Page 58 of Never Dare a Duke
She had to remember her purpose here, even as she held up her clothing. “Do you do this often…Chris? Tease women of your class? Shouldn’t this be reserved for your mistress?”
“I don’t have a mistress.”
She felt his fingers threading through her hair, removing pins, until curls began to fall around her shoulders.
No mistress? From everything she’d heard, was that not unusual?
“I don’t trust you, so I certainly wouldn’t trust other women like you.” He slid her hair slowly to one side, then pressed his mouth to her shoulder.
She shivered and closed her eyes. Her determination was fast fading as her traitorous mind groped for reasons to let him finish what he was starting.
“Then do noblemen like you remain…celibate until your marriage?” she whispered, as he pulled her back against his body.
He chuckled in her ear, even as he licked along the edge of it. “Celibate? Sadly for women, they are held to a much stricter moral code than men.”
“And you do not follow such a strict moral code? You, a duke? But you said you have no mistress. Then am I to assume you meant right at this moment?”
“No, I’ve never had a mistress,” he murmured absently.
She felt his hands separating her bodice farther, the corset loosening. Both were slowly being tugged down her body, leaving only her chemise, not much protection against him. Thank goodness for the petticoats, which clustered at her waist. Then he was loosening those, as well, one at a time.
She gathered her thoughts and looked over her shoulder at him, asking with deliberate innocence, “Then you are a virgin, too?”
He laughed and turned her about so that he could look down her body. The chemise was some coverage, but not much, especially when with just his focused gaze, her breasts tingled and hardened against the thin material, betraying her desire for him.
His smile faded, and he looked like a man about to feast. “I have not been a virgin since I was sixteen.”
She winced. “So young?”
His smile returned, and it was crooked. “Not so young. I was very eager to become a man. And it was not difficult to succeed with such a mission when one lives at school.”
“And when one is a marquess.”
He shrugged. “A woman such as that understands coins more than a title.”
“Youpaidfor the experience?”
She thought of the unfortunate women who made their living on the streets, the articles about them in her newspaper.
But those desperate women were not the same as the beautiful women who would earn their living from the nobility. Mistresses could make a fine living, with their own households and servants, and even be seen in public with their men—under certain circumstances.
But he said he’d never had a mistress.
“Many lads ‘paid for the experience.’” He slid the sleeve of her chemise off her shoulder. “But after that, I never paid again. Many women outside of Society enjoy a night of passion that will have no lasting commitment.” He met her eyes again. “Just like you and me.”
She grasped hold of her convenient lie. “But Iamof Society.” And what would happen if he found out she was not? Would his rules no longer matter?
He was looking down her body again. He sat down on her bed, leaning back on his hands. “Perhaps I should make an exception. It’s time to remove your chemise and enjoy your bath.”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest. It took everything in her to refuse, but she had reached her limit on what she’d do for a story—on what she would allow herself to experience with him while she was being dishonest. There seemed to be nothing scandalous in his past that concerned a woman—or at least nothing that bothered him. That was enough investigating for now.
He looked up at her, smiling with such promise. “No? I thought I was to teach you.”
With all sincerity, she whispered, “I can’t trust myself to resist you.”
His smile faded, the playfulness went out of him. “Do you think I won’t be able to stop when you ask me to? I always stop.”
“But would you be angry? Do you have a temper I don’t know anything about?”
