Page 49 of As the Earl Likes
“Is that what you think will happen? That you’re destined to be like him?”
“I am already enough like him.” He couldn’t change who he was.
“I’ve never seen you drink to excess, even when you’re with other gentlemen at the Siren’s Call to whom we refuse to keep serving liquor.” Her gaze was fierce. “So, it’s not that. Tell me how you think you’re like him. Is it the women? I know you’ve continued to visit the Rogue’s Den since pretending to ask me to be your wife.”
She knew? “I’ve tried to be discreet.”
“The owner of the Rogue’s Den is a friend of my mother’s.”
Sheff hadn’t known that, but neither did he find it surprising. Both women were highly intelligent, accomplished business owners. “You’re not upset with me, are you?”
What an asinine question. Of course she wasn’t. Just because he felt a strong attraction to her didn’t mean she felt the same. And even if she did, they’d made no agreement about satisfying their physical needs—other than it wouldn’t be with each other.
“No,” she said firmly. “But perhaps you should take my mother’s advice and try celibacy for the duration of this scheme. Then you can prove to yourself that you aren’t your father. It will also lend credibility to this betrothal.”
“The truth is that I have been celibate,” he said quietly. He held her gaze. “I have visited the Rogue’s Den this past week. Several times, in fact. But all I did was have a drink and chat with one of the ladies. Then I went home.”
Her brow creased. “Why?”
“I don’t really know. I just wasn’t…in the mood.” Because when he thought of giving and receiving pleasure in the past week, only one woman had entered his mind: Jo.
“See, you aren’t like your father,” she said, completely unaware of the lurid thoughts that were currently running through his brain.
“I am.” His hand curled around the edge of the settee again, his fingertips digging into the ornamental wood trim. “If you only knew the inappropriate things I think about.”
Her gaze flicked to his groin. “You seem to be in the mood at the moment.”
He’d suspected she wasn’t an innocent, and perhaps he found that particularly enticing. But to have her notice his arousal was unexpected. It escalated his desire. “That’s because the inappropriate things I think about are all to do with you.”
The high mounds of her breasts pressed against the edge of her bodice and moved swiftly as her breathing grew more rapid. “We have an agreement.”
“To not touch one another. You didn’t say I had to lie about wanting to touch you.”
“Is that what you want?” she whispered.
He watched her chest rise and fall and her throat move as her pulse fluttered. She was also aroused. He knew what that looked like in a woman.
Sheff moved his hand down the back of the settee until his fingertips, encased in horrid gloves, nearly grazed her shoulder. “Yes. I want to kiss you again, but for longer and far more deeply. I want to feel your tongue against mine. I want to stroke your cheek, your neck, your breast. I want to put my mouth on you in forbidden places and make you moan until you cry out with your release. And then I want to do it all again.”
Saying all that wasn’t doing anything to diminish his desire. On the contrary, it was making him desperate with need. And he would not be satisfied. Not this night, and not ever with her.
“I’m afraid I must add a new rule to our agreement.” Her voice was higher than normal, her tone breathless. “You can’t say such things to me.”
“What things are those? I need you to be specific.”
“You can’t speak to me of your desires. You can’t explicitly say what you want to do. To me.”
He leaned toward her and inhaled her intoxicating scent. “Why not?” When she did not immediately answer, he slid his gaze down over her heaving chest and to where her hand clutched her skirt, dimpling the fabric. “Because it arouses you?”
She stood abruptly, and Sheff clutched at the settee lest he follow her. “This conversation has veered from its course,” she said, keeping her back to him as she poured the rest of her brandy down her throat.
Sheff didn’t dare stand, not with his cock straining against his fall. He forced himself to think of what they’d been discussing, to abandon his hopelessly prurient thoughts. “I will continue my celibacy for the duration of the scheme.”
She spun around to face him. “You will?”
“You made a good argument.” He blew out a breath. “Perhaps I can prove I am not like my father. It’s just…you also mentioned that I want to make my mother happy—and I do. However, the only way I can truly do that is to marry.”
“To marry for someone else’s happiness other than your own—and your bride’s—wouldn’t be right.”
