The Rake's Inherited Courtesan Read Free Page A

again. A lingering question lurked in her eyes.
    Eve biting the apple.
    He swallowed.
    She tugged the tip of her glove free and then released it.
    An indrawn breath lifted the swell of her bosom beneath her close-fitting gown. He imagined rose-tipped globes peaking to his touch.
    His collar tightened. Sweat trickled down his spine.
    Transfixed, he stared as she repeated the manoeuvre with each remaining slender finger. In all his years on the town, he’d never seen such wanton sensuality. Blood stirred and pulsed in his loins. He shifted, spreading his thighs to ease the burgeoning pressure.
    Head tipped to one side, she focused her gaze on his mouth and licked her bottom lip with a moist, pink tongue.
    An unendurable desire to echo that touch on his mouth, to trace the path of her glance, tingled his tongue.
    As graceful as a ballet dancer and with agonising slowness, she drew off the glove, baring the white skin of her wrist, her knuckles, her slender fine-boned fingers.
    Visions of white, naked flesh writhing beneath him shortened his breath. Sensations of silky skin, slick and wet and hot for him, closing around him as he drove them both to mindless bliss, tightened his groin. He fought the deep shimmer of pleasure.
    She laid the wisp of black silk across the big cat’s tawny muzzle.
    He curled his lip. A brazen wanton indeed.
    He enjoyed the warmth of a willing woman, but had no need of a professional courtesan. And no matter how beautiful or sensual, he had no interest in a woman who had brought scandal to the name of Evernden.
    A dimple appeared at the corner of her curving mouth.
    Taste her. Caress her full lips with his mouth, duel with her moist, soft tongue and press her slender form hard against him. Take what she offered with brazen abandon. Here. Now. The words matched the rhythm of his pulsing blood.
    Damn. This little witch wouldn’t play him for a fool as she had his dotard uncle. Lust never controlled him.
    He slammed his glass amid the documents on the table, ignored the red stain spreading over the jumbled papers and folded his arms across his chest.
    Seconds felt like minutes as, one finger at a time, she freed the other glove and slid it off. She ran the garment through her fingers, a torturous stroking of silk against bare skin. She dropped it beside its partner.
    He remembered to breathe.
    ‘Mr Evernden.’ Her husky, accented voice caressed his skin the way a lioness rubbed in adoration against her mate. ‘I have a proposition for you.’
    Yes, his body roared in feral triumph.

Chapter Two
    D isgust roiled in his gut, both at his unprecedented lack of control and the thought of his ancient uncle with his hands on this delicate creature. ‘There is no proposal you could offer that would interest me, madam.’
    Raising an eyebrow, she perused his person from heel to head, her gaze lingering on his chest before sliding up to meet his eyes. She smiled approval.
    Molten lava coursed through his veins at the studied invitation.
    Damn her impudence. Even the most audacious of the demi-monde made their desires known with more discretion. He didn’t deal in money for flesh. The few women with whom he’d established mutually enjoyable relationships preferred gifts of jewellery, subtle tokens of appreciation and respect.
    A seductive sway to her hips, she drifted to the centre of the room, her modestly cut gown intriguingly at odds with her aura of raw sensuality.
    Once more, her gaze rested on his mouth and she moistened her lush lips. ‘You sound quite sure of yourself.’
    The only thing he knew for certain was his body’s demands in response to her blatant allure. He forced his expression to remain impassive. ‘We are discussing you, not me.’
    She inclined her head to one side. ‘Really? What is it to be then, Mr Evernden? Not an orphanage, for I am too old. A parish workhouse, perhaps?’
    Her husky, French-laced voice called to him like a siren’s song. He clenched his jaw.
    Tapping one