The Heiress - Lynsay Sands [64]
When Daniel narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, she scowled and said, “Stop looking at me like that, you are not my father.”
“Too right, I’m not,” he said at once.
“Then stop acting like you are and get back on topic, my lord. Will you or will you not visit my room tonight so we can get this blood and pain business out of the way so I am healed ere we get to Gretna Green?”
Daniel frowned and then took her hand and said softly, “I assure you, Suzette, it is not going to be like that. There might be a hint of blood, but certainly not streams, and I am sure there will be little pain.”
Now her eyes narrowed. “Have you deflowered a virgin before, then?”
“Good Lord, no!” he said at once with an abhorrence that was more than convincing. It also made Suzette roll her eyes.
“Then you don’t know, do you?” she asked dryly.
While Daniel frowned at the truth of that, Suzette crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She didn’t even try to kiss him, but merely laid her head next to his and whispered, “Please, Daniel. I don’t wish every anniversary to be a reminder of a painful first experience when I know it could be one of pure pleasure if we just remove the barrier to it beforehand.”
Sighing, he slid his arms around her. “It is so hard to think clearly with you close like this,” he murmured, ducking his head to inhale deeply by her neck.
“Then don’t think,” Suzette whispered, and when he straightened, turned her head and caught his earlobe with her teeth before sucking it between her lips.
Daniel let his breath out on a hiss and turned sharply, catching her mouth with his own. Suzette smiled and responded to the demanding kiss he gave her, and then shifted to straddle his thighs on the settee. When her skirts hampered her, Daniel helped by pulling them up and out of the way. Suzette felt cool air touch her naked bottom, and then Daniel continued to hold the skirt up with one hand, but dropped the other to clasp and squeeze one round cheek. He then broke their kiss, used his hand at her bottom to urge her to rise up a bit and then closed his mouth over one nipple through her gown as soon as it rose into range.
Suzette groaned and clasped his head, then bit her lip as the hand on her bottom dipped between her legs, but stiffened as she heard a throat being cleared behind her.
Daniel released her breast and dropped her skirts at once. He then leaned to the side to look toward the door as Richard said, “Well, it appears I arrived just in time.”
Suzette groaned and dropped to sit in Daniel’s lap so that she could press her flushed face into his neck. She heard him sigh and felt him pat her back soothingly, but then he stood up, taking her with him, to set on her feet. Suzette felt him brush a kiss to her forehead and move away, but stayed where she was. She didn’t embarrass easily, but really, Richard had just got an eyeful of her bare bottom and she would just rather not have to face him at the moment, so she remained where she was with her back to the door until she heard the parlor door close and the murmur of their voices moving away. The moment she heard the front door close, however, Suzette dropped onto the settee and buried her face in it, both embarrassed and frustrated.
“Well . . . that went well too,” Daniel commented as they stepped out of the tailor’s some hours later and started up the walk in the direction of the Radnor carriage. It was the second stop they’d made, and both had been very successful. He and Richard had only planned to make arrangements for the blackmail funds when they’d left the townhouse earlier and had managed the task with little trouble. However, Daniel had taken note of Richard’s discomfort in his brother’s clothes as they’d arranged the transaction, and upon leaving had suggested a quick stop at the tailor’s before returning home. It hadn’t taken much persuasion to convince Richard. The man had returned to England with little in the way of clothing befitting an earl and had been forced