Four Times a Virgin (Irresistible Aristocrats Book 2)

by Suzi Love

  Johnston copied Max’s defiant gesture and jabbed his finger into Max’s chest. “That’s the only reason I agreed to this arrangement all those years ago. I accepted you, in spite of your family’s peculiarities, because your grandfather swore to me that your titles would be the highest, the most prestigious, that could be available to my family. I’ve kept my side of the bargain, given you my girl so you can plant the infamous Meacham seed in her and breed your heir.”

  Max’s temper spiked again, but this time on behalf of the innocent committed to him years earlier. His cravat tightened to a noose as blood pumped furiously in his veins and he clenched his teeth. As with this thug’s wife earlier, the duke who was renowned for avoiding physical contact felt an urge to wrap his hands around somebody’s neck.

  Johnston was oblivious. “After hearing stories of you partnering low class workers in trade, I harbor grave doubts about your business acumen.”

  This disgusting man and his greedy lady purported to value their daughter’s welfare yet, within the same hour, they’d shown that the wants and needs of their daughter were scarcely contemplated. The grasping pair represented many parents of their class, whose progeny were ignored until they reached an age when they could be used. Max rubbed a hand over his tight chest. Acquaintances had long spoken of him as heartless and as having ice in his veins instead of blood, yet the pains around his heart just now had proved he had a normally functioning organ.

  He’d simply had no opportunity to understand emotion and interpret intense feelings. Mental supremacy received high praise, and physical excellence was expected of someone overseeing vast agricultural tracts and juggling finances. Emotions had been beaten out of existence, so little wonder his dealings with Alice were strained. As had been pointed out in recent weeks, his temperament was bloody appalling and his unsympathetic nature not in the best interests of a sweet person like Alice. Plus, Alice was trapped between him and Carina and their ongoing battles; though Alice’s grasping parents might prove the biggest problem.

  “Believe me, Johnston, our little chat has convinced me that Alice needs my help.”

  “Good, because I’ll be keeping a close on you and you’d better perform to my expectations.”

  Johnston made loud smacking sounds as his thick tongue and pudgy lips made short work of his last drops of burgundy. Max barely concealed his repulsion and wondered again why he’d been so blind to the failings of this disgusting specimen of humanity. Possibly because he’d never really cared.

  “I’m not a Russian bear performing on a rope, and I’m trying very hard to remember that you’re my future father-in-law, but I’ve carried out my duties for the past three years without interference, and I’ll not allow any now. In order to maintain harmony, I suggest you stop threatening me, or you’ll discover that two can play at that game.”

  Johnston wavered momentarily before straightening and saying defiantly, “You’ve nothing with which to blackmail me.” His tongue darted out again, but this time to moisten his dry lips.

  “Did you honestly imagine that we wouldn’t scrutinize your dealings, in the same way you investigated us? Very foolish or very naïve. Which are you?”

  “This isn’t finished, Stirkton. I’m watching you.”

  “And I you.”

  Max turned his back on the boor, and strode through the French doors and onto the terrace that wrapped the receiving rooms. He braced his arms on the outer brick wall and sucked in blessed fresh air. The conversation had left a sour taste in his mouth and he leant over and spat into the honeysuckle hedge below, and then wiped his mouth on his coat sleeve.

  “Goodness. Not exactly polite behavior for a gentleman at a ball.”

  He spun around and faced the woman standing next to the open glass doors and twirling a glass of champagne. Carina made a habit of appearing at his most awkward moments.

  She slapped her clutched gloves against her thigh a few times. “You’ve had a to-do with Alice’s father. Not hard from what I’ve observed of the man and his rude and lecherous habits.”

  His senses jumped to alert and he stepped towards her before rethinking his actions. If gossip had started about his acquaintance with Carina, best to keep his distance.

  “Has Johnston said something to you? Made advances?” When she didn’t speak, but continued twirling the glass by its fragile stem, he glanced towards the door. “If he’s said or done anything to intimidate you or your sisters, most especially Georgie, he’ll regret it.”

  “Pfft! It was nothing. He’s merely one more bully, and a woman learns to deal with all of them. What’s important is your dealings with him.”

  He shook his head. “No point asking if you listened. You, Countess, have no scruples, so of course you eavesdropped. How much did you hear?”

  “Enough.”

  “Enough information to blackmail me with me?”

  She laughed. “I’d collected enough delicious titbits previously to start half of London gossiping about you. What I heard made me revise my thinking about you and Alice, and I enjoyed hearing you put the oaf in his place. When Alice hears that you’re prepared to defend her against her parents, she’ll be eager to marry you.”

  “Please, don’t say anything to Alice. She doesn’t need to learn of her father’s low opinion of her.”

  She shook her head. “Learning that she’s a rung on a social ladder and a hatchery for grandchildren, and nothing more, would humiliate her. Though I suspect she already knows her father’s opinion of her worth. I’m glad she’s gained a protector.”

  “Don’t pretend I’m some sort of hero, Carina, as I fall far short of being noble and you, of all people, know that. But I detest powerful men who delight in subduing those closest to them.”

  “Augustus hurt you, didn’t he?”

