Page 84 of Impassioned
“Hurry, Constantine.” She needed to come. Lights were already dancing behind her eyes.
Increasing his pace to a near frenzy, the sounds of their bodies filled the small space with an erotic symphony. He pushed her forward against the chaise, and she exploded, her sex clenching down around him as devastating shudders wracked her body.
She completely lost sense of time or place and didn’t come back until he helped her straighten. Her gown fell over her legs, and she vaguely realized that he’d tidied her up.
“Thank you.” She felt unsteady and wholly satiated at the same time. Her thighs quivered but the rest of her sang with joy and relief. “You have solved my problems, I think.”
He laughed, then cupped her face. “Good. That is my job.” He kissed her, but it was a brief touch as they were interrupted by a knock at the door they’d come through.
“My lady? Are you in there?” Charity’s voice called.
Sabrina snapped her attention to Constantine. “Go through my bedroom.”
He nodded and slipped from the dressing chamber, blowing a kiss to her on his way out.
Checking her appearance in the glass, Sabrina decided she would use the temperature of the drawing room to excuse her flushed complexion. She opened the door with as much composure as she could muster. “Yes, Charity?”
The maid’s tawny eyes were wide with concern. “I’m so glad I found you. I’m afraid there’s a…problem.”
Sabrina’s stomach dropped all the way down to the kitchen. “What?” The word was barely audible.
“Grayson has found his way into the drawing room during a reel. He was last seen in the dining room where he absconded with a piece of pheasant.” The maid looked as if she wanted to cry, which was precisely how Sabrina felt.
Chapter 19
When Constantine had left Sabrina just a few moments earlier, she’d been bright-faced and smiling. As he encountered her in the hall at the top of the stairs, she was pale, her eyes wide with something akin to panic.
He rushed to her side. “What’s happened?”
“It’s the cat. We must find him before he can wreak more damage.”
“Where is he?” Constantine whipped his head around as if he would see the animal racing by.
“He was last observed in the dining room stealing pheasant.”
Constantine let out a soft curse. This was followed by a shriek from the bottom of the stairs.
Their eyes met as they silently communicated that they had found Grayson.
Starting down the stairs, Constantine nearly tripped as the cat ran by his feet. “Watch out!” he called, turning to make sure the animal didn’t cause Sabrina to fall. Thankfully, she was still at the top of the stairs.
A footman dashed after Grayson, who veered left toward the drawing room, in pursuit. Haddock followed soon after, pausing just long enough to assure Constantine that he would have his resignation in the morning.
“The hell I will,” Constantine muttered. He refused to lose a perfectly good butler over the antics of a cat.
Sabrina pivoted and hastened after the footman toward the drawing room. Constantine took the stairs two at a time as shouts and a crash signaled the cat’s impact where the majority of the guests were gathered.
Arriving at the threshold, he surveyed the room. The musicians were no longer playing, and the dancers stood amidst the now-ruined chalk images that kept them from slipping on the floor, their gazes darting about, undoubtedly in search of a small gray terror.
“Where did he go?” Constantine asked loudly, commanding the attention of everyone in the room.
“We can’t see him,” Lord Wexford responded from the other side of the room. “It’s possible that when Lady Fairweather ducked into the retiring room to avoid the animal, it slipped inside with her?” Lucien’s friend grimaced, his eyes sympathetic.
Constantine started toward the door at the opposite end, noting Sabrina to his right as she joined him. A loud, sustained cry from inside the room spurred them faster, and Constantine indicated that Sabrina should look inside since the space was designated for ladies.
“Wait,” Haddock said, coming abreast of Constantine. “Let me position myself to grab him when you open the door. He will likely dash out.” He looked to Sabrina. “Open it a very small amount.”
Sabrina nodded and Haddock crouched down right at the door. Exchanging a look with the butler, Sabrina did as he suggested and barely cracked the door. Haddock knew his cat, for the beast ran straight into the man’s clutches. He stood and there was a resounding cheer from the drawing room as he carried the cat from the room.
