Chapter 13

Corbin had to admit that when he'd seen Io outside his door, he had immediately prepared himself for another cock-grabbing session.

But he had not prepared himself for this.

His jaw dropped as Lady Io gracefully lowered to her knees in front of him, her huge eyes dark as she stared up at him, her slender but strong hand opening his tented leathers with a few deft flicks.

This cannot be happening.

Corbin could not look away as she yanked down his drawers and freed his hard, leaking cock.

He opened his mouth to order her to get up—to command her to stop immediately—but then she made the most astonishing noise in the back of her throat—a low, earthy grunt of approval that communicated sensual hunger better than a thousand words could have done—and Corbin's words froze in his throat.

The look on her face as she lowered her gaze to his erection was pure carnality. And when her hand closed around his iron-hard shaft, Corbin knew he was lost.

***

Io had not been mocking Masterson when she'd commented on the size of his penis. He was, as the saying went, truly blessed in that department.

It had been a very long time—years—since she'd taken a man into her mouth so perhaps she had simply forgotten how much she enjoyed it.

Or perhaps she had never before wanted it as much as she did the moment her palm closed around him and a shudder rocked his big body, his eyelids drooping and jaw going slack as he stared down her, his expression a mixture of profound befuddlement and bottomless hunger.

Finally, the man was exhibiting some emotion.

It was hard to know where to look—at the lovely appendage in her fist or the beautiful man attached to it. Io pulled her gaze away from his lustful eyes only long enough to give him a few firm strokes, coaxing pre-ejaculate from his slit and then licking it off.

Masterson made a noise the likes of which she had never heard before. At least not from a human being.

Io smirked, parted her lips wide enough to make her jaws ache, and took his thick red crown into her mouth.

It was her turn to groan, both at his earthy male scent and the unmistakable taste of masculine arousal on her tongue.

"Oh, God," he muttered, sounding so enslaved by his own need that she almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

But then she recalled what a sanctimonious, hectoring prig he was and reined in her sympathy. Instead, she proceeded to take him apart—slowly and piece-by-piece—determined to show him that he was no better than any other man and—when his behavior was contrasted to his stated intentions—a great deal worse.

***

Lady Io Hale worked Corbin's erection with more skill than any woman he'd ever encountered, and that included both those he had paid to service him as well as lovers.

Gratitude, arousal, and desire warred with jealousy as he tried to ignore how Io would have learned to wreck a man the way she was currently destroying him.

If he lived to be a hundred years old, he would never forget how she looked kneeling in front of him, her full lips stretched taut, her eyes heavy and hot as she swallowed him deeply, taking more of him with each stroke.

Corbin had been hard for her all damn night. He had just stripped off his coat, boots, and waistcoat and was preparing to give himself a much-needed fisting when the object of his lustful imaginings had materialized on his doorstep like an apparition made flesh.

For a fraction of a second, Corbin had believed he was either dreaming or had died and gone to Heaven.

Lady Io suddenly groaned and the low, sensual growl rolled up his shaft and settled in his balls.

Corbin grabbed a handful of her silky black hair and tried to lift her off his cock. "My lady, I am going to—"

She slapped away his hand and worked him more vigorously, her cheeks hollowing with her erotic efforts.

Corbin not only lost the battle to be a gentleman; he turned into a beast. This time, when he fisted her hair, it was not to spare her, but to drive himself deep.

Rather than try to get away, Lady Io grasped his buttocks with both hands and held him close as he flooded her with his release.

***

Watching Masterson come undone was one of the more erotic sights Io had ever seen. His usually stern features went slack, his expression one of raw, mindless sensuality as he lost his battle with self-control.

Unfortunately, his annoying composure came back as quickly as it had fled.

He lightly but firmly took her face in both hands to remove her from his cock before she was finished with him. "Up," he murmured, helping her to her feet with strong, gentle hands.

He was still breathing heavily and his lips were parted slightly as he stared down at her, tucking himself back into his breeches without taking his gaze from her face.

Io could practically hear him thinking and knew what he would say the moment he opened his mouth.

She had to forestall that at any cost, and so she marshaled her features into a superior smile, patted his cheek, and said, "Please spare me your proposal, Masterson. What I just did doesn't mean we're betrothed. It was just an orgasm; not an invitation to pledge your troth to me. I merely thought I'd give you something interesting to report back to your mistress for a change. I imagine Edith will find your account…eye-opening."

He flinched back, heat suffusing his face, and something that looked like pain flickered briefly in his gray eyes.

Guilt stabbed at her at his all-too-human reaction but Io brutally turned her back on both the unwanted emotion and the man who'd elicited it and strode toward the door.

She had barely gone two steps before a hand as hard as an iron manacle closed around her upper arm and stopped her.

When Io looked up, Masterson's chill gray eyes were as beautiful and distant as the moon.

I did that to him, she realized. I made him retreat into himself. Io eyes felt odd and itchy in a way that was so foreign she almost didn't recognize it for a moment.

Masterson sneered faintly at whatever he saw on her face. "Don't worry, my lady. I'm not going to break down and weep at your callous behavior. Nor am I going to importune you with unwanted offers." The nostrils of his aquiline nose flared as his gaze flickered dismissively over her. "You will wait here while I make sure there is nobody about."

Io didn't trust her voice, so she made a mocking please, be my guest, gesture with her hand.

Once Masterson was satisfied that neither her brother Zeus nor Edith's spies were lurking outside his chambers, he opened the door wider.

Neither of them said a word as she left.