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“I ith leg craan seemed to know exactly how to touch her, how deeply to ply herthem “Julia said to expect it sometimes—it's common for women in my condition”
“I never knew that,” he said, sounding disgruntled “How often does it happen?”
“I don't know This was the first tiohere it had ridden too high “Thank you I'm sorry to have bothered you” His hands slipped away from her, and Madeline yawned and curled on her side
There were sounds of hi to the floor Madeline opened her eyes and stared at his shadowy figure “Aren't you going to leave?” she asked hesitantly
“No, madam” He crawled into the space beside her “It seeht”
“If you're i to trick you—”
“It's clear that my charms are too much for you to resist I understand” His ar mouth covered hers
Realizing that he was teasing her, Madeline pushed at his chest “You conceited h, as his hand closed around the back of her head
“Kiss entle exploration, his breath burning her cheek His playful mood vanished, replaced by an intense concentration, a tenderness, that she had never thought he would show her again He touched her body with his fingertips, brushing across the downy hairs on her spine, the peaks of her breasts, the creases behind her knees Madeline lay still beneath hi in anticipation as his mouth drifted across her chest
He lingered on her niles for longthem to acutely hard points Restlessly she arched upward, wanting his body over her, inside her, wanting hi the s trails of fire
All sha, opening her legs for hi inside with teasing flicks
Madeline reached down to grasp the stiff, hot length of hian drew in a sharp breath and held her tightly, one large hand sliding over hers His voice was velvety-rough as hewith pleasure, he taught her what he liked, pressing led words and kisses across her skin
When he had reached his lih over his hip Her small body, so supple and responsive, twined around hi as if she had been rees, he savored the feel of her, silk and heat enfolding hihtly Her face was transfixed beneath his, her softfro inside her, until Madeline shuddered andin a white-hot burst of rapture Then Logan hs, infla the tension uncoil and streak through him in exquisite release
Afterward Logan re her body in his hands Her skin was as delicate and fragrant as the petals of night-bloo his mouth to her throat, he tasted the faint flavor of salt and touched his tongue to her still-rapid pulse This was a luxury he didn't usually allow hier with her in the aftererous
The ticking of the goldthe sound, he relaxed beside Madeline, his hands buried in the soft sheaves of her hair She was his, after all He could do as he liked with her…just as long as she never came to suspect that he loved her
Faced with the prospect of a ht whose neork required extensive editing, Logan decided to see him at Banbury's coffeehouse He often did such work at the coffeehouse, where he was always shown to the saethat provided aht The atmosphere at Banbury's was relaxed and convivial Hopefully it would serve to lighten the playwright's ard each word he had written as sacred
“Brew a pot that's extra strong and black,” Mr Banbury called to his daughter, who helped him run the place “Mr Scott has just arrived!”
Loganbriefly here and there to exchange a feords with friends and acquaintances Banbury's tended to attract an intellectual crowd: artists, philosophers, and hordes of writers from Fleet Street
One of the coffeehouse patrons, a fellow an as he set out the play folio, fresh sheets of parch implements
“Scott, what luck to see you here this !” theto speak to you about a certainfor so to ask you…”
“Ask away,” Logan said easily, indicating the chair next to him
Lord Beauchaarded him with an earnest s of your close relationship with the artistic coiven to so many artists—”
Logan interrupted with an inquiring arch of his brow “You ht to the point, my lord I'm inured to flattery”
Lord Beauchahed “I believe you're the first actor to ever make such a clai artist, a gentleman by the name of Mr James Orsini”
“I've heard of hi woman who placed a tray of coffee before him His attention returned to Beauchamp
“Orsini has a ht and texture—remarkable for a man in his twenties The problem is, he is in search of a subject that will earn his—”
Logan interrupted with a quiet laugh, lifting a cup of bitter black coffee to his lips After taking a bracing s, he looked at Beaucha to ask, my lord The answer is no”
“But no artist is considered ian Scott—and you've allowed at least twenty of them to do so, at my count”
“Twenty-five,” Logan said dryly
“I assure you, Scott, you've never sat for an artist as deserving of the honor as Orsini”
Logan shook his head “No doubt you're right However, I've been painted more than any actor you could name—”
“That's because you're so successful,” Beauchamp pointed out
“—and I've had enough of it I've been represented in oil, s, conversation pieces…let's spare the public from yet another portrait of me”