat. “You should have allowed me to go.”

Her small, delicate hands slipped inside his velvet coat and slid across the smooth satin back of his waistcoat. “I tried.”

He rolled to the side and shrugged out of his coat, tossing the expensive garment carelessly to the floor. He turned back to her and then froze in place.

The sheet had slipped down to her waist, leaving her breasts exposed to his gaze. Firm and gently swaying from his near-frantic movements, they were more lovely than anything Lucien had seen in his life. “You are more beautiful than I imagined,” he breathed.

He watched in amazement as her skin flushed right before his eyes, rosy color sweeping across her chest before rising to her cheeks. His gaze studied her face, and he saw that she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, meet his eyes. With his fingertips, he tilted the bottom of her chin upward, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t be shy, sweetheart. Not with me.”

As he searched her face, he wondered at his good fortune. Lady Julienne La Coeur. Julienne, so lovely, laying in one of his beds, bare from the waist up, her rich blonde hair spilling around her creamy shoulders, her dark eyes staring at him with such desire. He was so damn desperate to fuck her, he thought he would burst with it, but the small portion of his mind not presently between his legs wondered why the beautiful, socially esteemed diamond would be so eager to spread her legs for a bastard like him. With a muffled curse, Lucien leapt from the bed.

He looked around wildly. “Is this a trap?” he bit out. “Is your brother hiding somewhere, waiting to jump out and catch me compromising you?”

“Beg your pardon?” She looked genuinely confused.

“What are you doing? Lying in bed naked? Giving yourself to me so easily?”

A frown marred the smooth area between her brows. “I was sleeping,” she answered crossly. “I didn’t ask you to come in here. I didn’t even want to spend the night here.Youinsisted.” Julienne rubbed her forehead, pulling the sheet up once again to cover herself. “Get out,” she said coldly.

His hands clenched into fists.

“Leave, Mr. Remington. Before I take up your suggestion to scream.”

He watched in amazement as she threw herself into the pillows and turned her back to him. It would damage her more than him to be caught, but why else would she offer herself?

“This is fantastic,” he muttered, more to himself than to her.

She gave a disdainful little grunt and punched the pillow.

Lucien wandered around the room, looking behind the thick sapphire velvet drapes and dropping to his knees to look under the bed. Finding no one lurking in the room, Lucien strode to both doors and locked them. He shrugged out of his waistcoat.

Julienne sat up again. “You’re mad if you believe I would allow you to touch me now!”

Lucien yanked his shirt out of his trousers and drew it over his head. He smiled grimly when she gasped at the sight of his chest. He knew he was considered too muscled, the result of many hours spent engaged in fencing and pugilism. But the glimmer in her eyes wasn’t fear or revulsion. It was desire.

“Why me?” he asked.

She rolled back onto her side. “Go away.”

“Why me?” he repeated.

“Why do you find it so hard to believe?” she mumbled into the pillow. “Women throw themselves at you all the time. Why should I be any different?”

He moved toward the bed. “Am I something to boast to your friends about?”

Julienne tucked tighter into the pillows, pulling the sheet with her. “As if I would ever tell anyone that I’d succumbed to your charms. Which I won’t!” she added hastily. “Succumb, that is. Now, please leave!”

“What if I spread the tale?” he asked. “What if I tell every member of my club that I rode between your thighs? That I ruined you, and you screamed with pleasure while I did it?” His mouth curved in a predatory smile. “And youwillscream with pleasure.”

She snorted. “I’ll do no such thing.”

“What if I tell everyone, Julienne?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know me well enough to say that.”

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