Page 4 of The Ward
Yes yes yes.
When he squeezed, I moaned again, tipping my head back.
“Such a good girl,” he murmured again. “So very perfect.”
Perfect!
My maid had dressed me in a corset this morning, but now I wished she hadn’t, so he could feel how hard my nipples were, how much I needed his touch.
He squeezed again, his fingers finding my nipples even through the layers of silk and cotton. “I’ve watched you become the perfect young lady, Cecelia, and I feel a sense of…ownership.”
“Yes, sir,” I whimpered. “I…I would not be who I am today without you.”
“I know,” he breathed in my ear. “I can do whatever I want with you, and you would likely thank me for it, yes?”
“Yes!” I took a deep breath and straightened, going so far as to rub my rear end against the hardness in his trousers. “Thank you, sir.”
Another chuckle, and one hand moved up my chest. While he continued to cup my breast, the other rested against my throat, my most vulnerable spot. He could so easily squeeze, but I trusted him. I trusted him implicitly.
“I have decided what to do with you, Cecelia.” I held my breath, waiting to hear my future. “You will make a fine bride…for my son, Ferdinand.”
What? “Ferdie?” I bleated.
Lord Simon’s son was only a few years older than me, and the heir to a duchy. He could have any lady he wanted…were he not so uninterested in them. In fact, the rumors from Londonwere that he was supremely uninterested in anything that wasn’t himself or his tailor, or the betting tables at his club.
Lord Simon’s fingers flexed against my throat. “You don’t like my son?”
“I—no, sir. I do not know him well,” I was quick to assure him.
“But you don’t approve. You don’t approve of his weakness, his self-centeredness. His interest in emptying the coffers ofmyestate and unwillingness to look to the future of Ardgave.”
My body was still humming with arousal, still focused on his touch…but my mind was confused. And it seemed easier to not respond at all.
It seemed to be what Lord Simon wanted to hear.
“Cecelia,” he murmured in my ear, “I have concerns about my heir’s…devotionto this estate.”
When I swallowed, my throat worked against his finger. He seemed to realize it, and changed his hold to a caress.
“Ferdinand has too much of his mother in him. Flighty. Distractable. Self-interested. Despite my best efforts, the boy has grown up to be…not the sort of duke Ardgave deserves.”
I struggled to form a response, through my confusion. “He might still…”
“No.” Lord Simon flexed his hips forward, his hardness sliding along the cleft of my rear. “I suspect I’ll have to give up on him and start to focus on the next generation.”
His words caused my breath to catch. “The next—my lord?”
“You will marry Ferdinand, my dear.” His tone was low, and brooked no argument. “You have no dowry, and cannot possibly hope to make a match so advantageous.”
When he paused, I knew he wanted a response. “No, my lord.” It was true. A future duke? Impossible for a penniless—if genteel—lady such as myself. “But why?”
“Because youarebiddable. Because I know, if you marry Ferdinand…you and I can control him.”
“Together?” I squeaked.
He merely hummed. Hummed, and flexed his hips forward again so I could feel his need. “You will bear the next Duke of Ardgave within the year, Cecelia, and I will raise him to be the manhis fatherisn’t.”
It was the way Lord Simon saidhis father. The slightly sarcastic twist.
