AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This was certainly something special to write Mr. Bullock about.
The excitement was still hammering in her pulse as she entered The Royal Lion. However, her heart immediately began to pound for another reason entirely when she entered the tap room and spied Sebastian sitting alone at a table.
He rose when she walked over to him. “What are you doing here?” She wondered if he could hear the breathlessness in her tone.
He smiled almost wickedly. “I thought you might want to celebrate.” He gestured toward the fossil in her grasp. “Joseph told me you’d made quite a remarkable discovery today.”
“Indeed.” Her smile widened. She held out the crinoid as if it were a fragile, priceless vase. “Mary says it’s an urchin of some kind. Either way, I know Mr. Bullock will be thrilled. Perhaps when I return to London he might allow me to join one of the museum meetings to explain how I found it.”
“For your sake, I hope he does.” Sebastian handed the item back to her and winked as he pulled out a seat next to him. She sat down and set the rock in the empty space next to her while he ordered a second mug of ale.
Calliope had never been particularly fond of the drink, but she wasn’t about to deny the offering. They had shared the same drink before when they’d made their truce, but while that had been a mutual agreement, now the air was charged with sexual tension. She could certainly use the fortification to remind herself that she hadn’t agreed to an extended affair, should he wish for it. She was so close to making a name for herself that she could feel it rushing through her veins. Independence was within her grasp, and she wouldn’t allow anything to change that.
Sebastian chose that moment to reach out and casually brush her hand with his, and when he began to slide his finger along the length of her palm in a torturous, sensual manner, she quite forgot everything else beyond that moment.
“What… are you doing?” she whispered.
He lifted a brow. “I thought it was obvious. I’m trying to seduce you.”
She glanced around at the sparsely filled tap room and was grateful that it wasn’t crowded at this hour. If so, it would be more difficult to act as though this man wasn’t completely unnerving her. “I believe that was already accomplished last night.”
He smiled. “It wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy my desire for you.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, my lord, for I’m afraid the episode cannot be repeated.” She gently extricated her hand from his and set the trembling appendage in her lap.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He grasped his mug but didn’t lift it to his lips. It was as though that simple action was meant to tease. “Do you not believe I can be discreet? And cautious?”
“I’m sure you can,” she concurred evenly. “But that is not the issue. It is too risky to continue, no matter if we believe the risks are covered. Mistakes do happen.”
His jaw abruptly clenched. “Is that what you would call last night?”
She glared at him. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”
Those dark eyes flashed in return. “I’d like to put something else between those tempting lips of yours.”
Calliope’s entire body flushed hot and cold at the same time. The vivid memory of his impressive cock slid across her consciousness with so many wicked images that she had to press her thighs together to ease the pounding ache between them.
She reached out and clutched her mug, but she lifted it to take a hearty gulp. “You have to stop this.”
He leaned forward once again. “Stop what?” he said huskily. “Should I cease telling you how much I want you? About how much my body burns with the need to touch you, kiss you?”
“Yes!” she hissed. “Because you know it’s impossible.”
He regarded her with that intense stare for a moment, and then straightened. “Yes. I suppose it is.” He laid some coins on the table and stood with a heavy sigh. “Will you at least consider taking the day off tomorrow to go swimming with me?”
She was grateful that he’d moved on from such a dangerous subject. “I should like that.”
“Capital. I’ll meet you at nine o’clock.”
Calliope put her head in her hands when Sebastian left, her body still humming with the urges that he’d thrummed to life on that beach. She didn’t know whether she wanted to cry or scream—or both. Never in her life had she been quite so discombobulated. She had a neat pattern of how to categorize events in her life—sad, happy, anger. But with Lord Blakely it was all of those, plus so many other emotions that she couldn’t even begin to name.
She got up and collected her fossil, which had lost some of its earlier sparkle. Why couldn’t the frustrating man just be glad for her discovery and leave it at that? Surely they could find a way to be friends and push aside this attraction nonsense. Maybe his offering of a morning swim was his way of doing that.
As Calliope headed for her rooms, she admitted that Sebastian wasn’t the only one who was having trouble keeping his hands to himself. In another life, she would likely have jumped feet first into a lustful affair with him, but she had to live in the present.
Unfortunately, that didn’t include him.
Or whatever fantasies she might be harboring about the two of them together.
