A Rakes Guide to Pleasure

by Victoria Dahl

  Emma shook her head and placed a few coins in the pile. His presence wasn't the true problem; her own temptation was the danger. The knowledge that he was near would be far more vexing than his physical proximity.

  A murmur of surprise took the whole table when Emma laid down her hand. They hadn't expected her to win, and she couldn't blame them. Her worry over Somerhart had translated as displeasure with her cards. But she couldn't rely on that kind of luck for long. She needed to concentrate. The duke was a distraction she could not afford.

  Emma cleared her mind and raised her stake in the game, which was all the incentive fate needed to intervene. The next three hands went to a young lord she'd never met before, and nearly flattened her pile of coins. But Emma per­severed. By the time she looked up an hour later, she was flush with coin again, and not thinking about the Duke of Somerhart.

  Which was, of course, when he chose to invade her world. Her little jump of surprise at seeing him standing at the table made the other players laugh. Knowing, indulgent smiles were exchanged among the men. Even the great duke arched an eyebrow in amusement.

  "Lady Denmore," he said, with a dignified nod.

  "Your Grace," she growled in answer.

  The laughter swelled again, though it stopped in an instant when Somerhart aimed a frown at the nearest gentlemen. Puppets, Emma thought. No wonder he was bored.

  "I'm sure these gentlemen would appreciate if I offered to escort you to the dining room. They look quite pale with im­poverishment, yet none will risk disgrace by calling a retreat."

  "You flatter me," Emma said, though she made quick work of sneaking her feet back into her heeled slippers.

  "Enjoy your refreshment," one of the men said, and the rest collapsed into renewed laughter. "Yes, do," another called.

  Emma offered each man a smile as she gathered up her winnings. Somerhart circled to her chair and she was sure she could feel his body heat as he stood behind her. A flush overcame her, adding credence to everything the other guests assumed.

  Hasty with self-consciousness, she tugged her reticule onto her wrist and stood in a rush, shoulder brushing along his hip. Her hand found its natural place on his arm. A faint clink sounded as her bag hit his belly.

  "Ouch. I feel rather like I'm courting a pirate."

  Emma let him sweep her away from the table, but she re­fused to laugh. "I will not be your lover," she murmured as they moved toward the door.

  "I sense that only one of us is allowed to be polite at any given time. True?"

  One side of her mouth refused to obey and curled up. "Perhaps."

  "Well, it is my turn, I suppose. Would you like a glass of champagne?"

  "Yes," she answered too quickly, but her fingers were be­ginning to tremble against his sleeve. She'd been thinking about him incessantly since he'd kissed her. She felt written in those thoughts, every wicked fantasy revealed on her skin. Seeing him—his lips and eyes, the flash of his teeth when he smiled—reminded her of what he'd done and what she wanted him to do.

  She had to keep from snatching the glass from his hand when he finally found a servant with champagne. As it was, she couldn't bear to sip it demurely, but turned away and drank it down in three great swallows. When she turned back, Somerhart said nothing, merely removed the empty flute from her hand and handed her his own.

  "You've worked up a well-deserved thirst, Lady Den­more. You must be hungry as well."

  "Yes. No." She took a sip from his glass and put her hand to her throat instead of pressing it to his chest, his flat stom­ach. "I cannot do this." Her heart beat too hard, fueling the insane fight that had broken out inside her. Lust and.. .fear. She wasn't used to it, didn't know how to appease it. She was afraid of him, and so very, very afraid of herself.

  "Lady Denmore . . ." Somerhart's hand took her elbow and pulled her toward a deep-set window that looked out over blackness. "Tell me what is wrong."

  "You are what's wrong."

  "I'm merely attempting to feed you."

  "Nonsense. You are trying to seduce me, and I've ex­plained before—"

  "Yes, you have explained." He closed the curtains and guided her down to the window seat; his shoulders seemed impossibly wide, looming above her. "You were quite imper­tinent, rude, and arrogant in your position. Which is why I'm surprised to find that you've turned suddenly cowardly."

  "I have. I'm afraid. Of you. Please leave me be." His hand nudged her chin up, and Emma glared at his sil­houette.

