Sin's Mistress

Jess Michaels

SIN’S MISTRESS Book 3: Sin Trilogy

By Jess Michaels

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The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions, and do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. SIN’S MISTRESS Copyright © 2005 by Jess Michaels ISBN: 1-59836-239-9 Cover art Copyright © D.L. Taylor All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. Printed and bound in the United States of America. For information, you can find us on the web at www.VenusPress.com PO Box 584, Hillsborough, NC 27278

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Dedication:

My special thanks to Tracey, who loved this series into being. Thanks for all your hard work and support. This book, as all books are, is for Michael.

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Chapter One

“You are out of options, Trevington. You must accept that.” Sin leaned back in the chair beside the fire in the parlor of his biggest enemy. He took every opportunity to enjoy the expression on the bastard’s fat, red face. Trevington deserved pain and ruination and more. He deserved to suffer. Sin intended to make him suffer. The other turned to look at him with wild eyes. “I have repaid a portion of the markers, Sinclair, but I cannot repay the full portion right now. You must give me more time.” Sin fought a smile. Beg, you bastard. “When you were winning, did you give your partners additional time to repay their wagers?” he asked. Trevington hesitated, but then began to nod so rapidly it seemed his neck was on a hinge. “Of course! Of course, sir.” Sin was on his feet and across the room, though he didn’t recall giving his body the order to move. Grasping Trevington’s collar, he slammed him against the wall once, then twice, until Trevington gasped for breath. “Liar,” Sin growled, just above his breath. The other man’s eyes bugged out, his skin going a pasty gray. “Please! Please, I’ll do anything. Anything.” Sin let him go and backed away as Trevington hit the floor in a heap. “Now that I believe. So let us negotiate. You have something I desire.” Trevington scrambled to his feet and held out his hands in pleading. “Whatever it is, you can have it. If it will clear my debt, I will sacrifice it.” “Whatever I want?” “Yes!” 5

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Sin returned to his seat with a thin smile. “What about your youngest daughter’s virtue?” He almost expected the bastard to hesitate. To consider what Sin’s offer meant to his daughter, Evelyn Greville. But he didn’t. Trevington nodded immediately. “Yes! Evelyn is untouched, sir, I assure you.” Sin swallowed back the bite of nausea. Trevington knew of his sordid reputation, yet the man didn’t think about Evelyn’s comfort or even her safety. He was willing to throw his child into the fires of hell to save his own disgusting skin. And though that played into Sin’s plans perfectly, the idea still troubled him. And made him all the more driven to take Evelyn. He had been watching her for months. It wasn’t why he’d come to Trevington’s to gamble with the bastard… that was about revenge. But Evelyn had become the one light in the darkness of his anger. Her innocence had drawn him to her, but it was something else that had driven him to distraction over her. Made him crave her in the night when he woke up hard and ready for a woman. He had learned Evelyn’s secret and that had changed everything. It was the only reason he would dare to claim her innocence as his ultimate vengeance on her father. “Very well,” Sin said with a nod. “But I do not want a simple night to take her virtue. You owe me far more than a night could repay.” Trevington looked at him, eyes filled with worries and fears, but only for himself. “What more do you want? What will make us even?” Sin nearly said ‘nothing’, but he held back. There was no need to reveal how very personal this bargain was. That it was a trade of a daughter’s future for a father’s life. “I want her for a fortnight. At my estate in Devon.” He studied his fingernails like he was bored, when in reality he felt on edge, coiled like a snake ready to strike. “I am departing for my home there today. You will wait three days to send her to me. I will have a carriage come to collect her. You will not tell her where she is going or for what purpose. She will not bring a servant with her. Do you understand my instructions?” Trevington stared at him with wide eyes, an expression that almost said he understood what he was doing to his daughter by agreeing. But then he stammered, “Yes. I understand. I shall follow your directions, Sinclair. She will follow behind you in three days time and stay at your home for a fortnight.”

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Sin rose to his feet. “Very good. Once the ten days are over, I will count your debt as fulfilled.” He didn’t wait to hear Trevington’s gratitude or further groveling. Without a backward glance for the man, he headed for the parlor door. He strode down the hallway toward the front entrance where his carriage awaited him, already packed and ready for the three day journey back to his estate, Huntswood. The footman was just about to turn the knob and show him out when the library door off the foyer opened, and Evelyn Greville stepped into the hall. Sin couldn’t help it… he came to a stop and stared. He had been with enough women that often the faces and features blurred together in one tangled mass of sweaty limbs and arching bodies. But for some reason, Evelyn’s face was not one he could forget. She was beautiful. Not as traditionally pretty as her elder sister Juliana, with her fiery red hair and fine features, but a different kind of beauty. A sensual sort, like a woman who knew her body and how to hold it, how to move it to her every advantage. What made it better was that her sensual movements were not by design. She was an innocent, at least in body. When she swayed her hips, she did not know how it made a man’s cock rise hard and heavy. When she licked her full lips, as she did right now, she had no idea that the nervous habit gave a man’s mind visions of that pink tongue stroking his erection. “Mr. Sinclair,” she gasped, pulling the book in her hand up to her breast. His eyes couldn’t help but follow the motion. Perfect breasts, just the right size to fill his palms. And soon they would, though she didn’t know that. “I did not realize you had come today,” she continued with a little smile. “Lady Evelyn.” He caught her hand, which was bare since she had not been expecting guests. It was the first time he had ever touched her and he nearly unmanned himself as he reveled in the soft satin of her skin. Damn, but he couldn’t wait to feel that silky brush against his chest, his back, his cock. He wasn’t alone in reaction to the first touch. Her eyes widened as she stared down at their now entwined hands and she sucked in a harsh breath. Color rushed to her throat and downward… he wondered just how far that pink blush went.

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“I was just on my way out,” he murmured, voice suddenly husky with the need to have her now. Damn, could he wait nearly a week? He had to. “Oh,” she squeaked, though she did not pull her hand away. “I-I am sorry I didn’t know you were here sooner. We could have talked.” “We will talk very soon, my lady,” he said before he lifted her hand to his lips. Turning it over, he pressed his mouth to her palm and pressed a kiss against the delicate skin there. Evelyn began to tremble and her lips parted with surprise. He also couldn’t help but notice the harsh outline of her nipples against the thin silk of her pink gown. So very, very responsive. “Good day, Evie,” he whispered before he released her hand and backed out of the foyer. As the servant closed the door in his face, Sin saw her lean back against the wall, the hand he had kissed pressed against her breast, her breath coming fast. Soon. Very soon. She would be his in every way. Any way. And he would make sure she liked it.

**** Evelyn had always known this would happen. Her father had sold Juliana, Evelyn’s older sister into a marriage years before. He would do and had done anything to settle his always mounting debts. She had waited for him to do the same to her, but that moment hadn’t come. She had feared it, had nightmares about it. And now she was living it as she felt the carriage she had been riding in for three long days come to a stop. She didn’t know whom the vehicle belonged to. That had been yet another piece to the puzzle. It was luxurious, but gave no other clues. Neither had her father. He only had forced her to get in with a brief farewell. He hadn’t said what her fate would be, but Evelyn was no fool. She was going because some man had been willing to count her father’s debt fulfilled in trade for her. And unlike the arrangement her father had made for her sister all those years ago, Evelyn somehow doubted this had been a trade for marriage. It was a trade for her maidenhead. Beneath her fear, there was a certain thrill that worked through her at that thought. Evelyn was innocent, yes. Aside from her own hand, she had never been touched intimately by another person. But she knew about sex and sin. She had seen it when she spied on the servants at night. She had read about it in the books she ordered using a secret account she’d set up in her father’s name. And she had eventually written about it 8

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in her own private diaries and journals. Written about her deepest, darkest desires…and the one and only man she wanted to share them with. She could only hope the man in this reality was something vaguely similar to the man she had dreamed about for months. Raphael Sinclair. Sin. Evelyn shivered at the mere thought of him and her body grew tight and ready. The last time she’d seen him, he had touched her…and she had spent the past week touching herself while she thought of the pressure of his hot mouth on her delicate palm. The door to the carriage opened and her driver stood outside. “My lady.” He offered her a hand and she forced herself to shake off memory and fantasy to move outside. It was very dark. Only a few lights from the house shone off the drive, but she could see the estate home was large. Her father had sold her to a rich man, a man with power. The door at the top of the marble staircase opened and a well-dressed butler showed her in with a few words of welcome. He led her down a long hallway to a private office where she was left alone for the first time since she had been loaded into the carriage days ago. Evelyn pulled off her driving coat and gloves and draped them over the back of a richly upholstered settee. Stretching her back, she strolled around the room, examining her surroundings as she tried to control her pounding heart. A fire burned brightly in a large fireplace with an ornate mantelpiece. A massive mahogany desk was across from the fire with a leather chair behind it. The furniture was utterly masculine. There were paintings on every wall. She stepped forward to examine the one above the fireplace and caught her breath. Dear God, they were sexual in nature. In this particular one, a nude woman bent over a chair, her body exposed to a man. He was nude, as well, and his large member jutted skyward. In his hand, he held a riding crop. Judging from the red mark the artist had painted across the woman’s round backside, it had already been used once. But the woman’s face was anything but pained. In fact, it looked like she was in the heat of pleasure. Could a woman really enjoy such a thing? Evelyn shivered as she moved to the next piece along the wall. Another sexual subject greeted her. This time a woman reclining on the same sofa, opening her sex as a

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man knelt on the floor before her. His red tongue lapped at her juices as he stroked a large cock in his hand. As she examined the piece more closely, Evelyn felt her body react to the image. Her nipples tightened and her own sex grew wet and hot with achy need. She should have been ashamed by her blatant, wanton reactions. They weren’t lady-like. But she wasn’t. She had learned over the past few years, that this was who she was. She had needs. Desires. And now, despite everything, she tingled at the thought that those needs would finally be fulfilled and those desires realized. Shutting her eyes, she braced herself on the wall beside the painting. “Please, let this man be something like Sin,” she whispered, though she had her doubts any man would move her like he did. “Evelyn.” She froze, her eyes flying open to stare, this time unseeing, at that explicit painting. That voice. It couldn’t be. This was a dream. A fantasy. She would turn around and see some portly peer of the realm or perhaps a rich merchant. She wouldn’t see Sin. Clenching her fists, she slowly turned. “Sin!”

**** Sin bit back a curse at the sound of his name leaving Evelyn’s lips. She had never called him by that name before. Always it was Mr. Sinclair. Always propriety and hidden heat. Now that heat was alive in her eyes. And it was in her voice was she hissed out the nickname he had carried since he was twenty. Never had he enjoyed the sound of it more. Never had the mere whisper of that one syllable made his cock jut to full attention and his body jolt with potent desire. They stared at each other, her shocked into silence, him shocked in general. Seeing Evelyn in his lair, in the den where he had pursued a hundred or more conquests, was not like he’d imagined. She seemed so…sweet amongst the rich carpets, the velvet settees, the erotic art he collected. So innocent. This was wrong. It had been wrong from the start. To ruin her father was one thing, yes. Trevington deserved to suffer. But to bring Evelyn into Sin’s world, a world 10

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she couldn’t truly fathom, no matter what secrets he knew she had, that went too far. He should send her home. He should forget this plan. He stepped toward her, ready to do just that, when that delectable pink tongue darted out and wet her lips. Just as it had a few days before, that simple action undid him. And he knew, in that second, that he wouldn’t let her go. He would have her. He would take her. He would teach her every wicked thing he knew. And he would enjoy every moment of her ruination. And so would she. “Mr. Sinclair…” She panted like she’d run a league and her breasts lifted with each breath. “I-I don’t understand…” Sin stared at her, trying to maneuver back into the shell of propriety that young ladies were raised to rely on. But he also saw the flush of awareness darken her skin. He saw the way her gaze darted up and down his body with interest and longing. Reaching back, he shut the door behind him and took another long step toward her. “Surely you’ve guessed by now what my purpose for bringing you here was,” he said, measuring his tone, not letting her see how deeply involved he was. She blinked, as if in her utter shock she’d forgotten whatever guesses she’d made about this journey’s ultimate purpose. Then memory dawned and she began to tremble. Just as he imagined she would when she reached the ultimate crest of pleasure. His erection strained against his trousers and he nearly groaned with the desire that was steadily building in his boiling blood stream. “This cannot be,” she whispered, taking a step backward but finding herself flush against the wall. He wasn’t certain whether to be amused or irritated by her resistance. He remained neutral while he continued to push her toward the realization that this was truly happening. “It is.” She swallowed hard, then straightened up and gathered her composure with effort. “Please, tell me exactly what my father’s bargain with you was.” He nodded. She deserved that. “One fortnight at my home, Evelyn. Ten days of pleasure.” She shivered, but her expression remained cool. “In exchange for what?” Hesitation halted him. Should he tell her the whole truth about their bargain? Tell her that her virtue, something valued and protected by ladies of society, was worth so 11

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little to her father… a man who should have been protecting her with all his heart and power? Evelyn met his stare with a blush tingeing her cheeks. “How much does he owe you, Sin?” He let out a breath of relief. Somehow he didn’t like the idea of revealing her father’s true nature. If she already knew it, that only eased the entire situation. “Enough,” he said with a shrug. “I knew it.” She sighed, resigned. “I am afraid you are getting a poor bargain. I have none of the experience it is rumored you are accustomed to.” She turned away, but he caught her take a peek over her shoulder at him. Ah, so there was pain…humiliation…but there was also an undeniable interest that flickered in her brown eyes. He took a long step toward her, startling her into facing him again. Pinned against the wall, she had no avenue for retreat. Within a few paces, he had braced one hand on either side of her head. He breathed in her scent: sweet hints of heather and jasmine, but also an undertone of sultry, heady need. A need he so desperately wanted to fulfill. “You underestimate how much a man might wish to give you the experience you lack, Evie.” Her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. He leaned a little closer. “Can you deny you wish to surrender?” Still, she didn’t reply. It was almost as if she were frozen in place, as she stared up with eyes wide and misty with powerful and warring emotions. He tilted his head ever closer, never touching but near enough to feel the heat of her skin. “I have watched you. Seen you watch me. I’ve received the messages you may not even know you telegraph. And now I intend to give you no choice but to give in.” When she sucked in a breath to argue, he dropped his lips against hers and stole away her words with the sweep of his tongue. She let out a little cry of surprise and he took full advantage, breaching her lips to sample her mouth. When he stroked his tongue along her own, her cry turned to a gasp of pleasure. Then a moan when he pushed his fingers into her hair and tilted her head for greater access. Just as he had always fantasized she would be, Evelyn was a quick study at pleasure. After just a few moments, she darted her tongue to tentatively meet his. Then with more surety and greater confidence. Her hands relaxed at her sides, then lifted, 12

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fingers skimming over his stomach to rest on his chest. His own moan, one he could not contain any more than she had been able to hold back hers, was lost in her mouth. Sin leaned in to rock against her, let her feel the demands of his body as his hard, heavy cock nudged the yielding warmth at the juncture of her thighs. She broke the kiss at the foreign feeling, her head dipping back as she hissed out a harsh sound of pleasure and surprise and even fear. “You cannot deny you want this,” he murmured as he brought his lips to her throat. She stiffened, then began to push him back. “No! Wait--I--” Instantly, he released her, pulling away as she twisted from his embrace and struggled for breath. “I am a lady, I cannot…” He nodded. He had anticipated that the veil of propriety might inhibit her. But he had a weapon against that. Reaching into the inside pocket of his tailored jacket, he withdrew a thick, leather bound book. Before he even said a word, Evelyn’s eyes widened and all the high color left her cheeks. “Where did you get that?” she demanded in a harsh whisper. “That--that is my journal!”

