Page 31 of One Night with a Rake

“You don’t have to do that,” he said.

“Don’t you like it?”

Not like it? He’d never heard Mercy say anything so monumentally stupid but didn’t think she’d appreciate him pointing it out. After all, between the two of them, she was convinced she was the one with all the brains.

“I like it fine. It’s better than fine. It’s…it’s…” He searched in vain for a word that was big enough, grand enough to let her know she made him feel like a god when she took him in and swirled her tongue over him. Finally, he gave up and blurted out, “I love you.”

Mercy laughed. Not a chuckle. Not a musical giggle. It was a full-throated belly laugh. She clutched her pillow and buried her face in it, lest her laughter bring the whole house down on them.

“What’s so funny?” He sat up in bed and folded his arms across his chest.

“You, you big lummock.” She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. “First time a girl sucks yer thing and ye fancy yourself in love with her.”

“What makes you think you’re the first?”

“Aren’t I?”

She was, but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of telling her so.

“Most girls don’t laugh at a fellow when he offers his heart,” he said testily.

“But I don’t want yer heart, Reuben. Keep it for someone who deserves it.” She draped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his neck. “I only want ye in my bed from time to time. Let’s just have fun together. I’ll teach ye everything I know. We’ll make it to ‘bloody incredible’ in no time.” She latched onto his earlobe and suckled it a bit. “Don’t ye think ye could like that fine?”

Part of him certainly could. His eyes threatened to roll back in his head.

But he really did love Mercy.

He loved her wit and sparkle. He even loved her sharp tongue. He had feelings, he did. For all of her.

And he wasn’t going to settle for less.

“No, Mercy.” With regret, he hauled himself out of bed and began yanking on his clothes. He didn’t dare look anywhere but at his discarded boots, lest his resolve crumble. He balanced on one leg while he tugged on first one, then the other. “Not until you allow that I can teach you something too.”

He heard the sheets rustle and couldn’t help but look up at her. She’d risen to her knees. The sheets were tucked up to her armpits so her nakedness was covered.

But not the nakedness in her face. Pointed chin atremble, eyes just this side of glittering with tears, she’d never looked so like a waif in the gutter.

“What can ye teach me, Mr. Darling?”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her forehead. “That you deserve to be loved.”

Reuben closed the door quietly behind him, but before the latch snicked, he could’ve sworn he heard a soft sob.

Thirteen

Sadie O’Toole perched on a high stool in the larder of his lordship’s hoity-toity kitchen. It was bad enough she’d been shooed around to the back side of his town house to be offered only grudging admittance by his kitchen help. Now His Nibs was keeping her waiting beneath the strings of garlic and cured hams. He’d have given more immediate attention to her if she’d been a boil on his backside.

Well, boils could be a nasty surprise for a body what ignored ’em too long. She’d seen ’em turn septic, and if his lordship kept her waiting much longer, she was of a mind to do the same.

The footman’s eyes had bugged out when Sadie presented one of the monogrammed cuff links as her calling card. She hated parting with it, but she had the other one stashed away safe and sound, all ready to be sent to where it would do the most damage should something unfortunate happen to her.

She’d make sure His Nibs knew it before she left him this night, too.

Sadie shook her head. She’d always been too softhearted where gentlemen were concerned. She held the winning hand. It was time she made her position perfectly clear. No point in leaving that sort of thing to chance.

Finally, the footman reappeared in the kitchen and crooked a finger at her. “Come with me.”

She hopped down off the high stool, expecting to be led up the stairs into the private parts of the grand house. She snickered at that thought.