Page 21 of A Duchess to Unravel (The Devil’s Masquerade #3)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“ A rrogant … precocious … disputatious….”

Alistair smirked as he heard Theo’s anger-filled rambling from down the hall. After the punishment he’d put her through at dinner, he’d suspected he was going to get another visit and sure enough…

He swung his door open and let out a satisfied chuckle as he saw Theo before him, fist raised ready to, no doubt, bang it down.

“Good evening,” he greeted, waving her in.

Theo glared at him and dropped her fist to her side. For a moment she simply stood there, working her jaw back and forth as she seethed, then crossed her arms. Alistair stood in a relaxed position, leaning against the door.

“Are you going to come in or not?” he asked.

“How dare you,” Theo shot back, moving with a quickness to enter his study. “How dare you play such a trick in front of my friends!”

Alistair calmly shut the door behind her and began to loosen his cravat.

“They are my friends now as well, Theo,” he replied, “You must learn to share them.”

“Alistair!”

He yanked his cravat from his neck with a quickness and gave her a challenging look.

“I warned you not to cross the line into disrespect, Theo,” he replied, “And that little show you put on at dinner was you running right through that line. You will do better to pay heed to my warnings next time.”

He walked through his study to the opposite door that led to his bedroom, and opened it; Theo closely following him.

“What I eat and when I eat is none of your business!” She yelled.

Alistair rounded on her so quickly that she bumped into his chest. She gasped as she nearly staggered back, but he her caught her shoulders and held her close.

“You are my wife,” he said through gritted teeth. “ Everything regarding you is my business.”

Pleasure surged through him as Theo’s cheeks grew flush, but he let her go and turned back around, shrugging out of his dinner jacket.

“Especially when we are living in the same house,” he added.

Alistair tossed his jacket toward a chair, not caring if it landed or not.

“Oh, so you are permitted to know my business but I am not permitted to know yours?” Theo retorted. “We have not spoken in two weeks! I did not even know you had left the castle!”

“As I said at dinner I returned every night,” Alistair replied, working at the buttons of his shirt next. “And if you wanted to know more about what I was doing, you know you can come and ask. I did not keep you from coming to me for nearly two confounding weeks.”

He waited for Theo’s sharp-tongued reply, but it never came. He turned around, wondering what on earth would stop her from her tirade, and he was surprised to see a look on her face he could not quite read.

“What?” He demanded, unbuttoning his cuffs.

“You knew it had been two weeks?” She asked. “And you found them confounding?”

Her tone had lost all its edge, her eyes had gone from flat and glaring to soft and wide. Suddenly Alistair realized why she was so angry.

“Of course I know it has been two weeks,” he sighed, adding a gentleness to his tone, “A man does not forget something like that. He counts the days until it can happen again.”

Relief poured from Theo’s eyes, but her stature was still closed off.

“You never visited me,” she said.

“I never said I would,” Alistair replied, taking a step toward her. “I told you, when you were ready for me, you come to me.”

“For a lesson,” she corrected him.

“For anything,” he corrected her.

“That is not what you said.”

“I meant anything useless like hiring the necessary people to help you accomplish your work,” he said with an exasperated sigh.

Theo stared at him for a long moment, her mind clearly working over his words as she began to fidget, then she shook her head.

“No, I do not believe it.” She stated. “If that were true you would not have embarrassed me so at dinner tonight.”

Alistair raised a brow, taking another step toward her as he raised a finger to her chest.

“Ye did that yourself, Theo,” he clarified. “As I said earlier, I warned ye of what would happen if you crossed the line into disrespect.”

Her cheeks flushed even darker, and she bowed her head.

“I thought you were avoiding me,” she murmured.

Alistair’s hand dropped, his eyes widening with surprise.

“Why?”

“Because you do not ever visit me. It is always me that must come to you, and it makes me feel like some simpering dog begging for a bone.”

Alistair groaned, suddenly feeling weary, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I have two and a half months left before I return to Scotland,” he stated, feeling his annoyance grow.

“I need every moment I can spare to clean up this mess. It is why I called for Dominic and Everett, as I told you at dinner. The original plan was to simply give them controlling seats to operate the accounts in my absence but that will never work unless we get this all sorted.”

