Behind the Courtesan - By Bronwyn Stuart Page 0,56

lean against him for the rest of the slow, silent journey back. She breathed a sigh of relief (at least she thought it was relief) when the lantern light outside the barn came into view.

“I’m going to rub the horse down and put her in a pen. Can you go to the bar and get the bottle of brandy?”

“Brandy?” She shivered as he leaned away from her. He wanted more alcohol?

“I’m frozen, Sophie, the brandy will warm us.”

The last thing either of them needed was to spend a week in bed with a fever, so she nodded, but she couldn’t seem to move. Her fingers were numb and her legs had stiffened.

The warmth of the barn enveloped them as soon as they entered and Blake jumped down to close the doors. He came to her side of the carriage and put his arms out for her. “I know it’s cold, but you need to move. You need to get out of those wet clothes.”

That did it and the arrogant man knew it. The way he slowed his words and then winked made her face warm. Shuffling to the end of the seat, she held her arms out and he caught her and lowered her to the floor slowly. When she had her balance, he let her go and went to see to the horse, leaving her feeling strangely bereft. She had thought that was the moment when he would kiss her. He had her in his hands, she was pliant, willing, eager even, and then he’d turned away without so much as a blink.

“Sophie,” he called over his shoulder, “the brandy!”

She blinked once, twice, then moved. Brandy. From the bar. One foot in front of the other. Concentrate. But there was only enough room in her brain tonight for what she wanted and when could she have it. As she fumbled with the door to the kitchens and then with a flint to light a candle, her fingers shaking, her heavy gown dripping, she damned her libido to the deepest—warmest—pits of hell.

Not everyone was cut out to be a courtesan and it certainly wasn’t the occupation she would have chosen under normal circumstances, but with the right protector and the right to choose a protector, she could enjoy herself, let her guard down and be cared for. So long as she kept the terrible memories locked tight behind the wall, she could find her pleasure as Noah had shown her.

“I quite like pleasure,” she said under her breath as she reached for the brandy bottle and filled a glass.

“What are you muttering about?”

She whirled to find Blake close, oh so close, and snapped her mouth shut. Her thoughts were slow to respond and frantically she looked around for an answer. She held the glass up in her hands and tipped the contents down her throat. “Brandy. I happen to like brandy very much and be damned who knows it.” Damn her feeble, sex-deprived mind.

“Can’t stand it myself, but there’s nothing better for firing your blood and warming you from the inside out.” He refilled the glass and gulped it down, his mouth touching where hers had.

She licked her lips, tasted the brandy there and wanted... Something. Companionship? A friend? More? Her brain was too sluggish to completely comprehend anything.

“What?” he asked as he poured more from the bottle. “Do I look like a drowned rat?”

She couldn’t get her mouth to move, she couldn’t get anything to move. But then she shivered again and fat water droplets landed at her feet with an audible splash.

“Damn it, why are we standing here? I laid the fire in your room before we left.”

Her room? She wasn’t sure that was a good idea at all, but before she could protest, Blake took her hand again in one of his, the bottle and a glass in the other and towed her up the stairs. He didn’t wait on the landing, didn’t wait for her to go inside to bid her a good-night. He let go of her hand long enough to throw the door open and then pulled her through into the warmth.

He pushed her to stand in front of the fire, poured another brandy and passed the glass to her. “Drink.”

She was beyond saying no. She was beyond any thought as the glow from the fire showed where his fine shirt had become transparent in the wet, outlining every corded muscle, every dip and hollow of his chest and abdomen. She remembered the warmth