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started towards the door before realising that the Comte still had the key. Her eyes widened as she slowly turned back towards him to see that the same realisation had evidently struck him, for his anger seemed to be fading away as he effortlessly held her heated gaze.
    “Come and get the key then, Esther.”
    The wicked grin that teased at the corners of his mouth took her breath away afresh. Dazed by the force of her desire for the devious Comte, Esther moved back towards him as if compelled, fiery arousal pulsing through her body as she stretched out her hand towards the pocket of his breeches.
    The temptation was irresistible. She stared up at him, astonished to see how tensely he was holding his muscular body as her hand slipped into his pocket and hooked the key before pushing down further to brush against the hard line of the shaft of his cock as it surged against her.
    Tristan instinctively thrust his hips into her hand with a low, pained groan. Dieu , but she was incredible! Just the gentle caress of her fingers upon his cock was enough to have him teetering on the edge of his climax. He had never wanted any woman more.
    He caught hold of her as she took her hand out of his pocket with an embarrassed smile and turned away to head towards the door. “Esther, chérie , wait!”
    Nothing else seemed to matter when the Comte was looking at her with such fire in his dark eyes. She sighed softly and allowed him to pull her back towards her. “Comte, Eleanor is waiting – you must let me go...”
    “I know that, I do, but before I do so I must have a promise from you. I will come to your rooms tonight to continue this, Esther – at midnight. It will be glorious, I give you my word. Say I may do so, please!”
    She buried her face in his shoulder again, not daring to meet his intense stare as she spoke the word that she knew would damn her. “Yes.”
    Giddy desire and elation swept through him. “You promise me, Esther?” Tristan demanded again, desperate for confirmation.
    “I promise, Comte. You were right. I cannot fight this and no longer do I even want to. At midnight I will be yours.”
     

Chapter Five
     
    Tristan had found it impossible to concentrate on anything but Esther throughout the long day that separated them, each brief glimpse he received of her when their paths crossed in the manor only heightening his desire for her further. Dinner seated opposite her had been a torture, as had the evening spent playing cards with Anton when Esther was on the other side of the parlour putting on a pretence of being calmly oblivious to his presence as she and Anton’s wife laughed companionably.
    Now, though, the rest of the household was asleep and the appointed time for their tryst had finally arrived. He loosened his cravat and breathed in deeply before quietly trying the handle to Esther’s bedchamber.
    It was unlocked.
    His cock was already stiff as an iron rod and ready for the woman awaiting him as Tristan moved into the candle-lit room. “Esther, ma belle ?” he called softly. “I am here for you, darling – come to me.”
    Esther moistened her lips nervously as she moved out of the shadow cast by the vast bed that dominated the room. She had been pacing back and forth for the best part of an hour now waiting for the Comte to come to her. She had not doubted that he would, not after the way he had kissed her with such passion, but her nerves over what was to come had worsened with every passing moment.
    She had not felt this way since the first heady days as a newlywed. None of the men she had been with since then, desirable though they were, had affected her like the Comte did. He was a sinful pleasure that she simply had to indulge in, for she instinctively knew that if she did not, she would never be able to purge the memory of his kiss from her heated blood.
    Six days. Just six days to get through until the christening, six days to sate her lust for him, and then she could forget him and