“Then why give me any time at all?” Theo asked.

“Because it is part of our deal,” he growled. He took a step back to battle his growing agitation. It was not just that his original plans had gone awry. It was more than that. He had brought this new burden on himself though, and he was going to handle it.

“I see,” Theo said, hurt shining in her eyes.

She took a step back.

“I am nothing but a distraction to you then. Very well. I thank you for keeping your end of our bargain, Alistair, but it is no longer necessary.”

She moved to turn around, but Alistair grabbed her shoulder and spun her back to face him. Even just that small touch had fire seeping into his palm and searing through his bloodstream.

“You will tell me what is truly bothering you, and you will tell me now, Theo.” He demanded.

When she did not meet his eyes, he crooked his finger under her chin and lifted.

“Out with it,” he snarled.

Not rage, but embarrassment, flooded her blue eyes, and to his surprise, he saw them grow watery. It softened him, and he moved his crooked finger up to caress her cheek. Theo’s lashes fluttered at the gentle touch, and she sighed.

“I thought it was enough to know I could come to you for pleasure,” she finally confessed. “But it is not. I want … I want to know that I am wanted too. That this is not just another item to check off your already long list.”

Alistair’s widened with surprise, and he framed Theo’s face with both his hands, silently urging her to open her eyes.

“You think I do not want you?” he rasped.

Theo’s eyes slowly opened them, and it was then he saw her blatant longing.

“It is so … one-sided.” She told him. “I thought perhaps that would be satisfying in a way, but it is not. Not for me.”

Alistair shook his head, slipping a hand from her cheek down to her waist, pulling her to him.

“Why do you think I am so frustrated at present?” he asked. “Business does not fluster me, Theo, but the memory of you splayed atop my lap? It tortures me. It steals away my ability to focus on my work, taking me longer to accomplish what I wish.”

Theo’s eyes flooded with relief as he felt her body relax into him.

“You thought of me?” She whispered.

“How could I not?” Alistair asked, soothing both hands now up and down her waist, her hips hungry for the feel of her. “Your body is beautifully sensitive to my touch, little kitten, and has my entire body on edge at any given moment, has me wondering when you will be ready for your next lesson.”

He smiled devilishly then added, “Especially when you make me angry.”

Theo’s kiss was sudden and fierce. She yanked at the collar of his shirt, pulling him down to her height.

Alistair quickly took the control from her, sweeping her off the floor and taking over the kiss by forcing her to take his tongue.

He felt her shiver as he dominated her, and satisfaction filled him.

“I’m ready,” she whispered between kisses. “Give me my next lesson.”

Resting on his side, Alistair’s fingertips brushed along the taut peak of Theo’s nipple.

He swirled his thumb around the perfectly pink bud, then cupped the buttery soft underside of her breast; squeezing gently.

He watched, fascinated as Theo’s chest rose with a sharp intake of breath.

Her eyes still closed, she murmured something he couldn’t quite make out, then sighed.

He was rewarded with a throaty whimper when he slid his hand to her other breast, giving it equal attention.

Alistair dipped his head, slowly, as if he had all the time in the world and drew her free nipple into his mouth as he thumbed the other.

Theo’s reaction was instant. Her whimper transformed into a needy moan as her spine arched away from his bed, away from his side, and he felt her thigh brush against his still throbbing manhood.

Just the small touch sent painful shards of need shooting to his loin, and he had to fight and swallow the moan attempting to break from his own lips.

Alistair had been fiercer than intended with his lesson.

His arousal and want to teach her had clashed with the residual anger he’d felt over her display at dinner, and his ministrations had all come with an edge of sharpness.

Still, she’d shattered for him. Twice. Now as she lay sprawled out before him, drowsy and delightfully naked from his intensity, he was prepared to make her shatter a third time in a much gentler fashion. Just as soon as he was done drinking in the sight of her.

Alistair raked his eyes down Theo’s body yet again.

Greed, strange and new, sparking within him.

Her discarded gown, undergarments, and corset lay somewhere on his floor, long forgotten by both of them.

She didn’t need it. With the heat of his body and flames roaring in his fireplace, Theo hadn’t shivered from the coldness of the castle once.