Read Her Errant Earl for Free Online

not hold as much power over her life
as what could happen in the future. Her mother had prepared her for many
aspects of marriage. She’d warned Victoria of some husbands’ penchant to share
beds with other women. She’d been prepared but not world wise enough to realize
her husband was that sort of man. Perhaps she could not forever punish him for
being the man society had made him.
    “And what of now?” she asked. “What do you want now?” It was
the question that seemed to matter the most.
    His gaze grew shuttered. “I have a duty to do by you.”
    She frowned, trying to understand him. His hands were still
a warm, tempting touch on her face. “Duty is not a want.”
    “Sometimes it becomes a want,” he murmured, lowering his
mouth to crush hers.
    The hunger of his kiss took her completely by surprise. He
slid his palms down over her arms and hauled her to her feet. Her chair toppled
over behind her. She clutched at his shoulders, opening to his questing tongue.
His words swirled through her mind, confusing her all the more. Was he saying
he wanted her? Or that he still considered her a duty?
    She couldn’t be sure, but all she did know for certain was
that he was undoing the hidden jet buttons at the back of her bodice. He
dragged the lace-capped sleeves down over her arms, drawing her gown down to
her waist. The creamy tops of her breasts were exposed above her satin corset.
    He tore his mouth from hers to gaze down upon the flesh he’d
revealed. His eyes were hot, glittering with lust and, unless she was mistaken,
appreciation.
    “Scarlet?”
    Flushing again, she looked down at the extravagant red
corset she’d had commissioned in Paris before her nuptials. “It’s my favorite
color,” she said, slightly embarrassed by her whim.
    “I adore it.” He dropped a kiss upon each of her breasts,
cupping them through the fabric and stiff whalebone that helped her curves to
attain the proper shape. “I’d adore it even more if it was on the floor.”
    She gasped, reality returning to her at his bold
pronouncement. “We mustn’t. Not during dinner. What would the servants say?”
    He looked up at her, a wicked expression on his face. “I
expect they’d say that I’ve gone mad, and I’m afraid they wouldn’t be too far
off the mark.”
    “I must say I prefer mad William over sane Pembroke any
day,” she confessed.
    The old Pembroke certainly wouldn’t have all but made love
to her over dinner. Goodness, what was she thinking, allowing him to cajole her
into such scandalous behavior? Bad enough he had her at sixes and sevens. Now,
she was en dishabille during the soup course.
    Was it possible for him to have changed so completely? She
was still afraid to hope.
    “I suppose you’re right.” He sighed and began straightening
her desperately askew bodice. “It wouldn’t do to ruin the servants’ proper
opinion of us. But I’m afraid I cannot wait much longer for you, my dear, else
I’ll go mad in truth.”
    He wanted her.
    He wanted the shy woman he’d married for money. Her stomach
upended like a tipped teacup. Oh dear. She hadn’t permitted herself to even
think of sharing the marriage bed with him again. It was far too tempting, far
too dangerous to her heart.
    His hands were gentle as they righted her gown over her
bared shoulders before reaching round the back to redo the hidden procession of
buttons. “May I come to you tonight?”
    The request sent her heart into a wild rhythm as passion
slid through her body like warm honey. She closed her eyes for a moment,
uncertain of what her answer should be. Very probably, it ought to be an
outright “no”. And yet, she couldn’t deny she was drawn to him as ever. What
could be the harm? It was only her heart at stake.
    “Yes,” she whispered. “You may.”
    * * * * *
    Pembroke lingered in his study long after dinner’s end,
nursing a brandy and soda water, brooding. He’d finally gotten what he wanted.
His cock had been hard as hell for