A Return of the Wicked Earl

by Sadie Bosque

Blake heaved a sigh and tugged on her arm. Annalise stood, and Blake sat her onto his lap. He brushed the stray lock away from her face, slowly running his fingers down her cheek.

  “I can’t sleep on the bed. It’s too soft.”

  Annalise frowned and was about to ask more, but he placed his lips on hers.

  Annalise melted under the firm onslaught of his kisses. She licked at his mouth, then bit him lightly on his bottom lip.

  Blake chuckled and drew her closer to him. Annalise felt the hard bulge of his erection under her bottom.

  “Blake?” she asked against his mouth.

  “Yes, my dear.” Blake moved to kiss her neck, and Annalise’s head fell back.

  He squeezed her bottom, and then his hands traveled up to her breasts. Her peaks stood proudly against his caress, and Annalise moaned, wanting to get more. Suddenly her clothes were uncomfortable, fabric sticking to her heated skin. She wanted to get rid of it so there would be nothing between her and Blake anymore.

  Apparently, Blake had the same idea because he lifted her off his lap, seated her on top of his desk, stood, and discarded his banyan.

  Annalise’s breath caught. Blake, in his complete nakedness, was glorious. His muscles were beautifully sculpted, his body bronzed with a dusting of hair in all the right places. He had a few white scars along his body, but they didn’t detract from his male beauty. Her gaze lowered, and her mouth went dry at the vision before her.

  Blake’s erect length stood proud and swollen among the curls of intimate hair. It was red and pulsing, veins covering the entire length.

  She took it in hand, and Blake groaned. He stepped closer, standing between her legs. Annalise ran her hands up and down, remembering how Blake taught her the night before. She squeezed him with one hand while her other hand went lower, exploring his length. She traveled down still and ran her fingers against the soft, hot sack below his erection. Blake placed his hands on either side of her, his face just inches away from hers, his breath hot on her face.

  She cupped his sack in her hand, and Blake growled.

  “Enough,” he whispered, then bit on her earlobe. “Turn around.”

  His whisper against her ear caused goosebumps to run along her body. Her breathing grew frantic, and her body heated wildly. Annalise scrambled off the desk, and Blake roughly turned her around.

  He raised her skirts above her waist and bent her over the desk. His finger traced the slit between her buttocks, then traveled lower. Then his hot erection replaced his finger and settled against her bottom.

  Annalise panted as if she were running for miles during the impossible summer heat. Blake snaked his hand around her and cupped her between her legs. Annalise pressed herself into his hand, at the same time craving the connection with his rod behind her. As if feeling her turmoil, Blake pressed his groin against her, rubbing her wet, feminine folds with his hard shaft.

  Annalise moaned, and then his fingers were playing with her swollen nub, his length poised at her entrance. She pressed her hands against the desk and arched her back.

  Blake leaned in and bit her on her neck. The pain added to overall sensations, driving her wild. With one quick thrust, Blake entered her, stretching her core. He panted in her ear while his hips thrust his length into her in an unrelenting rhythm, his pelvis meeting her rear with resounding smacks.

  Annalise bit on her lip so as not to scream while her moans and Blake’s grunts melded into one. She pulsed from the inside as the feeling of bliss hit her. She closed her eyes and thrust out her hands, sweeping the paper and ledgers off the desk onto the floor.

  Blake growled as his hot seed filled her. He playfully smacked her on her rear and then massaged her buttocks.

  “You’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered.

  At that moment, half lying on the desk, her skirts above her waist, her hair out of sorts, sweat running down her body, and other liquids running down her legs, Annalise felt anything but beautiful.

  It didn’t matter, though, as long as Blake thought so. He slowly withdrew, and Annalise’s inner muscles constricted on emptiness. She was about to get up, but Blake put his hand on one butt cheek.

  “Wait a moment.” He fished out a handkerchief and cleaned her legs, her bottom, and between her legs from their mutual juices. He placed a hot kiss on her bottom, making her squirm, then lowered her skirts.

