Page 62 of Sinfully Wed
“Good.” Jordan didn’t care for Whitehall’s butler. The man was always snooping about. “Are you suggesting an assignation, Miss Whitehall? Do you mean to seduce me in the drawing room?”
“I was thinking I would sneak you into my bedroom, but if you prefer the settee in the drawing room, so be it.”
Another wave of lust lashed Jordan.
In the end, Odessa had taken him to the drawing room, pretending, least Burns overhear, that she was going to read to him from one of her dreadful pamphlets. Once the butler departed, Odessa led him silently to her room. Jordan barely glanced at the four-poster bed with its counterpane of pale blue before Odessa was sliding off his coat.
“I’m going to seduce you, Jordan.”
“If you must.” His hands glided up her back to the buttons of her dress, trying not to pop them off in his haste. Their couplings in the drawing room and carriage had all been accomplished almost fully clothed due to the circumstances.
“I must.” She fumbled with his trousers and boots. He had to help her with his shirt. But when Jordan finally stood naked before her, Odessa sighed deeply as if he were her heart’s desire.
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.” She lifted her lips to his.
“Now you,” he whispered to her.
Jordan undressed her slowly, pressing his mouth to each spot of exposed skin. He caught her breasts in his hands, gliding his palms over the nipples. Bending, he sucked one taut peak between his teeth, rolling around the tiny bud until Odessa whimpered. His fingers grazed along her slit, unsurprised to find her wet and soft.
Laying her down on the bed, Jordan pressed his mouth to her stomach, enjoying the flush of her skin, the smell of her arousal. Her sex was a delicious shade of deep rose. He took his time, exploring every secret hollow of her body, hearing the small sounds she made. His tongue delicately traced her slit until Odessa begged and panted, pulling at his hair. Her ankles hooked over his shoulders as she strained against him, moaning out his name, climaxing with his mouth on her. She might have screamed.
As the last waves of her release ebbed away, Jordan thrust inside her, Odessa’s small body surrendering to him in an instant. The feel of her naked skin gliding along his nearly undid Jordan. The press of her breasts catching against his chest so magical he nearly forgot to breathe. Jordan’s heart, so long full of anger and the deep well of his own bitterness, filled with something else.
Odessa.
Kissing her tenderly, he sighed his release into her neck, hopelessly entwined with a woman he’d never wanted and had long meant to discard. One he’d been blackmailed into wedding. Now, he couldn’t imagine a life without her.
Whitehall, though it pained Jordan greatly, would win. Odessa would be Lady Emerson. There would be children, a great many if their desire for each other was any indication. Jordan had no intention of leaving her. Or abandoning her.
Not for all the coal in Dunnings.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Odessa whistled asshe made her way downstairs. She was joyful.Blissfullyjoyful. Much of it had to do with a certain, pig-raising earl. Titled, unfortunately, and her father’s choice, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Much could be overlooked when a man possessed such marvelous hands.
Two days ago, Odessa had snuck him into her rooms, nearly fainting at the sight of a naked Lord Emerson. The broad shoulders, the flat muscled stomach without an inch of spare flesh. His skin was lightly tanned from being in the sun, not the pasty white of so many gentlemen. A dusting of hair, a shade deeper than that on his head, covered his torso leading down between his thighs. She’d seen his cock before. Placed it in her mouth; her boldness in doing so still made her blush. But seeing him entirely unclothed—breathtaking.
Jordan had kissed the clothes from her body; there was no other way to describe the urgent press of his mouth as dress, petticoats, corset, and chemise all slipped away. He had insisted on leaving her stockings on. When Jordan thrust inside her, he’d raised her hands above her head, threading their fingers together, looking down at Odessa as if she were the rarest of jewels. Something fine and worth cherishing.
I’m in love with him.
The knowledge drew her up short. No use denying it. Odessa had suspected for some time, well before their infamous carriage ride. But now the knowledge filled her with a sense of peace. There would be affection in her marriage. A great deal of it.
“How dare you listen at the door while I’m conducting business.” Her father’s voice boomed down the hall.
“Angus. Dear God, what have you done?” Aunt Lottie’s horrified words came to Odessa.
Odessa halted, her fingertips pressing into the wall. Aunt Lottie and Papa were arguing, something that rarely happened.
“What I had to do. What I will continue to do.”
“Angus—”
“Odessa will be a countess. After which, the news will reach Emerson that he’s sitting on a fortune in coal. But not before. Can’t have him jilting her at the altar. They’re to be wed at the end of the week.”
“But you can’t—”
“Now look, Lottie.” Her father interrupted in a coaxing tone. “I want the best for Odessa, as do you. She deserves to be a lady, a real lady. I tried to find a titled gentleman willing to take her on, dangled the largest dowry in London, but no one came to the table. I had to resort to other methods. I thought I’d succeeded with that foppish brother of Emerson’s, but he drove a barouche with the same skill he wagered on horses.”
