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“You’ve had a busy day,” he said, then looked at her slyly. “Do youwishto start tonight?”
“No, it’s just…” She bit her lip, too mortified to say more.
“Matilda, what we will do together, it’s important that you speak freely to me, tell me what you’re thinking and feeling at all times. Being a good lover to you means I must listen to you and answer your questions. Be brave. You threw a snowball at a titled lord. Speaking your mind should be far easier than that.” He was teasing her, but she sensed he meant every word of what he had said.
“I’m anxious. I wish to do this quickly, to know if I can stand it or if I will hate it. It’s not knowing which that has me worried,” she confessed.
He didn’t laugh or sneer, didn’t do any of the things she expected him to. Instead, he took her hand, he still held in his, and raised it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her palm.
“Then we shall start tonight. I will ease your fears. Wait for me in your bedchamber. I will come for you in an hour.” He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers in a faint kiss. It sent heat rolling through her, reminding her of how she’d felt earlier that evening in his study when he’d made her come apart with frightening pleasure.
She nodded to herself, as if trying to convince herself that she hadn’t gone mad.
“I’ll sign the agreement.”
He gently let go of her hand, then moved a quill pen and a bottle of ink closer to her on the desk. She dipped the quill in ink and signed her name beside his.
It was done. She had signed herself over to the devil’s keeping, and tonight he would come for what was his.
CHAPTER4
Matilda was practically vibrating with anxiety by the time a full hour had passed. She half expected a path to be worn clear through to the wood floor beneath the fine carpet of her bedchamber due to her pacing back and forth. She actually jumped when she finally heard a soft knock on her door. She frantically smoothed her skirts, held her head up proudly and opened the door. The earl was in the corridor just outside, his tall, imposing figure dwarfing her. She wasn’t particularly short, at least not compared to most women, but Castleton stood well over six feet.
His gray eyes locked with hers and he tilted his head ever so slightly, as if thinking over what they were about to do. “Are you still willing to—”
“Yes,” she hastily whispered and stepped into the hall with him. The last thing she wanted was him voicing their agreement aloud. Servants heard everything in the house. It was their job to move about practically unseen. The last thing she wanted was the staff, who she respected for their kindness to her and her aunt, to see her as some sort of common trollop.
Castleton’s lips twitched. He began to walk back down the corridor, and she rushed to keep up with his long strides. When he paused in front of a bedchamber only one doorway away, she blinked in surprise. He was staying close to her room? That was a relief. She could flee back to her chamber when he was done with… well, whatever he planned to do to her tonight… and the short distance reduced the chances of anyone seeing her.
He opened the door and gestured for her to enter ahead of him. It was another room that faced the wintry sea like hers did. It was not the room that Bernard, his great-uncle had slept in. She knew that Bernard had preferred a room facing the front lawn and the woods beyond. Bernard had often said that when he was in his bedchamber, he could see her and Aunt Florence arrive at the house whenever they came to visit.
This room was as she expected, deeply masculine with a heavy cherrywood bed, armoire and a washstand. There were two chairs faced a warm fire in the room which made the entire encounter darkly carnal. She spun to face Arthur as he closed the door. He had removed his coat between the last time she had seen him in his study and now. Matilda held her breath as they stared at one another. She blinked first.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” he offered quietly, breaking the silence.
“Yes,” she admitted. A little wine would calm her nerves.
He poured two glasses, and walked over to the bed and leaned back against it, his legs crossed at the ankles as he took a drink. His eyes swept over her slowly from head to toe, and she felt quite clearly his appraisal of her body as though he was imagining what she looked like beneath her clothes. She glanced away and took a deep sip of her wine.
“Do not drink too much,” he said.
“Too much?” she echoed.
“Yes. I want you to be relaxed, but I do not want you in any position where you do not possess the ability to tell me to stop. It is important that this is mutual between us.”
“Oh…” She took another drink and then with a trembling hand set her wine goblet down on the small table between the two armchairs. She wanted to get this over with. She needed to know she could handle him and his passion. Any further delays were only increasing her fear.
“Would you like me to undress or…” she asked uncertainly. She’d never been in this position, being a man’s mistress, and wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.
His lips curved up in a crooked grin as he quirked a finger at her, beckoning her to come to him. When she stopped a mere foot away, he lifted one of her hands to his lips and kissed the tips of each of her shaking fingers.
“I admit, I am a heartless man to enjoy your trembling, but it’s only because I know you will soon feel so much pleasure that you will no longer fear the unknown.” His gaze trailed over her body again. “Turn around and I will undress you.”
Matilda gave him her back and drew in a quivering breath as his hands unfastened the hooks of her gown. When the fabric gaped around her body, she tried in vain to hold it up as a shield, but with one tug, Arthur let the gown fall into a graceful puddle at her feet.
“I think we’ll have new gowns made for you, ones of silk and satin. They will whisper against your skin when you move,” he murmured. His warm breath fanned against the back of her neck. He bent and pressed a feathery kiss on her neck, and the sensation of his warm lips on her skin made her suddenly dizzy. She’d never felt such a sharp and sudden bolt of desire shoot through her entire body before.
“You don’t need to do that,” she insisted through the haze of her growing desire.
