dove-gray trousers. Her cheeks turned dusky rose in the light, and his stare followed hers down. A wet spot had gathered on his fly. His arousal, not hers.
“That’s what you do to me.”
Blushing hotly, Sarani reached for him, palm curving around his nape. For a moment, she looked uncertain, unsure, gnawing that plump lower lip between her teeth and making him want to kiss her again. “Should I? You need to…”
His smile was wolfish. “Oh, I’ll have my turn, don’t worry. When we get to my residence, I plan to take you to bed and ravage you until you can’t speak your own name.”
* * *
Rhystan’s filthy promises only made her want him more. She loved seeing the aloof, put-together duke stripped down to this raw, fundamental version of himself. He was savagery swathed in velvet, the jagged edge of danger tempered by decorum. A puzzling enigma that she was powerless to resist. She wanted him bare.
Sarani flushed. Did that make her a brazen hussy? She was a lady, but this man had always incited the devil in her. Twice now, he’d brought her to completion—first with his fingers at the ball and then with his mouth.
Oh, sweet heavenly stars, that mouth.
Even now, her body still quaked with tingling aftershocks. The fact that he had kissed her there had been utterly wicked. She’d opened her mouth to protest, but the only thing that had emerged when his hot, wet tongue had touched her body had been an unbecoming moan. And then her brain had ceased to function.
A part of her wanted to feel ashamed, mortified even, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. For the first time in months, she felt alive. Sarani had no doubt that what she was doing was what no lady in her right, decent mind would do with a man, much less a duke. But happiness wasn’t guaranteed. Life could be taken at the blink of an eye, with the slash of a blade. She’d already lost so much, and now she had a chance to keep one thing for herself.
She was aware of the absurdity. She would be losing the only thing she had left to lose—her precious virginity. Her calling card to respectability. A woman’s innocence…so valued and yet a commodity to be traded to the highest, most titled bidder, even if it was against her wishes.
She wasn’t naive. She knew that if she did this, if she let Rhystan into her body without the sanctity of marriage, in the eyes of society, she would be ruined. She did not care. If they had any inkling of who she was, this society would not welcome her anyway. Not truly. What did she need their approval for? And besides, Rhystan would be gone back to the sea soon, the agreement between them fulfilled.
This was for her.
Her choice, even if the consequences would see her fall entirely from grace.
The coach stopped and she met Rhystan’s burning eyes. Goodness, he was so incredibly handsome. He made her want to leap across the carriage like a hussy and demand that he take her to the stars again. And again.
Something of her thoughts must have been evident in her eyes because a growling rumble broke from his chest. Sarani hadn’t even taken a breath before she was swept into his powerful arms and ferried up the steps into his residence. He paused, letting her down to throw off his hat and coat, left her cloak in place for modesty’s sake in light of what she wore beneath, and then she was scooped up once more.
Sarani didn’t take in a full breath until they’d bypassed another flight of stairs and she heard the soft snick of a door closing. She had no time to push to her feet before she was tumbled gently onto a soft mattress. Rhystan stepped back to speak to someone at the door, presumably his valet, and dismissed him for the evening. Sarani blushed. She was sure the man would know that his master had a woman in his chamber. Despite surely turning a closed eye to their arrival, in her experience, there was very little that servants did not know.
She turned her attention back to the chamber. Several lamps lit the space and the counterpane on the bed had been turned down. A small fire burned in the grate to ward off the evening’s slight chill. She’d met Harlowe briefly, and the man was efficient to a fault. No wonder he’d been on their