“It seems I cannot keep my hands off you, sweetheart,” he said, one hand snaking between their bodies to grope at her breasts as the other searched desperately for the door’s handle. “Even though I know I still have business to attend to, none of it matters as much as taking you back to bed!”
She tensed against him as the door swung inwards, silently cursing his unwitting reminder of the circumstances that brought them together. “Business?”
His face darkened when she tried to pull back. “I am owed payment, Esther, for the job I completed with such success last night – but vast though that sum is, all I find myself wanting is
you.
Surely do you not intend to deny me after all we have shared?”
She did not. Deeply envious of his apparent ability to set aside everything save for what he wanted, she forced herself to relax and slowly run her tongue across her parted lips. “Seth, I would hope that by now you realise how entirely powerless I am to deny you! If you want me again, all you need to do is take what is so inescapably yours.”
He relaxed and arched one brow as he held her tightly against his body. “It took you long enough to admit it, sweetheart; but now I have heard those words, I do not think I shall ever be able to have enough of them!”
They staggered as one towards the bed, and as Esther fell back onto it, Seth buried his cock inside her once more and pinned her down with one hand against her shoulder, holding nothing back as he knelt between her thighs and slammed into her again and again. She wrapped her legs around his waist with a throaty cry of delight, digging her heels into the small of his back as she reared against him and met each thrust with an answering one of her own.
This was raw and powerful, filled with a desperate hunger that consumed them both. Nothing else mattered so long as they were together like this. Thrilling in the fierce elation on his face, she reached up and wound her hands through his hair, seeking out his mouth with hers as both of them hurtled towards yet another climax; yet she knew that however much pleasure he gave her, she would never have enough of this or of him.
With each stroke of his cock her body quivered in glorious anticipation, and she did not even try to stop her orgasm from carrying her away. Foregoing her hold on his hair, she fisted the sheets above her head instead and let him hungrily swallow her rasping cries as he drove them both up the bed. She did not need to speak to tell him how near she was to climaxing; now the only question was which one of them would reach it first.
Seth finally broke the impassioned kiss, pulling his head back to stare down at her without blinking. “I want to feel you coming for me again, Esther,” he whispered, his words barely more than a rasping groan. “Relax, sweetheart, and let me get you there.”
Relaxing was impossible when his hand was now snaking between their feverish bodies and moving steadily lower, but Esther breathed out deeply and followed her body’s commands, for it knew instinctively that surrendering to the assassin would bring her all it craved. It had done from the very start, and there was no reason not to trust it now.
He seemed to know how great her need was and how close to climaxing she was, for he spared no tenderness in coaxing her towards the peak. His caresses rough and urgent from the very first, he toyed with her clit as he continued to thrust into her, his rapid and strangled groans betraying how little time there was left to them. Desperate now despite the numerous climaxes she had already revelled in whilst with him, she rocked and twisted against his hand, and no more than a few heartbeats passed before her climax ripped through her body with an explosion of lust. Her vision swam as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her, and her head rolled to the side in blissful supplication.
Lost to the euphoria, Esther closed her eyes as Seth collapsed on top of her, groaning her name over and over again as his weight restrained her against the bed. She would have been content to stay there with him forever, but as the tension slowly drained from his body he lifted his weight away and rolled onto his side.
She crawled into his arms and let him hold her tightly as they both fought for breath, but as he reached for a sheet to cover them, there came a low but insistent knocking on the door to the outside hallway.
He scowled fiercely as he pushed himself up to sit, and she had to fight back a tiny smile. Nestling into the bed, she allowed her body to finally relax even as it became clear that the intruder was not going away.
“Damn it all to hell,” he said under his breath. “Can the world not leave me alone just for today?! Esther, I swear I shall be back with you as soon as I possibly can, but I suspect this morning’s visitor cannot and will not be ignored.”
Seth leaned in for another swift kiss before he eased himself down to the floor and Esther lounged back against the pillows, brazenly relishing the dazed lust that still burned in his eyes as he slid the spent sheath off his cock and then snatched up a sheet to tie round his waist.
