Page 33 of A Kiss Of Lies

It truly was paradise. If you had to hide out, there could be no better place.

The horses were handed to the young Negro groom.

To defuse the tension, Sebastian said, “Let’s head straight to the beach for a swim. Wash the heat off.” Without waiting for a reply, he led the way down the shell-covered path, through the tall coconut trees and jasmine-scented flowers, and toward the beach. As they approached the point where the white sandy paths branched off in different directions, leading to two separate coves, they stopped and stared at the picture-perfect scene on the beach at the bottom of the left-hand path.

Sarah, unaware that the men had arrived earlier than anticipated, had stripped down to her white linen shift. To both men it was obvious she was naked beneath.

Her hair was wet from a swim. It hung glistening down her back, the color darker now that it was wet, reminding Christian of champagne. She was watching Lily swim. A bright pink flower was tucked behind one ear, and when she bent to pick up a shell, the nearly transparent linen outlined her buttocks, giving an almost clear view of the delights a man would find there.

God, she was beautiful. Christian had never wanted a woman more. His erection was instant and urgent.

The intake of breath from both men was audible.

Sebastian gave a long, appreciative whistle. “That’s too much of a temptation for me.” He started to turn toward the path to go down to the beach.

Christian’s arm shot out to stop him.

“Please—don’t.”

Sebastian’s face broke into a knowing grin. “I never had any intention of invading their privacy.” He shot his friend a sarcastic look. “Just Lily’s governess, indeed! I knew there was more to it.” He glanced back at Sarah, a siren of the sea frolicking in paradise. “I envy you. It’s not often I’ve wanted a fellow Libertine Scholar’s lover.”

“She’s not my lover—yet. But I’d appreciate time to win her.” His words cost him, cost him dearly. His pride was stripped bare and he was almost weeping with impotence. How could he compete against Sebastian? His friend was a wealthy gentleman too, like him, but Sebastian was still handsome. Women fell at his feet, as if worshiping a god. If Sebastian wanted Sarah, no doubt he could have her. They both knew it.

He hated the desperation he heard in his voice. “You saw what happened at the tavern. You have no idea what it’s like to have a woman look at you with revulsion.”

“Don’t let one silly barmaid taint your thinking.”

“It’s not one silly barmaid. Unlike you, now if I want sex I have to pay for it. Pay for a woman who then lies beneath me unresponsive until I finish. Usually I ensure I’m so drunk that her reluctance doesn’t bother me. Hence why the night of the debacle at the Honey Pot is so unclear.”

Sebastian appeared to be trying to wipe the look of pity off his face. He said softly, “I’m sorry. Women are fickle creatures. We have always known that. That is why we don’t take them seriously.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s different about Mrs. Cooper?”

Blast Sebastian’s uncanny ability to read people. Christian let out the breath he’d not realized he was holding until then. “She’s the first woman since Waterloo who looks at me as if I’d never been injured in the war. She doesn’t appear to mind the burns.” He proceeded to tell Sebastian about her visit to his room the first night they met. “She let me kiss her and didn’t recoil in disgust. There is definitely an attraction there, but her husband treated her cruelly and he frightened her badly. I don’t know what he did, but she’s scared of intimacy. I want—no, I need—the chance to heal her.”

Sebastian stood silently watching Sarah on the beach below. Finally he uttered quietly, “So she can heal you?”

“That’s very perceptive of you, my friend. Maybe she and I can heal each other.”

Sebastian nodded. Christian pressed on. “You can have any woman you choose. Just don’t choose Sarah. Is that too much to ask?”

Sebastian turned his back on the beauty below and began making his way down to the cove on the right. “I was never serious in my intention to seduce her. I merely wanted to stoke the fire, so to speak, and get you to admit your relationship. All this pious talk of her being an employee, indeed! I knew as soon as I saw her. She’s far too young to have had any relevant experience.” He looked back over his shoulder. “I hope she turns out to be a terrible governess, and then it won’t matter when you grow tired of her as your mistress. You can simply fire her.”

“Sometimes I forget what a cold-hearted bastard you are.” Sebastian’s parents had been a faithless pair. Jealousy and heated arguments filled the Coldhurst home. Both his mother and his father took numerous lovers. Christian knew Sebastian wondered if his father was his blood father at all. Once Sebastian’s father died, his mother’s affairs grew worse. The last straw was when Sebastian caught his mother in bed with her groom. Sebastian had been relieved when she died a few years ago.

Since then he’d held all women in low regard. They were merely instruments he played for his pleasure.

Christian followed him, his relief at Sebastian’s disinterest in Sarah tempered by annoyance. “Just because I may end the affair doesn’t mean I’d have to fire her. Sarah is remarkably well educated and could defeat any of us at chess.”

“Hmmm . . . that’s interesting. Where is she from?”

“Why?”

“I’m sure I’ve met her somewhere before. I’ll remember eventually.”

Christian stilled in his task of removing his boots. “I doubt it. If any one of us had spied such beauty before, a challenge would have been laid down. You’d have already seduced her.”

Sebastian pulled his shirt over his head. “Maybe she has a sister I’ve woken up with before.”

“Perhaps . . . I haven’t asked about her family in any detail, but I have a funny feeling she’s an only child—well, only in terms of who she believes her father to be.”

---