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of her clothing. He bent to kiss the nape of her neck, felt her

shiver in response and smiled. She was always so eager for his

touch, so ready to do whatever he wanted—in bed. If only she

was half as biddable out of it.

Minshom straightened and took an uncertain step back. He

didn’t want this, this softening toward her, this need...

«Good night, Jane.»

She turned toward him, hands clasping the front of her dress

to her breasts.

«You are leaving?»

He managed to shrug. «You’re unlaced.»

«But I thought...»

«Women shouldn’t think, Jane. You know it isn’t becoming.»

Color rose on her cheeks. She walked away from him, sat

down at her dressing table and began to rip the pins from her

hair, her movements jerky, the pins going everywhere. «Good

night, then.»

Some devilish impulse made him pause, his fingers already on

the door handle. «You aren’t going to fight with me tonight?»

«No.» She met his gaze in the mirror.

«Why not?»

«Because I’ve had a lovely evening and I’ll be damned if I’ll

allow you to spoil it.»

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Minshom raised his eyebrows. «Such language, Jane. Ladies

aren’t supposed to swear.»

«Then I’m obviously not feeling very ladylike tonight, am I?»

«Indeed.» He bowed extravagantly and left, walked the short

distance to his own bedchamber and opened the door. There was

a warm fire in the grate and his night things were laid out over

the back of a wing chair. The handle of a warming pan stuck out

from the side of the bed.

«Good evening, sir.»

Minshom frowned. «I thought you were off chasing Captain

Gray?»

«I couldn’t find him, sir.» Robert came toward him and

efficiently divested Minshom of his coat.

«Gone to ground, has he?»

«It appears so, sir.» Robert continued to undress Minshom, his

gaze steady on his task, his expression blank.

«I’m sure he’ll turn up at some point.»

«I’m sure he will, sir.» Robert’s mouth quirked up at the

corner. «That is, if he doesn’t do anything stupid.»

«I don’t think he’s that kind of man, Robert. He’s a sailor, for

God’s sake; he lacks imagination.»

Minshom stretched out his arms and allowed Robert to pull

his shirt over his head. The front was still damp from Jane’s

earlier ministrations. He pictured her mouth on his cock, her

teeth... God damn her to hell, why couldn’t he stop thinking

about her?

«I intend to visit the pleasure house on Friday night.»

«Yes, sir.» Robert gathered up the discarded clothes and

placed them in a bundle on a chair, took Minshom’s dressing

gown and handed it to him.

«I wish you to take a note to Madame Helene in the morning

and one to Major Lord Thomas Wesley apprising them of my

visit.»

«Yes, sir.»

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Kate Pearce

Minshom caught Robert’s chin in his fingers and held him

still. «If you act like a cringing servant for one more minute, I will

dismiss you.»

Robert held his gaze. «I thought you already had.»

«No, I simply threatened you. As it stands you are still mine.»

«I understand that, my lord.»

«Good.» Minshom rubbed his thumb along Robert’s lower lip,

heard his servant catch his breath. God, another person wanting

him. What was wrong with them all? «Good night, Robert.»

Robert blinked at him. «You don’t wish me to stay?»

«No.» Inwardly Minshom groaned. Now Robert looked rather

like Jane had earlier, all big puzzled eyes and quivering mouth.

«I’ll see you in the morning.»

Robert was quick to pick up the bundle of clothes and retreat

to the door. «Good night then, my lord.»

Minshom removed the warming pan from his bed that Robert

had forgotten in his haste to be gone and slid between the

covers. There was one major difference between Jane and

Roberts reaction to him; Jane had wanted him to stay and Robert

had been glad to escape. Minshom shut his eyes. In truth, he

wasn’t sure anymore which reaction surprised and aroused him

the most. And surely that was the most dangerous thing of all?

Jane had taken control in the carriage and he’d let her, and

he’d enjoyed her attentions far too much. What was happening to

him? If he wasn’t careful he would become as weak as his father

had always suspected. In some part of his soul, he felt like he was

fighting for his life, for his very existence...

He opened his eyes. But he was good at fighting, that was one

thing he was very sure of. Perhaps Jane and Thomas and Robert

needed to remember that.

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17

Lizzie cleared her throat. «His lordship says that when you are

ready to get dressed, I should tell him.»

«And why is that?» Jane asked, her fingers already busy

removing her day dress in anticipation of the evening to come.

Lizzie shrugged, apparently unconcerned with the abrupt

dismissal of her services. «I dunno, my lady. That’s just what he

said.»

«It seems a trifle odd, but I suppose we should do what his

lordship says.» Jane sighed. «Why don’t you unlace me and then

go and inform Lord Minshom that I am at his disposal.»

She hadn’t seen Blaize all week; he’d been sequestered in his

study with a series of visitors. For a man depicted in the

scandalous cartoons as a wastrel and a libertine, he was incredibly

busy. But she’d known that already, had watched him rebuild his

family’s fortunes from the ground up.

As Lizzie bustled about and then left to deliver Jane’s

message, Jane pressed a hand to her stomach and swallowed

hard. There was a strange metallic taste in her mouth that tainted

everything she ate. She grimaced at her reflection in the mirror.

Perhaps she needed a tonic or perhaps it was simply her body

protesting living in a city, where the food was rarely fresh and

sometimes definitely suspect.

Her distracted gaze settled on her clothes chest where the box

about The Little Gentleman’s Club was hidden. She’d looked for

Thomas Wesley and had found not only his name, but some

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Kate Pearce

drawings of him fighting and bloodied, his smile gone, his face

bruised and defeated. It wasn’t surprising she’d thought she’d

known him. She only hoped Blaize hadn’t noticed her unguarded

comment.