  Blake helped her get off the desk and cleaned himself up as well.

  “Well,” Annalise breathed. “I just came here to enquire if you would like some breakfast.”

  Blake gave her a wolfish smile. “That was the best inquiry I received in my life.” He kissed her on the forehead, then took her hands in his again, as if he couldn’t stand next to her without touching. He peered at the clock on the mantelpiece.

  “My solicitor should be here any minute.” He looked around, picked up his banyan, and threw it over his shoulders. “I need to get ready before he gets here; clean up.”

  He gestured at the mess they’d made on and around the desk.

  Annalise watched in disappointment as Blake covered his muscled torso and fastened his banyan at the waist. The attire was usually worn over breeches and a shirt, but Annalise wasn’t about to complain about that.

  She raised her head and gave an apologetic smile. “Should I ask the housekeeper to bring you breakfast here?

  “Wasn’t I supposed to be the one bringing you breakfast in the morning?”

  Annalise smiled. “I’ll just have to count this encounter as a consolation prize.”

  “So generous.” He kissed her softly on the mouth. “Yes, I think I’d rather break my fast at my desk. There are lots of things to be done.”

  Annalise disengaged her hands from his and went around the desk. She bent to pick up his journal and peered into the page it was open on. It had her name on it. Only it was crossed out.

  Blake kneeled before her and reached to take the journal from her hand.

  Annalise pulled her hand away. “Wait, what is this?” She peered into the contents and read aloud. “Possible plotters behind my capture.” She scanned the page with her eyes, reading the list of people and the motives until she came to the end.

  Annalise. Motive: freedom.

  Blake finally leaned in, took the journal from her slack fingers, and closed it.

  Annalise turned to him, her eyes wide. “Possible plotters behind your capture? Did you truly think—”

  “No!” he interrupted her swiftly. “No, I did not.”

  “Then why is my name on it?”

  “I scratched it out the next day.”

  Annalise raised a brow.

  “I was sleep-deprived, tired, and angry. I came home to find you getting betrothed to Kensington. You didn’t seem glad to see me at all. My mind was a jumbled mess. I swear, I never seriously contemplated you might be the one to hurt me.”

  Annalise shut her eyes tightly against the burning sensation. The scars on his back and torso, those months, which he had said were too gruesome for him to speak of, he thought her responsible for all of that.

  Annalise swallowed and stood. “There is no trust in our relationship at all, is there?”

  “I trust you with my life,” Blake said hoarsely. “This was just a mistake.”

  I trust you with my life. Did she trust him with hers?

  Annalise backed away from her husband. “I am not certain how I feel about this, Blake. In order to put me on that list, you must have thought so low of me. And the rest of those people? They are the closest people to you besides me. How can you be suspicious of them?”

  “Kensington is not the closest person to me.”

  “He is to me.”

  “And that is why his name is on there.” Blake closed his eyes. “I do not want to argue, darling. I crossed out his name too, but I have to be suspicious of people. I cannot be as gullible and naive as—”

  He halted suddenly, but Annalise knew what he wanted to say. As me.

  “I have to go,”
she said and turned to leave.

  Blake grabbed her by her arm. “Not like this.”

  Annalise took a deep breath. “I need to be alone right now. Please respect my wishes.” She disengaged from his hold and walked away.

  * * *

  Blake perched on Annalise’s bed later that evening, his arms across his chest. He’d spent a good part of the day running around his cousin’s house, attempting to catch her “gift.” His hands were all scratched up, and he even had a tiny scratch on his face. But it would be all worth it just to see the reaction on Annalise’s face.

  When he’d come home, Annalise was still entertaining callers, so he sneaked into her room and awaited her arrival.

  The door squeaked open, and Annalise walked inside. Her expression was thoughtful, a few lines on her forehead forming a light frown. But her features cleared the moment she saw him. It was a good sign.

  “Apologizing, lately, has been a new pastime for me,” he said. “I’ve been an arse, yet again. But to atone for my sins, I am bearing a gift, and I hope you find it worthy.”