“You promise you will be back soon?”
“How could I possibly stay away?!”
She laughed quietly as he shook his head and moved back into the parlour, leaving the door to the bedchamber ajar so she could hear the nervous words of the maid when he opened the door to the hallway outside.
“You...you have a visitor, sir.”
“So I suspected,” Seth said. “I presume the gentleman is most insistent upon seeing me?”
“Very much so, sir.”
“Then you may send him up in five minutes – no less, mind you!”
Doubtless his state of undress illustrated his words with no further explanation needed, and it came as no surprise when he closed and locked the outside door without speaking further. Already resenting the unknown man who had seen fit to call on them, for he had forced her to remember the dangers outside the room, Esther left the bed to await Seth’s return to her side. It was time she thought with her head instead of her heart once more.
The sight of Esther leaning against the bedpost when Seth came back to the bedchamber was almost too much for him to bear. He balled his fists to stop himself from reaching out to her, for despite the spectacular climaxes they had already shared, he still craved her even more than before.
“I suggest you dive back under those covers, sweetheart, before I forget all sense and reason and return to it with you,” he said. “The last thing I want is for the man soon to join me to see you in this way, for I am afraid I have no intention of sharing you.”
She smiled, clearly amused by the dark hunger he wore so clearly on his face. It thrilled him deeply that she made no move to cover herself despite his instructions, and he let himself take a slow step towards her as she tilted her head. “I shall do as you ask, Seth, so long as you tell me who it is forcing you away from my side.”
“You do not need to know that, surely?”
“After all we have shared, I think the least you can tell me is who hired you to kill the man whose bed you stole me from!”
Despite the tense adrenalin rush now pounding through him, Seth’s lips quirked back into a wry smile. It was a reasonable request, after all. “Very well then, Esther; once you are back in the bed.”
“We both know I cannot deny you, not when you are ordering me into your bed.” With a teasing smile and what could only have been a deliberately provocative roll of her hips, she slowly slipped back beneath the covers, drawing them up until they only barely covered her breasts.
“Minx,” he said, shaking his head in mock rebuke. In truth he loved how shameless she had become in her lust for him, and were it not for the duke’s imminent arrival he would have gladly told her – and showed her – just that. “Though I suspect you have returned to my bed in such a manner merely to punish me for not joining you just yet, you have done as I asked. I am a man of my word, so you may have the answer to your question now.”
Her smile widened. “Go on, then.”
She was too much of a distraction. For the first time since she had asked the identity of his employer, Seth recalled the reason why it seemed she had gone to Fleetwood’s house last night. She was as much a part of this as the duke was, and he watched her intently as he opened his mouth to speak. “The man who hired me to assassinate Fleetwood, Esther, is Alexander Lyons, the Duke of Kensington.”
“Kensington?! Seth, you simply must not let him know I am here!”
To his deep unease, all the colour drained from Esther’s face and she leapt to her feet to pace back and forth in agitation, running her hands through her tousled curls as she barely held back a low sob. It seemed the knowledge that the duke was involved had terrified her, and when Seth knew how much she had faced without flinching last night, the sight of her fear badly unnerved him. Whatever the reason was, he had to discern it – and to his shame, only one thought came to mind.
“Is he a previous lover of yours too?” he demanded fiercely.
“No! God, no!” She did not flinch away from him, and in her wide eyes he saw nothing but the truth. “Trust me, Seth, I shared one dance with the man last summer and that was more than enough for me. Did you not hear the fate of his latest mistress?”
He breathed in sharply, still at a loss to comprehend the strength of the discomposure he felt. “I do not have time to pay attention to the vacuous gossip of the ton, Esther. What happened to her?”
“Nobody knows.” Moving into his waiting arms, Esther shivered as the weak winter sunshine glinted off the snow outside. “Portia disappeared entirely last October, Seth. Everyone expected the duke to make her his next wife, but then out of nowhere she left with no trace. The duke said she left London to winter with family abroad, but...”
“But what?”