  "Afraid," he huffed. "And I am the Queen. Or near enough," he added, reminding her of one of her many insults. "You don't look afraid, Lady Denmore. You look anxious and even a bit angry." His fingers lingered under her chin, stroking tiny waves of heat into her skin.

  "I am angry. You will not leave me be."

  "I am not planning to pounce upon you in a darkened hallway. You are very much in control of your own fate. So why so much upset?"

  She shook her head and took a gulp of his drink.

  "Has anyone ever told you that you drink like an alewife, Lady Denmore?"

  "No, no one. I believe 'like a sailor' is the preferred com­parison."

  "Ha! Hoyden." He shook his head at her. "Move over."

  She scooted an inch to the left and he took the seat beside her. There wasn't nearly enough room. His body pressed against hers in mirror image. His arm against her arm, his hip against hers. If she leaned over, her head would rest per­fectly on his shoulder. If she looked up, his lips would find her kiss.

  "How old were you when you married?"

  "Nineteen," Emma said without having to think about it.

  "And were you happy with the arrangement?"

  "Mm. I wasn't displeased. Lord Denmore was a lovely man, and my family had declined in the world."

  "So you were a local miss who caught the eye of an older gentleman."

  "Yes."

  "A squire's daughter perhaps?"

  "I didn't grow up in a tavern if that's what you're asking."

  His shoulder nudged hers. "No, you're well-mannered enough, at least with others."

  Emma smiled and took a slightly smaller drink.

  "Do you miss him?" Somerhart asked, his deep voice quiet.

  She was shocked by the gentle question. No one had asked if she missed him. Everyone assumed she was de­lighted to have thrown off the bonds of a marriage of calcu­lation, and she supposed she might have been. Except that Lord Denmore had been her uncle and he had loved her. He'd taken care of her and shown her a real home for a brief, shining moment in her life.

  "I do," she finally answered, horrified when her voice broke over the last word. She coughed to clear the tears away. "He died in a fire, you know. He wasn't ill; it wasn't expected."

  "I'm sorry."

  Emma nodded, and drank the rest of his champagne with ruthless efficiency. "So you see, Somerhart, I am a hopeless gambler and an impolite drinker, but I am also a respectable country widow. Boring and not fit to act out a scandal with a duke."

  "Hm."

  She knew she should stand up. Just two steps and she would be free of the intimate darkness of the window seat. And it was intimate, despite the occasional voices that passed their nest. She felt sheltered here, warm and safe. Cradled in the strength of the very beast who meant to eat her up. Somehow the danger made her feel even more lan­guid, helpless to resist the sweetness of the moment.

  Somerhart shifted, his shoulders turning toward her while she waited for his touch.

  "I can barely see you in the dark," he said, "but your voice is its own seduction, Lady Denmore." And then he stood and stepped past the curtained alcove, out into the light. "Shall we go to dinner?"

  "Dinner?" she mumbled. "Now?"

  He flashed a smile. "Is there someplace else you'd rather go? Now?"

  Yes. "No!" she snapped and managed to stand without the slightest hint of a sway.

  "Dinner, then." He offered his arm.

  Emma gritted her teeth. "Stop being charming and ci
r­cumspect, Somerhart. It doesn't suit you."

  "Liar."

  Emma took his arm, but she had the distinct feeling that he was leading her not to dinner, but to her destruction.

  Chapter 5

  Nothing. Not even a kiss. All that anxiety and suspense and Somerhart hadn't even accidentally brushed his knuck­les over her bosom. Emma smoothed her own hand over her nightgown, over the hard jut of her nipple, the curve of her breast, then down to her belly and lower, until she pressed her palm to the soft mound of her sex.

  Somerhart would touch her there, if she let him. And she wanted to let him. If she didn't have this secret to keep, she would cross the hall to the door of his room. She'd heard him go in an hour before, had heard his valet leave ten minutes later. She'd expected a knock then . . . a servant with a care­fully worded note or, more likely, Somerhart himself, half undressed and dark-eyed with expectation.

