by Tarah Scott
Juliet shoved upright, then froze at sight of Carrick’s head between her legs. While she’d heard plenty of Aphrodite’s ladies speak of taking a man’s member into their mouths, she’d never heard of a man doing the same to a woman. His tongue flicked her engorged nub. Pleasure rocketed through her.
“Carrick,” she breathed.
He shifted so that he could look at her, but his mouth continued its wicked work. She squirmed when he sucked her. He laughed against her flesh. The sound tickled heightened senses.
“Lay back and close your eyes, lass. Let me please you.”
Please her? Close her eyes? He suckled harder. She didn’t think she could tear her gaze from his dark head buried between her thighs even if she wanted to. He drew his tongue from the base of her channel, up through her wet folds and circled her sex.
A wordless whimper escaped her lips. Pleasure mounted. He wrapped his arms around her thighs and pulled her tighter against his mouth. Palms flat on the floorboard, she closed her eyes, braced herself and pulsed against him.
Her orgasm exploded through her, stealing her breath as her body spasmed, the force of her pleasure ripping a cry from her. “Carrick. Oh, God, Carrick.”
Juliet collapsed back against the wood. He stroked her until the last shudder subsided, leaving her weak-kneed. "I couldn’t last long,” she whispered, feeling uncharacteristically shy.
He chuckled and straightened. “Your passion is what I love most about you, Juliet.”
Love. The word slipped from his tongue so naturally, yet hung in the air between them like lead.
He unbuttoned his breeches. His engorged member sprang free. Her heart pounded. He settled between her legs and buried himself inside her to the hilt. Juliet wrapped her arms around his neck as he thrust with increasing urgency. His breath bathed her flesh where neck met shoulder. Shivers raced across her flesh. His breath hitched. Pleasure rippled through her. He thrust harder and groaned as her channel flooded with his seed.
Her heart thundered. She would never get enough of this man. He stroked slower and a strange sense of need rippled through her. The unexpected need to cry surfaced. Juliet buried her face in his shoulder until, at last, he relaxed. He breathed deep, his chest expanding against hers. Juliet tightened her hold around his neck in the moment before he rose onto his elbows. He caught her chin with his hand and kissed her slow and tender. Finally, he broke the kiss and rolled off her, then propped himself up on an elbow.
Gently, he ran his fingers through her hair before he tucked a curl behind her ear. “Now that we have Lennoxlove House to ourselves, I’ll be making love to you in every room and against every tree.”
She lifted her eyebrows and laughed. “We’re surrounded by a forest, Carrick.”
His grin softened into a warm smile. “Then we’ll be busy, won’t we?”
Chapter Fourteen
A Decision
LOVE. CARRICK HAD NEVER uttered that word in a woman’s presence before. In fact, he’d taken great care to avoid it. With Juliet, the word flowed effortlessly from his lips. At first, he’d thought his mother had planted the fool notion in his head. She’d surprised him that day in the breakfast parlor. He’d opened his mouth to inform her he would no longer entertain her matchmaking attempts, but she’d announced she no longer felt her services were needed on that particular subject now that he’d found love.
Love. He’d thought his mother quite mad, but now, he was no longer so certain.
The more he thought about Juliet, the more he found the word suited her.
“You’re not paying attention,” Juliet’s scold shattered his thoughts.
Carrick lifted an eyebrow. They lay in her bed with the early afternoon sun slanting through her bedroom window. Of late, they’d taken to playing cards and wagering articles of clothing, but he’d yet to win. Today would certainly be no different. He had only his shirt left while Juliet had only lost her under drawers.
He grinned. On the angle in which he lay, he had a fine view of her white thighs.
“Focus, Carrick.” Juliet laughed, even as she opened her legs to provide him an even more distracting view.
Indeed, how could he focus on the cards? She had his full attention.
“It’s time to show your hand,” she said.
He lay his cards face up on the bed. Three jacks and a deuce.
Juliet snorted and tilted the cards in her slim fingers. Queens. Four of them. It was the third time he’d seen them that round.
