Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

" S elina, where are you going?"

Selina paused as she was about to leave the bedchamber sent her brother an enquiring look. "For a walk."

"Lady Rushworth has her sitting in five minutes."

"And you can do an admirable job on the preliminaries. You don't need me for that."

"I do."

Selina tensed at the belligerence in his tone. Carefully, she said, "It will look odd if I am there when you begin. Far better that I pretend to pass by to see you at work. That way, while you and she are engaged in conversation during which she is more relaxed, I can rustle up a likeness. You know I work better when the subject is animated."

Fortunately, her suggestion found fertile ground, and Selina managed to get away with a heavily beating heart and increasing excitement.

For soon she would be in bed with the duke. Yes, he was a handsome, commanding man who excited her senses but, she was increasingly discovering, there seemed so much more to him.

The sun was creeping through the window and dappling the rich Aubusson carpet when Selina slipped into Lord Chauncy's lavish bedchamber.

Selina and Edward, by contrast, had been allotted a tiny room at the end of a dim corridor, which Selina suspected had belonged to the governess. The lowly Boothes had, after all, been invited only because of Lady Rushworth's sudden fancy to have her likeness drawn.

Not that Selina cared where they were accommodated. Edward had said he would carouse for most of the night as it was only chivalrous to allow his sister the bed. However, Selina knew she was just as likely to find him passed out and snoring on the uninviting iron bed, meaning she'd be allotted the chair. Well, what did that matter? She had a far more comfortable bed in which to spend the night.

And this afternoon was just the preliminary.

Selina had barely time to observe her surroundings before she was seized by the hand and jerked into Lord Chauncy's tight embrace.

"Do you know how much I've been looking forward to this?" he murmured against her lips before he rained kisses along her jawline.

"Careful of my hair," she whispered. She was unwilling to drag her mouth from his but needed to remind him that she had little time between their tryst to get herself ready for the grand ball.

And to do her sketch of Lady Rushworth. Not that he would ever know that.

"My tender—and respectful—ministrations shall imbue you with such a golden glow, my love, that no one will notice a hair out of place."

They both chuckled at his salacious tone as he worked quickly to undo the buttons at the back of her pink net gown which he quickly and expertly whipped off her while she obediently raised her arms.

Selina already had her stays unlaced by the time he'd removed his breeches, bending to seize the hem of her chemise and raise that up and over her head.

"Oh my," he murmured, as his eyes raked her naked form from head to toe. "I carried about a vision of your loveliness during the past fortnight, but I have not done justice to the reality. No, don't move."

Selina hesitated. No man had ever looked at her with such raw desire. Her nipples tingled, and she closed her eyes in ecstasy as he kissed her, reverently at first, before his ardor brought them tumbling onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and hot desire.

"By God, you are a tasty morsel, my darling Anna." His mouth was against her ear as he held her tightly, his manhood pressed against her side.

The clock on the landing chimed the hour, and Selina tensed as she whispered, "And yours for but twenty minutes, Your Grace, before other considerations intrude."

She'd thought her words would spur him into a bout of much anticipated, heady lovemaking, but instead he stilled, regarding her thoughtfully as he bent his elbow and rested his head on one hand.

"Perhaps for now, Anna. But what about later?"

"Later?" The air seemed to disappear from her lungs. He wanted more of her? Not just the opportune pleasures he could snatch now?

Lord Chauncy nodded, a twist to his lips that did not make him look sardonic or assessing. No, he looked kind. And fond. And full of genuine wanting.

Selina's heart beat faster. Her mouth felt dry.

"I take it there is little affection between you and your husband, else you'd not be here now."

Selina nodded. "That is painfully true, Your Grace," she said, thinking not only of her own lonely life, but of the contempt with which Edward treated all the women of whom he was custodian.

"But your husband is in demand for his truly remarkable skill." The duke bit his lip, thinking. "I could secure him commissions to homes I frequent. You and I could see one another—" he drew out the words with relish—"quite frequently…if you should desire it, Anna."

"Oh, yes!" She wished she hadn't said it with so much yearning, but then was glad, for it seemed to resonate with this handsome, desirable, virile man.

