The Viscount's Addiction (16 page)

“She is still a friend.” He began removing his gloves as he neared.

“Well then, I should warn her that you are insatiable in bed. Or perhaps she already knows.” She brought the covers up to her throat and scrunched down in the bed. She did not want his cheating hands to touch her. She jerked away when he reached out for her. “I suppose she deserves your gratitude. Without her help you would not have been liberated from Newgate.”

He chuckled. “And you think bedding her would be a just reward for rescuing me from that place?”

“Well, you are an amazingly talented man.”

His sensual laugh sent a tingle through her body.

“I haven’t had Lucy.” He pocketed his gloves, shrugged out of his greatcoat and tossed it over a chair. “Truth is, she wouldn’t accept any help from me. Said she had done it all for you. I believe she wants you in the same hungry way that I do.”

“Whatever does that mean?”

She could see his shoulders heave in a sigh. “I don’t want to talk about Lucy anymore. I want to fuck.”

“I’m completely charmed.”

He flung himself on the bed, boots and all. He lay on his side facing her. She scooted away, so close to the edge she was in danger of falling off. He tore the sheet from her grasp and tugged down her scooped neckline, exposing a breast. He filled his treacherous hand with her breast. The familiar electric sensation coursed through her body. He weighed her breast in his hand. “A perfect fit. I often think you were made for me. If only you weren’t so damn stubborn. Night after night I have waited for you to come to me. You force me to take matters into my own hands.” His thumb drew a delicious circle around her nipple.

He leaned toward her and licked the tears from her cheeks. She pressed on his hard chest and shoved. It was just a matter of time, if not Lucy then surely another woman would take her place. “You cannot have me whenever you please.”

With her palms still pressed against his chest, she could feel his body tense. “Is that right?” he asked in a surly tone.

“Exactly right.”

He was off the bed in an instant. With an impact that made the bedstead reverberate, he slammed the adjoining bedroom door behind him.



In the morning, Jessie woke to the rich scent of tobacco. She turned over to find Ryder sitting in the chair beside her bed. She pushed the hair from her eyes as she sat up. He stared at her through a screen of smoke. She wondered if he’d been there all night until she noticed that his hair was damp from being washed. He tapped the cheroot’s ashes onto a tea saucer that sat on the night table by his elbow. “I require your assistance today. Don’t worry. It is for nothing so abhorrent as sleeping with me.” He gave her a nasty smile. “I want you to arrange a menu for this evening. Something that will bring my uncle to the table. Then I would like you to search your wardrobe for a dress suitable for Lucy to wear.”

“I knew it. You are a cheat and a liar.”

“Think what you will,” he said with a shrug. “Just do as I ask. We are entertaining tonight.” He got to his feet. At the doorway he paused with his hand on the latch, the smoking cheroot clamped between his long fingers. “Oh, and you will accompany me to the tavern. I would not wish to scare her off.”

She hurled her pillow, just missing his retreating back. The bastard was making her go and fetch her replacement.



The morning’s post finally brought a response to her advertisement for employment. It was a letter written in a man’s bold, sprawling hand. Mr. Coates, a widower living in Brighton with three young children, sounded quite desperate for a woman’s help.

Taking on the duties of a mistress of the house instead of a servant, Jessie arranged for the evening’s meal and had the two new maids clean the chandeliers and polish the wood in the dining hall until it gleamed.

Bursting with nervous energy, she supervised the rearranging of furniture in the parlor. She had the men drag out the threadbare rug and replace the sofa with a better one from the upstairs parlor. When she asked William to move the heavy wingback chair for the third time, he gave her a forbearing smile.

With the back of his sleeve, he swiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “You look as anxious as a cat on a bed of needles. Try this.” He dug into his pocket and extracted a dented metal flask. He offered it to her as though he were presenting her with a miracle. “An old family recipe. Relieves all that ails you.”

She waved it away. Liquid sloshed inside as he thrust it at her again. “Keep it. You may change your mind.”

Jessie fussed with her apparel. What, she wondered, did one wear on first being delivered into the hands of a flesh peddler? She decided on a very low-cut, nearly sheer muslin dress with only the flimsiest of petticoats and stays that pushed and separated her breasts so that they were pertly displayed. She did not wear a chemise, and the top arcs of her nipples were quite visible through the fabric.

