Page 63 of A Virgin for the Rakish Marquess

A hand moved and touched his torso and then lower. Lower, where he was painfully hard. One touch, just one. His fingers wrapped around his length. His hips arched into his touch, his whole body thrumming with need.

His grip tightened. One stroke. Sharp pleasure shot through him. Another stroke and his mouth fell open. Harder now. A ragged groan tore from his throat.

His eyes snapped open.No!Not like this. His hand shot away, slamming into the side of the tub. He almost lost himself again. Like on that night with her. Control was slipping away from him when it came to her.

He had known desire before. Of course, he had. He had taken lovers, he had indulged. He had walked away from each one sated and detached, his appetite satisfied, his emotions unscathed. But this… this was something else. No woman had ever done this to him.

“Oh, Diana,” he snarled.

No. He would not find release alone, in the dark, haunted by memories of her. It would be with her, wrapped around her, inside her.

“Is the new recipe not to your liking, James?” Euphemia asked when she saw him playing with his food the next morning.

He didn’t even care what the thing on his plate tasted like. He managed to muster a smile for her and took a bite.

“I think it’s too sweet for my taste,” he muttered.

“And here I was thinking you have a soft spot for sweet things,” Euphemia teased.

“When they are overly sweet, they just spoil the taste.”

Euphemia shook her head at his wickedness. “Did I ever thank you for accompanying your father to the ball the other day?”

“Multiple times.”

Again, as if summoned, his father entered the room. James looked up at him, and his body tensed.

“Mother.” Solomon seemed almost happy. “Good morning, James.”

James only nodded at him.

“I have been wanting to check in on the Richerton ledgers and prepare them—” Solomon started.

“I have done that already,” James cut in.

“I was invited to the party’s talks to discuss the position on the latest legislature?—”

“The secretary has been informed of my position. When the legislature is out, we can have a more educated position. Do not listen to a word that man says.”

Solomon was taken aback by the cold way James addressed him. Even so, there was a slight look of pride on his face.

Which pissed James even more.

His father had no right to be proud. James’s being in such a position was all his doing.

“And the proposed reforms on land taxation?”

James looked over his coffee cup slowly, blinking as if bored. “I’ve already ensured that our interests are protected. The matter has been handled,Your Grace.”

There was no mistaking the bite in his words. Not ‘Father.’ Not ‘Solomon.’ But ‘Your Grace.’ A title. A formality. A reminder.

Solomon stilled, his eyes flicking up to his son. James met his gaze, unflinching.

“Oh, our James is so capable,” Euphemia chimed in.

“Politics and money he can manage fairly well, it seems,” Solomon acknowledged. “It’s his personal life he has a hard time to put in order.”

James’s jaw ticked in irritation. His fingers curled into a fist at his side, but his voice remained level, cold. “I was not aware you had taken an interest in my personal life, Your Grace.”

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