The door banged as Lizzie returned.

«My lady? His lordship will be here in a moment.»

«Thank you, Lizzie.» Jane smiled at her maid and took a sip of

her now-tepid tea. «You may go.»

Jane resumed her seat at the dressing table and smoothed

some cream into her skin. London was wearing in more ways

than one. She’d been here for only a couple of weeks. If she

stayed much longer she’d have to resort to rouge to restore the

color to her cheeks.

«Good evening, wife.»

She looked over her shoulder to see Minshom coming

through the door between their two suites. He wore his brown

silk dressing gown and his black hair was still damp from his

bath. His pale skin was slightly flushed and he smelled of

sandalwood and citrus. He carried a large dress box in his hands,

which he placed on Jane’s bed.

«Good evening, my lord.» She nodded at the box. «Is this

another dress for me?»

«It is, but not from Madame Wallace’s. I borrowed this one

from Madame Helene.»

«From the pleasure house? Will we be spending the evening

there?»

Blaize didn’t answer as he opened the box and took out

something lacy. He seemed intent on keeping his distance from

her, both emotionally and physically. It wasn’t surprising when

she had gotten far too close to him during their last sexual

encounter. She’d sensed his conflict when she took control of his

cock.

«That doesn’t look like a dress,» Jane said doubtfully.

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«It isn’t. It’s a corset.» Blaize advanced toward her, the

garment held in his hands. «Stand up, Jane.»

Jane didn’t move. «But I have a perfectly decent corset of my

own. Why would I want to wear that one?»

«Because it is necessary to wear this particular one under this

particular dress.» There was a hint of impatience in his voice, and

when she met his gaze, his eyes were hard. «Stand up.»

Jane sighed and rose to her feet and let her dressing gown fall

from her shoulders. His heated gaze dropped to her breasts, to

the curve of her waist, to her sex. «Turn around.»

She turned back toward the mirror. His arms came around

her, bringing the gray silk-covered corset into contact with her

warm skin. Jane wiggled. «It is too short.»

«It is what it is. Now keep still.»

He molded the boned fabric to her chest and started lacing up

the back. He kept one hand wedged between her breasts to hold

the front up.

Jane drew an experimental breath. «It still feels wrong and my

breasts aren’t really covered at all.»

Her nipples sat well above the lace, and the corset ended at

her waist rather than her hips. She sucked in a breath as Blaize

continued to tighten the laces until she could hardly breathe.

«It’s too tight.»

«It is how I want it to be. Now put on these stockings.»

«You’ll have to do it for me. I can’t bend down now.»

He raised his eyebrows at her and knelt at her feet, smoothed

the first black stocking over her foot and up to her knee and tied

the garter. She fixed her gaze on his long fingers as he tied a neat

bow at the side of her knee.

«Give me your other foot.»

She presented her left leg and he eased the stocking on,

pausing to straighten the seam and make sure the garter was

tightly secured. His hand lingered on her knee and then stole

upward to slide between her thighs, pushing them slightly apart.

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Kate Pearce

She shivered as he widened his fingers to cup her mound and

stroke her clit.

«Wet for me already, I see.» He leaned forward and she felt his

hot breath on her skin, the flick of his tongue over her already-

swollen bud. «I like that, Jane. I like your obedience and your

readiness.» His middle finger slipped lower, teased the entrance

to her sex.

Jane shivered and slid her fingers into his still-damp hair, then

moaned as he pushed away from her and stood up. He put his

hand in his dressing gown pocket and brought out a jumble of

jewelry, showed it to her.

«You’ll wear these for me, tonight.» He placed the jewels on

her dressing table and plucked at her exposed nipples until they

were tight and aching before loosely attaching two clamps. The

black and red polished gemstones gleamed and trembled with

every labored breath she took.

«And this.» Blaize knelt again and set his mouth over her clit,

sucked it until she was writhing in the chair and lifting her hips

toward him. She gasped as the metal gripped her swollen bud,

forcing herself to breathe through the constriction of the corset

lacing and her own arousal.

«Don’t move. I’ll fetch the dress.» Blaize got up and went

behind her to the bed. When he reappeared he had a gown

draped over his arm. «You’ll wear this tonight.»

«With no petticoats?»

His smile was full of lust and anticipation. «Petticoats would

just get in the way. I want you to be... available.»

«To you?»

He shrugged. «That’s my concern, not yours.»

Jane raised her chin. «Are you suggesting that I have no say in

what happens to me tonight?»

He met her gaze, his pale eyes glittering. «You are my wife.

You have never had any say.»

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Jane swallowed hard. He had obviously decided she needed to

be put in her place again, preferably beneath him, servicing him

or simply bowing down to his demands. She licked her lips. «I’m

not sure I want to do that.»

«I’m not giving you a choice. You agreed to our bargain, you

agreed to take my cum—why pretend you don’t like it?»

« Your seed, Blaize. Not someone else’s. You told me you

wouldn’t countenance that when I first arrived, so how can you

change your mind now?» She made as if to get up. «In truth if

you find fucking me so distasteful, I’ll simply go back to my

original plan and find a lover.»

She hardly had time to react before he pressed her back into

the seat, his hand cupping her chin, his mouth slamming over

hers in a deep possessive kiss. When he finally drew back she was

panting and so was he. Her aching breasts were crushed against

his hard chest and his erect cock, which had escaped his dressing

gown, prodded her stomach.

«I like fucking you.»

«But not enough to stop another man having me?»

«Damn you, Jane.»

She saw the battle in his eyes, his need to possess her at war

with his need to show her who was in control. Damn him for

thinking he could share her and not regret it.

«You changed the rules, Blaize. You should abide by them.»

He kissed her again, this time more savagely until she was