She picked up the letter from Brighton and tucked it into her reticule. While in town, she would find a way to post her reply. Retscliff’s establishment would not hold her. She’d die getting out of there if she had to.

With only the lightest of lace shawls, Jessie stepped onto the porch. The four black beasts seemed to shiver with impatience in their harnesses while their master paced the drive. Jessie took a steadying breath and prepared to discover her fate.

Ryder turned and watched her approach, quirking a brow in response to her attire. The noon sun glinted off his gleaming black hair. His appetite had returned completely. He was putting weight back on. He looked utterly edible in his bottle-green jacket, buff-colored, muscle-hugging pantaloons and polished Hessians. Brushing away the hand he offered, Jessie stepped up into the elegant new coach.

She sat stiffly, unable to relax against the plush seats.

He brushed by her as he climbed aboard, and her eyes drifted shut with pleasure as she inhaled sandalwood and his own delicious scent.

Once he was seated, she tossed him the sack of clothes. “For your new lover.”

He did not make an attempt to catch the bag. It bounced off his shoulder, landing on the carriage floor. He pushed it aside with his foot. With his fist he rapped the roof of the coach, signaling the driver. The carriage rumbled down the drive.

“Will you be leaving me there at the tavern? Is this an even exchange?”

He insinuated the toe of his Hessians between her kidskin slippers. “An even exchange? Hardly. With the way you fuck and suck you could make the man’s fortune.”

Fighting the need to slap him, she clutched her gloved hands into tight fists. He actually had the audacity to smile. “It was meant as a compliment.”

“I believe, Lord Blackwood, that prison life has turned you into a beast.” “No doubt.”

“You will not be pleased until you see me punished.”

He sat forward, his arms resting on his spread thighs. “Yes, that would please me,” he drawled suggestively.

“And whoring for Retscliff is the penalty you’ve devised.” Her chin started to quiver.

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip to stop from crying. “Honestly, woman, you must think me an absolute bastard.” She did not gainsay him.

“I am most assuredly
not
leaving you with Retscliff. The thought repulses me. You will simply have to trust me on this.”

“I’m to trust you? Yet you do not give me the same consideration. You do not have faith enough in me to even tell me what you are planning for tonight.”

“True,” he said matter-of-factly. “I’m still not certain with whom you are in league.”

With angry movements, she plucked off her gloves. Intent on ignoring him, she picked up her reticule and removed her small needlework frame. She stabbed the needle through the cloth, wildly missing her mark, a delicately embroidered sprig of lavender. This was certainly not calming her. The needlework frame clinked against something metal as she shoved it back into her reticule. She remembered William’s miracle flask. After uncapping the slim bottle, she took a healthy swallow. The liquid felt warm and soothing.

“What have you there?”

“Some sort of elixir William gave me. An old family recipe. He thought it would help calm my nerves.” She took several more drinks. “It has a bite, but I rather like it.” She had no intention of offering him any.

Jessie relaxed back against the soft cushions. After taking another couple of far-from-dainty sips, she suddenly began focusing on pieces of the man instead of the whole. The line of his straight nose fascinated her.

“With all the damage they did to you in prison, ’tis a wonder your nose was never broken. ’Tis quite the most handsome I’ve seen.” That revelation deserved another long drink she decided.

“Yes, I give thanks every day that it was spared,” he drawled.

She closed her eyes and relished the sensation of William’s marvelous elixir. When she opened her eyes she found another part of his anatomy equally mesmerizing. “William did excellent work trimming your hair,” she commented. The haircut had exposed the lobes of his ears. They were exactly as a man’s ear lobes ought be, she decided. Her attention drifted to his Adam’s apple. She hoped he’d swallow so she could watch it bob.

He reached over and snatched the bottle from her just as she was bringing it back to her lips. He took a whiff of the flask’s contents and then recapped it. “That is nearly straight whiskey.” He shoved the bottle into his coat pocket.

“Is it? I’ve never tried it before,” she said indifferently. She ran the palms of her hands over the velvet seat.