  He made a few strides toward her and took her hands in his. Annalise tipped her head back, so she could look into his eyes.

  A loud mewling sound came from behind Blake. Annalise frowned before peeking behind him. Her mouth slacked open, and her eyes widened.

  She ran toward her bed in a girlish glee and took the kitten into her arms.

  “Wait!” Blake exclaimed, but she’d already picked him up and cuddled him close to her heart.

  Blake raised an eyebrow. He had gone to Townsend’s house in the afternoon to discuss business matters. He’d needed to take his mind off the argument he’d had with Annalise. Instead, he wound up chasing a little black kitten around his cousin’s townhouse. It turned out, Townsend had managed to give away all but two of his mother’s kittens, and this one, the most problematic one, was at risk of being drowned.

  Blake immediately decided to take in the little fiend from hell. Now the same angry damned animal that’d scratched Blake’s hands and face, snuggled tenderly in Annalise’s arms and purred.

  Blake frowned. “I see he likes you.”

  Annalise held him closer to her chest, and the kitten put his head on her soft breasts. Well, Blake couldn’t fault the damn thing; he’d be snuggling up on her breasts too.

  “I was afraid he’d give you the runaround too. Townsend didn’t know how to dispose of the poor thing. Apparently, it made their lives quite difficult in the past few days. I didn’t think you’d forgive me if I let anything bad happen to a defenseless kitten, so here he is. Besides, we have a lot more staff than Townsend. I think we can manage one little animal.”

  “This little thing?” Annalise smiled and sat on the bed. “I shall take care of him myself.”

  Blake walked up to Annalise and stretched his arm out to pet the kitten, but he hissed and bared his claws.

  “I’d rather not touch him,” Blake said with a frown. “I do not blame him. He picked the most beautiful lady to snuggle up to and is not letting anyone else touch him. I can empathize.”

  Annalise raised her smiling eyes to his.

  “Can you forgive me for the thoughtless entry in my journal?”

  Annalise pursed her lips as she continued petting the kitten. “I have not decided yet.”

  “Hmm, then I shall try harder to earn your forgiveness,” he breathed. At least, she was talking to him.

  “Blake whatever you went through is terrible. Those scars, the memories you claim to not want to share with me… If you thought for a moment that I was responsible for any of that then we have a bigger problem than I initially thought. Is that why you were secretive of your past?”

  “No, darling, trust me. Writing your name down was an impulse. A foolish act of a jealous man.”

  Annalise paused before saying quietly, “Lavinia made Kensington propose to me.”

  “Did she?”

  “When I received a note about your demise… I was not only destitute—”

  “I know,” Blake interrupted with a grimace. “Kensington explained to me that he was just doing a duty by offering you his name.”

  “He is a good man.” Blake didn’t answer. “And Lavinia convinced me she wasn’t in love with him and sacrificed her own happiness for me.”

  “She loves you,” he said. “I can empathize with that too.”

  Annalise looked at him curiously, her eyes taking on a puzzled look. She looked down at the kitten then and stroked his fur.

  Blake cleared his throat. “What would you like to call him?”

  “Mm, I do not know.” Annalise’s features cleared instantly. “Well, he is pretty loud in announcing his presence, so perhaps, Sir Meows-a-lot.”

  Blake let out a snort. “That’s… very clever.”

  Annalise laughed softly. “That is not a very dignifying name, is it? Perhaps I need to think on it a little more.”

  Blake grinned. “I like Sir Meows-a-lot.” He gestured to the corner and stood. “Well, there’s a basket with some rags for him to sleep in.”

  Annalise looked at the basket while still petting the animal and crooning sweet words to its ears. Blake heaved a sigh. He’d give up his title to be in this ragged animal’s place.

  “Did anyone feed him?” she asked.

  “The kitchen help tried, but he was… not responsive.”

  “Oh, the poor little one is hungry, is he?” she crooned and stood. “I’ll go and take care of him.”

  She stepped toward Blake, stood on her tiptoes, and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered and left the room.

