Why had Regina come? She must have expected David to visit her as he did almost every night. She’d only needed to wait for him to arrive to speak with him.
Was something the matter? Had she begun her courses again? It had been just a little over a month since her last menses, which meant they were due again. Unless …
He made a choked sound of distress that had his mother grabbing his arm and halting him just outside the dining room. Blinking out of his stupor, David glanced down to find her watching him with a furrowed brow.
“Forget I mentioned it,” she said, patting his shoulder. “You’ve been working so hard, and have done such for this family these past months. Whatever is going on between you and Mrs. Hurst is none of my affair, as long as you are certain you know what you are doing.”
No, he wanted to tell her. No, I don’t know what the bloody hell I’ve gotten myself into, or what to do now.
“I just wanted you to know that I do like her, if it means anything to you.”
Odd, he wouldn’t have thought it would matter, but knowing his mother approved of Regina made him hopeful. But … hopeful of what, exactly? It wasn’t as if this were a conventional situation. He was not courting Regina; he was fucking her. And perhaps that would soon come to an end if she’d come to tell David what he suspected.
“It means a great deal,” he said, forcing a smile for the benefit of his mother. “Thank you.”
They entered the dining room, where his sisters had taken up their usual places side by side, with Regina across from them. She would sit at his right, with his mother on her other side. As he took his place at the head of the table and motioned for Caruthers and one of the footmen to serve them, David felt Regina’s eyes on him. He met her gaze, and what he saw there brought him no comfort. He had become too familiar with Regina to miss the subtle glint of both excitement and sadness in her eyes.
This was it. She’d come to give him her good news. As well, she had come to say good-bye.
Regina peered through the window of her guest chamber, watching as flurries of powdery snow danced on the wind. She could see nothing beyond those white flashes in the dark, though the chill of the night reached out to her through the pane. It had been foolish of her to intrude on David’s home, and now was all but forced to remain for the night. She’d been in such haste to get to him, she had paid no heed to the impending weather. The snow began sometime during dinner, and by the time Regina, David, and his family retired back to the salon, it was falling so fast and thick she could hardly see beyond the front steps.
“Oh, but you cannot attempt to drive home in this ghastly weather,” Theodora Graham had said, brow wrinkled with motherly concern. “It is far too dangerous. I insist you and your driver remain here for the night. I will never sleep a wink over worrying for you. David, surely you agree Mrs. Hurst cannot make the journey home tonight.”
Regina’s stomach flipped at the look David gave her then. He had watched her all evening, remaining silent unless someone asked him a direct question. His perusal was unnerving, especially when it kept straying to her bodice … and lower. Did he suspect the reason for her presence here? Was he angry with her for encroaching on this part of his life? Regina couldn’t blame him if he were. She never expected to be greeted by his mother and sisters, nor had she thought to be invited to stay for dinner. What could she have done when Theodora was unwilling to take no for an answer?
“Of course,” David had replied. “I won’t hear of it, Mrs. Hurst. Of course you’ll stay.”
“And you shall see her safely home in the morning,” Theodora added with a resolute nod. “Yes, I think that would be quite satisfactory.”
The woman had a sharpness to her, an air of command. She was also one of the most beautiful women Regina had ever seen, and she would only become more graceful and dignified with age. Perhaps it was Theodora’s kindness that made Regina see her in a maternal light. Truly, all the women of David’s family were agreeable. The twins reminded her of herself in her youth—bright-eyed, slightly mischievous, filled with life and hope.
She had been nervous about accepting the invitation for dinner, but was quickly put at ease. Regina hadn’t had female friends since before her marriage to Randolph. The few she’d had eventually fell away as Regina became a recluse—mostly to keep anyone from seeing her bruises. It was so nice to indulge in gossip and idle chatter over tea, to eat dinner with actual people instead of sitting alone while mulling over her own morose thoughts.
It was yet another one of those things she had rediscovered after finding David—yet another aspect of life Regina had forgotten could impart so much meaning.
When a knock sounded at the door, Regina turned away from the window with a sigh. It might be time for her to relinquish all that, for her wish had been fulfilled. Now she must abandon the man who had made it come true. Surely he was ready to get on with his life.
Regina’s heart leaped into her throat as she swung the door open, but it sank when she realized it was a footman on the threshold and not David. He silently offered her a folded slip of paper with one gloved hand, then bowed and wished her a good evening. Her chest tightened when she opened it to find a note from David.
Take a left at the end of the corridor and enter the third door. I will be waiting.
-D
Regina squeezed her eyes shut and fought to get her bearings. After all, if she was right about her condition, they would only have to meet one more time after tonight—for her to give him the promised bonus. Regina told herself it was the pleasure and companionship she would miss. But then, trying to imagine some faceless lover eventually taking his place made her stomach turn. Perhaps in the future she might bring herself to feel desire for someone else, but just now David dominated her thoughts. When she considered what it felt like to be kissed, touched, and handled with such forethought and care, his face was all she could see.
But that was all she could have from now on—memories and longing. David had his own life to get back to, and had made it clear that he didn’t think himself capable of faithfulness to one woman. Besides, even if he were keen to settle down, Regina was far too damaged. Her adamant stance against marriage had not changed. It would seem the time had come for them to part ways.