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Chapter Two

Evelyn fought the powerful urge to snatch her diary from Sin’s fingers and run into the dark night. As tempting as that idea was, it was impractical and wouldn’t change the fact that Sin had clearly read her private thoughts. Her stories. Heat flamed her face. They weren’t just stories. They were fantasies. About all the things she longed to do with this man. To this man. The very things some of his artwork depicted and more. Things that began with the kind of kiss he had just bestowed upon her. But in none of those fantasies had he bartered pleasure for a debt he owed to her father. Disappointment flooded her as she reached for the book, but he held it out of her reach, watching her with those green eyes that could be dark as night or light as spring grass depending on his mood. At present they were jungle dark and filled with such passion that it almost scared her. “You have no right to my private thoughts!” she protested, hoping he would assume her breathy voice was due to outrage, not the taut, growing need that was building in her lower belly. “My words, my feelings, my—my--” He smiled, wolfish and possessive and she felt yet another small part of herself seduced by his intention to have her for ten delicious days. “Your desires, Evelyn?” She shook her head, sinking under his spell with terrifying speed. “This is not proper!” He tilted his head, demanding she meet his eyes. She was helpless as he stared deep into her soul. Touched her in places he had no business to see. “It is improper,” he agreed far too readily as he moved toward her, closing what little gap of safe space she’d carved out between them after the kiss. Reaching out, he traced her cheek with the back of his hand. 14

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“But I think that a proper lady would never write the naughty, delightful things you put in this book,” he drawled as he held up the journal briefly. Then he tossed it aside, freeing both his hands. “I think beneath these proper gowns…” His hand slid from her cheek to the top button of her high-waist, woolen traveling gown. Before she could protest, he made quick work of the four tiny buttons separating her from madness. The gowned seemed to float away from her shoulders to crumple at her waist. Her chemise hardly covered her in any decent fashion. The thin cotton did not keep her hard nipples from being visible or hide the gooseflesh that had popped along her bare arms at his touch. “And behind this proper hair,” he continued as he reached up and threaded his fingers into her already tousled style. One by one he found the pins hidden within her locks and pulled them away until her hair came down around her shoulders, offering a little protection that had been taken when he left her standing in the thin sheath of her chemise. “And beneath all your proper words--” He traced her lips with the rough pad of his thumb, then parted them. “There is a wild, wanton woman who has been hiding for too long. And for ten days, I intend to set her free and give her every fantasy she wrote about in the dark, secret hours of the night.” Evelyn shivered. With his every word, her nerves had become more and more sensitive. Now it felt like her very blood hummed with desires long hidden. She tilted her chin, shamelessly, wordlessly offering him her mouth. He took that offer with a muttered curse and she found heaven in the heat of his second kiss. Sin demanded more this time and she found she was willing to give what he required. His fingers curled against her back, stroking bare skin and bringing her alive in ways she’d only dreamed about. But once again, her wary mind kept her from the full surrender he demanded. “Wait-” she whispered. “Wait.” Again, he pulled away, staring down at her with wild eyes. “What is it?” She didn’t pull from his embrace. “Did my father give you my diary?” He shook his head without any hesitation. “No. He is not aware of its existence.” She drew in a sigh of relief. “And did he make you the offer of my flesh for his debt?” Again, he shook his head in the negative. “I made the terms.” 15

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Joy flooded her. Though this wasn’t how she had ever envisioned coming to Sin’s arms, at least she knew he hadn’t been coerced into this. Not that she could pictured Sin being forced into anything. But she needed to know one more thing before she took what her body and very soul craved. What Sin offered. “Why did you make my body a term of repayment?” He seemed surprised that she would ask such a thing. For a moment, he considered the question. Finally, he said, “If I had not, I knew your father would offer you to another man. And after reading your fantasies, I couldn’t bear the idea of someone else being the one to introduce you to passion and pleasure.” She shivered as he pulled her a fraction closer. Close enough that she felt the hard thrust of his erection against her belly. Her own body trembled, growing hot and gushing wet in reaction. “I am the only one who knows your secrets, Evie.” His voice was low now, husky and seductive. “The only man who knows your every desire. By my reputation, you must know I can introduce you to pleasures you haven’t dared dream of.” His hot breath stirred her cheek. “Do you think any other man could truly give you what you want?” She blushed. Despite reading her private thoughts, Sin didn’t realize he, himself, had been the star of all her stories. That there was only one man in the world who she wanted to give her what she had described. He clearly took her hesitation for resistance, for he cocked his head and met her gaze with steely green determination. “Evelyn, you will stay here for ten days, whether you surrender to your wants or not. Why not take what you haven’t dared ask for?” She stared up at him. Temptation embodied. But also very, very right. She thought of her sister, Juliana, who had been so broken by a similar bargain. If Evelyn didn’t take this moment with Sin, her father would surely give her to another at some point. Why shouldn’t she have what she had longed for? She felt herself nod. Sin’s eyes lit up with feral desire more potent and dangerous than any she’d ever seen. She braced herself for the moment of taking, claiming, but instead he let his hands slide down her sides until he found her drooping gown. Gently, he lifted it back over her shoulders and fastened it closed as easily as he had loosened it. “I am very pleased,” he said. “We will retire to my chamber. You can rest from your journey, eat and then…” He trailed off with a tantalizing smile. “Then?” she asked, her entire body shaking. 16

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He caught her arm and slid it into the crook of his own. “Then I shall begin your education.”

**** Sin’s chamber matched his nickname to perfection, but Evelyn was not experiencing it as she had expected. Instead of lying on the big bed with the sumptuous velvet coverlet or being ‘educated’, as he put it, on the fur rug before the blazing fire, she was sitting at a small table having supper. It was utterly civilized and not sexual in any way… Except that she was in Sin’s room. Next to Sin’s bed. And he was sitting across from her, watching her every move with keen interest. He seemed especially fascinated by the way she ate. Even the most benign motion, like licking a bit of cream from her lip, elicited a muttered groan from his lips. Evelyn was beginning to realize that innocent or not, she had power over him. Over Sin! A man who could reduce the chilliest matron to a quivering mass. A man who made her father tremble in fear. She set her napkin aside and smiled with a nervous flutter. Now it would happen. That moment she had feared and anticipated for nearly a year. The moment when Sin would take her to his bed. Except he made no motion to do so. Instead, he poured her a glass of wine and leaned back in his chair. “May I ask you a question?” he said, strumming his fingertips along his own wine glass. She nodded. How could she say no? “Why did you begin to write down your fantasies?” Dipping her chin, a rush of heat tickled her cheeks. She had kept her scribblings a secret for so long, she wasn’t sure she could share them, even with the star of her darkest fantasies. Especially with him. He leaned forward and she felt the touch of one finger beneath her chin. With a gentle nudge, he forced her to look into his eyes. “Do not do that,” he ordered and suddenly his voice was harsh. She had never heard such a tone from him. “If you are inexperienced, that is fine… but I don’t like coquettishness. I like you brazen and bold like you are in the words you wrote. Don’t hide behind some veil of propriety. Not with me.” 17

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She looked into his dark eyes and let her shoulders come back. Bold and brazen. It was easier to do behind the cloak of secrets and the veil of words. Much harder with the real man. But if that would bring him pleasure, she would try. She had to. For she could already be certain, he would do everything in his power to bring her the same. “I knew my father would probably make a bargain like the one he made with you. For my hand or my virtue. Either way, I knew I would be forced to lay down with a man. After watching my sister go through her own hell under similar circumstances, I realized it would be best for me to be ready for that inevitability. I had heard my maid was secretly meeting with a groom in the stable, so I-” She wanted to turn away, but Sin’s earlier order stopped her. She sucked in a harsh breath. Sin nodded. “What did you do?” he encouraged, his voice low. “I--I followed her one night. Hid in the shadows as they--they--” “Made love?” he finished. “Fucked?” She started. She had only heard that term once. Only seen it in writing a few times. It was shocking and thrilling to hear it from Sin’s lips. Suddenly it wasn’t just a vulgarity, but it conjured wicked images. “Yes.” She nodded. He cocked his head and slowly slid his chair closer to her at the round table. “What were they doing, Evie?” Her eyes fluttered shut as she tried to breathe past the tightness of her chest. Remembering was an erotic exercise she’d repeated before. But always alone. Still, saying these things out loud made hot cream rush to her thighs. “He--he pushed her skirts up and knelt before her. Between her legs.” She shifted to help relieve some of the tension that made her womanly parts tingle and her nipples harden. “And he licked her.” Sin cleared his throat before he reached out to catch the chair she was sitting on and dragged her closer. “What did you do?” She watched his face, taut with desire, then let her gaze move down. She had felt the thrust of his cock earlier, but now she saw the harsh outline of it against his trousers. Retelling her story was arousing him as much as it did her. And that feeling of power thrilled through her again.

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“It looked like my maid enjoyed what he did. It was the first time I thought the things that pass between a man and woman in the privacy of their bed could be pleasurable. And it made me want…something. I didn’t know what. But when I touched myself, in the same place where the groom put his mouth on the maid, it relieved that ache. So I did that while I watched.” “And did you come?” he asked, parting his legs. She jumped when he grabbed the edge of her chair and pulled it between them. Her knees pushed his inner thighs as he pushed them apart a fraction and stroked his palms against her legs. “Sin!” she gasped as electric reaction jolted through her every fiber. “Did you?” he repeated. “Come?” The world was spinning as his hands stroked, stroked, just lightly, against the top of her knees and up her thighs, but never actually touching her where that deep ache throbbed. “It means to find release. Relieve that want,” he explained. She shook her head. “Not the first time. Later--later I felt…something happen.” He groaned. “And was it after that night that you began to write?” She was having a hard time focusing as Sin’s fingers continued to play along her hips, cupping her in such intimate ways, pulling her ever closer. “No. I only spied on the servants for a while,” she admitted, now too aroused to be embarrassed by the confession. “And then I discovered people actually wrote books and made drawings like the paintings in your parlor. I found ways to get them. When I felt that need, I looked at my pictures and read the stories. And then one night I couldn’t find a new story to interest me…so I wrote one.” “Very good, Evelyn.” Sin leaned forward. One hand stroked her rib cage in slow, steady brushes. The other cupped her chin. “I appreciate your candor. And I will give you everything you saw. Everything you wrote about. And then I’ll introduce you to even more. But first, I must take your maidenhead.” She nodded the movement jerky as his fingers finally stroked the side of her breast. She remembered her ladies maid begging the groom to suckle her nipples, her screams of pleasure when he plucked them. Would Sin do that to her? “Evelyn,” his voice cut like silk through her fog. “Are you certain? Because once I begin I’ll not ask you ever again. Not tonight. Not until you return home.”

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She looked at him, felt the press of his muscles against her. The warmth of his skin. His scent filled her nostrils. Sandalwood. Pine. And the musk of desire. “I want you to be the one, Sin. Please-please give me what you’ve offered. Please.” He shut his eyes and muttered something. It may have been “Thank God.” But then he dragged her against him, into his lap and she surrendered to the inevitable. Surrendered, finally, to Sin.

**** Sin could hardly contain himself as he lifted Evelyn into his lap. He fought to contain his desire, to rein in his strength. This was her first time to have her wants fulfilled by a man. He had to make this experience one she would never forget, one that would have her waking up needy in her bed after their time together was over. He pushed aside a sudden, unexpected burst of pain at that thought and cupped her cheeks. He drew her down and took her mouth. It was soft, her lips immediately yielding against his and her tongue as eager to taste him as his own was. God, the things he wanted her to do with that lush mouth. But that was for a later time. He dragged his lips to her throat. She made a low, plaintive groan as her head dipped over her shoulders and her fingers clenched against the back of his head. He sucked, nipping and licking the sensitive flesh behind her ear, then lower to where her pulse throbbed wildly at the base of her throat. “Stand up,” he whispered. To his pleasure, she did not argue or question, just got to her shaky legs and looked down at him. Her expression was filled with anticipation and nervous tension. He reached for her hips and brought her closer, leading her to stand between his sprawled legs. Then he moved his hands to her gown. Like in the parlor earlier, he made short work of the buttons that held it in place. But this time when he pulled the fabric from her shoulders, he didn’t allow it to hold around her hips. With a yank, it pooled at her feet and she stood in her thin chemise. For a moment, all Sin could do was look at her. A goddess standing before him, trembling, as she waited for his touch. Her nipples thrust rosy pink against the gauzy white cotton. The fabric clung to her slender stomach and pressed against the mound between her legs so that the dark shadow of her pussy was outlined. 20

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His breath came in short pants as he leaned forward and pressed a wet kiss against her belly. Steamy heat was reflected back from the chemise and a shiver worked through Evelyn that rocked her from head to toe. Her fingers found his hair again and she pushed his head closer, demanding more. He gave it willingly, gliding his mouth back and forth across her belly, dipping his tongue into the crevice of her belly button through her chemise. “Sin,” she whispered, her back arching helplessly. He caught the edge of her chemise at her knees and began to lift, bunching the thin fabric in his hands handful by handful. Evelyn’s legs began to tremble and she grasped at his shoulders as the chemise finally lifted over her stomach, bearing her from the waist down. “Very pretty,” he whispered as he looked at the soft curve of her bare hips, the lines of her lithe legs and the mound of her pussy. “You watched the groom kiss your maid here?” He accentuated the question by lifting his hand and cupping her between her legs. He felt the heat, the wet need against her thighs and it took every ounce of practiced control to keep from bending her over the nearest piece of sturdy furniture and claiming her. Evelyn’s eyes shut. “Oh, oh…” “Did you wonder what it felt like?” he asked, using the hand not still clutching her chemise to part her legs a fraction. “Yes,” she gasped, her fingers kneading his shoulders. “Yes.” He cupped her bare backside and pulled her closer. He could smell the sweet perfume of her desire and it was irresistible. Dipping his head, he pressed a closed mouth kiss against the pouting lips between her thighs. “Sin,” she moaned. Her legs shook and her eyes were wild. Holding her steady, he opening his mouth and blew a gust of hot breath there. Then he slipped his tongue out and stroked it over the swollen nub of her clit. Almost instantly, Evelyn shivered and quaked on the edge of a powerful release. Sin stared up at her, her face flushed, her body trembling. He’d never met such a responsive woman. The things he would do to her. With her. His mind went wild. If just the gentlest of kisses had her on the brink, what would all his other plans do?

