Dalliance with the Duchess (Seducing the Duchess #3)

Chapter Eleven

T he entrance hall was lit by a single lamp, and the house seemed suddenly so silent. Sophia had been lost in it while she was in mourning. Rattling around like a ghost in a place that no longer felt as if it was her own. Marianne was here now, but Sophia hadn’t heard a peep out of her. She reminded herself that she still had to talk to the other woman. Her time since Marianne appeared on her doorstep had been taken up by other matters, but Sophia still had questions for her. Webster had informed her earlier that “the child” had arrived, but she hadn’t asked for details. Her butler would be only too happy to add to his complaints and Sophia did not want to encourage him.

She turned to the waiting servant. “Bring us some coffee. We will be in the Yellow Room.”

As she walked toward the sitting room, she wished she had taken Nicholas to the drawing room instead, which was large and imposing and always made her visitors a little nervous. The Yellow Room was far more comfortable and informal. But did she want Nicholas to feel comfortable? Then she reminded herself that he probably would not feel discomforted wherever he was because nothing seemed to intimidate Nicholas Blake.

Or nearly nothing.

Which brought her to the subject at hand.

She gestured for him to sit in an armchair opposite, while she made herself comfortable in the other. They stared across the small space at each other, and she found herself examining his features. Sophia could see that he was as tired as she, the weariness causing shadows like bruises under his eyes, while lines bracketed his mouth.

He had admitted he hadn’t been sleeping and she was the reason. She was keeping him awake. Well, that was only fair, because thoughts of him were keeping her awake.

A footman brought a tray with coffee and cups, and what looked like a large fruit cake. Cook was very proud of her fruit cake, justifiably so, and produced it on every possible occasion. Seeing it now, Sophia realized how hungry she was, and placed two thick slices on the delicate plates, handing one to Nicholas, before biting into her own with relish. After demolishing half of it, she set it aside and sipped her coffee. She was feeling better, more alert, and ready to speak.

This time when she met Nicholas’s gaze she smiled. “Perhaps Chatham catching us together like that was a good thing,” she said. “He was most forthcoming when I assured him that my hatred for you had not dimmed.”

Nicholas laughed, and despite his untidy dark hair and unshaven jaw, her heart gave a little flutter.

Not now! Sophia gulped some more coffee to steady herself, before setting down her cup. “He has plans for your young friend.”

Nicholas’s smile faded, his dark eyes piercing as he searched hers. “Tell me.”

Swiftly and precisely she repeated Chatham’s words to him while he listened in sober silence. “I have yet to discover just what it is they will use to ruin him, but I will do my best to find out. You will be able to stop it?”

“I hope so.” He looked very grave now. “You must take care, Sophia. These men—”

“They would not hurt me.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “Of course they would! If they thought you might harm them, that you were a threat, they would not hesitate. Men like that have no scruples. You must be very, very careful, Sophia.”

Was he right? Perhaps. But she couldn’t think of that. If she started to fear for herself, she would not be able to do what was required of her, and she was determined to stop them from hurting Gordon.

The clock on the mantel chimed two o’clock in the morning and Sophia looked at it in surprise. No wonder she was tired! Over the past year she had kept early hours, rising with the sun, and enjoying the beginning of the day. She had forgotten how fresh and new the world was at that hour. While she was married to Oldney she had rarely seen the sun before noon.

Nicholas Blake rose to his feet. “I should go,” he said gruffly. “I thank you, Duchess, for your help. It means a great deal to me—and to Gordon, the young fool, if only he knew.”

She rose too. “I am glad. At least something good has come from this.”

He hesitated and she waited, because he clearly had something to say. “I should not have doubted you tonight. My apologies again...”

She waved a dismissive hand.

“When I saw you so enjoying their company, so free with your smiles, I...” He grimaced. “I was jealous, to be honest.”

Sophia’s eyes widened. He had said that before, but it had been lost in the moment. “Jealous?”

“You seemed so at ease with them. You inhabit your place in this world so effortlessly, as if you were born to the role. As I am often reminded by my enemies, I am a commoner aping my betters.”

Sophia tried to come to grips with what he was saying. Yes, she had heard Oldney say those things about him, but she had not realized how they had stung Nicholas. And if he was jealous... Surely that suggested he had some feelings for her other than simply being pleased that she was of use to him. And lust. Let them not forget about the lust that burned so bright between them whenever they were close.

“It is all an act,” she said quietly, earnestly. “I learned to pretend very early in my marriage to Oldney. It was the only way I could survive.”

His mouth twisted in a wry smile. “You were very good at pretending,” he said. “Until now, I never imagined you were other than you seemed. You fooled me, and I am not easily fooled.”

“That is a good thing then, because if I can fool you then Chatham and the others will be a doddle.”

He huffed a laugh as he came toward her, standing close enough that she could feel the heat from his body. He was taller than she, but not uncomfortably so. She looked up into his face, admiring the strong jaw and straight nose, his dark eyes with their long lashes. He was a handsome man. Even when she had been hating him she had thought so, but there was more to him than good looks. He was a moral man who believed in doing what was right and fighting against what was wrong, and if sometimes his view was too rigid, then she found she could forgive him. Because she understood him now as she had not done before.

To her surprise, Sophia also found that she liked him. She was coming to enjoy their conversations as much as their sexual encounters.