“I know for a fact she had no family left.” Every muscle of her body was held tensely against his, and with a low sigh she pulled back to touch his face. “You ought not to keep him waiting, Seth. He is a dangerous man -”
“And I am a paid assassin, sweetheart, one of the very best.” Nothing could touch him while he held her in his arms. Burying his face in her hair, he tightened his hold on her until the door handle rattling outside reminded him of all that was at stake. “You need not fear for me, Esther. Just stay here out of the way and I shall take care of everything.”
“I am not accustomed to doing that, you realise.”
Esther’s lower lip jutted out, and the compulsion to kiss the pout away was near impossible to resist. With the greatest of efforts he pulled back, gritting his teeth as his cock roared in protest when he turned his back on her to hastily redress.
“I do realise that,” Seth said without daring to look over his shoulder at her. “The fact you are doing so for me means a great deal, and I shall prove just how much once my business with the duke is concluded and he is out of our lives.”
“I hope it will be as simple as you seem to expect, Seth,” came the sombre words in response as he left the bedchamber and cautiously locked the door behind him then pocketed the key – not to keep her in, but to keep the duke out. There was no such thing as too careful when it came to protecting Esther.
Pausing only to draw a deep breath and try to steady himself, doing his utmost to ignore all the tiny reminders of Esther already scattered around the parlour room, he crossed the room in four loping strides and pulled the door open.
“About time!” The portly Duke of Kensington scowled as he strode inside without waiting to be invited, a briefcase clutched in his left hand and red spots colouring his mottled face. “I do not appreciate being kept waiting, my friend.”
“My apologies, but I was in bed when you called.” Gritting his teeth, Seth closed the door behind him and let his gaze come to rest pointedly on the briefcase. “I presume you have heard of my success last night, then?”
“Indeed. Swiftly done, I must say – and so I moved with equal speed to come here so we might conclude our business. One last thing, though.”
Seth tensed as the duke’s hand tightened around the handle of the briefcase. “And what is that?”
The duke’s lips thinned. “I want your renewed assurance that the details of the contract between us will not leave this room.”
“I promised you my discretion, your Grace, and you have it. Come, now, I have built my career on my reputation for silence and skill – it is what brought me to your attention, after all.”
“True enough.” Seemingly satisfied, the duke laid the briefcase out on the nearest chair and unlocked it to spring open and reveal the neat rows of banknotes within. “Then this is yours, my friend. All there as we agreed.”
“I trust you.” Seth did not want to cause offence by moving to count the notes, and more pertinently did not want to unnecessarily extend the encounter. The sooner the duke left, the sooner he could return to Esther’s side. “Then unless you have another commission for me, your Grace, I presume this is goodbye.”
“Not quite; I have one more question for you first.”
He bit back all signs of frustration. “Then pray tell me what it is.”
The duke stroked his chin as he spoke. “I heard tell that Fleetwood had a mistress...a pretty filly, young woman by the name of Esther Quinn. I was rather hoping to bring her under my wing now he is out of the picture, but there has been no sign of her in London for a while. I don’t suppose you saw any hint of her in the man’s house, any trace at all?”
Seth balled his fists at his sides, unhanded by the force of the vicious jealousy that erupted with the duke’s careless words. It was all too plain to him what the nature of the other man’s interest in Esther was, and though no woman before her compelled this covetous fury in him, the merest thought of her in the duke’s hands had his knife itching to break free from its sheath inside his wrist.
“I asked you a question!” the duke said sharply. “Was there any sign of the woman at Fleetwood’s house?”
“No,” Seth ground out, a spark in his eyes that had made many better men than the duke flee before now. His knife twitched impatiently, and it was all he could do not to glance over at the door behind which Esther surely stood listening. “No, no sign at all.”
The duke’s face dropped. “A shame. I wanted to get to her before anyone else had the chance to do so, but it seems I shall have to be patient.”
“That I cannot help you with.”
“Likely not.” As the duke finally turned to leave, though, his narrowed eyes alighted upon the two cups of half-drunk coffee left on the table. “You have company?” he said slowly.