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He let her chemise drop and she let out a wail of frustration and need. But before she could argue, he got to his feet and swept her into his arms. At the bed, he set her down, then slipped his fingers beneath the straps of her chemise. With a tug, it fell away and she was naked. Sin’s fingers pressed into her arms as he drank in the sight of her. God, he could spend a night just stroking his tongue all over her, imprinting her taste on his mind. Feeling her arch and groan and beg. But he needed to take that barrier first. To remove her innocence before he indulged in both their wicked fantasies… indulged in his revenge, though that part of his plan was so faded in the back of his mind that he hardly recalled it. Right now his focus was entirely on Evelyn. And the idea of filling her. Claiming her. Changing her irrevocably. No other man would ever have what he would take. And that pleased him beyond reason. “Get on my bed,” he growled as he began to remove his own clothing. She seemed stunned by the order for a moment, but then she turned and climbed up on shaking legs. He admired the round curve of her backside, the flash of her pussy as she turned over. Then she settled back to watch him strip. He pulled his shirt away and Evelyn gasped, straightening up to stare at his chest. His cock throbbed, pushed against his trousers, but he left it for the moment. “You have seen other men like this?” he said softly. She shook her head, still staring at his muscles. “The servants almost always left some clothing on in case they were caught and had to quickly escape. I have only seen naked men in pictures, drawings.” He smiled. Another first that he could claim. Then he parted the buttons at the fly of his trousers and let them fall away. Her eyes widened at the sight of his jutting, heavy cock. Then she swallowed and he fought the urge to push her lips around him. Not yet. “This is your first time to see a fully naked cock, then, as well?” he asked. “Yes.” Her voice was hoarse. “I’ve only caught brief glimpses. Yours is large.” He smiled. “You will be able to take it, Evelyn, I promise.” She nodded as he climbed up beside her.

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“Now--” He rolled on top of her, settling between her legs and letting his cock rest against her thigh. “Let me continue where I left off.” She nodded the action jerky. Her eyes were glazed as his mouth began to move down. First he kissed her and he knew she tasted her own arousal on his lips. She caught his cheeks and returned his kiss with a hunger he’d rarely encountered. The women he bedded were normally experienced. Mistresses who were enthusiastic but not needy. Not desperate when he touched them. Evelyn had been waiting a long time for this moment. Her body wept for it. He would make it weep all the more. He broke away from her lips and moved lower, licking and sucking until he found her breasts. He cupped them, creating a valley between them that he laved with his tongue. She moaned and her back arched. He felt the heat; the wetness between her legs nudging his stomach and his erection became even harder. He continued to nibble the side of her breast, then found her nipple. Pink and hard as he stroked it, sucked it. Evelyn sobbed. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Tears of relief and need. He matched the action with the opposite nipple. Yes, he would have a very good time pleasuring her like this in the future. She was so easily pleased that he wondered if he could give her release just from suckling her. What a challenge it would be to find out. He let his fingers trail downward, stroking across the outer lips of her cunt, parting her. Her breathing was so harsh that he let his stare come back up. “Relax, Evelyn. It will happen, I promise.” “I’ve never,” she moaned. “Never felt so full, so ready. I need, I need…” “I know.” He flattened the pad of his thumb against her clit. “You need this.” He stroked her once, twice and her body began to shake and shiver with release. She let out a cry, long and low and needy as her hips arched up. He continued to stroke the bud of her pleasure, prolonging the pleasure of her orgasm as he got to his knees and positioned himself at her wet, clenching pussy. Then, he parted her open wide and began to push forward.

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Chapter Three

Evelyn groaned. Her body was still throbbing from the kind of release she’d only experienced at her own hands in the past, but never with such intensity as this, with such focused power. Yet, Sin was taking her to new heights even as she trembled under his skilled touch. His cock was filling her. And it was wonderful. Every nerve inside her clenching channel was awakened. She felt full and powerful and feminine as he pushed in, inch by inch. Then he stopped. She knew why. He had reached her barrier. “This will hurt,” he whispered. “But I will try to make it as painless as I can.” She nodded, spreading her legs wider and readying herself for a blinding pain. He rocked forward with a short thrust and the one thing separating her from innocence and debauchery was gone. The ache was sharp, but short lived as Sin filled her completely, then leaned forward to rest on his elbows. She put her arms around him. Now she was his. It had been done. “I want to move, Evie.” He groaned and she realized the waiting was as difficult for him as it was for her. “Are you ready?” “Yes,” she whispered, pressing a kiss against his bare shoulder. The muscles rippled beneath her lips. His hips tilted and her body came to life again. Just like when he had pressed his tongue to her or touched her with his fingers, the glide of his cock inside her, against her, made her body sing with desire and pleasure. She found her hips lifting; just as she had watched the servant women lift their hips to meet the thrusts of their partners. Now she understood why. This was bliss. And she never wanted it to end. Sin cupped her backside, lifting her, holding her as he swirled his hips, stroked her closer and closer to a new edge of completion. And then, she was falling. The bubble of pleasure exploded and her pussy clenched around him, milking his cock, demanding more and more from him. 24

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He met those demands with eager thrusts, ones that were becoming erratic, out of control. Then he bent his neck back and let out a roar of release. It melded with her own cries, her own pleasure as his hot release pumped into her body and filled her. She shivered as he let his body relax over her, only just holding himself away on his elbows. He pressed a gentle kiss against the crease where her shoulder and neck met, then another higher up along her jaw. She turned her face toward his and met his lips. After the high passion of the experience they had just shared, she was surprised by the gentleness of Sin’s kiss. Like he was savoring her, reveling in her. It brought tears to her eyes. When he pulled away, he looked down at her. There was a moment where he almost looked stunned, then he gave her a tight smile. “Did I cause you much pain?” he asked as he rolled away from her. She reached for him, but he was already getting out of the bed. She shook her head as she propped herself up to watch him dress. Seeing all those cords of muscle disappear back under his clothing was disappointing. “Not much.” He nodded. “Good. I will have a maid draw you a bath. A soak will help ease whatever soreness remains.” She sat up fully. “Are you going?” He smiled as he leaned over to press another kiss on her lips. “I am. But only for a short while.” Her lips parted as a rush of disappointment wracked her. “Why?” “Evelyn, I promised you an education. Now is the time for that to begin. I have arrangements to make. Plans to put in motion.” He reached out to cup her cheek. “But I will return shortly. In the meantime, settle into this room. Relax after your long journey here.” She nodded slowly, blinking back the sting of tears as he strode out of the room and left her alone. And wondering if he had already bored of her and what she had done to displease him. *** Sin leaned back on his chamber door, struggling for breath. He had known taking Evelyn’s innocence would be a pleasurable experience. He hadn’t expected it to be so powerful. So overwhelming. So emotional. 25

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Sin was never emotional. Not with a woman. Yet Evie had inspired more than just lust as he held her, touched her. She made him feel protective. Her vulnerability had opened him to her. And now, he was stunned by the reaction. Straightening up, he started down the hallway. There was no going back now. Even if he wanted to, he had taken her innocence. And he had promised her so much more in return. He just hadn’t expected she had so much to give. There was nothing to do but go forward with his plans and with her fantasies. He would just have to be careful not to let any further tenderness or emotions slip in. “Fulton,” he called as he entered his private office. The butler materialized with a bow. “Yes, sir?” “Wilson and Archibald are in the pub in the village awaiting my word. I want to send a message to them. Have them come to the house tomorrow morning before luncheon.” Fulton gave a nod. “Of course, sir. I will have a message sent before the night is over.” As the butler left, Sin sighed. The two men were some of his best friends. And they would certainly help him maintain some distance. Clearly he needed that if he was going to complete the plans he’d so carefully laid out.

**** Evelyn opened her eyes but only a bustling maid greeted her. The girl bobbed out a quick nod and went back to smoothing a few wrinkles from Evelyn’s gown. Slowly, she sat up, feeling an ache in every muscle of her body. But it was a delicious ache, one born of passion and fantasies fulfilled after so long. She pulled the sheet up higher over her bare breasts with a blush as she realized that the maid was looking at her from the corner of her eye. Dear Lord, the entire household must already be aware of what she had done. That she had come here and utterly submitted to Sin’s demands. And judging from the cheerful, utterly at ease manner in which the girl did her work, that wasn’t out of the ordinary. Another blush darkened Evelyn’s cheeks, but this time it was one born from jealousy. How many other women had Sin had? A hundred? More? No wonder he had left just moments after he took her virginity. Likely he’d been bored by their encounter. 26

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Except, he had returned a few hours later, waking her from restless sleep with hard, demanding kisses and long, lush strokes of his cock deep inside her tender body. Awaking fully to the rush of an orgasm was something she would never forget. And something she wondered if she would repeat? Sin had her for ten days as repayment…but since he’d slipped out of bed long before she woke, since he hadn’t really spoken to her since making love to her, would he want her for that long? “Good morning, my lady,” the girl said as she turned from her work. “Mr. Sinclair sent me to help you dress. I’ll be taking care of you while you stay here.” Evelyn tilted her head. “You will?” “Yes.” She smiled. “I’m Helen. Why don’t you get up and we’ll dress you. Mr. Sinclair is waiting for you in the breakfast room downstairs.” Evelyn stiffened. He was waiting for her. What would she say, how would she act now that he knew her in the most intimate way possible? Would things be awkward, different? And most of all, would he even look at her now that he had taken the thing most ladies protected above all else? “I--I am not wearing anything,” she whispered, heat flooding her cheeks. Helen smiled. “Of course you aren’t. You needn’t be shy about that. Come on, step out of the bed. There is already a bath waiting for you.” Evie looked in surprise across the room to where a claw footed tub rested. It had been hidden behind a screen in the corner and was now revealed. Clearly, she had been sleeping soundly not to hear the filling of the tub. But hot water and clean soap sounded heavenly. So she set aside whatever modesty she had left and got out of the bed. Helen’s eyes swept over her once, then she followed Evelyn to the tub. She took her hand and helped her in, then returned to fussing over Evie’s dress as she settled into the steaming water. “The warmth will help the soreness,” Helen offered as she crossed over to hand Evelyn a washcloth and bar of soap. Evelyn dipped her chin. The servants did know! And this maid had the gall to point out that she had given herself to Sin the night before. Not that the stained sheets wouldn’t have given her away later. “Your gowns are very pretty, Lady Evelyn,” the young woman said as she laid one across the bed. 27

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“Thank you,” Evelyn said as she began to wash herself. There was no use trying to hide now. If the household knew of her wanton surrender, there was nothing she could do about it. And she didn’t regret it. Even now, just thinking of Sin’s hands on her, his mouth on her, his cock spearing her, sent shivers of pleasure through her. Ones that washed away her soreness more than a hundred hot baths and replaced it with the dull throb of need. A need that seemed to focus at the harsh peaks of her nipples and the tingling nub of her clit. She took a peek at Helen. Her back was turned as she laid out other garments. Evelyn quickly dipped the washcloth below the water’s surface and stroked it across herself in the hopes to lessen the ache. Instead, it made it more pronounced. “Ready to get dressed?” Evelyn started, moving her hand from between her legs. What was wrong with her? “Y--yes,” she stammered as she rose to stand up from the water. Helen helped her out, handing her a big, fluffy towel to wrap herself in. Then she motioned her to the bed. “As I said, you have very pretty gowns. But Mr. Sinclair made it clear that he did not like your undergarments as much. He asked that I remove them from your wardrobe before I unpacked you this morning.” Evelyn’s eyes went wide and her eyes parted. “What?” Helen nodded as if she’d just said the most normal, natural thing in the world instead of something so shocking. “He has left you with stockings and a garter belt, however. I’ll help you.” As Evelyn stood, dumbfounded, Helen quickly pulled the towel away from her nude body and held up a garter belt made of pure lace. Red lace. And the belt matched a shocking pair of red, silk stockings perfectly. “I--I can’t wear those,” Evelyn whispered. Helen nodded. “I assure you, you can. And Mr. Sinclair was quite insistent.” Evelyn stared. Without a chemise, her nipples would thrust out against the thin silk of her gown. With some of her lower-cut gowns, there would only be an inch or less of fabric separating her from being completely exposed. That idea should have been horrifying. But instead, a thrill of pleasure stirred in her belly and made her already swollen clit throb with need more powerfully. She had 28

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agreed to submit to Sin’s requests the night before. And he had promised to fulfill her every fantasy and give her new ones. “Very well,” she said as she stepped forward to let the girl dress her. When she came downstairs to Sin, she would show him that his orders didn’t frighten her. And that she was capable of giving him as many fantasies as he could give to her.

