Page 17 of How To Seduce A Wife

Jealousy was a horrible thing, and she suspected she was in the throes of it. Her fingers curled around her glass. Every time one of those glamorous women looked at Nicholas, she had a strange desire to launch herself at them and pull their hair out. She bit her lip. What a lowering thought. Perhaps she really did lack class.

“I wondered where you’d gone.”

She looked up into Nicholas’s amused blue eyes and manufactured a smile. “Were you looking for me?”

“Of course I was. I was hoping you’d dance with me.”

Louisa put down her glass with a thump. “You don’t have to, you know.”

He glanced down at her. “And what exactly does that mean?”

She allowed him to take her hand but didn’t move. “Just that April says we have no obligation to be seen together at all. In fact, spending time with one’s spouse at a ball is considered quite gothic.”

“Well, I’ve never agreed with April about anything, and that just sounds absurd.”

“But she’s right, isn’t she? It isn’t fashionable for us to be seen together.” She swallowed hard, tasted him on her tongue. “I fear my ridiculous attempt to gain your attention is fruitless and bound for disappointment.”

His smile disappeared. “Is that so?” He placed her hand on his sleeve. “Come and dance with me.”

She was so surprised that she followed him back into the ballroom where a waltz was just beginning. She shivered as he slid his arm around her waist and held her far closer than was considered appropriate. To complete her confusion, he bent his head so that his mouth brushed her ear.

“Have you forgotten that you set me a challenge?”

“I didn’t set you a challenge, you just decided to, oh.” She gasped as his teeth grazed her skin.

“Have you also forgotten that not an hour ago you had your lips around my cock?”

Heat burned on Louisa’s cheeks, but she continued dancing; Nicholas was holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe, let alone fall.

“I liked that, Louisa, I liked coming into your mouth, the way you swallowed my seed and took all of me without protest.” He twirled her around a corner so fast that the other dancers and spectators seemed like a blur. “And as soon as I get you alone I intend to slide my tongue inside you and have you scream and dig your nails into my skin. Will you like that?”

She looked into his eyes. “I’m not sure.”

“You will, because I’m going to do it until you’ve come so many times that you’re begging for my cock, begging to be fucked as hard and as often as I want. That’s what makes this evening exciting to me, the fact that even if I don’t stand next to you all night, I know I’ll have you all to myself soon, and that I can do what the devil I want with you.”

“Oh.” Louisa concentrated on her steps as her body heated and yearned toward Nicholas.

“Because you’re wet for me now, aren’t you? You’re thinking about what I’m going to do to you, how you’re going to feel, how you’ll arch your back and rub yourself against me.”

“Yes.” As Nicholas whispered his erotic litany into her ear, Louisa could barely function. Despite everything, she wanted to rip his clothes off, wanted to bite him, pull his hair, and ravage his mouth until he cried out, too. “I want that.”

The music paused and he drew her off the dance floor. “Do you understand now why I’m quite happy to watch you go off and sit with your friends and dance with other men?”

“I believe so, but...”

“But, what?”

She managed an unsteady breath. “But you must know that I would never... share myself with another person.”

“Are you suggesting I might?”

She met his gaze, her heart beating uncomfortably loud in her chest. “I don’t know.”

He released her hand. He looked as if she had slapped him. “I suppose I should thank you for your honesty, but at the moment I feel more like putting you over my knee. Go and sit with April. I’ll come and find you when I’m ready to go home.”

He bowed stiffly and walked away from her, leaving her prey to the watchful eyes of the other dancers, who, sensing trouble, closed in on her, false sympathy filling their faces. With all the dignity she could muster, Louisa made her way back to April’s side and sat down. Her pleasure in the evening ruined by her lack of sophistication and stupid desire for honesty. No man liked to be confronted by unpleasant truths in the middle of a ballroom. Even she knew that.

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