A Little Bit Sinful(45)

He swallowed. “Come, we can talk in my study,” he said. He turned and walked to the room, not bothering to see if she followed. Part of him hoped she’d come to her senses and returned to her carriage. He’d done his level best to resist her one too many times, tonight he could make no such promises. But when he turned around in his study, she stood near one of the chairs. “What do you want, Clarissa?”

She looked up, her lips parted. “You don’t usually use my given name.” She chewed at her lip, then slid out from under her heavy cloak. Beneath she wore a dressing gown.

He swore.

“Don’t make this harder for me than it already is,” she said, her voice shaky and unsure. “I need your help.”

The nearly sheer fabric left little to his imagination. He couldn’t see anything directly, but the outline of her every curve had lust pounding to his groin. Her shapely hips and narrow waist, the fullness of her breasts, damn but he wanted her. “Help is not what I have in mind when I look at you in that.”

She smiled. “That is good news.” Again she chewed at her lip, the motion both innocent and seductive, and the mixture was nothing short of intoxicating. He remembered the night in her bedchamber, his mouth on her breast, her unabashed response to him. His trousers became increasingly uncomfortable.

“I want you to teach me to be a seductress.”

Justin sat in the chair to keep himself from either throttling her or teaching her how dangerous that request was. “You’re going to have to give me an explanation.”

“The other night, when you took me to Rafferty’s, and I saw George, I realized something. He does not look upon me that way because he believes me to be too pure, too much of a lady. It is my understanding that most men want their women to behave the lady in public, but when it comes to the bedroom, they prefer, how shall I say this.” She paused. “Harlots?”

He nearly laughed, but he couldn’t manage a response of anything. She was still intent on marrying George. The realization of that was like a knife in Justin’s chest, but he ignored the discomfort. If Wilbanks could not see the passion inside Clarissa, he was not only a cad, he was also a fool. “Who told you that?”

“It seems to be the general consensus.” She came and sat in one of the chairs near his.

“How do you suggest that I instruct you to be a seductress?” It was a dangerous question. Would that he behave the perfect gentleman, he’d load her back into her carriage and send her straight home, as he’d promised her brother he’d do if she dared show up at his gaming hell again. Of course this was not Rodale’s nor was it the first of her late night visits. And damned if Justin’s own curiosity hadn’t gotten the better of him.

“If I knew the specifics, I would not need your assistance,” she said. “Rebecca died before she could explain much to be about the goings on between and man and his wife, the duties of the marital bed, as it were.” She came to her feet and walked over to stand in front of him, her arms crossed over her body. She stood for a moment, then dropped her hands. “If I were a woman that you desired, one you planned an affair with, how would you proceed now?”

“First of all, this isn’t about desirability. That, you already possess. Nor is this about duty, at least it shouldn’t be. There should be enough attraction between husband and wife that the marital bed, as you called it, is pleasurable for both of them.”

“What do you mean I already possess desirability? If that were true, then why did you walk away from me the other night? You said that it couldn’t be me. That most certainly implies something is wrong with me.”

He came to stand in front of her, gripped her arms. “Chrissy, take a breath. You thought I left because I did not want you?”

She nodded, exhaled slowly.

“Silly woman.”

“Why then?”

“I’m not certain the truth is something I want to share with you.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“It isn’t right for me to tell you how much I want you when you are so intent to be another man’s wife.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it.

“I can, of course, explain matters of the flesh to you though. You said you want to be the seductress. In order to be that, you must be the one to take the action. If you want a man to kiss you, then kiss him first. If you want a man to touch you, touch him first,” he said. “It is as simple as that.”