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Chapter Four

Evelyn trembled as she stood outside the breakfast room, but she managed to gather her composure enough to push the door open. Sin was sitting at a round table next to a large window where the sunlight rushed in and cast him in a golden glow. She caught her breath at the sight of him, so handsome. And he knew her body more intimately than anyone else. He knew what her face looked like when she exploded with pleasure. He knew how her breath hitched when he stroked her clit. He looked up and the feeling that he owned her to her very soul doubled. “Good morning,” he said, his voice a little rough. “Come in and shut the door.” Under any other circumstances, she might have hesitated in her nervousness, but there was something about his commanding tone that made her do what he asked without question. He got to his feet and took a few steps toward her, motioning to the chair beside his. She moved toward him, her knees quaking and her pussy already weeping with anticipation. How was that possible? He hadn’t even touched her and she was already on the edge. He seemed to sense that. When she reached him, he looked down at her, smiling. “You want me to kiss you,” he said. A statement. Not a question. Just a fact. She wanted to deny that cocky tone, but couldn’t any more than she could deny her heartbeat. “Yes.” “Your body tells me even if your lips hadn’t.” He reached out. “You followed my directive not to wear your under things.” His fingers stroked over her breast and she realized her nipples were hard against the fabric, thrusting out for his pleasure. Her eyes fluttered shut as he plucked at the harsh ridge, sending desire boiling through her veins. “Yes.” “I’m very pleased.” His voice was rougher still. “I like to see when you want to be touched. And to be able to touch you whenever the mood strikes me.” 30

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She shivered as he gently tugged at the bodice of her gown. The upper ridge of her areola slid out into the air and she sucked in a breath at the feeling of being so exposed. He dipped his head and blew a puff of steamy breath against the dimpled flesh. “Sin,” she whispered, reaching out to clutch at his shoulders. Her knees felt like they would give out at any moment and her whole body ached with a need for the release that Sin could give her. She didn’t even care that she was standing in front of a curtainless window in a public room of the house. The servants could have gathered in a circle to watch and she wasn’t sure she would deny the desire that built in great, crashing waves. “Sit down,” he murmured, close to her ear. She collapsed into a chair that was turned outward and watched as he dropped to his knees before her. Now their faces were even, their gazes locked. In his eyes, she saw need. She saw powerful lust. And she knew he saw the same in her. But he probably also saw her nervousness. She wished she could be as calm as he was. An impossible desire when he began to inch her skirt up, revealing the naughty red stockings he had left for her. A corner of his lips ratcheted up as he pushed the skirt up in a pile around her waist. She was bared from the waist down except for those silky stockings. “Spread your legs,” he growled, pushing at her knees. He hadn’t even completed the order when her legs fell apart of their own accord and she splayed shamelessly before him. He cupped her hips and drew her forward on the chair, exposing her even further. “I waited to eat until you got here,” he said with a wicked smile. Then spread her outer pussy lips open with his thumbs and bent to stroke his tongue across her. Instantly, Evelyn felt the curling fire of release flame to full inferno. With just a few strokes of his tongue, she was trembling and arching as the tingle of her clit moved to a desperate throb. It was only made worse by the way he pinched and stroked her with his thumbs as he licked her cunt. She gripped the chair’s edge in her fists, squeezing the cushion until she was surprised she didn’t rend it in two. But still, he went on, torturing, tormenting until the heat and pleasure built to a magnificent crescendo and she fell over the edge.

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Her whole body seemed to vibrate as he tongued her through the waves of release. She wailed and screamed his name as she shook out of control. The pleasure was so intense, so powerful that tears streamed down her face. When the last shiver had rocked through her, Sin calmly, quietly slid her skirt back over her legs and retook his seat beside her. Unfolding his napkin, he dabbed his lips and smiled. “I like that I can do that whenever and wherever I please, and not have to fight with ridiculous undergarments to pleasure you.” He picked up the newspaper he had been reading when she came in and folded it over to continue reading. “I want you to think about that, think about the fact that I can have you whenever I desire it.” Evelyn shut her eyes with a groan. Now that would be all she could think of. That at any time Sin could bend her over a chair or get on his knees like he just had and make her sob with release in just a moment. Her body gushed with renewed wetness and heat at the thought. “But you aren’t going to--to…” His eyes lifted from the paper. “As much as I would like to, no. I have business associates arriving in just half an hour for a brief meeting. And I want more than that amount of time to make you beg for my cock.” He smiled as if he were saying benign things, not words that set her soul on fire. “But if you would like to take a little walk in the garden, I will call for you when we are finished and I promise to fulfill both our aches.” She nodded and started to rise, but Sin caught her hand and pulled her down. Cupping the back of her neck, he pulled her lips to his. She parted them instantly and he drove his tongue inside. She tasted herself, her release on his tongue and her knees went weak again. God, how she wanted to just straddle his lap and grind until the ache went away. But she wouldn’t. She could show the same cool restraint he was doing. “And I assure you, I ache, too,” he whispered as he caught her hand and brought it down onto his lap. Her eyes widened at the hard, harsh thrust of his cock, hot even through his breeches. “So don’t think for a moment that this isn’t difficult for me.” She nodded as he let her go, then stumbled toward the door. Air. Outside she would have air. Right now she needed it before she went crazy and begged him to fuck her until she screamed. *** 32

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“When you said you had something to share, I never thought it would be something so very delectable,” Wilson grinned as he elbowed Archibald. Sin grimaced as he watched two of his oldest friends stare out the large window to the garden below. Evelyn was out there, strolling the garden as he had suggested earlier. Right after he pleasured her until she sobbed with release. His cock hardened and throbbed. Archibald turned back, his bright blue eyes alive with desire. He was nearly as tall as Sin, and just as muscular. His friend was known as a catch in society. Mostly by Mamas who had no idea what Lord Archibald liked to do with his spare time. Wilson was not as athletic as Sin and Archibald, but his face was chiseled like granite. No one could help looking at him when he walked by. That handsome countenance had helped him become one of the most popular men in the ton, despite a lack of funds or desire to marry. Archibald nodded. “Yes, she is a lovely little thing. If I had but known, I would have started gambling with Trevington myself. Does he have any other daughters?” Sin fisted his hands at his sides at their lewd grins. These were his friends. There was no reason to want to pound the smiles from their faces. After all, this was why he’d brought them here. “He does have another daughter,” Sin ground out through clenched teeth. “Juliana. But I rather doubt she’d have the likes of you two.” The other two men laughed raucously before Wilson reached for his drink and Archibald turned back to track Evelyn’s every move. “She moves like she knows her body,” he said, watching her turn about the garden. “Can’t wait until I can say the same.” Sin frowned. When he read Evelyn’s story in her journal about a woman being pleasured by two men at once, it had enflamed his blood. Mostly because he could tell by the style and choice of her words that this was a fantasy she, herself, indulged in. The idea of being worshiped by two men. Of being filled and pleasured in every way. He’d thought he could easily give her that shocking fantasy. Watch from a distance as these two men, men he trusted, men he knew would never hurt her and would mind her pleasure, made love to her. Now he looked at the two of them watching her and it made him sick to think of them touching her. Putting their mouths on her skin. Seeing her face flush with release. 33

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Worse, he was sick at the thought of her enjoying that experience as much as she liked being in his bed. That she would realize any number of men could give her the release she had been craving since she first saw two servants rutting in her father’s stable and woke her body from the slumber of propriety. “When do we get a chance at her, Sin?” Wilson asked. “Never,” he growled, much louder than he had intended when such dark and dangerous thoughts stirred his mind and tightened the muscles of his chest. Both men turned toward him in surprise. “I thought that’s why you brought us here,” Archibald said, tilting his head. “You told us last week that you had a pretty piece of muslin for us to share as long as we were careful not to hurt her.” Sin flinched again. He had described Evie with such dismissive terms. But now they stung his ears. He had never considered her as such. Ever. “I changed my mind,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “Evelyn is not ready for such a thing.” Except judging from how easily he could bring her release, how powerfully her body reacted to the slightest sensual touch, that statement was a lie. He had no doubt that once she got past her initial misgivings and surrendered herself to the experience, Evie would quickly find much pleasure. But he wasn’t going to have that happen. Not here. Not now. Wilson shot a glance over his shoulder. “No? Pity. So why did you call us here, then?” Sin pondered that question. How could he cover up the fact that he had changed his mind about sharing Evelyn with them at the last moment? “Is Fiona still in the village?” he asked. “Fiona Madison?” Archibald asked with a grin. “Yes.” Sin thought of Fiona, with her lustrous black locks and exotic half-Spanish looks. She was a former mistress, and a very talented one at that, especially with her mouth. “Is she currently attached?” Wilson shook his head. “Just parted ways with Smithly, I believe. Why?” “My little minx out there may not be ready to partake in a night with two men, but I think it piques her interest.” He looked over the two men with a half smile. “Would you two mind an audience, if I arrange for Fiona to come here tonight?” 34

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Archibald laughed as he and Wilson exchanged a quick glance. “Not at all. Anything for a friend.” “What a sacrifice,” Sin drawled. “Come back tonight around ten. Fulton will tell you where to go.” His friends said their goodbyes with promises to return that night then left Sin alone. He crossed to the window, looking down at Evie as she took a seat on the bench in the middle of his garden. She pulled her shawl around her shoulders as a breeze twisted loose strands of her brown locks around her face. It wasn’t part of his original plan to capitalize on her voyeuristic tendencies, rather to give her all the fantasies she’d watched but never dared to try. But this one fantasy he just couldn’t do. So she would watch the men have Fiona instead. Watch with Sin at her side. And he would benefit from her desires rather than Archibald or Wilson. But why couldn’t he share? He’d certainly seen plenty of ‘his’ women with other men. Watching a woman achieve her pleasure had always been a vision he enjoyed seeing. Hell, he’d even brought more than one person to his bed before. Normally two women were more his style, but if a mistress wanted two men to pleasure her, he’d never been selfish. But not Evelyn. The idea of another man ever putting his hands on her fired a rage inside of him that was almost frightening in its power. He pushed those thoughts aside as he sat down at his desk and drew out a thick sheet of paper on which to write Fiona a quick note. But even though he was not looking at Evelyn any longer, visions of her kept interrupting his work. And desires for her burned at him with more intensity than he had ever felt before. *** Evelyn stroked the brush through her hair, watching her reflection with every movement. She did this every night at home, but now everything was changed. Oh, she didn’t look different on the outside. Her face was the same. Her hair the same. Her hands the same. Even her brush was her own. But deep inside her, in places she couldn’t see, she was different. Sin had changed her. Altered her with his kiss and his touch. By filling her, he had made her whole.

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Could she ever go back to the way things were before? Just watching from a distance… only seeing desire played out through someone else’s eyes? The thought gave her a shiver. Sin made no promises of forever. She had to remember that. To him, these ten days were just the repayment of a debt. She couldn’t let the affair become anything more than that in her own mind or she would leave here with a broken heart. Especially since she had spent the lion’s share of the day alone. Perhaps Sin was already boring of her. After their morning encounter, she had thought he would find her as soon as his associates, two handsome men she had only caught the barest glimpse of as they left the house, were gone. But he hadn’t called for her. She hadn’t heard from him at all until after luncheon, when he’d sent word through a servant that his business was taking longer than expected. The disappointment that had accompanied that message still sat heavy in her chest, despite her best efforts to overcome it. Walking the gardens could only take up so much time. As could reading from Sin’s extensive library. Ultimately, she had returned here after supper, ignoring her body’s tingling. Ignoring the want that was burning low in her belly. Want for Sin. Just twelve hours without his touch and she was a wanton ready to strip off her clothes and ride her own fingers. But somehow she knew they would be a desperate and unfulfilling substitute for what she craved. And that was Sin. His body. But also his company. There was something soothing about being here with him. For the first time in a long time she wasn’t looking over her shoulder, waiting for her father’s next drunken explosion. She wasn’t waiting for the moment when he would reveal he’d sold her to a stranger. She sighed as she set her brush on the table in front of her. Behind her, reflected in the looking glass, the door to Sin’s chamber opened and he strode in. Her breath caught at the sight of him. He was dressed less than formally, his waist vest and overcoat discarded long ago, along with his cravat. The top two buttons of his formal shirt were undone, revealing a hint of the chest beneath. A chest she knew intimately, from the feel to the taste of his skin. She squeezed her thighs together to combat the ache as she turned toward him with a false smile. Without the barrier of the mirror image separating them, she saw the flame of desire burning dark and dangerous in his stare. An answering desire lit deep inside her 36

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body. One she finally understood after all this time of studying sex, watching it from afar and scribbling her internal musings and fantasies into a journal. “Have you finished with your business?” she croaked, cursing the way her voice broke. The things this man could do to her with just a look. And a look was all she got as he stalked across the room toward her, green eyes focused entirely on her. She was frozen by the heat of that stare. By the intent and coiled power in every move he made. He reached her and caught her waist, drawing her up against him in a sharp motion. Her breasts flattened against the broad expanse of his chest, her hips molded to his and she felt the undeniable ridge of his erection nudge her thigh. Her eyelids fluttered shut as his mouth came down on hers. Hard, harsh, demanding. She should have pulled back from the sparks of emotion that lay beneath the surface of this anything-but-simple kiss. But she couldn’t. She melted beneath it, groaning as he sucked her tongue gently, his fingers squeezing into her hips as he rocked her against him. Then he pulled back, just as unexpectedly as he had embraced her. He wiped the faint residue of his kiss away from her bottom lip and said, “My business isn’t quite over yet. And neither is yours.” She cocked her head, questions piercing through the fog of erotic response and boiling emotions. “What do you mean?” He caught her hand and drew her toward the door. “Come. You’ll soon see.”