  She shivered at the thought, pressed her palm harder to her own heat.

  She'd steeled herself against him, she'd been ready. But the minutes had ticked by, and with no one to argue against, her resistance had simply trickled away, unneeded and cer­tainly unwanted. Or perhaps this was part of his plan as well. To make her so angry that she would storm his room and demand an accounting.

  Emma sighed and let her hand fall away from her body.

  She was alone as she'd always been, and it would not do to forget it.

  Snow blew against her window, a speckling of icy drops, and Emma was drawn toward it. Lights from the rooms below shone across frosted grass. A tree branch sparkled with a thick layer of clear ice. Nothing moved but what the wind blew. Another empty night, and she was tempted again.

  She wanted to run down the stairs in her bare feet and sneak out a side door. She wanted that blast of impossible cold, the stinging of her skin. She could walk for miles, she thought, before her body froze into crystals and was picked apart by a gust of wind, scattered into the world like magic. The little pieces of her would float forever, the whole sky would be her home. Everywhere. Nowhere.

  A sound in the hallway pulled her away from the winter se­duction. Her heart leapt. Emma held her breath and waited, waited. . . but it was nothing and no one.

  What if she did cross the hall? What if she simply slipped into his bed and gave into both their desires? When he dis­covered her secret, she could tell him the truth. It would be such a relief.

  He'd been kind tonight, his arrogance a volatile genie that appeared only when someone else approached. His every smile and attempt at humor had called to mind that night when he'd reached out his protection to a young girl, if just for a moment.

  So if she told him the truth, would he reach out for her again?

  Emma's heart began to thud. He'd been so gentle. . . asking questions about her life, escorting her from table to table to wait patiently while she played. Then he'd walked her up the stairs, pressed a lingering kiss to her hand, and watched her walk to her doorway, hot eyes burning into her back.

  He hadn't treated her as a challenge. He'd been . . . charming.

  And now she sat alone in her room, wondering if Somer­hart would rescue her from her life.

  Her thumping heart picked up speed as the thought swung through her, battering her insides. Somerhart coming to her rescue. That had been her long ago childhood fantasy, the hope of her little girl's soul.

  He had seemed so gallant, so good, and she had wished and prayed for his return. Even months and years later, when her body had begun to mature, when the sights and sounds of her father's gatherings had begun to arouse instead of frighten . . . Oh, she'd still waited for rescue then, with thoughts of a wedding and his marriage bed.

  But then her father had died, dragging her little brother to the grave with him, and Emma had known there was no hope of rescue. Or she'd thought she'd known, but the leap of her heart was recognizable. Stupid, reckless hope.

  "No," Emma said aloud. Her heart beat faster, harder. "No." There was no salvation waiting around the corner. There would be no rescue. She could not afford to dream of fairy tales.

  Oh, she had no doubt that he would help her. Men were always willing to help young women who had fallen on hard times. She'd met many of those women in her father's home.

  And how easy it was to imagine being Somerhart's lover, being kept by him in a beautiful home. She could live a glo­rious, disreputable life, bright with laughter and wicked nights. She could set aside all these dark worries and live like a woman.

  But a lover wasn't a wife, and the march of years would find her with a new protector and another and then, perhaps, a handful of less affluent gentlemen. And soon enough, she'd be older, less desirable, a doxy trotted into country par­ties to take on any guest who cared to bend her over the nearest chair.

  No, she had no illusions about what life held for an im­poverished young gentlewoman. Whore or wife, and she would be damned if she'd become her mother. Whore or wife. Emma chose neither.

  She blew out the lamp and snapped back the layers of bedclothes.

  Somerhart was trying to seduce her and, oh, he was good. Better than she'd thought he could be. But his charm was a delicate thing. Emma would break it like glass and watch the pieces fall.

  There were no dreams of the Duke of Somerhart that night. Instead she dreamed of Will, her brother. His warm hands always creased with dirt. His infectious, chortling laugh. His stubborn jaw. She dreamed of him hugging her tight, wrap­ping his small legs around her waist as he clutched her neck. Even after he'd grown too old for clinging, he'd still held on that way after a bad dream.