  He turned away and didn’t answer.

  “That’s why you empathize with Alice,” she said to his back, though her voice sounded closer. “Because Augustus viewed you and your parents as social pawns.”

  “Oh, please, don’t spare my feelings. Say what you really mean. My grandfather only saw me as a stud, a breeding stallion for perfect Meachams.”

  “I’m sorry. He destroyed your chance at a happy marriage before you even met Alice. All because he was obsessed with selecting the perfect pedigree to complement your bloodline.”

  “You’re wrong. He did care about me, a little at least. His intentions weren’t as calculated as you’ve made them sound.”

  “It’s time you accepted the truth. His streak of insanity was a mile wide and if he’d lived, he’d have watched you couple with Alice and spied on you through a peephole, because he needed to oversee every moment of your mating and ensure that the two of you bred a perfect son and another Meacham for him to torture.”

  “Torture? A harsh word.”

  “Perhaps you prefer to remember it as abuse.”

  “I prefer to not remember it at all, thank you, and now if you will excuse me, I need to see Lady Alice home safely.”

  “You mean you need to reassure yourself that her disgusting father doesn’t take out his anger on Alice with his fists.”

  He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. Her light touch startled him into opening them again, but the pity in her eyes made him look away. “How is it, Carina,” he said without meeting her gaze, “that you can read my mind with such ease?” He removed the empty glass from her fingers before they tightened anymore and she snapped the stem.

  “The signs of abuse are easy to spot,” she said, “if one knows what to look for. I, like you, know the tell-tale signs and noticed how Alice flinches when her father raises his hand.”

  Max placed the glass out of harm’s way and nodded. “Tonight when we danced, I saw bruises on Alice’s wrists. Tiny blue marks, as if a man’s fingers had pressed down there.”

  “He uses force to coerce her into—”

  “Don’t stop now. Tear another layer off my hide and see if I bleed red.”

  “
Johnston used force to coerce Alice into a pretense of happiness in your company. Well, either him or Lady Johnston.”

  “Good God! I never considered her mother, although of the pair she’s the most determined to make Alice perform in my presence.”

  “All the more reason why you should concentrate on Alice and allow me to investigate by myself. You could send a footman around with Augustus’s papers and that’ll leave you free to court Alice in peace, and without my interference.”

  He clapped slowly. “Oh, bravo, Countess. I was correct, for you have no scruples. Never let a chance go past to lay hands on those papers. Pity it didn’t work, my dear. As a gentleman, I can’t allow you to attempt such an arduous task without assistance.”

  “You spat in a garden moments ago and now you’re worried about appearances?”

  “Our arrangement stands as before and I’ll send word of a time to meet. You already know the address. Goodnight, Countess.”

  He spun on his heel, knowing that in another second they’d both lose their tempers, and that anger would spur another bout of unbridled arousal. God knew what would happen when desire was unleashed, but he did know that a balcony during a ball was neither the time nor the place to experiment.

  He bid an icy farewell to the Johnston family, after Lord Johnston made it clear Max was not needed to accompany Alice home. However, he employed every seductive skill at his disposal to draw Alice into an enjoyable conversation before she departed. There might never be any real love between them, but he’d work hard to ease Alice’s fears. It occurred to him that marriage could become more than anticipated if he contributed more and opened himself up to intimacy. For the first time in his affluent life, greed took hold.

  He was greedy for a better relationship with Alice than the fearful one she shared with her father, and he wanted an unusual ton marriage; one that grew into mutual respect, even love, instead of loathing.

  Chapter Nine

  Max stood on the pavement outside his Brent Street cottage and drew a deep breath. For two excruciatingly long weeks, he’d anticipated this moment, and he was almost bursting out of his skin with the need to rush inside and hurry Carina into bed. But he slowed his body and his thoughts before he stepped over the threshold.

  This tumult of feelings, these longings, were strange. Desire for the physical comfort found with a beautiful mistress was normal; though until the next time they met at his cottage, he often couldn’t recall a lot about the woman’s features. This time, he remembered everything. For two weeks, he’d inhaled Carina’s unique scent and absorbed her body heat, yet tried to ignore both, as he’d stood beside her night after night in drawing rooms and at dining tables.

  He’d couldn’t recall what scent fragranced Alice’s skin, but he knew Carina that favored lavender during the day, and at night she dabbed sweeter rose behind her ears and between her breasts. Several times, he’d had to fight the compulsion to dip his head towards her bosom and inhale. An obsession was an anomaly to him and he had no inkling how to cure one.

  He waited inside until Carina knocked and then opened the door to her himself. No servants resided, as he preferred to come and go as he pleased. During the day, staff attended to the household, but at night he preferred the quiet; he never spent an entire night with any of the women anyway. This evening, he wanted as much privacy as possible. She pushed past him from the lamp-lit street before her carriage pulled away.

  “Countess, I’m glad to have you here at last.”

  “I almost didn’t come.”

  “We have an agreement. If you want me to continue escorting your sisters, you will continue meeting me here.”

  “I’m well aware of your terms. Nevertheless, you’ve not delivered any papers to my house, nor have you revealed when and where I may begin my search of your grandfather’s boxes.”