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Chapter Five

Sin led Evelyn down the long hallway to the room where his surprise waited. He was still reeling from that kiss, that burning, powerful kiss. And it took every effort for him not to spin her back against the hallway wall, flip up her skirt and drive inside her where he knew she was already wet and waiting. But that wasn’t the purpose of tonight. At least not yet. First, she had to see what he had planned. First, she had to experience what he had in store for her. Then, and only then, would he bring her to completion. Fill her. Take her. He shook off those erotic plans as he opened the chamber door. Inside his servants had put piles of pillows and a soft, fur rug in front of a roaring fire. Candles and lamps blazed forth, filling the area with light. Wilson, Archibald and Fiona already waited there. And if the way Wilson was stroking Fiona’s leg through her skirt was any indication, they were more than ready for the night’s events to start. Archibald sat behind her, her back flat against his chest, holding her so that he could stroke her breasts through her scandalously low cut gown. Evelyn immediately halted at the sight of the three strangers. She dipped her head, pulling away to hurry out of the room when the three looked up and directly at them, but Sin held fast. She couldn’t escape the desires she’d kept hidden for so long. And even if he couldn’t bear to give her a full experience of the threesome she wanted so badly… a fact he still wasn’t ready to analyze, he had every intention of forcing her to face that desire. And benefit from it. “No,” he said, pulling her back inside and closing the door behind them. Her gaze darted to the three on the extravagant rug, then back to him. “Sin,” she whispered, a little plea that he wasn’t sure he’d ever hear enough of. “What--?” He backed toward the chairs his staff had put in the dim shadows of the corner of the room, guiding her forward with a few gentle tugs. “You know what this is, Evie,” he whispered. “You wrote about it more than once.” 38

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She shook her head, her glance again shifting to the two men and the woman just a stone’s throw away. “But I can’t… I shouldn’t…” He lifted a finger to her lips, stroking the velvety skin there until her gaze softened with desire. “No shouldn’ts. No cant’s. Two men, one woman. That was your fantasy. And now you shall have it. Tonight.” He motioned toward his friends without even looking at them and saw Wilson get up on his knees and drew Fiona in for a deep, passionate kiss. Evie’s eyes widened as she stared in blatant wonder. “You are a voyeur, Evelyn,” he whispered, putting his hands onto her stiff shoulders and nudging her into the chair. He took the one beside her, but still didn’t look at his friends. He kept his gaze on Evie’s face. “Do not hide from what arouses you. Or apologize for what makes you wet and wanting. Just watch. Watch and see everything that has been hidden from you before.” She let out a little sigh that was more of a whimper of acquiescence. He cast a quick glance at the three on the floor in front of them. Already Fiona was unbuttoning Wilson’s shirt, her long red nails, the ones that almost matched her fiery auburn hair, raked across the muscles of his torso. He grinned as he dipped his head back across his shoulders. “Little minx,” he breathed. She smiled as she leaned forward and caught one of his flat nipples between her lips, stroking her tongue over the flat disk. Behind her, Archibald urged her to rise up. She braced her hands on Wilson’s forearms, her tongue still working over his chest as Archibald pushed her dress up and over her backside. As his friend bent to press a hot, wet kiss against one of the round globes, Sin let his attention return to Evie. Her lips were parted, wet with anticipation and her wide eyes took in every movement, every sight in front of her. And her nipples, which were as visible in this new gown as they had been in the one she was wearing earlier in the day, puckered beneath the silk in an invitation to be sucked. Not yet. “You have seen this before, haven’t you?” he asked, leaning close to her ear so only she could hear. Her head jerked up and down. “Y--yes.” Her voice trembled. “Watching the servants. But always in darkness. I was hiding. I couldn’t see like…” She sucked in her 39

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breath as Archibald finally speared his tongue between Fiona’s legs from behind. “Oh God, I couldn’t see like this.” “Then fill in the gaps in your imagination,” Sin said, leaning back to enjoy the view. But not of the threesome. That wasn’t what made his cock fill with hot blood. It was Evie’s reaction. The way that she leaned forward in her chair as Wilson shrugged out of his clothes and offered Fiona his big, hard cock. The way her breath caught when the other woman wrapped her lips around the head of him and slowly drew him deep into her throat. The way Evelyn tensed when Archibald licked at Fiona’s pussy, all the while stroking his own hard cock. She squirmed in her chair. Sin could see her reaching to relieve the ache between her own thighs. Fighting not to touch herself as she stared at the sight before her. God, by the time this was over, she would be drenched with her own desire. He couldn’t wait to feel that waterfall around his cock. The two men were helping Fiona out of her gown now, drawing the fabric down over her skin. Each one took a nipple into his mouth, suckling her together as she groaned. Her hands cupped the back of their dark heads, drawing them closer, urging them on with whispered commands. “Oh God,” Evelyn groaned, so quiet that Sin wouldn’t have heard it were he not so fully attuned to her every breath and movement. His cock hardened to a painful degree and he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to keep from touching her. His plans to wait until the others had finished, to draw out her experience and need, those were over. The control he was so proud of, that he had used to his own advantage for years, broke the instant he looked at her. As he got to his feet and walked around behind Evie’s chair, he had to admit to himself how much power she had over him. She was still leaning forward, watching intently as Fiona lay back against the pillows on the floor. Archibald knelt between her legs, stroking her glistening slit with thick fingers, bearing down on her clit with his thumb. Meanwhile, Wilson was now lying beside her, continuing to suckle her nipples. She arched up with each touch, her pale face flushing as she neared orgasm. Evelyn’s breath was coming just as short and harsh as the other woman’s now. Like she, too, was nearing release. When Sin let his hands cup her shoulders, Evie

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actually jolted at the touch. She tilted her head to look up at him briefly, but then her stare returned to the vision before her. Archibald lifted Fiona’s hips, spreading her wide and then, inch by inch, put his hard cock inside her. The other woman roared out pleasure, thrashing on the rug when he filled her to the hilt. He slammed into her hard, riding her until sweat gleamed on his back and face was dark with exertion. The entire time, Wilson didn’t let up. He sucked Fiona’s hard nipples as his fingers glided down her stomach. He found her clit and pinched it, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger while Archibald continued to fuck her. Sin kissed the side of Evelyn’s neck, feeling her pulse leap beneath his lips. “Do you like what you see?” he asked, close to her ear. “Yes, yes,” she groaned. “I want, I need…” “What?” She shot a glance at him. “Touch me. Please, please touch me.” He met her eyes, then smiled. “Watch them, Evelyn.” She trembled as her gaze slipped back to the threesome before her. Sin began to massage her breasts through her gown and she moaned, but her gaze never wavered. Archibald withdrew from Fiona’s quivering body and she sat up. They kissed. A heated, passionate kiss that matched the way they had joined. She whispered something, first to him, then to Wilson. Both men exchanged a look and a grin as she got up on her hands and knees. While Wilson positioned himself behind her, she caught Archibald’s cock in one hand and pulled him between her lips. With every forward stroke from the man behind her, she took the other man’s cock between her lips. “Stand up,” Sin ordered, his voice trembling. Evie shot him a look, but did as she’d been told. He took her hand and brought her around behind the chair where he stood. He pressed one hot kiss against her lips before he spun her around so she could continue to watch the scene before them. He pressed a hand against her back and urged her to bend over the back of the chair. He pushed her skirts up with jerky movements, revealing her legs, her backside, the flushed, pouting lips of her wet pussy. But only for his eyes. Neither of the men nor Fiona could see the sight before him. Because he still didn’t want to share it.

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Shoving that thought aside, he rubbed the palm of his hand over Evelyn’s slit and she hissed in a breath. Then he jerked at his trouser buttons, pulling his erection free. Positioning himself behind her, he drove into her with a long, smooth motion. Her cry merged with those of the other three and her spine stiffened at the invasion. Sin shut his eyes with a repressed moan of his own. By God, she was so tight, so wet. Her body flexed around him like a glove, quivering and squeezing until he feared he could come undone just by holding still inside her passage. He pulled back, just a small fraction, then thrust. He wrapped his arms around her, cupping her breasts as he made another short thrust into her clenching body. She was shaking with pleasure, her knees trembling as she leaned against the chair. She looked up from time to time at the other three, who were still riding away, though Sin could see that neither man would last much longer, and Fiona had found release at least three times already at their ministrations. Evelyn was close, too. Every time he thrust she cried out and her body clung tighter to his cock as he eased out. Every time he felt the quivers of her womb double until finally she convulsed, her knees buckling so that his embrace was all that kept her upright. He continued to pound deep inside her, riding out every clenching tremor, loving the way she responded so readily to his body. Then she looked over her shoulder. Her eyes locked with his, wide and clouded with desire and the passion of release. She mouthed his name and his world rocked. His seed rushed, pouring into her as he let out a hoarse cry of pleasure and surprise that she could make him lose his legendary control with just a look and a whisper he hadn’t even heard clearly. He withdrew from her body and covered her with her skirt before he took care of his own nudity. Then he glanced at his three friends. The two men were just about to come. That was clear from their red-faced concentration. And somehow he didn’t want either of them to suddenly turn their attentions to Evelyn. Especially since she was still shooting glances their way. He caught slipped an arm beneath her knees and swept her into his arms, striding out of the room and back to his own chamber where he shut and locked the door behind them. This night was far from over. And he still wasn’t willing to share. 42

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**** Evelyn’s skin glowed in the dying firelight. Flushed by kisses, dotted here and there with love bites that showed just how passionate they had become. Sin sighed as he rose from his place beside her sleeping frame and threw on the heavy robe that was draped across the chair beside his bed. He paced to the fire and quietly added another log. The flames kicked up, adding light and heat to the room. But the chill deep within him couldn’t be reached by the fire’s heat. It was the chill of realization. Of things he couldn’t deny, no matter how he tried. He moved closer to the bed and looked at her again. She still looked so innocent in sleep. Except for the fact that she was totally nude and had spent the past few hours studying intently under his erotic tutelage. But he was the one who was learning about himself. Like that he could lose control in a heartbeat if she looked at him a certain way. Like the idea of sharing her still burned at him like a cigar put out on his flesh. Sin moved over to the bed and climbed up beside Evelyn, pushing strands of dark hair away from her face with the tips of his fingers. God, her skin was like satin. Soft and silky and beckoning to be touched. Somehow he’d thought that once he had her, he would bore of her. In some deep, dark place he was only just starting to understand, he had hoped that would be true. And he could now admit that was part of why he’d struck this bargain and brought her here. Except that plan was not working. He’d made love to her a half dozen times now and he wanted more, not less. That had never happened before. Certainly, he’d kept women longer than that, but by this time they normally didn’t still make him burn with need. If he had a mistress for more than a half dozen tumbles it was merely to have someone there to slake his needs on a regular basis. But Evelyn…Evelyn called to him. Like a siren. And like a foolish sailor, he couldn’t resist touching her. She let out a little sigh in her sleep and turned toward his questing fingers. Her soft hair tickled his chest as her cheek came down into the crook of his arm and her fingers reached out to wrap around his hip. Sin sighed as he drew her against him until her body molded against his side. She never woke up, even as he shifted to rest his head against the pillows. 43

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But sleep would not come.

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Chapter Six

Something was wrong. Evelyn clenched her hands in her lap even as she tried to appear as though she was reading her book. In reality, she lifted her gaze for a quick look at Sin. He sat in a chair across the room from hers, making marks in a ledger. He never looked at her. In fact, he hardly seemed to know she was there. It had been that way all day. Ever since she awoke alone…again…she had felt something was off with Sin. And she was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t him that was wrong, but her. Perhaps last night had not been the shocking explosion of sensual delight for him as it had been for her. She sighed. When she arrived here, she had been so uncertain of herself, of her wants, even of her body, despite her secret explorations of her flesh. But once she realized Sin was the one to make the bargain with her father, she had gained strength. Felt herself becoming more open and able to enjoy the benefits of the teachings Sin was giving her. She’d even thought she was beginning to please him, not just be a passive partner to her own pleasure. Now all that building certainty was dashed. She felt like she had when she first arrived. Pensive. Nervous. And wrong. So very, very wrong. Sin stopped making marks in his book and his eyes came up to meet hers with startling intensity. “What’s wrong?” She drew back. Was she so easily read? “Nothing,” she insisted, putting her attention back into her book. Sin pursed his lips and set his ledger aside. He got to his feet and came across the room to her in a few long steps. Her book hit the floor with a clatter as he caught her hands and pulled her to her feet. His hands came down on her shoulders, holding her in place, not that she would have tried to make an escape regardless. His touch was too pleasurable, even in this benign form. 45

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“According to the terms of our arrangement, I own you, Evelyn,” he said, his voice soft and low, but also very dangerous. His gaze never left hers. “So no secrets. Tell me what is wrong.” His words cut through her, as did the idea of Sin owning her. And while that idea should have been reprehensible, it was anything but disgust that rushed through her. Exhilaration and arousal were more accurate descriptions. “Evelyn.” His sharp tone made her refocus. “Last night I thought you were pleased with me,” she whispered, feeling hot blood rush to her cheeks. “Perhaps not as much as you give me with your touch, of course. But this morning you have been so distant. I wonder if I did something wrong. Or if you no longer want me.” Sin shut his eyes and exhaled loudly. Her heart lurched as she saw a brief flash of the internal struggle he was fighting flash across his face. She’d never seen such raw emotion from him before and she had to fear the cause. Was she correct in her assessment of his distance? Was he bored of her and trying to find a way to tell her? Would this confession of hers spell the end of their… what could it be called rightly? An affair? It seemed like so much more. Which was why it was so blasted dangerous. Sin’s eyes came open and his expression was far less fierce than it had been. The emotions were gone from his gaze, as well. He reached out and let the tips of his fingers trace her jaw line. “Evelyn, Evelyn,” he said softly, before he pressed his lips against her neck. Her legs went weak at the touch. “You have done nothing wrong, I assure you of that. Nothing at all.” She shut her eyes as relief and desire rushed through her. She wasn’t sure which one was more powerful at first, but of course Sin made the desire stronger with each glide of his tongue against her skin. “By God, you’re like a drug,” he groaned against her skin. “I cannot get enough, no matter how I try. But the pleasure is all mine in the trying.” She laughed, though she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of being nothing more than a drug to him. A poison in his system. “I promise you, Sin, the pleasure isn’t all yours.” His gaze came up, sharp and dark green. “Hmmm,” he practically purred as a smile tilted up his lips. He offered her an arm. “Come with me.” 46

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She nodded, unable to resist him even if she tried, which she didn’t foresee herself doing… at least until this bargain ended. He led her out of the parlor and down the hall until they reached the private office where she had first met with him. He shut the door behind them and released her arm. “Do you remember when you first came here?” he asked, his voice husky. She nodded, her muscles jerking. “When I arrived.” He smiled again, but this expression had heat and animalistic desire dark within it. Her body responded without him even touching her. Her thighs grew moist with desire and her nipples beaded. Sin didn’t fail to notice that thanks to his ‘no undergarments’ policy and that animal smile grew in width and intensity. “Do you recall what you were doing when I came upon you here?” She hesitated, her gaze flitting to the erotic sketches on the walls that had so enraptured her. It seemed so long ago. She straightened her shoulders. Sin had already coaxed things much more intimate from her than this confession. “I was looking at your erotic artwork, Sin.” His brow arched at her direct answer. “Yes. You were.” When he stepped forward, her heart skittered, but she held her ground. Even when he turned her around and gave her a little push toward the wall. “Look now.” She followed the order without thinking about refusing. The art called to her, but she understood it far more now. Understood the look of rapture on one woman’s face as she arched beneath her lover’s skilled hands. She understood the way another portrait portrayed a woman’s legs latched tightly around a man’s waist as he drove deep into her. She moved along the wall, taking in the portraits with that deeper understanding. And with no fear or embarrassment. Sin wouldn’t judge her for her interest. He wouldn’t mock her for her desire. She stopped in front of one portrait. This one depicted an act she’d seen many a time, but had not yet taken part in. A woman taking her lover’s cock into her mouth. In the piece, the woman had the man firmly in hand, her red lips latched onto the head of his penis and her wet tongue stroking him. The man’s head was lolled back, an expression of utter satisfaction in his every feature. Suddenly Sin was behind her, his hand on the small of her back as he moved her closer. His breath was hot on her neck, just as it had been the night before when they 47