There was no point in denying it. “Indeed I do. After it became apparent my business with you was concluded last night, I saw no reason not to indulge myself. When I am on a contract I stay away from all distractions, you see, so when it draws to an end...”
Seth raised one brow and forced a knowing smile, and to his relief the duke guffawed loudly. “Well, you certainly earned your indulgence, my man! I hope she served you well.”
“She did, your Grace, and I anticipate that upon your departure she will do so again.”
“And fortunately for you, I am a man who can take a hint.”
“Then we are done?”
The duke’s face twisted into a smile. “We are. I shall see myself out.”
The moment the door closed again behind him, Seth slammed a clenched fist into the nearest wall. The thought of the duke taking Esther to his bed tormented him still, relentlessly dancing through his mind as he imagined her sobbing out her pleasure for the other man instead of Seth. Consumed by it and the jealous rage that pounded through his veins, he strode across the room and wrenched open the door to the bedchamber with the full intention of resuming his hold on her.
Esther’s eyes were wide and still filled with unshod tears when the door swung inwards to reveal the sight of her to the hard, intent hunger in Seth’s own eyes. She had dressed herself in a spare set of his clothing, and he would have berated her for her disobedience if she did not look so perfectly delectable that he wanted nothing more than to tear them all away again. Instead he did not even miss a beat before crossing the room and pulling her into his arms.
She fisted his shirt and clung to him tightly, rising up onto the tips of her toes to wordlessly offer up the kiss he sought. Revelling in the fresh evidence of how much she wanted him, he let his mouth slam down onto hers, holding nothing back from the bruising kiss that could have only one conclusion. It was time to leave now business with the duke had been concluded, but Seth knew he was powerless to do anything until he had first taken the razor edge off the fierce lust that burned inside him. This woman was more dangerous than any foe he had faced before now, but he could not bear the thought of ever letting her go.
Esther’s soft lips instantly parted beneath his assault, willingly giving his thrusting tongue the entrance it demanded. With a harsh groan of satisfaction he deepened the kiss further still, crushing her against his body as one hand fisted through her tousled hair and the other tightened around her waist to snugly mould her hips up against his cock. To his relief she rocked against him in willing surrender, allowing him everything he sought until he pulled break to draw a harsh, rasping breath.
Her hand shook as she reached up to touch his face, forcing her to look down at him as she spoke. “I would rather die than go to him, you know,” she said quietly. “Kensington repulses me, no matter how many monetary bribes he would try to ply me with. They mean nothing, not to me.”
Seth believed her. He did not know why, but some deep instinct told him Esther was not like the other women of the ton – and what was more, she was his. Soothed by her words, he let the tension drain from his body as her free hand slipped into his and she began to speak again, staring off into the distance as a shiver flitted across her face.
“Kensington is a dangerous man; far more so than you realise, Seth. His influence is unbound, and he need only click his fingers to gain all he wants. He is a liability to the country, and it is high time he was taken down a peg or two.”
Out of nowhere the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “And that, somehow, is what you were trying to achieve?”
“Yes – and what he had you prevent from happening, I fear.”
“I see. Fleetwood knew something that the duke did not want to travel any further.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, that was precisely what I was trying to discover; and when you killed him I lost any chance I might have had of doing so.”
There was so much still to be said, so much still to be revealed; but the sight of the bed behind them was far too distracting when the thought of Kensington and what he wanted from Esther was still a frenzied torment in the front of his mind. Resigned to the inevitable, he twisted away and pulled her towards the bed as he spoke. “Frankly, Esther, I couldn’t care less right now. All that matters is getting you back into my bed before we make our next move.”
Her eyes widened. “
Our
next move?”
“Come, now, you have shown me how intelligent you are!” Seth said, his voice far sharper than he intended it to be. “Surely you cannot imagine I will just let you slip away from me now; and indeed, I am beginning to think you no longer even want to.”
Esther hesitated and he held his breath, but then she sighed softly and reached up to undo the buttons of his shirt, her fingers dancing across his skin and sending his arousal soaring to a desperate, reckless height that could not be ignored. “Bed first,” she said under her breath. “Bed first, Seth, and then we will talk.”