“And you are getting quite foxed.”

Her gaze drifted to him. Her lids felt heavy. “I’m merely relaxed. Perhaps you should have some. You seem quite tense yourself.”

“What I am is frustrated.”

“And how are you frustrated, my lord?”

“You’ve spoiled me. I hate hearing the word ‘no’ from your lips.”

He was still brooding about her refusal to bed him. “And I hate saying no to you,” she muttered. She blamed the liquor for loosening her tongue.

“What did you say?”

Jessie felt as though her whole body was blushing. She peered into his beautiful violet-tinged eyes. They were inspecting her closely. She swallowed hard. “I hate saying no to you,” she repeated. She’d spent most the night wishing she hadn’t rejected him, wanting to crawl into his bed with him.

His eyebrows rose in surprise at her revelation. “Yet you did.”

“I was angry,” she said with a languid shrug. “If you ever find yourself truly married, I believe you can expect your wife to say no once in a while.”

“One wife at a time is enough to worry about.”

With the alcohol heating her blood, all inhibitions slid away. Again she let her eyes take their fill of him only this time she took in the entire glorious male. He was impossible to resist.

She kicked off her slippers. Her skin tingled with anticipation as she smoothed the silk stockings down her legs. His black lashes lowered as he followed the progress of her fingers. She tossed the delicate stockings aside, set her foot on his leg and kneaded his hard-muscled thigh with the sole of her foot. He hooked his finger in the gold anklet and brought her foot to rest atop his erection. She smoothed her toes over his impressive length.

Remembering the reaction she’d gotten the last time she’d touched herself in his presence, she gathered up her skirts until they were bunched around her waist. She continued to massage his cock with her foot as her fingers found her triangle of hair. Letting her unoccupied leg fall wide, she gave him an unobstructed view of her pussy.

His intense gaze was riveted on what she was doing to herself. He looked as if he might devour her. She stroked the wet pink folds. “To use your words, I think I shall greatly miss fucking and sucking you when I am gone,” she said. She could not believe how those vulgar words tripped so easily off her tongue.

A completely untrustworthy smile suddenly curled his lips. “Tease,” he said, and with the strength and skill of an expert lover, he soon had her in the position he wanted. She found herself slung over his lap, her head hanging down. The weight of her hair threatened to undo her chignon. The skirts were still bunched at her waist, presenting her naked bottom to him. She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, and he brought his hand down hard on her bottom. She brought her bottom up asking for another spank. He readily complied. The next smack made her pussy tingle. He parted her legs and dragged his fingers up her cleft. The sensation nearly launched her off his lap. He inserted two fingers into her dripping wet pussy.

“Deeper,” she whispered.

“Jessie,” he said with a groan and obliged. As he thrust them in and out of her tight sheath, she lifted her bottom higher to absorb the full impact of the driving rhythm.

After thoroughly exploring her with his fingers, he maneuvered her again with complete mastery. She now straddled his thighs. He unbuttoned the bodice of her dress, exposing the tops of her breasts. He gripped her around her ribcage, pushing her breasts up so they nearly spilled over the stays. His tongue laved her, wetting the nipples he’d exposed. Jessie plowed her fingers through his silken hair. The whiskey made her brave.

When he lifted his head, she took his head in her hands and slanted her mouth over his, kissing him like a woman in love, putting her whole heart and soul into it.

She lifted her head. Even in her liquor-fogged state she noticed the look of surprise in his eyes.

Jessie did not give him much time to think about her kiss. Eagerly, she unfastened the panel of his pantaloons and released him. With haste, she lifted herself onto his thick shaft. She was greedy for him. “Oh,” she said as she lowered herself onto him. Her eyes tilted back in her head. He felt enormous inside her. In that respect, he truly was a beast and he was completely, jarringly inside of her. And she luxuriated in every inch of his cock as she rode him. The carriage jostled over a particularly deep rut. His cock plumbed new depths.

“Your punishments are devastating,” she said with a scintillating shiver.

She felt his shoulders tense beneath her grip as he reached climax. He plunked her unceremoniously on the seat beside him, spending his seed outside her body.