“You’re cheating,” he said.
“Am I?”
She said the words with such confidence that he momentarily wondered if he’d erred. “Well, aren’t you?”
“You’re asking? Then you can’t prove a thing.” She giggled.
He rolled his eyes. How could a man concentrate on anything save her luscious body? He should have known never to second guess himself.
She dropped the cards on the bed and nodded at his shirt. “Take it off.”
Och. As usual, he was the first one naked…but not for long.
As he unfastened his buttons, she rose from the bed and lifted the lid of her sewing basket, which rested on the bedside table. She pulled his cravat from the basket, turned back to him and ordered, “Lay back and close your eyes.”
He lifted a brow but obeyed, his cock hardening even more. “As you wish, my love.”
There it was again. Love.
Juliet didn’t seem to notice. She laughed and hurried around to his side of the bed, then leaned over and tied the cravat like a blindfold.
Her breasts brushed his shoulder. He reached for the soft mounds, but she evaded his grasp. “Now, now, don’t move, Carrick. Not yet.”
The perfume of her hair floated around him. She smelled like roses. The soft rustle of cloth told him she undressed. The thought only heightened his need.
A delicate finger touched his shoulder then trailed down the center line of his chest and circled the base of his cock before she wrapped her small hands about his cock. He shuddered in anticipation, but then a thought crossed his mind.
“Tell me, lass, did you have this in mind when you claimed my cravat at the Midnight Ball?”
She gave a quiet laugh, then murmured in a low, sultry tone, “No. I intended to win the wager and be rid of you.”
Her soft, wet lips closed over the tip of his cock as she drew several inches of his length into her mouth and began to suck.
He groaned. “What a luscious mouth,” he gasped.
Slowly, she licked the length of him, before once again arriving at the tip. He drew a sharp breath and fought for control, but to no avail. He pumped faster. Pleasure—need—rushed to the surface. He needed her. His breath hitched as his orgasm started to crest. God help him, she was merciless. Carrick yanked his member from her mouth and ripped the blindfold from his face.
She knelt on the bed, naked. With a growl, he flipped her onto the mattress and mounted her. She arched into him and, to his surprise, within half a dozen strokes, she whimpered with pleasure. In seconds, his orgasm shuddered through him.
Carrick threw back his head and filled her to the brim. As the last ripples of pleasure subsided, he slid aside and held her close. They lay, drowsy and sated.
Never in his wildest dreams had he thought to find a woman who could match his passion stride for stride. Just as tantalizing, her mind was sharp.
He had to do something about that damn contract, and soon. A year was not long enough.
He needed Juliet to be his mistress—for a lifetime.
Realization struck with an intensity that took his breath, then settled over him as natural as breathing. There was only one solution: he had to marry her.
That presented a challenge. Not due to her lack of noble birth, but from her madam of a mother. Surely, he could find a way past that world-wise warden.
Sleep blurred the edges of his consciousness. If anyone could help him dance through this mire of the heart, it would be Sir Stirling James.
* * *
Two weeks later, Stirling entered Carrick’s library. “My dear fellow,” he boomed in a laughing voice as he strode through the door. “I have come to collect my prized stallion.”
Carrick closed the book he’d been reading and rose from his desk. “I should have known you would come yourself. You’ve an uncanny talent for matchmaking. I should never have doubted you.”
Both men laughed and clapped each other on the back.
A maid entered carrying a silver tray with a decanter and two full glasses of claret. They settled comfortably in high-backed mahogany wing chairs near the window and the maid set the tray on the small rosewood table between them.
Carrick took a glass and raised it in salute. “Something special I just received from France,” he said.
Stirling picked up the remaining glass. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’ve found a solution for your problem, Carrick. Well, several solutions, as you have more than one problem.”
His friend drained his claret and returned the empty glass to the tray. “France,” he said in a tone of finality. “It just so happens that Victor de Balzac, playwright extraordinaire, has had difficulties finding a passionate enough woman to, shall we say, satisfy his needs. I have discovered that Madam Aphrodite has always dreamt of living there as a woman of means...” He let his voice trail off.
