The Devil You Know (The Devil DeVere #3)(26)

“The matter is taken care of.”

“You have confronted Reggie?”

His face hardened. “No. I have quite another method of dealing with this.”

“You won’t tell me?”

“I will not. It is a most unpleasant topic that I would rather not dwell upon when there are far more fascinating subjects at hand.” He stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers, and she broke away from him with a strangled sound. “That’s not why I’m here. I came to protect my personal interests. To warn you about the race.”

“In nothing but your wrapper? Tsk, tsk, my pet. Untruths are so unbecoming. Yet it is precisely your most personal interests, your intimate needs, that are foremost in my mind right now.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he advanced and silenced her with a finger across her lips. He traced the curve of her mouth with a whisper touch that made her ache for his kiss. His thumb lingered, caressing her lower lip and making it tingle with exquisite sensation. She closed her eyes and bit her tongue to suppress the urge to lick him.

“If I had had any doubts about you before...” he murmured, “they were laid to rest the instant I set eyes on that feckless husband of yours. There are no words to encompass his unworthiness of you, Diana. You were made to be worshipped. Say the word, and I swear to atone for the grievous neglect you’ve suffered.”

He had spoken her own deepest feelings, her darkest desires. She averted her face in an attempt to ignore the heightened awareness of him. The big, strong, near-naked body. The powerful chest exposed by the loose banyan, the even more powerful urge to touch him.

“I’ve not given you leave—”

“To touch you? To address you with such intimacy?” He laughed.

“You and I both know you crossed that boundary at the threshold to my bedchamber. Someone damn well needs to touch you, Diana.

Someone, preferably me, needs to make amends for your husband’s disgrace and f*ck you senseless.”

She stared at him, speechless.

“Don’t look so affronted, my dear. I know how to give you profound pleasure, Diana. We both know that’s why you came to me. You have only to admit it.”

Her heart surged as he moved in for the kill with the ease of a practiced predator. Dipping his head, he drew her lower lip into his mouth, gently biting, sucking, and sending a jolt of molten lightning straight to her core. She melted into him with a whimper. He slowly released her with a feral gleam in his eye. “Just tell me you want me, and I will show you many ways I can please you until you beg for your release.”

Dear God, but he was right. She had crossed the threshold. There was no turning back now.

Sensing her qualms,

***

fearing she would change her mind and flee, Ludovic had let her blather on about the races, but all the while deftly and relentlessly guiding her back to the truth and compelling her to face her motives. She wanted him too. He could see it in the rapid rise of her breasts. He could smell her budding arousal and would relish bringing her to full bloom. God, how he loved this dance! She had taken the first tentative steps, yet she still fought her desire, refused to give in to it, but he would lead her now. He was a master...and a ruthless bastard.

He moved behind her, taking possession of her waist, his fingers riffled gently through her hair. He closed his eyes to inhale her faint rose scent mixed with womanly musk. He dipped his head, letting his breath tickle her ear. She shivered. He whispered low and sultry.

“Do you wish me to name the ways I can please you? I am delighted to comply if that excites you...although it would please me far more to demonstrate.”

She swallowed hard. His lip twitched.

His hand skirted up her waist to the outside of her breast, his thumb stroking, teasing but not quite touching her nipple. He sought with his tongue that most sensitive spot behind her ear. He licked, and she trembled. “I never make idle boasts, Diana. I have long studied the secrets of a woman’s body and know many ways to bring you mindless rapture.”

She tensed, her breathing quickening to a shallow rasp. “Is such a thing possible for every woman? In ten years I’ve never...” She flushed with the confession. “Not by my husband’s hand.”

He laughed. “Never by his hand? Then what of his cock? His mouth?”

“M-mouth?” She turned her head, her gaze shooting to his with another convulsive swallow.

He awarded her a wicked smile. “The mouth and tongue are but one exquisite gateway to heaven. Do you wish to know them all, Diana? You need only say the word. Confess your need, and I will be a slave to your desire.”

“Yes.” The word escaped from her throat, a nearly soundless whisper. “Yes,” she repeated on a sob. “It is why I came to you. But then I was afraid. But I’m not anymore. I want to know what I’ve missed. My life has been nothing but sacrifice and thankless duty. I want to know passion and pleasure. Please, Ludovic, show me what can be between a man and a woman.”

At last. He closed his eyes on a smile, briefly basking in his victory. It was the sweetest surrender. He pulled her around and into his arms. “If it is truly your wish to discover paradise...” He dipped his head to her throat. “I am enchanted to be your guide.”





Chapter Nine


She lifted her chin, her watery gaze meeting relentless, fathomless blue, his lovely mouth curving in a way that promised illicit delights.