Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(21)

“I talked to you of sucking your cock,” she corrected. “I have no desire to suck any other.”

Thank God for small mercies. The thought of Pru being intimate with any other man but him made Titus’s jaw ache.

He sat up abruptly to fasten his breeches, relieved to see there was no evidence of his release on his clothing. Because Pru had swallowed it all down, greedily and with obvious pleasure.

The sight of her as she now licked the last of his taste from her lips was enough to cause his cock to twitch in renewed interest. “We should return to the house and take our leave.” That renewed arousal of his cock caused him to speak more harshly than he had intended.

Something Titus instantly regretted as he saw the pained frown creasing Pru’s brow when she rose to her feet and stepped away from him.

As well as those other physical signs of their intimacy, her hair was slightly disheveled from where he had threaded his fingers through those golden locks as she sucked and pleasured him.

Pru kept her head lowered as she adjusted her clothing, unwilling to allow Titus to see how much his sharpness so soon after their shared intimacy hurt her. Not only hurt her, but also filled her with uncertainty as to whether or not he had enjoyed that intimacy as much as she had thought and he said he had.

Her mother had informed her men were different to women in that they could, and very often did, receive physical satisfaction with women other than their wives when their needs were not being take care of at home, and that single gentlemen took their pleasure with whomever they pleased.

Was Pru merely another warm and willing woman to Titus? She could still feel the silky in-and-out thrust of his cock into her mouth, still taste the creaminess of his release, but—

“Pru, look at me.”

She lifted her head but kept her gaze lowered.

“I said look at me, damn it.”

She raised her lids at the sharpness of his tone. Titus looked as elegant as he always did, his clothing adjusted and with not a hair out of place. Whereas she probably looked totally debauched: her lips felt slightly swollen, her cheeks flushed, and several tendrils of unruly hair had fallen down onto her nape.

Titus reached out to grasp her upper arms. “You have done nothing wrong. On the contrary,” he added dryly. “You did everything so right, I was unable to control myself.”

She blinked. “And that bothers you?”

His mouth quirked into a smile. “I am sure someone as ancient as me should not have responded so readily.”

“Now you are teasing me,” Pru chided with a pout.

“Only a little.”

“I do not think of you as being in the least old,” she assured him huskily. “I meant only to tease and play with you by making those comments.”

He drew her into his arms so that her head rested beneath his chin and against his chest. “Perhaps in future, you should not choose a dinner party at which to challenge me?”

“A need for privacy that did not seem to bother you in the slightest when you dragged me out into the garden for everyone to see.”

It only bothered Titus now in regard to Pru’s reputation. Not that he thought for a moment the other Sinners or their wives would ever divulge a word of Pru being here this evening unchaperoned, or the time they had spent alone outside in the garden. But the voluble Lady Jacqueline might, that lady being well known for her lack of discretion. He would not have Pru’s reputation ruined on top of everything else she had suffered these past weeks.

“It was either bring you outside or spill in my breeches,” he acknowledged self-derisively, and with the desired result. He could feel the tension easing from Pru shoulders.

That mischievous light, only recently returned to her, glowed in her eyes as she raised her head to look at him. “I believe we should do as you suggest and make our excuses to leave. I have several more ways in which I might challenge you again on our journey home.”

Titus felt his cock give another approving throb merely from thinking of what those ways might be. “I will speak to Stonewell.” He tidied several wayward strands of her disheveled hair into the arrangement at her crown. “If you would like to go to the drawing room to say your goodbyes to the duchess and the other ladies before waiting for me in the entrance hall.”

Pru kept her eyes lowered so as not to catch the gaze of any of the six suddenly silent gentlemen in the dining room still enjoying their brandy and cigars. But her cheeks were nevertheless aflame with embarrassment by the time she stepped out into the hallway and the door was closed behind her, knowing they all must be aware of how long she and Titus had been alone together outside.

“Leaving us so soon?” Lady Jacqueline was seated beside her daughter drinking tea when Pru politely made her thank-you for dinner. “Not that I blame you. I am sure I would do the same if I had a lusty beau like Romney to go home with,” she added speculatively. “His newly acquired scars are a little off-putting, of course, but no doubt they will fade with time—”

“Mother!” the duchess rebuked sharply.

Lady Jacqueline looked unrepentant. “I am only saying what you are all thinking.”

“We are thinking nothing of the sort.” The duchess rose gracefully to her feet, linking her arm with Pru’s as they strolled out into the entrance hall. “I apologize for my mother.” Her weariness of tone said it was something she had to do on a regular basis. “I have no choice but to put up with her outrageous behavior, but I deplore the fact she embarrasses Stonewell and our guests too.” She gave a heavy sigh. “No doubt he will tire of it soon and banish us both to the country for several months before joining us there for the Christmas holiday.”