Carrick snorted. If Juliet’s mother was a tenth as passionate as her daughter, then Victor de Balzac would live the remainder of his life a very happy man. “What does Madam Aphrodite have to say about this?” he queried.
“The deed is already done,” Stirling assured with a laugh. “They became besotted the moment they met. One of the best matches I’ve ever made. She’s off to France, though you have agreed to see her girls settled.”
“How many dowries am I financing?” he asked dryly.
“A small fortune.” Stirling offered a droll smile. “Count yourself lucky there is nothing your money will not buy.”
Carrick shrugged. To secure Juliet’s hand in marriage, he would sign over his estate. The thought of spending nights carousing and gambling at card tables had lost all appeal.
“When will you ask her?” Stirling asked.
“Soon,” Carrick murmured.
A smile played over his lips. The time had come to play another round of cards.
Chapter Fifteen
Queen of Hearts
JULIET SMILED AT CATHERINE as the girl spun before the mirror.
“You have such talent, Juliet,” Catherine cried, obviously thrilled to have returned from London to find yet another creation waiting in the sewing room, this one a blue-sprigged muslin day dress with green satin trim. “It’s beautiful. I’m not taking it off. I’m wearing it now. It’s beautiful.”
Juliet smiled as she removed the pins from her mouth and jammed them one-by-one into the pincushion resting beside her on the carpet.
“I quite agree,” Carrick’s deep baritone approved from the doorway. “Join us for dinner, my dear.”
Juliet glanced over her shoulder. He stood in the doorway, looking as handsome as ever in dark gray breeches.
“Please, do come,” Catherine chimed in before skipping to her brother. She placed a kiss on his cheek, then hurried past him and disappeared down the hall.
Carrick crossed to Juliet and extended a hand. She placed her fingers in his and he pulled her to her feet—then yanked her into his arms. “I agree with Catherine,” he said, holding her tightly. “Join us.”
She suppressed a sigh. Now that the dowager and Catherine had returned, the parade of wife candidates would resume. The thought rankled more than ever.
“I can’t, not when I have so much hemming to do.” She pulled his head down to hers and gave him a sound kiss, then twisted out of his arms.
Carrick lunged for her, then straightened when his mother’s voice sounded in the hall. “Carrick? Carrick, my dear, the guests have arrived.”
“Dinner. Please,” he whispered, catching her hand and planting a kiss on her fingertips.
She shook her head.
“Join me with the gentlemen at cards after dinner tonight in the study.” He pulled her into his arms again. “Afterwards, we shall enjoy more of this. Hmmm? I would see you wearing your mask and nothing else.”
“Or your cravat?” She smiled up and fluttered her dark lashes. They had discovered many delightful uses for his cravats.
“Yes.”
“Carrick?” The dowager’s voice sounded much closer.
“Damn.” He released her and hurried from the room.
The day flew. Juliet finished a riding jacket for Catherine, stopping only to enjoy a quick snack of toast slathered with fresh butter and topped with marmalade.
At last, the sun set, and she returned to her room to ready herself for an evening of cards. She often played cards with Carrick in bed, although they rarely finished a game, and while she’d discovered him to be a card cheat in his own right, she still held the edge.
She picked up her white Venetian mask and turned it over in her hands before tying it to the bedpost, imagining the enjoyment it would provide later. Juliet perused the selection of gowns in the armoire, skipping over those with the provocative bodices that Carrick preferred, and selected a peach taffeta with white satin rosettes adorning the scooped neckline. Finally, she paused before the mirror, gave her ringlets one last pat, then headed for the door.
By the time she reached the study, a group of gentlemen lounged about the card table. The gentlemen rose immediately and Carrick invited her to join them.
"Gentlemen, may I introduce Juliet Thatcher,” Carrick said, then turning to the two silver-haired gentlemen, continued, “Lord Haynes and Mr. Lamont.” Lastly, he nodded at the portly young man who was clearly awestruck by her breasts. “And Mr. Thaddeus Turnby.”