At the mirror over the washstand, Regina took a quick glance at her reflection before leaving the room. Her coloring was high, slightly flushed with anxiety and excitement. Her eyes looked too large in her face, but they were bright and clear. Combing her fingers through her hair, she released it from its braid.
The nightgown she had borrowed from Constantia was too long, for the other woman topped her by about two inches. Regina had to hold the hem aloft while traversing the corridor with lamp in hand. The passage remained empty and quiet, leaving Regina confident she wouldn’t be caught traipsing about this time of night. She reached David’s door without being accosted, and lightly rapped it with her knuckles.
“Come,” David’s voice called from the other side, soft and muffled.
She obeyed, and found herself in a neat study that smelled of brandy, leather, and furniture polish. David sat behind a large desk, his slouched body and the heaviness of his eyelids hinting at relaxed indolence. But as she closed the door and drew closer, Regina could see it was a façade. His eyes were sharp and unwavering when they met hers, and the clench of his fingers around a tumbler denoted thinly-veiled tension.
He had removed his coat and cravat. His shirtsleeves were rolled back to reveal the riveting sight of his forearms, taut with sinews and rippling here and there with prominent veins.
“David,” she began, setting her lamp on the mantel before approaching the desk. “I need to—”
“I think I know what you’ve come to tell me,” he said, holding one hand up to silence her. “If it’s what I suspect, I am not quite ready to hear it. Not yet.”
What an interesting coincidence; Regina was not ready to say it.
“Oh?” she murmured, staring dow
n at the one hand he braced on the desk. Would her child have that same olive skin, or would he be fair like Regina? She imagined an infant with a thick cap of inky black hair and felt her throat tighten.
“Will you give me tonight?” he asked, staring down at his brandy as he toyed with his glass. “I realize what you have to tell me will put an end to what we have shared these past months. But … I am not quite ready for that.”
“Neither am I.”
Regina barely managed to get the words out, but he’d heard her rough whisper. A muscle twitched in his jaw when he glanced up at her again. Then, he set his glass aside and pushed his chair back before crooking a finger to summon her closer. She rounded the desk as if pulled by an invisible tether—some unseen thing linking her to him. Soon would come the time to cut and run, but not now. Not yet.
David took hold of her waist once she was in reach, moving her to stand between his spread legs. For a while he simply stared at her. Regina took the opportunity to drink him in, committing him to memory. As if one could ever forget the magnificence of David Graham. The riveting eyes so clear and blue God must regret not using the color to paint the sky. Those sooty lashes so long and full women everywhere must despise him for what they lacked. The lips so plush and perfectly formed, capable of the sweetest or wickedest of kisses depending on his mood.
He had given her so much, and Regina could never express her gratitude. But she could show him. She could try to give him back some of what he had so selflessly offered her.
She made quick work of the buttons running between her breasts. David’s eyes sparked with interest, and he sat up straighter as he watched her slip the nightgown off one shoulder, then the other. The garment slipped off with a soft whisper to land at her feet, leaving Regina stripped bare and vulnerable. His lips parted on a slow exhale, and he shifted in his chair to accommodate his growing erection. She could see the outline of it at the front of his breeches, calling to her with promises of pleasure and connection to the only man she’d ever desired in this way.
It was quite exhilarating to stand nude before him and realize that her desire was matched with equal potency.
There was too much air between them, too many things unsaid, so many experiences untouched. Regina closed the gap, bracing both hands on his chest and climbing up to straddle him. His eyes widened, presumably at her boldness, but Regina couldn’t explain what had come over her when she hardly understood it herself.
“Regina,” he mumbled against her lips, just before she kissed him, tangling her fingers in his hair.
His hands skimmed her thighs to grip her hips, pressing her down onto his rigid cock as he returned her kiss. He tasted of brandy and the cake they’d had after dinner, the rasping strokes of his tongue making her dizzy with lust and want. She tore at his shirt, ripping loose the remaining buttons and combing her fingers through the whorls of his chest hair, tracing her way up his neck and jaw, drinking from his lips with growing desperation. She whimpered into his mouth and he answered with a low groan, fingers tightening on her buttocks as he ground against her. His hardness and the rough fabric of his breeches teased the sensitive bud of her clit, and she shamelessly squirmed and rutted against him, telling him without words what she needed, wild with the urgency of it.
Tearing his mouth away from hers, he worked his way down her throat. Regina threw her head back, eyes sliding shut as he nibbled and licked his way up to her ear. The man ought to be knighted for the deadly precision with which he wielded that tongue of his, never failing to find the places that curled her toes or forced moans of delight from between her lips.
He reached toward the desk and lifted his tumbler, salacious purpose gleaming in his eyes as he tipped it toward her. Regina gasped at the first splash and trickle of brandy over one breast, but then she moaned her shocked delight as his tongue chased the rivulet toward her nipple. He lapped and sucked, bathing her clean before going back for more. Wantonness held her in its thrall, and she arched her back to offer herself up as his chalice, another cool splash preceding the warmth of his tongue. He doused both her breasts and her belly, then braced a hand at her back and devoured her, drinking the brandy from her skin.
