Benedict's Challenge - Carole Mortimer Page 0,14

between her thighs. It also brought a blush to her cheeks, and her eyes felt hot and feverish.

Lord, how much she wished Benedict were saying these words to her in a romantic way, rather than as a doctor wishing to examine his patient!

But he had just called her beautiful, she reminded herself wistfully. “Would you help me by undoing the buttons?” She presented her back to him. “The maid who helped me to bathe earlier also fastened my gown for me, but now she has returned downstairs.”

Benedict’s pulse was racing, and his cock grew thicker, longer, and harder the more his gaze devoured how beautiful Chloe looked in the red silk gown. Her golden curls were swept up and secured with several jeweled pins, leaving her shoulders and the tops of her breasts bare. The red color of the gown perfectly complemented her golden hair and ivory complexion. It also emphasized the deep blue of her eyes and gave her kissable lips a deep rose color.

Dear God, had he really just thought the phrase “kissable lips”?

He was not a sentimental or romantic man. Possibly because he had never had the time or opportunity to be so.

But here, alone with Chloe in her bedchamber, he felt both those things.

Perhaps he should not be alone with her but recall the maid?

But if he did that, the maid would see those wounds Benedict was sure were from where Chloe had been whipped, and the last thing Benedict wanted was to cause Chloe any more pain or embarrassment. She had already suffered enough. He didn’t care what she had done to offend Lord Gordon, she had not deserved to suffer this hurt and humiliation.

And Benedict must control and suppress his desire for her. When necessary, he bedded ladies of the demimonde, certainly regularly enough so as to satisfy his carnal needs. He did not need, could not—

Dear God, he had desired and wanted Chloe from the moment he first looked at her, and that desire and want had remained constant within him this past week. It had only grown stronger these past twenty-four hours of being with her. He could so easily imagine baring her completely and then feasting on her breasts and the juicy and delicious nectar between her thighs—

No!

How could he even think about these things, let alone want them? His loyalty was and always would be with Beatrix, and he would not allow anyone or anything, most especially something he did, to ever hurt her.

Benedict loved Beatrix dearly and would do anything for her. Had and would continue to do anything for her for as long as they both lived. If he should die first, he had made provision in his will for Beatrix to continue to be taken care of until she died too.

In the meantime, he would keep her safe and continue not to allow anyone to hurt her by word or deed.

Not that he thought Chloe would do that. He knew from her easy acceptance of Jimmy’s presence in the carriage today that she was far too kind and considerate of other people’s feelings to want to hurt another living soul.

Except, perhaps, Lord Gordon.

The only expression of discord Benedict had seen in Chloe was when he talked of Lord Gordon.

“Benedict?”

He blinked to refocus his attention on Chloe. She was looking back over her shoulder at him, her expression one of puzzlement and concern. No doubt at his continued silence.

Benedict did his best to give her a reassuring smile as he reminded himself he had come to this bedchamber as Chloe’s doctor. Nothing more, nothing less.

That being the case, he stepped forward and began to unfasten the tiny buttons down the back of her gown.

Her skin felt so warm when his fingers inadvertently brushed against her spine.

Her skin looked so creamy.

Deliciously edible, as Benedict bared inch after inch—

No!

He could not do this. Could not involve another soul, most especially someone as young and lovely as Chloe, within the loneliness his life had been for so long.

He unfastened the last of the buttons on the gown, keeping hold of the material as he allowed it to fall to Chloe’s slippered feet. He then gathered it up in his arms and draped it across the back of the chair in front of the window. “You will need to unfasten your drawers and then lie down on your stomach on the bed with your chemise raised at the back,” he instructed with far more coolness than he inwardly felt.

Chloe looked beautiful in