  “I’ve uncovered more and more of his dealings during my searches over the past year. But the more I find out about him, the more I realize that, though I was his only family, I knew little about the man. There are many, many places that he secreted older documents, almost as if dividing the information between a myriad of venues, so that nobody will ever be able to piece together the entire puzzle.”

  “Then you’d better have every paper brought to one central place, preferable my house, so I can access them easier and faster. Because I’ll not return here if you’re unable to satisfy your end of our bargain. You might have the luxury of learning things bit by bit, but I only have a short time before things become ugly, and if something happens to my sisters in the meantime, I’ll hold you responsible.”

  “I always keep my promises, but threats won’t make me rush things.”

  He led Carina into the parlor, which was a much cozier room than the stark drawing room at his own house.

  “This is nice,” she said, after making a leisurely scrutiny of the room. “Not what I expected.”

  “You assumed my mistresses were locked in a cold dark cell and fed on bread and water.”

  She laughed, an enticing sound that trickled through his awareness like a refreshing mountain stream and made him want to entice another one from her.

  “Something like that. You’ve a reputation of being cold and distant. Are you going to prove it wrong?”

  “Please, take a seat near the fire. That will keep you warm in case you’re right and I’m made of ice through and through.”

  He pulled out her chair at the small table, where a selection of cold food had been laid out. That also wasn’t usual for his evenings at this cottage, and though the change in routine was a little disconcerting, he wanted his evening with Carina to be something different: fresher and better. His hands trembled a little as he poured wine and selected morsels of food for her to sample, drawing out their time together and savoring the pleasure of having her all to himself at last.

  “Do you normally serve food to the women you bring here, or am I receiving special treatment?”

  She was teasing him again, but as he’d never tussled with siblings or shared lighthearted banter with his grandfather, he couldn’t toss back a quick-witted reply. The only thing to do was address her as he would any other woman whom he brought here.

  “The women who stay in this cottage know to expect my visits three days a week when I’m in London. I’ll not expect you to live here, but from now on I’d like you to arrive before me so you are ready and no time is wasted.”

  Carina choked on her mouthful of wine, spluttered a few times, before wiping her mouth with her napkin.

  She fluttered her eyelashes, as coy as a coquette. “And do you consider spending an entire evening with me a waste of you valuable time?”

  “As I’ve said before, our evenings will satisfy us both. Physical satisfaction for me, and keeping our bargain for you.”

  She leaned forward so her heavy breasts fell up and over the scooped neck of her fashionable dress and gave him a glimpse of two rosy nipples. He could barely swallow his own wine while, without conscious thought, he angled forward for a better view. Flashing him a knowing look, she dipped a finger under the lace at her neckline and ran it across one breast and then over the other.

  His mouth dried and he ran his tongue over his lips to moisten them, while he gripped the arms of the chair. Christ, he wanted her.

  “We should talk and get to know each other a little better.”

  A few weeks earlier, he’d have considered any suggestion of connecting with a woman before sex as a waste of time. Conversation suggested an intimacy he avoided like the plague. A woman’s mind had never interested him before, merely her body. But he craved knowledge of this woman and yearned for more of the laughter that invariable accompanied her stories. Entanglements were difficult, and yet he’d formed a bond with Georgie and was comfortable with the idea of sharing more with Carina.

  Perhaps, though, it would be easier to play the cold duke and avoid sentimental situations, because he’d learned when young that feelings were easily trampled and
hearts broken. ‘No, I haven’t enough time for talking.” He pointed towards the narrow hallway that dissected the small house. “The main bedchamber is up the stairs in the front. Go ahead and undress, and then lie on the bed.”

  A sharp inhalation showed her shock, but his own reactions of guilt and remorse stunned him even more. Nevertheless, he wanted to clarify their situation so there were no later misunderstandings. “I’ve no time for shyness, especially not from someone I know is experienced. If I undress you, I’ll treat your clothing with less care than you will.”

  She made no move to leave the room but stood with her hands on her hips. “So, the great Duke of Stirkton is prepared to take me by force.”

  “Of course not. No force is not necessary.”

  “You mean, your paid whores rush to the bedroom and disrobe, perhaps in the expectation of receiving more payment for their obedience. Answer me truthfully, Max, have you ever been with a woman who wasn’t paid for, either by you or your grandfather?”

  Breath caught in his chest and his hands clenched. Nobody ever questioned him or his actions. Titles, wealth and his superior air ensured unquestioning obedience, and sometimes submission, from those he dealt with.

  “Perhaps not, however when I bed my bride I’ll not be paying.”

  “Considering Lady Johnston’s expectations for your future, you’ll be paying dearly for the rest of your life.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean...” Her sweet smile was so false that it set his teeth on edge.

  “...that the lady has calculated your worth to the penny, and I doubt you’ll be allowed any input into either your social commitments or your wife’s spending, because her mother will reside in your home for most of the year.”

  “How dare you! Hopefully, Alice will become enceinte with our first child within a few months. She’ll raise the child at our country estate, and when she has recovered from the first birth, I’m breaking with family tradition and scheduling a second child.”