Chapter 13

13

The previous evening, he’d persuaded her to give him a single night. Now he was back for more, intending to convince her she had more lessons to learn.

Sebastian knocked on the front door and waited for entrance. It was early enough in the evening that Agatha should be home even if she had plans to attend and parties. He didn’t know if she did that sort of thing, but considering she was the widow of an earl that did put her as a member of proper society.

Presumably that was where his father was courting her. If what she’d said at their initial meeting had been true. That her parents wanted her to marry the Duke of Lancaster. The thought of that arrogant prig putting his hands anywhere on Agatha made Sebastian’s hands clench at his sides.

The door opened and the butler’s brows rose, but he seemed to catch herself and nod.

“I’d like to see Lady Tolley, please,” he said.

The butler nodded. “Follow me.” He led Sebastian down the corridor and up the stairs to the left. Opposite the direction to Agatha’s bedchamber.

Finally they stopped outside a pair of wooden doors. Once opened, they revealed a sizable room lined, floor-to-ceiling with bookshelves. Agatha and the other woman—Violet, he believed—sat at a table, heads together peering over a small book.

“Lady Tolley,” the butler said. The sound of his voice started both of the women and they jumped nearly simultaneously.

Agatha’s eyes found his and hers widened in surprise. Quickly, she pulled off the spectacles perched on her nose, then dropped them onto the tabletop. She came to her feet. “Sebastian.”

The way she breathed his name felt so intimate, so necessary, that his own breath caught.

The woman next to Agatha stood and came around the table. “Woodsey, would you be so kind as to have a tray of refreshments brought up?” she asked the butler.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Violet Weatherford,” she held her hand out to Sebastian. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. St. Claire, is it?”

He smiled, liking Violet immediately. She was no doubt an excellent friend for Agatha. “Sebastian is fine. No need for formalities with me. I’m a mere bastard owner of a den of debauchery and sin.”

Violet tilted her head back and laughed heartily. “Indeed? Do you allow women to patronage this establishment?”

“Not in the manner in which would interest you, I’m afraid.”

She clicked her tongue. “Pity. Very well, then, I shall leave you two to it.”

Agatha frowned. “You’re leaving?” she asked her friend.

“I do believe Sebastian here would be a much more useful source of information for your current project, my dear.” She winked at Sebastian, then left the room.

He didn’t wait for Agatha to invite him to help, he merely made his way to the table and sat in the chair that Violet had abandoned.

“What is your current project?” he asked. He craned his neck to look at the open book with the slanted and feminine penmanship scrawled across it.

Agatha fell into her chair and put her hands on top of the book, covering his view. “Violet overstepped by suggesting you could assist.”

A maid entered the room, rolling in a tea cart that had one wobbly, creaking wheel. The sound seemed to echo through the substantial room making him all too aware of the woman next to him. And that momentarily they would be alone again. It was an unusual feeling, wanting a woman this intensely. He’d been inside her a mere twelve hours before, still he craved her as he had no other.

Normally once he’d had a time between a woman’s thighs, he moved on to someone else. He was selective and careful, but he’d never been with a woman that made him want her again and again. Not like Agatha, where one taste of her and he had a running list of things he wanted to do to her voluptuous curves.

Once the maid left and closed the library door with a resounding boom, he turned to face Agatha.

“Little dove, show me what is in the book.”

She shook her head, her vivid chocolate eyes wide and watching him.

He fought the urge to smile because he didn’t want her to think he was teasing her. “Does this have to do with you wanting to become a mistress?”

Her pink tongue slipped out and slicked across both of her lips, wetting them.

He surpassed a groan and the urge to pick her up and toss her on the table and feast upon her body for hours. Christ, what was the matter with him? Perhaps it was her innocence. That was what was so appealing about her. He’d never before bedded a virgin, that could by why he wanted her so much. The fact that she’d been untouched save his mouth and body made him insatiable for him. He could seek his mother’s council on that theory, but he truly didn’t want to inform her of his intense feelings.

That bright-eyed naivety that made him crave her as he did a strong drink or a good night’s sleep.

He reached over and put one of his hands on top of hers and with the other he pried the book away.

Agatha laid her head in her hands, hiding her face against the table’s wooden surface.

He glanced down at the script writing and noted immediately that it was a list. A most interesting list.

Smoke his pipe

Gentleman’s saddle

Part the globes

Bareback

Play backgammon

Side-saddle

“Little dove, what is this list?”