Juliet dipped a polite curtsey and took her seat. The men followed suit.
“I shall deal,” Carrick announced.
While the gentlemen murmured agreement, she smiled and prepared for an enjoyable evening. As they played, she watched her opponents, observing and cataloging their expressions and ticks as the rounds played out.
By the third game, she’d determined that only the elderly Mr. Lamont possessed any sort of skill. She eyed Carrick as he dealt another hand, puzzled as to why he’d asked her to join their card game.
As they picked up their cards, Juliet glanced down at hers. Queens. All four. She blinked in surprise and glanced up into Carrick’s amused face. Clearly, he’d dealt her a winning hand. She frowned, wondering why, as the men looked at their cards and placed their chips.
As Mr. Lamont raised a hand to knock on the table, Carrick lifted a finger.
“Wait,” he said. “I’d like to add this.”
They watched as he drew a parchment torn in half from his breast pocket and laid it down over the bets.
“I say, what’s this?” the portly Lord Haynes asked.
“Wait.” Carrick locked gazes with Juliet, then withdrew something from his front pocket and dropped it on top of the paper.
Juliet froze.
The hereditary Hamilton engagement ring glinted in the chandelier light. Her eyes snagged on the heading of the paper and she recognized her contract…torn in half. Her heart pounded. Surely, he wasn’t foolish enough to propose to her? This was no ordinary card game. Her throat tightened.
She looked up at him.
He leaned back and rested an elbow on one of the armrests, then lifted a brow as if daring her to decline the offer.
“What have we here?” The old gentleman raised his hand to give the table a rap.
Juliet shoved to her feet. “I withdraw from the round.”
Carrick slowly arose.
“By Jove, lass,” Mr. Lamont chuckled. “That’s not how commerce is played.”
“Then his grace is fortunate,” she said.
“Hardly,” Carrick murmured.
Juliet whirled
and raced from the room.
“Wait!” he called.
She ran. He caught up with her at the stairs, reaching for her, but she evaded his grasp and ran up them as fast she could.
“Juliet, why? You owe me an answer,” he shouted.
He was right. Juliet stopped on the landing and backed toward the wall. He stopped two stairs beneath her and stared straight into her eyes.
“You know quite well I can never accept that ring,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Don’t be absurd,” she snapped. “I’m no lady. I possess no title or money. How can I marry you? The difference in our social standing is far too great.” She clenched her hands and fought tears. “I am your mistress, Carrick. A gentleman does not marry his mistress.”
He started to reply.
Juliet shook her head. “Please, no more.”
She gathered her skirts and fled to her room. After locking the door, she threw herself headlong onto her bed and wailed.
He knocked on her door. Several times. She begged him to leave. He left with the promise that they would speak in the morning.
An hour later, Juliet took a deep breath and sat up, looking down at the cards crumpled in her hand. She knew now what she had to do, before the situation grew worse for the both of them. What made her think she could succeed as a mistress?
She penned a letter, begging him to forget her. Of course, society would never let her marry him, regardless of how he might feel. But now, she knew she couldn’t survive him marrying someone else. The thought of him making love to another woman would break her heart. She held nothing back, ending with a last line that conveyed the truth she’d been hiding all along: I can never share you with another woman, and thus, I can no longer be your mistress.
With that, she packed a canvas bag with her belongings, including the crumpled cards from the game. After the castle occupants retired, she slipped into the dark hall. She’d purchase fare at the village coaching inn and be gone before anyone thought to look for her.
* * *
Seven days later, Juliet exited the mail coach and trudged up the cobblestone street toward Lady Aphrodite’s House of Pleasure. She’d taken the fastest coach to London she could find, but they’d met with more than one setback along the way, which delayed the coach’s arrival until after dark on the seventh day. It didn’t matter. Her mother didn’t expect her. There had been no point in writing a letter that would have arrived at the same day and time she did.