He grinned suddenly as he snatched her up into his arms, before caging her body as he angled himself over her. "That is the best response I could have asked for, my dearest Anna," he whispered.

Selina arched up beneath him, inviting him with a thrust of her hips that he was at liberty to take what she offered him.

But he was clearly intent on ensuring she was well lubricated and close to climax before he entered her, his mouth on hers, as he murmured, "Lord, you feel divine! Next time, I'll give you the most earth-shattering climax you've ever experienced, but for now?—"

"I am well satisfied, Your Grace," Selina whispered, her words truncated with a gasp as his thrusts intensified and she felt her own body flowering with answering sensation, while her heart sang at his reference to ‘next time'.

When their bout of heady lovemaking had come to an end, he held her against him as they lay side by side, Selina's cheek resting against the soft, downy hair of his chest.

For a long time they snuggled, before Selina raised her head to ask, "Did your intended like the likeness?"

"The likeness?" He frowned. "Ah, yes, the drawing. Indeed, your husband did me such justice that my potential intended was suitably impressed."

"So, the wedding will go ahead?"

He raised an eyebrow. "It changes nothing between us, Anna. I haven't seen the lady in question for twenty years. This marriage is for expediency only. Not to enjoy such delights as this."

"Remind me why you are marrying, your Grace?"

He stilled before he replied. "For the very same reason you married, I would imagine. Security. Practicality." He shrugged. "Not for love."

"Have you ever felt love, your Grace?" Lord, what had possessed Selina to ask the first question that came to mind? Obviously because he made her feel secure and desired—the very pre-conditions that made her forget to filter herself.

In the afternoon light, his face was half in shadow, but she saw his energy turn in on itself. Then he smiled as he took her right nipple into his mouth and gently sucked, murmuring, "I daresay this is as close as it comes."

"This is lust, your Grace," whispered Selina, nevertheless enjoying the sensation, and surprised when he stopped and sat up, looking at her with a frown.

He scratched his stubbled jaw. "I'm not sure what it is. Lust is what I thought it, I'll admit. But then, I have found myself thinking about more than just your body." He smiled. "In fact, during these past two weeks, I thought of you rather a lot."

Selina was ridiculously gratified, though she told herself she shouldn't care. She'd seduced him accidentally so that Edward's reputation would not be imperiled by the missing painting.

If anything, she should feel even less than those feelings to which he admitted.

But right now, her heart felt very full.

She knew time was running out and she should go, but a niggling thought entered her consciousness and made her hesitate. "Your Grace, I should tell you I overheard something you should know about." She'd been putting it off, afraid of being quizzed, but concern had needled her since she'd farewelled the duke without having found an opportunity to relay Lord and Lady Saunders' conversation.

"And what is that, dear heart?"

It was as much the look in his eye as the endearment that made her insides feel warm and moist with pleasure.

"I don't know quite how to explain it, except that I heard Lady Saunders speak of you to her husband about tonight in a manner that sounded…concerning."

Chauncy stiffened amid stroking her. "Lady Saunders? She and her husband are good friends of mine."

"I know, which is why it's hard for me to explain. But I just thought I should say something."

"And where, exactly, were you when you overheard whatever it is that is so difficult for you to explain?"

Selina sensed the change in his mood and wished she'd not spoken.

"Where are you going?" His arm shot out to stop her as she flung her legs over the side of the bed.

He pulled her back to him, and Selina turned in his embrace. "Your Grace, you have a ball to attend. I would not be the reason you are late. And what I heard was nothing. Small talk, that's all. Now, I really should go."

Edward would be furious with her for not coming by, as promised, to help him with the preliminary sketch of Lady Rushworth, but Selina could do a far better one, on her own, from the shadows during an opportune couple of minutes.

"Not so quickly, Anna." He ran his hand the length of her thigh before cupping her breast and Selina nearly acceded, her want for him was so great.

But there would be future opportunities. He'd said so.

She closed her eyes, smiling, her heart soaring with… she was going to put it down to lust, but it was more than that.

"We will be together again before we go our separate ways, Your Grace," she whispered, feeling ridiculously pleased that this was true.

And ridiculously gratified by his smile as he said, softly, "You don't know how happy that makes me, Anna… dearest."