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watched his three friends. She shivered at the memory of him flipping up her skirts and having her right there. That joining had been powerful and given her so much pleasure. “Is that what you want?” he whispered, his mouth close enough to her ear that she felt the steam of his breath on the delicate shell. She nodded. It was. She wanted to make Sin look like the man in this portrait. She wanted to make him surrender like she always surrendered. She wanted to please him. With a desperation that was almost terrifying. “You must say it, Evelyn.” “Yes,” she said, her voice shaking. He chuckled. “That’s cheating, my darling. You must say the words.” She sucked in a breath as his lips brushed her neck. “I want this, Sin. I want to take you into my mouth. I want you to teach me how to touch you, suck you, lick you like this.” He swore behind her, but when he turned her toward him, he looked anything but upset. In fact, his face was alive, his eyes bright with desire. “Very nice, Evelyn,” he said as he reached forward and unbuttoned her dress. “And you shall have what you desire. After.” “After?” she all but whimpered as he let her dress fall to her feet. Of course she was naked beneath and his gaze roved over her with as much hunger as she’d seen the first time. That fact gave her an inordinate amount of pride. “After.” He moved her back to sit on the edge of his desk, spreading her legs wide. She watched as he knelt between them and a thrill shot low in her belly as she recalled watching him kiss her there just the day before. It had been like magic, his tongue on her, in her. “I want to taste you first,” he murmured, his mouth against her body before he let his tongue move against her. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as he swirled his tongue around her clit, sucking the little nub and sending shots of pure bliss through her entire body. He could bring her to the brink with no trouble at all. It was thrilling. And terrifying. Sin made no promises. In fact, he shunned them. After their time together ended, he would set her free. Perhaps one day her father would sell her body

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again… or perhaps she would find someone she actually wished to marry and could forgive her the family and past she brought along with her. But would any other man ever give her this intense pleasure again? Would any other man accept her darkest desires, encourage them; teach her to love them and herself? She couldn’t imagine that. Women of her station were taught to deny passion. She could only imagine what another man would say if she begged him to kiss her where Sin’s tongue was working her so skillfully. Was this to be her only chance at pleasure and fulfillment? Sin’s mouth pushed away her maudlin thoughts of a future devoid of passion. He sucked at the nub of her clit even as he snaked two fingers up her thigh. He stroked the entrance to her slit gently, then glided inside, curling his fingers in time to the persistent motion of his tongue. She arched her back, clutching at anything on the desktop to give her purchase as the waves of pleasure built low in her belly. Then they crested and she shivered, moaning as release moved through her with lightening-like speed and intensity. Sin continued to work her through the tremors. Only when her body finally stilled did he look up at her. “I want to give you that, Sin,” she whispered, blinking away the tears that had formed in her eyes. “Please teach me.” He nodded, solemn now. He took her hand and moved her over to the settee in the middle of the room. He shrugged out of his clothing, shocking her yet again with how beautiful he was naked. Then he sat back on the chair, slouching down. He put one of the velvety pillows between his feet on the floor and motioned to her to kneel before him. Her heart raced as she did as he indicated. His cock was already hard, thrusting up proudly with arousal after the way he’d brought her pleasure. “Touch me.” His voice was low, but there was a heat and desperation to his tone that matched her own. He needed this as much as she needed him. That gave her power. She reached out, thinking about the portrait on the wall behind her. She grasped the base of his thick cock, wrapping her fingers around his length and thrilling at the pulse of his desire that pounded through the hard thrust. His eyes closed and he swore again, just below his breath. “Now lean forward and…” he began. But now that Evelyn was holding him, her face close to this instrument that seemed to be built to bring her pleasure, she didn’t really need instruction. Instinct took 49

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over. Wild and uncontrolled as she leaned forward and darted out her tongue to swipe it over the swollen head of his cock. Sin’s hips arched and she had the feeling he couldn’t have controlled that motion if she offered him all the gold in the King’s Treasury. The reaction emboldened her further. She licked again, rolling her tongue around him like he was a child’s candy. She used memory to guide her as well as instinct. She’d seen this act. In the pictures on Sin’s wall, in the darkness of her servants’ quarters when she hid and last night in the blazing light of the chamber where Sin’s three friends had pleasured each other. Evelyn wrapped her lips around him and glided down as far as her throat would allow, taking inch after inch of him inside her mouth. Sin moaned and she let her gaze dart up. His eyes were half-closed, his hands fisted on the cushions above. He watched her every move, though. Always aware, though not as much in control as she had become accustomed to. “Glide up and down,” he said softly, his voice broken. “Like you would ride me.” She nodded, understanding now. She moved, pulling back until his member almost left her lips, then forward. Each time she took him deeper as her throat relaxed, and each time Sin’s groans grew louder and more insistent. Every movement of her mouth gave him pleasure. And it gave her pleasure, too. She realized, as she sucked and rolled her tongue around his girth, that this act wasn’t only about his pleasure. It was also about hers. The power of taking him between her lips, the sound of his moans, the way his muscles flexed every time she took him deep, they made her body ache just as much as she did when he put his hands on her, his fingers inside of her. “Evelyn,” he moaned from above her. “Stop, you must stop…” She let her mouth pop off him and looked up, continuing to stroke the length of his shaft. “Why?” she asked and immediately latched her lips back around him. “Oh God, Evelyn, because I won’t last if you continue like this.” She smiled around him and pulled away a second time. “But I want more.” He caught her elbows and pulled her up. She didn’t resist as he moved her to straddle his lap. “More later,” he growled as he positioned her over his wet cock. “I want this now.” 50

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He thrust up hard, filling her completely in one harsh movement. She let her head loll back as she gasped out her pleasure. She would never tire of this feeling of completion. Of utter bliss. Her body had been made for it, for him, and she was going to enjoy every fleeting moment she had been given. “Ride, Evie,” he murmured as he cupped her breast and brought the tight nipple to his mouth. She obeyed, rolling her hips in jerky motions. His cock rubbed against her clit every time she pushed forward and already she could feel the quivering edges of release building deep within her womb. How could he do this to her so easily? It didn’t matter. Her mind cleared as every part of her shifted focus to the place where they joined. She groaned as her orgasm began, building in intensity as she jerked against him. He caught her hips, driving inside her when her body went limp and weak with pleasure, and pulling even more of it from her when she felt she had no more to give. He groaned out his own pleasure, capturing her lips for a deep, hot kiss as he let his seed flow into her. She collapsed forward, letting her head rest in the crook of his shoulder. He cupped her close, holding her so gently that she could almost forget that the time they shared was temporary. And almost hope that when the time was over that she could still remain in Sin’s life, in Sin’s bed, in Sin’s arms. Even though she knew how foolish that empty hope was. *** Sin pulled the blanket up around Evelyn’s body a little tighter and held her close. They were balanced precariously on the settee, only his embrace keeping her from finding her backside deposited on the hardwood floor below. It should have been uncomfortable, but somehow being here with Evelyn was the only place he wanted to be. She looked up as he threaded his fingers through her tangled hair. When she smiled his heart lurched with feelings he couldn’t name…refused to acknowledge. He didn’t feel for women. He pleasured them. He accepted their pleasure. But he did not feel. He’d learned early on not to bother. Evie smiled. “You know, you do not seem to be the kind of man who gambles.” He pushed away those deeper thoughts and unwanted emotions. They were of no use. “And why is that?”

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She shrugged delicately, moving her fingertips across his chest in gentle circles. “You are always in control.” Sin bit back a bark of laughter. If only she knew the truth. Every since she arrived…hell, since he met her, he’d been teetering at the edge of control. So much so that he had been forced to fold having her into his larger plan. “Appearances can be deceiving.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, watching the way her eyes fluttered shut with pleasure. “You are proof of that, aren’t you?” Her eyes opened and her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Me?” He laughed. “Come now. Don’t be coy. By every appearance you are a demure lady.” Now a tiny smile tilted the corners of her cheeks. “Are you implying I am not a lady, sir?” “No. Not at all. I’m simply saying there is far more to you than outward appearances would suggest. For example. The little book I pilfered from your father’s home.” A blush tinged her cheeks at the mention of that book of fantasies that was now safely upstairs in his chamber. “How long have you been writing down those wicked little fantasies?” To Sin’s utter surprise, the teasing light in Evie’s eyes faded, replaced by the wide-eyed surprise of an animal who had been cornered by a hunter. He cocked his head. Certainly, Evie had been shy about sex when she arrived, but he’d never seen her like this. Trapped and frightened by a mere question. “Evelyn?” he cupped her chin, tilting her gaze to his. She skirted away from his touch. “I would rather not say.” He watched as she slipped to a sitting position, abandoning the warmth of his arms. He was the one left cold by that movement, though. She looked at the fire across the room, her expression one of far away memory. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he didn’t really want to know the answer to his question. Despite everything they had shared, it was clear the answer meant something to her. And perhaps that made it too intimate. Too close to her heart, or too close to his own.

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“Very well, you don’t have to share that with me,” he said with a shrug was far from his true feelings. “What about you?” she asked, her gaze coming back to him briefly. “If my outward appearance is not a true reflection of my heart, does that mean your outward appearance is no more than a mask, as well?” He stiffened. No one had ever asked him that question before. Prior lovers took his stance that pleasure was meant for the moment. Nothing deeper should come out of a physical union. But Evie wasn’t like any woman he’d bedded before. With just a look, she could pierce his soul. And his soul was a place he rarely let anyone glimpse. It wasn’t a place even he liked to visit, himself. “Perhaps you are correct that some things should remain secret between us,” he said. She held his stare for a long, uncomfortable moment. A moment where he started to wonder if she would accept that statement…or would she pursue the answers she demanded? And would he deny her if she pushed him on matters best left unexplored? “Perhaps,” she finally whispered as she got to her feet and found her tangled gown on the floor. A strange sense of disappointment flooded him and he pushed it away violently. What, did he want to share some part of himself with her? Foolish, ridiculous notion. What would he tell her? About the lies and the pains of the past? About betrayal and heartache? Those things were weak. Thinking about them made him weak. The last thing he wanted was to share them. He sat up. No, the remainder of the time they had left was better spent in sexual exploration. That was all there was and all there ever could be between him and this woman who had proven herself to be so much more than he expected or dared to dream. “You should not be ashamed by your writings, Evelyn.” She stiffened at the mention of the subject she had declared closed. Straightening up, she glanced over her shoulder. “I am not.” “Good.” He got up and came across the room. Turning her to face him, he began to button her gown again, allowing his fingers to brush the soft valley between her breasts before he covered her. “Because you are very talented.”

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She blushed again, but this time it was surprise and pleasure that tinted her cheeks a soft pink. His heart jumped at the sight and the fact that saying something so simple and so true could bring such simple joy to her bright eyes. He wanted to do it again. And again. And again. Instead, he smiled and let his fingers slide down the front of her now buttoned gown. “With a bit more education, you could be even better.” A little laugh bubbled from her lips. “And I still have a few more days with you as my teacher.” “Yes.” The reminder that their time was so short brought Sin out of any playful interaction. It also raised his desperation level. He needed to get this woman out of his system before the time between them ran out. And that meant one thing. “But,” he said, letting her go. “You will have to surrender.” “Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?” she asked, but the teasing light in her eyes was beginning to fade in the face of his seriousness. He shook his head. “You have given yourself freely, of course. But I’m not talking about letting me pleasure you. I’m not talking about giving me your body without argument. I’m telling you that I want to take you further. Further than you ever imagined. Ever saw your servants do. You will have to trust me. Do you trust me?” He held his breath as he waited for the answer, watching her face for every slight movement. Every nuance of emotion. Evelyn met his eyes, holding his gaze with an even strength that he had always sensed under the delicate surface. Despite everything she’d been through, Evie was a powerful woman. “Yes. I trust you.” Those words were so simple, yet they touched him in a powerful way that surprised him. Her trust was a gift. Knowing her father and the way he behaved, Sin doubted Evelyn gave her trust lightly. And yet, he was lying to her. She didn’t really know the whole reason why she was here. She didn’t know his plans. Guilt soured his pride, his joy at what she gave. Still, she gave it. Gave him more than he ever hoped for. She was giving him everything. And he wanted everything. So desperately.

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“Go upstairs. Take your bath. Rest and relax,” he said, his tone soothing. “I’ll come to you in a few hours.” She nodded, pressing a brief kiss against his cheek before she left the room. After she’d gone, Sin sank back down on the settee. What was happening to him? Whatever it was, this woman was making him question everything he planned, everything he was. And yet he couldn’t tear himself away from her. Not for all the revenge in the world.

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Chapter Seven

When Evelyn rose from the bath, her knees trembled. She caught the edge of the tub, gripping the porcelain before she managed to stand upright. As the maid wrapped a thick towel around her, she shook her head. She needed to calm herself. Get her hands and nerves to stop shaking uncontrollably. But she couldn’t. She followed the maid to the bed chamber and shivered as she looked at the bed. It had been made up with satin sheets while she soaked in the adjoining room. A hint of what would happen that night. What Sin had planned? “Are you cold, my lady?” the young woman asked as she rubbed the towel over Evelyn’s goose marked flesh. “Yes,” she lied. She wasn’t cold. It was nervousness that made her shake, but she wouldn’t admit that. “Will you fetch my robe?” The girl looked at her with uncertainty. “My master said no clothing tonight, my lady. I can put a log on the fire to warm the room.” Evelyn bit her lip. No clothes. Heat flooded her cheeks. “No. I’m sure it’s just the shock of leaving the warm bath. I’ll be fine, thank you.” The girl bobbed out a curtsey as Evelyn took a seat beside the fire. The young woman slowly toweled her long hair until it was no longer wet, but did not pull the dark tresses away from her face. “Sin asked for this, as well?” Evelyn asked as the maid pulled a few long strands over her shoulders to cover her breasts. “Yes.” The way she said the word, made Evelyn flinch. It was so matter-of-fact, like preparing a woman for Sin’s possession was an every day occurrence for the staff here. But perhaps it was, considering the man’s reputation. 56

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Evelyn stared at her hands, which were fisted in her lap. She would not be jealous. She wouldn’t. Sin had asked her to give him everything. Her body. And she was prepared to do it for the intoxicating way he made her feel. Yet, he gave so little in return. But that was probably because he had bought her. She was part of a business transaction. He wanted her, that she knew, but when this was over, he wanted nothing more. So when she surrendered ‘everything’ tonight, she had to make sure that ‘everything’ didn’t include her wavering heart. The heart that pounded every time she saw Sin. Every time he touched her. The heart that yearned for him when they weren’t together. The door opened and Sin entered the room. She stood up to face him and watched as his gaze slipped down, slowly, over her naked body. She thrust her breasts out, pride swelling when she saw his cock do the same. He motioned to the maid to depart. When they were alone, he moved toward her. “Are you ready?” Evelyn nodded. It was true. She was ready to give herself over to him. There would be consequences. She couldn’t deny that. But they were worth the price. “Yes.” “Then come here.” He motioned to the bed. She climbed up, the satin slipping around her, caressing her skin. Resting back on the pillows, she looked at him with a nervous smile. He didn’t return the smile. In fact, his gaze pierced her fully, holding her in place as he stalked across the room and mounted the bed beside her. “Lift your arms,” he murmured. She cocked her head in confusion, but did as she had been asked. Full surrender. He reached into his pocket and withdrew two long, silk cravats. As she watched, he looped one around her wrist and bound her to the bed before she could argue. “Sin,” she cried, pulling. He placed the flat of his palm against her belly, the gentle touch soothing her despite herself. “Shhh,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss against her sweat-dampened temple. “I know this is a leap, but take it. Allow me to do this. Surrender.” She bit back any further protests. Surrender. This was full surrender. Once he bound her other wrist, she would have no control. No escape. 57

