The Devil You Know (The Devil DeVere #3)(7)

Noting his preventive measures, Caroline’s eyes narrowed.

“Why must you always use such a device?”

“Out of care for my health…as well as your own,” he answered.

She sat upright, lips curved in distaste. “You suspect I carry disease? ”

“I suspect nothing. But I know for fact you have other lovers, some of whom are far less fastidious than me. But if my preference for armor offends you, my sweet, I can surely eliminate my own discomfort.” Taking his stiffened cock in hand, he fisted himself with several hard, fast strokes. His brief actions swiftly brought him to full length and breadth. He heard her intake of breath. He saw her pupils flare in eyes widened in fascination and desire. She licked her lips.

His own twitched. “Do I detect a change of heart, my pet?”

She glared in outraged capitulation. “Come and f*ck me, you bastard!”

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Victoria Vane

With a laugh, Ludovic flipped Caroline onto her stomach, a position that would muffle her voice. He then closed his eyes, envisioned Diana beneath him, and plunged deeply into her.

Diana and Annalee w ***

ere swiftly and efficiently settled in separate en-suite apartments in the west wing. Diana could hardly contain her awe at accommodations that were commodious and breathtaking in opulence, with furnishings of damask and gilt, and elaborately plaster-worked ceilings complete with silk cover-ings on the wainscoted walls. She noted with particular pleasure the French doors opening to a balcony overlooking a magnificent parterre garden and ornamental fountain.

Edward was right. If this was only Viscount DeVere’s retreat, he certainly suffered from no dearth of fortune. For no particular reason, Diana found herself overcome with curiosity about the man. He must be about thirty and had never married; that much she knew from Annalee. And who was this duchess? Her instincts already told her there was a story even before DeVere had cut Annalee off. She tried to shake it off as none of her business, and yet...

A soft knock sounded on the door before Diana’s abigail peered inside. “Is there aught that you need, my lady? Do you wish to refresh yourself?”

“At present, I wish more than anything to escape the blasted confines of my stays!” Diana said. “I’d also love a brief repose followed by a hip bath, if that can be easily managed.”

“There is one already prepared in the adjoining dressing chamber, milady, and hot water on the way. The lady duchess desires to take particular care of his lordship’s guests.”

“Does she? Then I shall take particular care to thank Her Grace.”

The maid, already at work unlacing her gown, paused. “Have you met the duchess before, my lady?”

“No. I have not. Although I understand that Lady Annalee has some acquaintance with her.” Diana’s curiosity was roused by the maid’s manner. “Is there a particular reason you ask, Polly?”

Helping to strip away the layers of bodice and petticoats, the maid replied in a conspiratorial whisper. “Word from the servants here, milady, is that the duchess is no better than she ought to be.

She arrived two days hence and has not slept in her own chamber.

19

The Devil You Know

The staff says she conducts herself as if she were already mistress of the house. ‘Twould seem to me she’s another kind of mistress altogether and no fit company for my lady!” Polly added in affront.

Diana’s forehead furrowed. In having briefly met his lordship, Diana presumed the maid’s suspicions were correct. This thought was followed by indignation. Not that Diana ever would have entertained his presumed proposition. Still, she was piqued that he would even have insinuated such a thing with a woman already under his roof.

“While I share your sentiments, Polly, it is the viscount’s home, and he can do whatever he wishes. The duchess is a widow, and the viscount is unwed. Thus, it is their business alone,”

she spoke the mild reprimand, wishing neither to encourage the girl’s impertinence nor squelch it completely. “We can only hope they conduct themselves with proper circumspection.”

“Yes, my lady.” The maid flushed rose. “Shall I unlace you now?”

“Please.”

A moment later, Polly deftly released Diana’s generous breasts from a prison of tightly stitched linen and whalebone. Diana breathed a great sigh and stretched. “I’m going to indulge in an hour’s repose, Polly, but then I shall need you to press my gown while I bathe and then redress my hair.”

“Which gown shall it be?”

While not normally afflicted by excessive vanity, DeVere’s abrupt dismissal of her stirred something devilish within. “The new emerald and gold damask in the Polonaise fashion is quite lovely, don’t you think?”

“And most becoming to your eyes and figure too, my lady,”

the maid countered with a wink.

The latest mode from Paris, the gown had a devastatingly low, square-cut bodice accentuated with the tiniest bit of sheer, gold trim that barely concealed a hint of dusky nipple. If the viscount appreciated her well-endowed bosom, what harm in teasing from afar that which he could never touch? Deeming it naught but a bit of harmless flirtation with a charming rogue, Diana paid little heed to the fleeting notion that she might actually be playing with fire.

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Victoria Vane