Page 8 of Lily and the Duke
St. Albans studied her from between narrowed lids. “I like your honesty, and we will return to the reason for that curiosity in a moment. First, I should like to know if you have already taken a lover.”
Lily gasped. “It would be scandalous for an unmarried lady to do so!”
“But you have told me you do not ever intend to marry, so my natural conclusion, as I mentioned earlier, must be that you intend to take a succession of lovers during your lifetime in place of a husband. Unless you are of the opinion that what one has never experienced, one cannot miss?”
Lily bristled at the mockery in his tone. “I am of theopinion, from what I have observed in my parents’ and older brothers’marriages, that for the woman, there is as little pleasureinthe marriage bed as there is out of it,” she bit out waspishly.
For obvious reasons, she had no idea of her sister’s opinion on the experience.
St. Albans’s nostrils flared. “Then your father and brothers must be inconsiderate lovers who care only for their own pleasure and have no interest in whether their wife experiences the same.” The disdain in his voice emphasized what he thought of such selfish behavior.
Lily snorted. “Next, you will be telling me that your own wife was not subject to that same lack of consideration and that Chloe was born as a result of a shared love and passion between her mother and father.”
She immediately regretted that tone when she saw the way St. Albans’s pale eyes had darkened to a deep and stormy blue.
“I apologize for my outspokenness,” she said quickly. “Again.” She winced.
She had not spoken more than a brief and polite greeting to St. Albans before this, and now she could not seem to stop an avalanche of unfiltered, and inappropriate comments, spilling from her lips.
“My own bluntness of nature is such that I believe I might learn to appreciate your outspokenness,” the duke admired.
Lily avoided meeting those piercing eyes. “Even so, I should not have made my remarks so personal.” Even if that was exactly how Lily would describehiscomments regarding her proposed passionless future.
St. Albans stared at her for what was to Lily several long and anxious moments. She was aware that this man could eviscerate her with just a look or a single word in the Prince Regent’s ear.
“You agreed earlier that you have never been kissed.” St. Albans finally spoke again, but the flintiness had not completely dissipated from his gaze.
“I have not,” Lily confirmed again.
He nodded. “Then I do not see how you can possibly comment, with any degree of authority on something you admit you have no experience of. Especially if it was in the hands of a lover who is both experienced and puts your pleasure before his own.”
Lily had no idea where St. Albans was going with this conversation.
But his words made her feel as if she were balanced on the precipice of hot molten lava. To fall over that edge, although it was capable of killing her, could also surround and draw her into a depth of heat and pleasure such as she had never imagined possible.
From the way the pupils of Lily’s eyes were so dilated they almost obliterated the pale green irises, her cheeks were once again flushed and her breathing had grown shallow and ragged, Gabriel knew that she had become aroused merely from discussing, then imagining, such intimacy.
All were indications that, despite what she thought to the contrary, Lily would be very passionate with the right lover with whom she might explore that desire.
A knowledge that immediately caused Gabriel’s half-hard cock—it had been that way since the beginning of their conversation—to fully engorge inside his drawers.
A clear indication of how much he now wanted to make love to Lily Tremayne.
A realization that both concerned and exhilarated him.
It concerned him because Lily was so young and had admitted to being completely inexperienced.
But Gabriel’s strong and immediate physical response to this young lady told him that he nonetheless desired her. More than he had any woman for some time. Which was the reason for his exhilaration.
He had told Lily the truth when he said he’d had other lovers since Mariah.
He had remained celibate for fully a year after his wife died, out of love and respect for her.
But his youth and a need for physical release not by his own hand had then caused him to seek out ladies in the houses of the demimonde with whom he could be intimate without anything more being expected of him. Because those ladies were not a part of Society but were wholly mindful of the need for discretion in regard to their gentleman callers.
Those physical liaisons had satisfied Gabriel for several years, but eventually, they too had palled, and his visits had become less and less frequent. Returning to the use of his right hand could bring about the same release, without the need for politeness or conversation first.
Which was why Gabriel couldn’t remember the last time he had physically touched the softness of a woman’s skin, let alone made love to her.