  Chasing around that fiend half the day, then driving home with it in a carriage, was all worth it for just one soft kiss from her and a smile.

  Chapter 16

  Annalise sat by the window in the drawing room and fingered the edge of a correspondence she received earlier that day from Caroline. Caroline had sent her regrets that she wouldn’t be able to attend Annalise’s grand ball, not that Annalise expected her to since Caroline was in mourning. In the letter, she insisted that she needed to be alone, so she’d withdrawn to the Marquess of Roth’s country seat in Devon right after his funeral to stay there until her inevitable marriage to Kensington.

  Everybody’s lives had turned upside down in a matter of weeks. Her friends were miserable without a fault of their own. Annalise’s inner turmoil was wreaking havoc on her sanity too.

  She hadn’t seen Blake since the night he’d gifted her the kitten. He hadn’t come to her bedroom since, and she wondered if she even wanted him to. The fact that he even for a moment suspected her involvement in his disappearance hurt her beyond any words. She wasn’t certain she was ready to forgive him. He’d said he trusted her with his life, and yet he kept so many things from her. She was the one with the reason not to trust him, not the other way around.

  With the day of their grand ball approaching, however, she didn’t have much time to contemplate her feelings toward her husband. She’d deal with it all once the ball was over. Then, she’d be free to leave him if she thought it was her best option.

  What about a child? her treacherous heart whispered. Annalise squeezed her eyes shut, praying for there to be a babe in her belly.

  The door opened, and Blake entered the room. The kitten followed in his wake and then jumped on Annalise’s lap.

  “I see the fiend followed me. We both missed you. Although I more so than Sir Meows-a-lot.”

  “Actually…” Annalise chuckled. “It turns out she is a lady. I found out when Ruth and I were bathing her.”

  Blake sputtered a laugh. “Are you going to rename her?”

  “Well, I am not going to call her Sir.”

  “It’s not like she is acting at all like a lady.”

  “Hmm.” Annalise thought as she stroked the kitten’s black fur. “Not a lady then. How about Galinthias?”

  “I like it. She seems formidable enough to stand up to a Goddess.”

 
; Annalise picked up the kitten and looked into her glowing, green eyes. “Are you Galinthias? Or I can call you Miss Gale for short?”

  The kitten meowed, and Annalise laughed. “I think Miss Gale has spoken.”

  “Well, I think it fits perfectly,” Blake said.

  He continued to say something more, but Annalise felt warm liquid seep out between her legs, and she stilled. Her eyes widened, making Blake halt mid-sentence.

  Her courses.

  She put the kitten on the floor, excused herself, and rushed to her room. She raised her skirts just to see that she was right. Her courses had started.

  Annalise swallowed and blinked back the tears. The hope she was harboring that she might be with child had been dashed at the sight of her blood. She walked to the washing closet to arrange for a padding made of linens. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. and Annalise wanted to scream in anguish.

  She rang for Ruth, who helped her dress into her chemise and a dressing gown, and settled into bed. Miss Gale jumped onto the bed the moment Annalise drew the sheets over her body and lay on her belly.

  Annalise wiped at her tears. There’d be no babe, at least not soon, and the thought depressed her more than she’d thought it would.

  About half an hour later, just as Annalise was drifting off to sleep, a light rap on the door startled her awake.

  “Who is it?” she called irritably.

  The door opened, and Blake peeked inside. “Are you all right? Your maid told me you prepared for bed… you didn’t even have supper.” He walked into the room and toward the bed with sure strides.

  “I am well. Just a little light-headed, that’s all.”

  Blake sat on the edge of her bed, startling Miss Gale. She hissed at him, turned a couple of times in place, and settled back on Annalise’s stomach.

  “Darling, what is wrong?” Blake looked at her with such tenderness that she felt tears forming at the back of her eyes.

  She closed her eyes, and tears streamed down her face. “My courses started today,” she whispered.

  Blake took her hand and gently caressed her fingers. “Does it hurt?”

  Annalise let out a small laugh. “No. Well, a little, but it’s not a bother.”