Agatha’s head turned. She stayed laying across her hands, but peered at him. She blew out a breath. “Well, I don’t actually know. I went to visit a friend of Violet’s aunt’s who was a mistress for many years. I asked for some advice and she gave me this list, but I believe she was having a bit of fun at my expense.”

“My sweet Agatha, this is a legitimate list, though her language is creative to say the least. She should have explained it to you.”

She sat upright. “You understand it?” Her brow furrowed and she glanced down at the book. “Violet and I thought we’d deciphered the gentleman’s saddle, but I’m not certain.”

His brows rose. “And?”

“To ride astride a man, in his lap, as it were?” She bit down on her plump bottom lip.

“Precisely.” He glanced back at the list and suppressed a groan. He would be fortunate if he survived this conversation without spilling himself in his trousers. He was already partially hard, as it was. And nothing significant had been said.

Her frown deepened. “This is a carnal cipher and I find myself completely baffled. So then the side-saddle?”

He chuckled. “I’ve not heard it called that, but I suspect it means the position where you are both laying down and the man takes the woman from behind.” He leveled a gaze at her. “Or from the front, that can work too with the right partner.”

Her mouth opened and formed a perfect ‘o.’

He’d need to merely get through the list, then perhaps he could convince her to try a few items.

“Parting the globes does not work with every woman, but I dare say you have the perfect breasts for it.”

She glanced down at her chest, then put a hand up as if to ward off his stare.

He reached over to her and placed his hands on either side of her beasts, then gently pushed them together. “When a woman is endowed enough up here, then she can do this and a man can slide his cock in between them. It’s very erotic.”

Her eyes were locked on his hands and damned if he didn’t wish they were naked so he could simply demonstrate each item.

“Which leads us nicely into smoking his pike.”

“I cannot abide the smell of smoke,” she said tartly.

Damnation, but she was adorable. “In this scenario, the pipe would also be the man’s cock.”

“And you like women to blow upon it?”

He nearly choked. “Not precisely. The thing I did to you last night where I licked and suckled you to completion?”

Her brown eyes darkened to nearly black. “Yes?”

“A woman does that on a man’s cock.”

“And you enjoy that?”

He groaned. “All men enjoy that.”

“I believe I should like to learn how to do that, then.” She looked back at the list. “The thing you did to me, is that smoking my pipe?”

He did laugh then, he couldn’t help it. “No. It’s not called that.”

“Which one is it?”

“It’s not on that list.”

“Is that because it is not a skill I need to know, but rather something men do?”

“It is not something all men do. Some do not enjoy it.”

“A pity. It is quite enjoyable to experience.”

Again he laughed. He’d never enjoyed a woman’s company in this manner. With both of them fully clothed.

He tapped on the book. “It would seem I have more lessons to provide you.”

“You are amenable to teaching me?”

“Of course. You are a most excellent student. Tomorrow evening I wish for you to join me at the opera.”

She frowned. “But there is nothing you can teach me when we are in public.”

“Quite the contrary. There is much you can learn. Not only that, but being seen with a bachelor in public will aide in you building your reputation as a mistress.”

“What of tonight? What shall you teach me?”

He leaned forward and caught the back of her neck, pulling her in for a heated kiss. He wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside her again, but he knew she’d be sore. He did not wish to cause her any pain.

She whimpered into his mouth, arching her body towards his.

He forced himself to end the kiss. Then he reached beneath the table and lifted her skirts. “Give me your hand, Agatha.”

He took her hand and pressed it into the opened slit of her drawers.

“Are you wet?”

She nodded.

“Show me.”

She moved her hand, then lifted it up towards him.

He leaned forward, catching her sticky, wet digits into his mouth and sucking them clean. He released them with a pop.

“Tonight your lesson is to explore your body. When you slip into your bed, do so completely naked, feel the caress of the sheets against your sensitive skin. Touch your breasts, pinch your nipples. Bring your fingers between your thighs and touch that little nub until you come.”

“What does that have to do with me being a mistress?”

“You must be in charge of your own pleasure. A woman he demands to be pleasured rather than merely laying there and taking it is a far more interesting bed partner.”

She gasped. “The woman from earlier today said something very similar.”

“See, I know what I’m talking about. Make yourself come tonight. Then tomorrow night you can whisper to me about it in the dark confines of our opera box.” He stood, placing a kiss on her forehead. “Until tomorrow, lovely Agatha.”