Page 17 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife (Cinderellas of Mayfair #1)

His hands closed on her hips. Urgency roughened his voice. “Then where, Athene? Where?”

“I can’t think when you touch me.”

Predictably that led to more kisses. This time, it was Hugo who stopped. She was perched on the edge of the desk, her skirts tangled around her thighs. Thighs that cradled Hugo’s narrow hips. He was mere inches away from entering her.

Gasping, he buried his face in her shoulder. Under the hands she spread across his back, he trembled with tension. “I need to stop touching you,” he growled.

She kissed the top of his head. “It might be wise.”

“I’ve never felt less wise.”

“Me either.”

She waited for him to move away. Instead for a long moment, they clung to each other. His touch aroused her, but perhaps more powerfully, it made her heart swell with tenderness. So when he eventually shifted as he must, regret sliced at her. And when he stepped out of her embrace, she felt bereft.

“Don’t look like that, my darling.” His smile was tender, too, sparking poignant emotion in her foolish heart. No man had ever regarded her with quite that enthralling mixture of longing and worship. “Or I won’t be responsible for my actions. I’d hate to shock Madame Sylvie.”

A cracked giggle escaped Athene. She stumbled upright, straightening her skirts to something approaching propriety. “You’ve turned me into a complete hussy.”

“Not yet.” When he took her hand, his smile was sweet. “Although I have ambitions.”

She laughed and twined her fingers around his. “How are we going to do this?”

“I could set you up in a house somewhere.” He sounded doubtful. “I believe that’s how it’s done in the ton.”

She frowned and pulled her hand back. “Like a demimondaine? You offer me carte blanche and a contract specifying a carriage and what servants you’ll hire and the payoff I’ll get at the end of the affair?”

He winced at her edged tone, although she had no right to carp. She was the one asking for a liaison instead of marriage. But with every moment, she realized that her impulsive offer to go to his bed – the only offer she could make to keep her sanity – held a thousand pitfalls.

“We could do it discreetly.”

“I’d still feel like a courtesan.”

“I’m a rich man. I want to shower you with every luxury.”

“I appreciate that.”

He gave a dry laugh. “No, you don’t.”

“I’ve seen the courtesans in the park and in Sylvie’s shop buying bonbons. It seems…”

“Not for you?”

“It’s silly to worry about my good name when I have no virtue to protect.”

“Stop saying that.” The glint in his eyes changed to temper. “It’s not true anyway.”

“It will be when I become your mistress.”

He sighed and swung away. “Then call yourself my lover, if you balk at being a mistress.”

When he kissed her, desire seemed uncomplicated. Now that they worked out how to deal with the outside world, it presented a maze of difficulties. “Yes, I’ll call myself your lover. But that doesn’t solve our dilemma.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“How have you tackled your past liaisons?”

Another grunt of amusement. “With considerably less trouble.”

Distracted, she studied him. “How many mistresses have you had?”

He looked uncomfortable. “A gentleman never tells.”

“But it might help us.”

Hugo ran one hand through his hair, leaving him beguilingly ruffled. She bit back the impulse to tell him to kiss her again and forget all this pestilential negotiation. “When I was a lad, a widowed neighbor was kind to me. For the last five years, I’ve visited a friend’s widow in York.”

Something that felt like jealousy festered in her stomach. “Are you still…”

He looked even more ill at ease. “No, she married a grain merchant from Halifax last June.”

Athene wanted to ask whether he’d loved either of those women. Which was an unacceptable question, when love wasn’t part of their arrangement.

Good Lord, if she fell in love with him, this would be a complete disaster. “Do you miss her?”

“I did at first. We were friends. I wish her all the best. The affair was comfortable.”

Comfortable? Poor woman. Athene hoped he chose a more significant adjective than that after he parted from her. Although she didn’t want him telling anyone about her, did she?

Those steady blue eyes held far too much understanding. “Don’t fret about competition. You have no rivals. In the past or now. I’ve never been as avid for a woman as I am for you. I didn’t know I was capable of wanting anyone the way I want you.”

She made a helpless gesture, even as his confession soothed the jagged turmoil inside her. “You’re starting to know me too well.”

His gaze warmed her. “The daunting shell was never very convincing. The first time I saw you, I thought of a flame under glass. All that heat and life flaring close to the surface, striving to be free.”

More lovely compliments, but she couldn’t help thinking about his previous affairs. “What about your other lovers?”

Hugo’s stare turned purposeful. He was back to being the force of nature.

“Give it up, Athene. I’m not providing you with a list of everyone who has shared my bed.

What you need to know is that when I make a commitment, I’m faithful.

I’m not any sort of rake. While we’re together, you will be my only lover. ”

Until their arrangement ended. Too grim a prospect to dwell on. “So how did you manage your last mistress?”

“York is far enough from Hampden Crags to offer a little anonymity. The lady had a home of her own in substantial grounds.”

Clearly her predecessor was more solvent than Athene. She reminded herself that Hugo was here with her now, while the unnamed lady was enjoying life in Halifax.

“We could go to an inn outside London,” she said, sounding unsure. She’d written poems for gentlemen requesting assignations and that seemed a popular choice. “Your friends might recommend a place where the staff are discreet and the sheets are clean.”

“We could do that, but that doesn’t solve the issue of our long-term arrangements. I hope you’re not toying with my affections and that you mean to give me more than a day or two of your company.”

She didn’t smile at his teasing. “It might be safer if I was.”

“Safer, but not enough. For either of us. I want your companionship, Athene, not just a few hours of passion.”

Athene wanted more than a fleeting encounter as well. “Perhaps we could start at an inn? I don’t want to wait.”

“I don’t either. In fact, I wish I could take you with me now.”

She looked around her disaster of an office. “You could.”

He smiled. “I walked here. Your reputation will be in shreds if we’re seen together. I’ll come in a closed carriage tonight and collect you after the shop shuts.”

Athene was thankful that she could trust him to do his best to protect her. Desire all but steamed off him. He didn’t want a delay any more than she did. But for her sake, he was willing to wait.

Anticipation made her shake as she recognized that in a few hours, she’d lie in Hugo’s arms. “Where will we go?”

“I’ll sort something out.”

“If you don’t, at least we’ll have privacy in the carriage. I have very fond memories of our last coach trip.”

“So do I.” He caught her hand again. “You know if you married me, nobody would care if we were alone together. In fact, the world would encourage it.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “That’s your proposal this week.”

“It wasn’t a proposal. It was a statement of fact.”

“You’re playing word games,” she protested.

He smiled at her. “I reserve my right to propose this week.”

She shook her head, too intoxicated with his presence to be cross. “And I reserve my right to say no.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her ink-stained knuckles.

Her heated response to the gesture was a warning of just how susceptible she was.

But it was too late to run in the opposite direction.

It had been too late the day that he’d turned up at the shop to purchase a poem for Petronella Fitchett.

“Did you know Petronella’s getting married?” she asked, not because she cared, but because she tried to delay his departure.

His lips twitched. “Lucky girl. I hear marriage can be bliss.”

“Hugo…” she said in a repressive tone.

Instead of apologizing for tormenting her, he caught her face between his palms and kissed her. His lips were hot and betrayed his raging hunger. By the time he’d finished, she’d forgotten that she meant to chide him.

Dazed, she stared up at his features. “Find somewhere fast,” she whispered.

With a soft chuckle, he kissed her briefly before releasing her. He picked up his hat and gloves from the desk. “Be on the corner at six, my darling.”