Regina clung to the edge of his desk and tried not to collapse when his mouth closed over a nipple, his teeth scraping the tip. She was far more sensitive than usual, a sure sign of the truth that lingered between them unsaid. The changes in her were subtle, but very much real and impossible to ignore. He seemed to notice the increased tenderness of her nipples, lingering there to hungrily suck and lick and nip, driving her closer and closer to the edge of her tolerance.
David grunted when she pushed against his chest, forcing him back in his chair so she could yank his shirttails free of his breeches. His chest heaved with every breath, and his hands shook as he helped her open his fall. His eyes were wild and glassy when he met her gaze, as if he’d lost complete control of himself and now acted purely on animal instinct. They slid closed when she took him in her palm, stroking her thumb over his swollen tip … but then flew open again when she began sliding down his body. Their gazes met and held, surprise lighting in David’s as she went to her knees on the floor, her mouth poised over his cock.
He stroked her cheek, then his thumb traced the curve of her lower lip. “You don’t have to do that.”
The note of sympathy in his voice set her teeth on edge, though not because of anything he’d done. She had confided in him that Randolph forced her to suck him off a few times and she had found it off-putting. David had never asked such a thing of her, and when she’d mentioned it he simply shrugged and reminded her that their arrangement was about her needs anyway, not his. But, she would not let Randolph ruin even this for her. In the past, thoughts of intercourse had made her ill because of memories of him. Now, she knew what it was like to feel someone inside her and take pleasure from it. Why shouldn’t David also replace these other horrid memories? Now, when she thought of performing such an act on a man, she would remember the naked desire in David’s eyes as he stared down at her, the restless twitch of his fingers against his thighs as he waited for her to press her lips to him.
“I want to,” she insisted. “I need to.”
Regina acted before she could lose her nerve. Angling his cock toward her lips, she surged her tongue against the head. His sharp intake of breath preceded a rough groan as Regina took him as deep as she could, determination driving her. She kept her eyes open and fixed on him, determined not to let the ghost of someone she hated encroach upon her moment of triumph. His flesh was rigid and unrelenting at the back of her throat, the taste of him salty and pleasantly male. Funny, how her perspective on all things ‘masculine’ had been changed by this man.
He shook with what she assumed was a great deal of control as she bobbed her head, taking him in and out, her tongue sliding along the underside of his shaft. Pushing his shirt farther up, she noted the tension in his abdomen as he kept from thrusting his hips. His hands curled into fists, the tendons in his wrists pulled taut as if he wanted to touch her, to guide her with his hands in her hair.
Fear spiked in her at the thought of a fist clenched in her hair, ruthless and dominating. But all it took was a look at David for her to remember who she knelt before and the choice she had made. She refused to regret it.
His fingers were a featherlight whisper on the shell of her ear and the side of her neck—questioning, tentative, and seeking. She sucked him harder in response, moaning around the thick length of him in encouragement. And still he held back, gritting his teeth and grunting at the pulls of her mouth around him.
“Yes?” he asked while gently threading his fingers in the hair at her nape. When she nodded and circled her tongue around his head, David shut his eyes and tightened his hold, surging his cock deeper into her mouth. “Yes!”
Regina’s eyes watered with the effort it took not to blink, for she couldn’t look away from David. His pulse thundered beneath his jaw, and his lips fell open on th
e sounds of his pleasure. The dark fans of his lashes left shadows on his cheekbones, the vulnerability of his expression at odds with the sheer size and strength of him. But even the hand guiding her head and tangling in hair was reverent and worshipful, as opposed to harsh and forceful.
She luxuriated in being the source of every sigh and groan, every shiver that wracked him. It became so potent, so powerful and all-consuming, Regina couldn’t stop even when she tasted the first hint of his coming seed. He gazed down at her in shock, lips moving with words that never emitted as she intensified her efforts, determination driving her to bring him to his finish.
His entire body went tense, and his cock jerked against her tongue before the wild, salty cascade of his seed flooded her mouth. Regina swallowed and released him, gasping for air as she dropped her head to rest against his thigh. For a while, only their harsh breaths rang out through the room. David’s fingers remained in her hair, lightly stroking along her scalp as she caught her breath.
David urged her back onto his lap, holding her tight against his chest as he kissed her brow. “Not … finished with you … yet.”
She smiled against his chest. “I certainly hope not.”
His fingers tilted her chin, and then their mouths met in a slow, thorough exploration. Regina closed her eyes and opened herself to what this kiss made her feel, understanding that she might never feel this again. If he did nothing else but kiss her for the rest of the night, Regina would have been content. She never imagined someone else’s lips on hers could be so soul-stirring, so life-changing.
Suddenly, David tore his mouth from hers and urged her to her feet. He turned her and used a hand against her back to bend her over. Hands braced on the surface of his desk, Regina panted and arched at the stroke of his fingers down her spine, coming up on tiptoe and spreading her legs wider. All sense of modesty or shame disappeared, as they always did whenever he touched her, awakening these secret, base parts of her.
Taming of the Rake (The Gentleman Courtesans Book 4) Page 20