Nicholas was looking at her, too. She wondered what he was thinking, but then she knew. With a soft groan he bent his head and captured her lips with his.

His mouth was firm and warm, and it only took a moment for her to be lost in the pleasure of his kiss. Yes, it was late and she was tired, but none of that mattered now. She could not send him away, not when she would lie awake for the rest of the night, her body aflame with need.

She took his hand in hers and began to lead him toward the door. He came easily, fingers tightening. Out into the entrance hall and up the stairs to the gallery, and then along the passageway that led to her suite. The duke and duchess’s suites adjoined, but these days the duke’s side stayed dark and empty.

As soon as the door was closed, he took her in his arms, kissing her again. For a time, they were lost in each other, but this was different from their other frantic couplings. There was no rush, and he undressed her slowly, as if she was a gift he wanted to take his time over, his mouth sliding over her naked skin as if discovering it for the first time.

“So beautiful,” he breathed, cupping her breasts in his hands, watching the creamy flesh spill over. With a groan he leaned in and took one nipple in his mouth and then the other. She arched back in delight, clasping his shoulders, her desire growing hotter. But he still seemed in no hurry.

When he went to his knees before her, she watched, dazed, as he nuzzled against the dark curls between her thighs, and then his tongue licked the heated, moist flesh. Sophia gasped and pressed against him, her hands tugging at his hair, as her passion rose to dizzying heights. Release was so close she could almost touch it. She expected him to stop now, to take her to the bed and push himself into her, taking his pleasure as she reached hers.

But he didn’t. He continued to lathe her swollen folds in a manner that was quite spectacularly good as she trembled and cried out, all her focus on that place he was giving so much attention. And then the wave crashed over her, and she lost all sense of time and place.

It was a minute or several later, and she was lying on the bed, gazing up at the canopy. She blinked, and looked about her, and found Nicholas. He was watching her with a smile that could only be described as smug.

She cleared her throat and sat up, propped on her elbows, her long dark hair cascading about her. She opened her mouth to ask him where he had learned such skills and then decided against it. She didn’t want to hear about other women. Suddenly she knew she wanted him all to herself.

“Undress,” she said, her voice husky. “I want to see all of you.”

His eyes flared but he obeyed her easily enough. Some men did not like to be told what to do—Oldney had always had to be in charge—and Nicholas’s easy acquiesce relaxed her. He reached for his cravat, untying the simple knot, and then shrugged off his jacket. His white shirt was next, tugged over his head, and tossed aside.

Sophia sat up properly now, her gaze traveling over his broad chest with its dark hair spanning his manly nipples. Her mouth watered. “And the rest,” she said, lifting her gaze to his. He smirked, but there was something in his expression that made her think this was new to him too, obeying her orders, and he wasn’t quite sure whether he enjoyed it or not. And yet the fact that he was willing to comply gave Sophia a frisson of excitement. To have such a man bow to her will...

He unbuttoned his pantaloons, pushing them over his hips and thighs to the floor, and tugging them off with his boots. He tripped and almost fell over, which made her bite her lip on laughter, but it was Nicholas who laughed first. Standing only in his drawers, he hesitated a moment, and then divested himself of them, too.

His cock was hard, pointing in her direction, and Sophia took her fill of him. Handsome, strong, and well proportioned. He was everything she had imagined him to be, but it was the vulnerability in his dark eyes that caught at her, a tug to her heart and an ache in her belly.

“Come here,” she held out her hand and he came to her at once, his fingers tangling with hers, climbing up onto the bed beside her. Their mouths closed on each other, deep kisses, tongues tangling, and the weight of him over her body was perfect. She opened her legs, clasping her ankles at his back, feeling the hard length of him pressing for entry.

He nuzzled at her throat, then lifted himself so that he could claim one breast and then the other, sucking hard on that sensitive tip. Sophia moaned, hands sliding over his broad shoulders and back, feeling the muscles bunch as he moved.

“I need you,” he gasped out.

Startled, she opened her eyes, which she realized had been closed until now, and found his face very close. “Then have me,” she said.

With a groan he sought entry, and then he was pressing inside her, lifting her bottom for a better angle, and it was familiar and yet very different. His eyes were closed now, as he moved gently at first and then more vigorously as the pleasure soared between them. For a moment it was as if she was two women, one enjoying herself a great deal, and the other watching him anxiously, cautiously from a distance.

Was he like Oldney?

But not once did he scrutinize her in that cold, mechanical way. Ticking off each part of their love making on his mental to-do list. Nicholas was as deeply engrossed in their act as she, and finally Sophia was able to set aside her fears and allow herself to be swept away.

As her climax claimed her, she felt him reach his, and then they lay gasping, like desperate swimmers who had reached the shore. He did not speak for a time, contenting himself with little kisses to her face and neck, breathing in the scent of her hair as if he wanted to remember it forever.

It was so different from what she had been used to with Oldney. Instead of being a puppet to be manipulated, she felt as if she wasn’t alone. She was part of a couple, and together they were whole.

Sophia had the urge to talk, to ask him what he was feeling, delve into his thoughts, but she was so tired. Besides, she wasn’t sure he would appreciate being interrogated just now. Her eyes closed and, content, she fell asleep in his arms.

But when she awoke, Nicholas was gone, and the doubts came creeping back.