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Ceasing her movements of evasion, she raised her unbound wrist back to the head of the bed. “Very well,” she croaked. “I promise you, you will not regret it,” he said as he tied her opposite wrist. She pulled against the bonds reflexively, but there was no give. He had well and truly trapped her and now she was at his mercy. He reached into the other pocket and withdrew another piece of silk. This was longer, black. He wrapped it a few times, then gently lifted her head. “It’s a blindfold,” he explained, kissing her forehead before he wrapped it around her eyes and tied it, tight enough that there was no escaping the blackness before her vision, but no tight enough to cause her physical pain. Then his weight was gone from the bed. “Sin!” she cried out, hating the desperation in her voice and that she wanted the man who had put her in this vulnerable position. “I’m here,” he soothed. She relaxed a little that he had not left the room. “Surrender,” he said. “But not just to me. To your own senses. The ones you’ve neglected while you let your eyes be your guide into sensuality. Listen. Smell. Taste. Feel. Give yourself over to me.” His voice and the words it spoke were so seductive. She had been coiled like this for a long time, but not in her body. In her heart. Waiting for a father’s betrayal. Waiting for an attack on her soul. Waiting for fate to snatch her away from her hopes and dreams. Sin was telling her to forget those things. To truly allow pleasure and desire to wash over her. And to trust that he would bring her those things with no pain. No fear. Her breathing shook as she drew it in and exhaled out. With effort, she calmed the intake. Drawing in long, deep breaths, she ordered her body to unwind. Gradually it obeyed, her muscles relaxing. Sin’s weight returned to the bed, this time at the foot. She tensed slightly as she waited for whatever he had in store for her. “Be calm,” he reminded her and she heard his smile. “I’m trying,” she said through gritted teeth as she began the process anew. “Let me help,” he said softly. She felt his breath against the inside of her calf, then his lips brushed the delicate skin there. He sucked very gently and fire shot up her legs and settled between her thighs.

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A little gasp escaped her lips, but she bit it back. Sin’s head moved, like he was looking up at her. She squirmed at the knowledge that he was staring at her, but she couldn’t see him in return. “Don’t hold back,” he said softly. She nodded, the refrain of total surrender echoing in her desire-addled mind. His mouth was back on her skin, this time teasing the skin behind her knee. She sucked in a breath at the tingles of feeling that moved through her. “Pleasure isn’t just about here-” His fingers brushed, ever so gently against the apex of her thighs. She arched into them, but they were gone instantly. “Or here.” This time he let the same fingers trail over her taut nipples and she moaned again. “Pleasure can be born from any touch. Even the most benign…” He grazed his lips along her rib cage, then pulled away. “You must allow yourself to feel them all, though. Don’t anticipate. Let pleasure surprise you.” “You surprise me,” she murmured. His mouth brushed hers. “Good,” he said, close to her ear. Then he was gone again, his weight shifting once more to the foot of the bed. Evelyn sighed as she waited for the next touch, but she did her best to follow his order and not anticipate. Not arch her hips to show him where she wanted his mouth or fingers. Not spread her legs to offer him access. Just give her body over to him, trusting he would know what to do to bring her the highest pleasure. Once she had done so, the experience was glorious. Every touch made her nerves sizzle, because each was so unexpected. Sin didn’t stay in one spot for long. First he would stroke her thigh, then his mouth would caress her stomach. The heat of his breath would burn at her hip, then his fingers would comb through her hair, massaging her scalp. Her entire body felt alive in a way she’d never experienced before. And her entire being was focused on Sin. On his presence, on his touch… on him, in a way she’d never allowed before. Though she couldn’t see him, she knew he was as excited by this game as she was. She could hear it in the catch of his breath. Feel it when his hard erection nudged her. Taste it in his kiss when he occasionally brought his mouth down and tangled his tongue with hers. “And now I want you to try an exercise in control,” he said. She smiled. “Is this not enough an exercise in that?” 59

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“Not quite.” He brushed his hand up and down her side. “You see, even though you aren’t speaking, aren’t able to see, your body is telling me what it wants. Silently. By the way you quiver. By the way you sigh and moan. Now I want you to silence that voice. I will pleasure you. But only if you can hold back your release. Only if you can keep silent.” She hesitated, but her body was aching for more than fleeting, teasing touches. And she had held back reaction before when she watched the servant’s couple. She could do that now, especially if it meant Sin pleasuring her. “I shall do my best.” The bed moved and suddenly she felt hot breath at the apex of her thighs. Sin’s hands cupped her, spread her open, but for a long moment, he did not touch. She could feel his stare on her most private areas like she was watching him. But she didn’t blush. Let him look at the moisture that was dripping there. Let him see what his touch, his teasing had done to her. That was part of the pleasure, wasn’t it? “So beautiful,” he whispered and she felt the words reverberate over her clit before his mouth came down. Her first reaction was to buck her hips. But the moment she did, Sin pulled away, withdrawing his tongue. “Wait, Evie. You may not react until I give you leave.” She shivered. So he would control every part of her pleasure. She stilled her hips and bit back a moan. His mouth came down again. Teasing. Tasting. He nibbled at the swollen lips of her sex, just brushing his lips there in a gentle back and forth motion. More like he was kissing her mouth than her weeping pussy. A moan build deep within her, but she swallowed it as she fought to stay still and hold back her reaction. “Very good,” he said. “Just wait, wait for me.” He darted out his tongue, tracing the pouting curves between her legs. He let the tip dance over her clit, but then it was gone and she ached. He lapped downward, stroking her entire slit and even further. Shockingly, briefly, he circled the rosebud of her bottom. No one had ever touched her there and a starburst of light exploded behind her lids at the foreign, utterly naughty and erotic sensation.

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She couldn’t hold back a grunt of pleasure. As before, that noise brought a swift withdrawal of Sin’s touch. For a moment there was an empty silence. She longed to call out for him, but held back. Finally, he growled. “Next time, I will spank you.” Those words, said so seriously, should have inspired her fear, but instead she thought of the portraits in his office. Of the woman being paddled. Immediately hot wetness flooded her and she couldn’t help the way her sheath clenched at the wetness. Sin chuckled. “Interesting. But not tonight. Now be still.” She bit her lip until she could taste blood and finally Sin returned his mouth to her. He caressed her with such a leisurely pace, stroking, invading, lapping at her until she felt there was no part of her he hadn’t explored. But he did not allow her pleasure and she didn’t make the mistake of moving to force the release she now craved. “I know this is hard,” he murmured between hard sucks at her clit that made her knees quake with impending release. “So when you come, you may scream and thrash and moan as much as you like. You’ve earned it.” She tensed as his mouth tightened on her clit. He slipped his hands beneath her backside and lifted her, stroking her with even, broad strokes, sucking. She fought to keep the release at bay, fought to prolong the sensations, but she couldn’t. All the torment, the teasing, the waves of pleasure that had been building all night finally burst. She heard herself scream, felt her body arch, her pelvis rock against Sin’s mouth as she cried out for more. Begged for more. He gave it. Bringing her up and down waves so powerful she sometimes feared she might actually die before they were over. But finally, the slamming bursts of pleasure calmed and she collapsed, panting. But Sin wasn’t finished. She felt him shift to his knees, still cupping and lifting her backside and then his cock was sliding inside, filling, stretching. He thrust into her with mercilessly hard jerks of his hips. It was a taking, a claiming and she knew a part of her would always be with him after tonight. She heard his breath coming shorter, his thrusts grew more erratic and she braced for the coming flood of his desire. But instead he grasped the edge of the blindfold and pulled it free. She blinked against the bright light and found herself just inches from Sin’s face. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her, his cry muffled by her lips as he poured deep inside her body. 61

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He quickly pulled the ties on her wrists free, then collapsed on top of her. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close and reveling in the warmth of his body pressed against her own. A feeling she would lose in just a few short days.

**** Sin was asleep, his broad chest rising and falling with every deep breath. Evelyn rolled over on her side and propped herself up on her elbow, watching his face. It was more peaceful in its relaxed state, but his mouth still had the same sensual, knowing tilt. She couldn’t sleep as he was. Thoughts of the night they’d shared had haunted her for more than an hour, making her toss and turn. There had been something in the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her at the last moment that troubled her. No, not troubled. It was worse than that. It gave her hope. There had been emotion in his eyes. And she wanted that. More than just sex. More than just her fantasies come true. Despite all her promises to herself to keep some kind of distance from this man, she wanted his heart. Because she had already surrendered her own to him. She shut her eyes. Dear God, what had she done? Sin demanded surrender and she gave it. All of it. Heart and soul and everything else. With a quiet sigh, she slipped out of his bed and put on her robe. She left his room, trying not to look back, but failing at the last moment. She moved down the hallway, looking at family portraits, knickknacks, things that were important to him and things that said who the man was. But she found herself downstairs in front of his office door in no time. She stepped inside. Here is where everything had begun. And this room, with its art, with his work, was obviously the place in his home that most represented Sin. She closed the door behind her and scanned the room. This was Sin’s life. This was Sin. She moved around, looking beyond the portraits that inevitably distracted her. She looked at the little clock on the mantle. It was finely made and very pretty. Sin appreciated art, and not only the kind designed to shock and arouse. The books on his shelf were interesting treatises on politics, as well as classic works of fiction. There were erotic books, as well, but the ones that were most worn and loved were more about the mind than the body. 62

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Nothing about the man was expected. Whenever she thought she’d figured him out, he surprised her. And not just with sensual delights. Since she met him, he had shown her kindness, consideration and demanded blatant honesty in return. Things she hadn’t experienced…or given…very often in her life. She moved to his desk. The leather chair screamed out the lush side of his personality. She sat down in the comfortable cushion and leaned back, thinking about him sitting here going over papers. Looking down, she cast her gaze over the sloppy paperwork spread about the desk top and smiled. He was in such control, yet his desk was messy. Another dichotomy. She was about to rise when she saw something on the top sheet of paper that caught her eye. Her father’s name. She reached out, hand trembling and pulled the paper out from beneath another where it had been half covered. Looking away, she gathered her composure. She shouldn’t look. Sin hadn’t authorized her to even be in this room alone, let alone go through his private papers. But she couldn’t resist. She glanced over the sheet. Her heart sank with every word she read. Hands trembling, she sorted through the other papers and found more and more with references to her father, to a past she had never known anything about. To her. Nausea built in waves, rising up in her throat until she could taste the faint tinge of bile. Tears blurred her vision, yet she read on, ignoring the rising morning light as the sun began to rise outside. Ignoring her own fatigue. Finally, a long time after, so long that she wasn’t even aware of how many hours had gone by, she set the paperwork back down on the desktop and staggered to her feet. Tears threatened but she blinked them back. She wouldn’t cry. Not for this. Not for lies told that destroyed a future she never would have had anyway. Everything she needed to know, but had never imagined, was clear to her. Sin wasn’t just using her to pay a debt… He was using her for revenge.

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Chapter Eight

Sin opened his eyes, reaching over to find Evelyn and pull her against his chest. But her side of the bed was cold. He sat up instantly, looking for her, his mind and eyes blurry with sleep and confusion. He found her standing at the fireplace, fully dressed, facing him. Her arms were folded. And even in his sleepy state, he could see that she was very unhappy. Somehow he wanted to make that frown go away. To make that anger around her eyes dissipate. “Good morning,” he said, reaching out and motioning to her. “Why don’t you come back to bed?” She stiffened, her posture becoming ever more like a slighted London miss and far less like the wild woman who gave herself to him freely. “Are you running away from me?” he asked. She stayed silent, merely staring at him with that same angry, empty stare that was beginning to make every hair on his body stand on end. Slowly, he got to his feet. Ah…there was a reaction. Her gaze slipped down and briefly there was a heat in her eyes as she ran her stare over his naked body. In response, his cock shifted from partial attention to fully ready. Damn, what this woman did to him. It had never been like this with anyone else ever before. What they shared was special, unique. She looked away from his body, locking her gaze on his face. The accusation returned. “Would you lie to me, Sin?” she asked, soft. He grabbed for the dressing gown draped nearby and pulled it on. Clearly she desired the kind of conversation that was better had with some protection. “What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed and his heart rate increased. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. 64

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“Last night you demanded my total surrender and I gave it to you,” she explained, bringing powerful images of that surrender to his mind. God, she had looked beautiful tied to his bed, splayed out and following his orders. And when he gave her release, Jesus, it had never been like that before. He wanted to stay inside her forever. One body, one soul. “Yes, you did.” She pursed her lips and he stopped talking. “What you asked me required trust on my part, but now I wonder if you really deserve it. Can I trust you, Sin? Or would you lie to me to get what you wanted?” He hesitated, mesmerized by the flashing anger in her eyes. He’d never seen her like this, and though it should have put him at warning, instead it drove his arousal higher. But she wanted an answer to her question. He thought of the real reasons he’d brought her here. For ruination. To use her. But was it like that anymore? He wasn’t sure. “I’m not lying when I say I want you,” he said, dodging the answer she sought as he tried to determine the cause of her questions and accusatory stares. Her lips pursed and she held out a letter written in his own hand. A letter that answered his question about the cause for this outburst before he even looked at it. He cursed as he took the papers from her trembling hands. “At least I know I cannot trust you,” she breathed, her chin lifted up with all the pride in her body. “You are a liar, Mr. Sinclair.” He winced at the use of his formal name, but pushed the painful reaction away to measure his response. He had to tread carefully. “You went through my private papers, Evelyn. Can I trust you any more than you claim you cannot trust me?” Her face twisted in outrage, but he could see she was only just holding herself together. She wanted to cry. She probably wanted to hit him, which he had to admit, he deserved. “I did not go through your things,” she said on a harsh whisper. Her voice trembled like her hands. “I was sitting at your desk when I saw this with my father’s name on it. And even if I had searched blindly through your things, at least I didn’t hide it from you. I didn’t lie like you do.” Sin flinched, but anger was building in his stomach, low and dark. “If you read these papers, then you understand what I did and why, don’t you?” 65

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Her shoulders stiffened. “Because my father destroyed your father?” He nodded as pain rushed through him, pain he had not mastered, even after so many months. “He gambled with my father. He took his money. He plied him with drink when the old bastard had a weakness for the bottle. And in the end, when he begged for more time to pay, your father made sure he took everything my father owned. And he died within a week of that shame.” Her face twitched. “These letters say you were estranged at the time of his death.” Sin wanted to throw the words into the fire. To cover his ears and pray she would forget what she’d read. He couldn’t tell her about the truth. About the past. The pain. “All the more reason to take my revenge. I couldn’t or wouldn’t protect him in life. I had to avenge him.” Sin balled up the letter, nearly rending the paper in two. “Is that what you think you’ll do?” She stepped up, no fear in her face or manner, despite the fact that he had a foot of height to his advantage. “Do you truly think you can purge your guilt, wash away my father’s sins by taking me? Destroying me for good society? Do you think my father would even care?” Her voice caught on the last question and she turned away, but not before he saw her face. Saw the anguish he had caused. That her father had caused. That every man she’d ever trusted had caused. And he hated himself for being just another person who had betrayed her so bitterly. She straightened her shoulders and turned back to face him. Now the pain was gone, replaced by more of that shocking strength that he knew doubled his own. “He won’t care, Sin. I promise you that. And whatever you do to me, it won’t change anything my father did to your father. It won’t change your loss and it certainly won’t assuage your guilt.” She folded her arms. “But I am still here for another few nights.” His gaze locked with hers as the shock of her statement rocked him back on his heels. “What?” Her head tilted. “You have no intention of letting me out of the arrangement you made with my father, do you?” His jaw set as he straightened up to his full height. If she would honor the very dishonorable deal he’d made, he wouldn’t stop her. “No. I won’t let you go.”