  Oh, God . . . his tangled brown curls and bright hazel eyes. His angry pout.

  She could not reconcile it. Could not. How his little body—always hot and grimy from running, jumping, climbing, always restless—how could it get so cold? His pink cheeks turned to wax. The sweet, sticky fingers stiffened to wood.

  It had seemed to her as if that body had not had anything to do with Will. And, God, she'd been so sure that a mistake had been made. It hadn't been him, not Will.

  And yet it had.

  Emma woke with deep red crescents gouged into her palms. Her pillowcase was stiff with salt, but her throat burned with fury and renewed determination.

  She was not weak enough to need rescue. She would rescue herself.

  Chapter 6

  Unbelievable. He'd been looking for the woman all morn­ing and now this.

  He'd spent the previous evening on his best behavior, doing his best to relax her stiffened back to a more sultry line, and he'd had a surprisingly nice time. He'd enjoyed watching her eyes lose their suspicion of him, watching her cheeks glow with laughter. He'd even enjoyed the thought of her wondering why he had stopped his pursuit. But he'd still spent the night with thoughts of her body instead of the real thing. And now this.

  She had eaten little the night before. Hart had expected to pile her plate high with breakfast this morning and tease her about it while she ate. But he'd lingered in the breakfast room for over an hour, conscious all the time of what he was doing, and she'd never come down. A maid had returned from her room with a little shake of her capped head, so Hart knew she wasn't there. And it was too damned cold for a ride.

  It had been a short-lived mystery though. Hart had found Lady Denmore just where he should have looked first. . . in one of the gaming rooms. He had forgotten for a moment that she wasn't a respectable young widow at all. He was re­minded now, and beginning to think that she wasn't out to trick one unlucky man into turning over his fortune . . . she wanted the fortunes of many.

  "Ho!" several of the young men cried at once. "Another drink!"

  "Lady Denmore," one gentleman chuckled as the woman in question turned a wine bottle up to her lips, "you are a regular bounder." Hart glared from the doorway, trying to place the young pup's name.

  "That's another twenty-five pounds, gentlemen." She ges­tured to a pile of paper and coins. "In you go."

  The men paid up, and th
en one of them retrieved a heavy leather ball from the corner as Lady Denmore reset five wine bottles in a triangular pattern on the floor. Hart felt fury rise up through his chest at the two players lounging against the fireplace, eyes roving over her backside as she worked. They spoke in quiet whispers to each other, then toasted their opinions and drank.

  The young man with the ball—Mr. Richard Jones, Hart's brain finally supplied—asked for luck, and Lady Denmore complied by pressing a kiss to the brown leather. All the men in the room watched her mouth as it lingered over the skin.

  "Now that's good luck," someone murmured, and then the ball was rolling across the carpet. Three of the empty bot­tles fell before it, but they toppled into each other and two of them broke with a crack. The room cheered, everyone drank, and Richard Jones tossed several coins into the middle pile.

  "Time to play for the pot," she called with a gesture toward the middle of the table. "Most bottles knocked over wins, but if you break one, you're out. Agreed?"

  The men were still in evening wear. They'd clearly not been to bed yet. Emma stood out like a rose in a field of rocks. She wore a simple morning gown of dusky pink muslin that dipped in a low scoop over her bosom. Little white blooms were woven into her braided chignon. She looked fresh and lovely as a flower, and just as likely to be plucked.

  The two men near the fireplace—Lord Marsh and some portly fellow—moved in for this final round of play. They were heavy with drink and exhaustion, and crowded too close to Lady Denmore. Not that she seemed to mind. She smiled and sipped from her wine. Marsh leaned over her, eyes devouring her pale skin as he whispered into her ear. She blushed and laughed and shook her head, but her eyes were on the man pitching the ball. One of the bottles cracked open and Emma's smile stretched wider. That was when Marsh's hand touched her hip.

  The door hit the wall with a loud bang that snapped every­one in the room to attention. Marsh swayed, blinking owlishly, but when his eyes found Somerhart standing in the doorway, he swayed well away from Lady Denmore and her enticing hips.