Page 93 of Enslaved
“You taught me quite a lot that night. I learned that when a man wants sexual favors from a woman badly enough, he will agree to any terms.”
Mark Hardwick felt his anger begin to rise. Diana had refused his proposition, but now she was going to tell him she had accepted another man’s.
Diana ran her fingers through her disheveled hair and pushed it back from her shoulders. The earl’s fingers curled inside his pockets. He wanted to bury them in that pale golden mass.
“I told Marcus Magnus that I would pretend to be his slave in the presence of others, if he would allow me freedom to say what I pleased when we were alone, and if he agreed to treat me as a lady. He reluctantly agreed.”
“In return for what?” Mark demanded.
“In return for my virginity, of course.”
“So he did rape you?”
“Ah no, I gifted him with it. Not immediately, of course, not until he had wooed and won me.”
“Do you expect me to believe a barbaric Roman would woo a woman?”
“Marcus wasn’t a barbarian.” She closed her eyes remembering. “He was a patrician. The general was a stern military man with little time for women. He was no depraved voluptuary. Yet he wooed me as no other woman was ever wooed. He was physically magnificent, his body so lithe and powerful, he made me weak just looking at him. Seeing him in his breastplate and armor was like an aphrodisiac to me. Our lovemaking was too precious and private for me to share with anyone. Suffice it to say that when we consummated, we ravished each other.”
Mark Hardwick could never remember being so highly aroused in his life. Being in this bedchamber with Diana Davenport was like being in a high-class brothel while a courtesan related an erotic sex fantasy. Only Lady Diana was no strumpet, she was a young, unmarried, titled lady. One with tantalizing sexual experience. The earl’s black eyes dilated with desire.
“And you believe that I was this Marcus Magnus?” he asked huskily.
“I know you were.” Her glance swept him from head to foot, lingering on his mouth, the width of his shoulders, the blatant bulge of his groin. “The years have not been kind to you, Lord Bath.”
He stiffened, insulted. “What the devil do you mean?”
“Oh, you have the same arrogance as Marcus, the same authority and command, but seventeen hundred years of civilization have put a veneer upon you that is unattractive. You are sophisticated, cynical, and selfish; vain, egotistical, and bored. Perhaps even profligate. In other words you have become jaded, Lord Bath, and it is most unappealing.”
“Then I shall relieve you of my odious presence!”
“Good! I should like to get dressed now. I am not an invalid.”
“You’ll do no such bloody thing! You most assuredly are an invalid. You haven’t begun to recover. You’re still—”
“Delusional?” Diana asked sweetly.
“Yes, delusional. I shan’t mince words with you. You will stay in bed, or else.”
Her chin went up. “Or else what?” she challenged.
“I shan’t call my slave master. I’ll beat you myself.” His black eyes had a definite hint of wildness that warned her the earl was capable of any recklessness, even violence.
Diana slid down in the bed. It felt wonderful to hear the total authority in his voice. It was both familiar and comforting to listen to his deep male voice issuing commands, and know she flaunted them at her own risk.
Mark had the doorknob in his hand when he turned back to her. “You haven’t asked about Peter.”
“Peter?” she asked blankly.
“Your fiancé, Peter Hardwick. You do remember him?”
Was the edge in his voice sarcasm? “Unfortunately,” she said candidly.
His spirits soared, yet perversely he reprimanded her. “You put my brother in a hell of position when you disappeared. It was all over the newspapers. He instigated an exhaustive search for you. Peter was overjoyed when I found you, so obviously he feels the same about you as he did, in spite of everything.”
“There is absolutely nothing between your brother and me. I didn’t deny the engagement the night you found us together because I felt he had compromised me. I was that innocent!”
“You are not in love with Peter?” he asked sharply.
