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“You do not know me Perhaps my opinion is worthless”
“I should like to know you I need to know you From the mo else”
“There is no way”
“If I found the e me?”
She sed hard, knohat her answer should be but unable to say it “Your lust will pass,” she ed
Saint-Martin released her and backed away, his jaw taut “This is not lust”
“What is it, then?”
“An obsession”
Marguerite watched the deliberation hich he pulled his glove back on, one finger at a time, as if he needed the delay to reclaim his control Could she believe that he was as affected by the attraction between them as she was?
“I will find a way to have you,” he rasped, then he bowed and left her
She watched hi
Over the next few months he chipped away at her resistance in that intense, focuseda question or two about her life, tidbits that told her he followed her activities with avid interest
Until her h with her threat to select the Vicouerite’s husband-to-be A few ht have been pleased The vico, handsoood fortune But in her heart, she pined for Saint-Martin
“Do you want de Grenier?” theroom
“You should not ask me such questions”
He stood behind her in the uerite I know hi in the same questionable establishments”
“You seek to counsel rowled “You know I have no choice”
“Belong to me instead”
Marguerite covered her mouth to stem a cry and he pulled her close
“You ask toohis features for so to offer in return”
“I haveacross her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb “It may not be worth much Still, it is yours and yours alone”
“Liar,” she spat, striking out in self-defense, painfully wounded by the flare of fruitless hope his words evoked “You are a consummate seducer and I have resisted you Now an acquaintance of yours is about to best you That is the driving force of your interest”
“You do not believe that”
“I do” Wrenching away, she fled the room
For several nights after, Marguerite took great pains to avoid hi fascination with aas possible, but eventually, she could reer
When next they met, she was shocked by his appearance His handsoht, his skin pale Her heart ached at the sight of hiaze away
Worried, she deliberately stood in an intimate corner and waited for him to approach her
“Belong toup behind her “Do not ”
“Would you?” The question came out as no more than a whisper, her throat too constricted to allow volules to sweep over her skin in a prickling wave, creating a sharp contrast to the numbness she had felt the last week That their htening But the thought of not having the
“Yes Come with me”
“When?”
“Now”
Abandoning everything she knew, Marguerite left with him He took her to the residence he presently occupied, a shborhood
“Howthe elegant simplicity of the ivory and walnut palette
“You are the first” He kissed the bared nape of her neck “And the last”
“You were so certain of my capitulation?”
He laughed softly, a waro, this place served a far less pleasurable purpose”
“Oh?”
“A tale for another night,” he promised, his deep voice raspy with desire
The house had been her hoe fro their approval to become his mistress
“Je t’adore,” Saint-Martin groaned, his thrusts increasing in speed and power
Inside her, his thick cock swelled further, inundating her with delight She whi her forward so that he could pump deeper His lean, powerfully built body mantled hers, and his mouth touched her ear
“Come for me, mon coeur,” he whispered
His hand slid between her legs, his knowledgeable fingers rubbing her distended, swollen clitoris with precision His carnal expertise and the long, rhythmic strokes of his cock as buttocks She tightened around hi with his own release, filling her with the rich creamy wash o
f his ejaculate
As he always did in the after to her, his parted lips pressing open- her throat and cheek
“Je t’aiainst his
He withdrew froolden strands of his hair clung to his da the flush of his skin and the satiated gleam in his dark eyes He carried her to the bed with the ease of a man accustonificent forined that he was so beautiful beneath his garreat deal hidden under his dissolute façade
A knock caan to crawl over her reclining body
He cursed and called out, “What is it?”
“You have a visitor, my lord,” came the muffled reply of the butler
Marguerite looked at the clock on the
He cupped her cheek and kissed the tip of her nose “A moment, no more”
She sardless When he had first confided his activities as an agent in soents whose purpose was to further the king’s hidden diplomacy—she had been stunned and unable to reconcile this new ie of him with the one he cultivated in Society How could a man known as a voluptuary who lived only for his own pleasure be in truth so?
But as love grew froressed to a true joining of the uerite realized how layered her lover was and how brilliant was his disguise The proliferation of mistresses had not been entirely an affectation, of course, but he was not heartless To this day he felt re her to her “downfall”
When she had professed a si hi truth: Marchioness Saint-Martin—so pitied in private discourse for her husband’s excesses—e of duty It was not unpleasant and they were both content to proceed with separate agendas