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She shrugged as if she’d guessed as much. “I was given to you in payment of a debt. I will stay. And I will pay you in the manner you and my father worked out. Unlike you, unlike my father, I keep my word.” Sin stepped forward, catching her shoulders and drawing her against him. He felt her pulse quicken despite her stoic expression. “Do not compare us, Evie!” Slowly, she extricated herself from his arms and stepped back. “Whatever makes you happy. Whatever helps you to sleep at night, Sin. I won’t argue your twisted logic.” She backed away another step. “But I do wish to set some new ground rules.” He arched a brow at her cheek and the depth of her betrayal and anger. “Do you?” She nodded and there was no room for negotiation in her expression. “I think you owe me that.” “Why don’t you tell me what these terms are and then we’ll discuss what I do or do not owe you.” Her eyes narrowed, but she continued speaking nonetheless. “First, I will come to your bed as you arranged. However, I will only do so once a day. If you decide to take me at the breakfast table, then I will not surrender to your demands a second time. No more of this pleasure whenever the fancy strikes you.” Sin chuckled. On that score, at least, he knew he had the upper hand. “Of course. Because the times I had you, you took no pleasure in that, did you? Your body didn’t crave mine. You weren’t dripping with anticipation. You weren’t begging for more and more and more.” Her stoic expression faltered and he saw desire burn as hot as the anger in her eyes. Then she blinked it away. “Whether or not I enjoy the times we’ve joined is irrelevant. Our union is no longer about pleasure for me. It’s fulfilling a promise, nothing more.” He arched a brow. Somehow he doubted she would be able to keep herself from utter pleasure the next time he touched her. But the idea that she would hate herself for that pleasure after it was over stung him. “What else?” he asked, keeping emotion from his voice. She met his stare. “I want a chamber separate from your own.” He shook his head as he paced away from her. The idea of her being in his house, but not being in his bed killed him. He’d grown so accustomed to reaching out in the 67

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night and gathering her against him. Even if that lead to nothing more than feeling the heat of her skin against his, it brought him a comfort he hadn’t experienced in a long time. But perhaps that was exactly why he should give her what she desired. As she said, this bargain would be over soon enough. It was better not to allow himself to enjoy what he wouldn’t have much longer. “Very well,” he said with a shrug as he turned back. “Though you know my bed is always open to you if you get cold.” She didn’t smile, not even a small fraction. “I won’t.” “Are those all the terms, then?” Her eyes darted away and she looked at the floor with a sigh, as if this last thing pained her more than anything else. “No. I have one more request.” “I thought these were orders.” She glared at him. “I know full-well that no one orders you to do anything Sin. You will do as you please, the rest of the world be damned.” He winced at the accurate description of his life so far. And wished she hadn’t pinned down his character so easily and quickly. “After this is over,” she said. “After you have had your way for another few days and I return to London, I never want to see you again.” He staggered back, staring at her and not believing he’d understood her correctly. “What?” “You heard me.” Her voice was quiet, but unbroken. She shrugged. “You may or may not decide to follow through with your initial plans to ruin me publicly. But whatever you decide on that score, I don’t want to see you again. I don’t want to be reminded of the time we spent together. If you must come to torment my father, please send word beforehand so that I may leave. If you see me on the street or in a shop, I would ask that you do not acknowledge me in any way. And don’t expect anything different from me. Whatever friendship we once shared… it’s over.” Whatever pain Sin had felt when Evelyn brought up the subject of his estranged father seemed pale in comparison to that which ripped through him now. It tore everything inside him to shreds and rocked him backward. If he had been alone, he might have sunk into the closest chair at the weight and strength of it.

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Instead, he stepped closer to her. “And what if I refuse to honor this term, Evie? What if this term forces me to ruin you when I wouldn’t have done so otherwise?” He couldn’t believe the desperate threat had come from his own lips. And by the shock that briefly flitted over her face, she couldn’t either. But then the shock was replaced by more of that cold, emotionless stare. “If you feel you must ruin me, then I can’t stop you,” she said. “Obviously my comfort and my desires and my life meant nothing to you when you concocted that plan. Why would I think for a moment that they meant something to you now?” She couldn’t have cut him more if she stuck a dagger directly into his chest and twisted until she found his heart. Sin clenched his fists at his sides, fighting not to howl out his pain. Fighting not to take her into his arms and demand she take back all those words. Instead, he clenched his teeth and ground out, “Very well, Evelyn. I agree to your terms.” She caught her breath in a sound of pain equal to his own. “Good.” “I will have a bedroom prepared for you down the hall immediately,” he continued. She nodded. “Very good. I will have my breakfast and then I’d like to sleep for a while. I was up most of the night and I’m tired.” How could they be having this conversation like they were discussing the weather? Sin fought to maintain control. “Fine.” She shot him one final look before she turned and left the chamber. The moment the door closed behind her, Sin sank to his knees as the weight of long repressed emotions bore down on him. He was going to lose Evelyn. Except, he’d never really had her. Their bargain had always been for just a fortnight of pleasure. It had not been offered or taken with any thought for more than that… Except now, he couldn’t imagine the torment of never seeing Evelyn again. Of never being able to talk to her, touch her. He didn’t want that. And he was beginning to realize, he couldn’t take that, either. A life without any contact with her would be empty. He shoved back to his feet and rushed to ring the bell for his servant. He had agreed to Evie’s terms, but that didn’t mean the negotiation was really over. He still had

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time to diffuse her anger. To change the bitterness in her heart. To cling to whatever emotions had developed between them. He didn’t want to lose her. He couldn’t.

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Chapter Nine

There was something about getting what she wanted that made Evelyn feel empty. She pulled her wrap around her shoulders a little tighter, although the garden was actually warm and fragrant. Still, a chill rushed through her that had more to do with her situation than her position outside. She had told Sin that she would only give herself to him once a day. He had followed that demand to the letter, not touching her at all the previous day since their lovemaking the night she found his letters had gone long past midnight. He had let her be alone. Let her think. She had told him she wanted a separate chamber and she had one now. Empty as her soul was, cold and lonely. She had spent a long and sleepless night in that bed, reaching for Sin, dreaming of him, wanting him. But also hating his lies. Every time she thought of them, she burned inside. Betrayal had been such a constant in her life. Yet she somehow was still naïve enough to believe in Sin. To trust that he wanted her for the reasons he’d given. To give him a piece of herself that went far beyond her innocence. Was there a big difference between taking her in trade for a debt and taking her as a part of a plot for revenge? Perhaps not in theory, but in practice they felt different. In the first scenario, she had been an active participant. He had been honest and up front with her. He’d given her choices. But in the second, every word was a lie. Every touch just a way to hurt her in the long run. And that made her disbelieve everything they’d shared. All those beautiful times when he touched her were a lie. And she hated losing her faith in his touch. She hated feeling so stupid and small. “Evelyn?” She stiffened at his voice behind her and pulled her wrap even tighter before she looked over her shoulder. 71

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“Good morning,” he said, but she didn’t answer. He sighed and took a seat beside her on the bench. “Come now. There’s no use in being childish.” “Did you want to take me to bed?” she snapped. Then she flinched. Well, she certainly couldn’t argue she wasn’t being childish now. “No.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I mean, yes, of course. But that isn’t why I’m here. Will you walk with me?” That childish part of her wanted to refuse, fold her arms, stomp her feet, have a tantrum, but she didn’t. Partly because she had more dignity than that, and partly because she could see the dangerous message in Sin’s eyes. He wouldn’t put up with too much of a display before he put her over his knee and rewarded her with that spanking he kept promising. And again her body rushed with shocking desire at the mere thought. “Very well,” she gasped, rushing to her feet. “We’ll walk.” He offered her an arm, but she ignored it. He didn’t press the issue and they began to walk down the garden path together in silence. Sin made no effort to speak to her as they moved through the garden and out into the main areas of the estate. She kept a safe distance away from him, but could still feel the almost suffocating heat of his presence. And the silence only seemed to make it worse. Instead, she focused on the grounds. Which helped her relax. She hadn’t been any further than the garden during her stay thus far, so being outside was almost a shock. Sin’s estate was beautiful, with rolling hills, well-tended gardens tucked away. In the distance she saw the wide expanse of a heather filled valley, and beyond that the wild tangle of woods. “My, it’s lovely,” she breathed, despite her private vow to punish him with silence. Sin smiled. “So you’re talking to me now.” She hesitated as she cast a quick glance at him from the corner of her eye. There were so many questions bubbling inside her. Ones she had been too angry to ask the previous morning. But out here, in the warm, open air, she didn’t feel as closed in. And she had nothing left to lose. “Will you talk to me?” she asked. He cocked his head as they came to a stop at the top of a hill that overlooked the valley below. “I think I am, Evelyn.” She shook her head. “No. Really talk to me. Answer my questions.” 72

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There was a slight stiffening in his shoulders that let her know how uncomfortable that request made him, but he didn’t refuse outright. Instead, he looked out over the distance below, his gaze as far away as the specks of trees she saw on the horizon. Like he was reliving every moment of the past and judging whether or not they were safe to share. “I will do my best to answer you,” he said as he motioned to the grass. She sat down and waited until he’d done the same, though he looked anything but comfortable with his shoulders hunched and his face stern and almost… nervous. This was a sacrifice he was making, allowing her to interrogate him. And she recognized it and appreciated it. But she also needed it. Sin knew her darkest secrets. In fact, the only one that remained kept was that he was the star of all the wicked fantasies she authored and he enjoyed so thoroughly. But she knew so little about him. “What do you want to know?” he asked, his voice slightly hoarse as he stared anywhere but in her direction. She drew in a breath. “You know everything about my past. About my father. But I know nothing about the person who has driven you to such lengths. Will you tell me about him?” Sin flinched, but there was a resignation on his face that told her he had guessed that would be the subject of her questioning. “Like what?” “Were you close to him at any time?” Sin sighed, his lips pinching as he pondered the question. “My mother died when I was a boy, just nine years old.” She sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry.” He shrugged, but that dismissive action wasn’t reflected in the pained green depths of his eyes. “She had been ill most of my life. I think she loved me.” He stopped talking for a moment, long enough that she could see how moved he was by the subject. “But I wouldn’t say she was ever able to truly be a mother to me. My father loved her. I know that to be true, but she had been dying for years. At some point, he cut himself away from whatever pain and anguish he felt. Within months of her death, he remarried. A woman he had been secretly having an affair with during the last few years of my mother’s life.”

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His tone was so even, so emotionless, but Evelyn shut her eyes at the pain that bubbled beneath the surface nonetheless. “As a child, you must have been so angry and confused!” He shot a gaze her way, filled with surprise at her observation. “Yes. I hated the woman, didn’t want her around. I even tried to find ways to make her go away. And the feeling, I’m afraid, was mutual. My existence was only a reminder of the past to her. She wanted to start a new life with my father. She wanted to purge all memories of my mother away, whether that was by redecorating his home…or putting me out of her sight. So she did.” Evelyn swallowed. “What did she do?” He shrugged. “I was sent away to live with my mother’s parents in the country. It was a happy enough existence, I suppose, though I admit I harbored much resentment toward my father, toward my stepmother. And they virtually ignored me.” “Oh, Sin,” she breathed and reached for him by instinct. She wanted to touch him, to allow him to feel her empathy and support. He met her stare, his eyes almost daring her to touch him. To care. She withdrew her hand before she could cup his arm. “When I came of age, I was called to London by my father’s solicitor. I thought-” He stopped and she saw him fighting emotion again. “I thought perhaps he wanted me now. But he didn’t. He wasn’t even present at the meeting. I was given over a very large settlement. The man called it an inheritance, but it was payment for the neglect. And a way to buy me to stay away. At first, I considered marching up to the house and throwing the money in my father’s face, but I knew my stepmother would only take it to buy more ridiculous decoration for whatever room she was currently obsessed with.” “You took it,” she urged when he stopped speaking. His breath was ragged now and it was clearly taking more effort to keep his emotions in check. “I took it. I invested it. I tripled it in two years time. And threw myself into debauchery with all my heart.” “Because you didn’t want to feel that pain again?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “I suppose that is one way to look at it. Another would be that I’d had my fill of pain and feeling.” He gritted his teeth. “I earned every fuck. Every drunken row. Every damned pleasure I pursued.”

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“Then why do you care that my father destroyed you father?” she asked. “Clearly, he did not earn your loyalty.” Sin’s shoulders relaxed. “Perhaps not. But a year ago, he called for me. I came, I don’t know why. Curiosity, I suppose. My stepmother had tired of him and departed for the country home. And he wanted me. All of a sudden, he was sorry. He was wrong. I was a treasure he had lost. It was shit, of course.” She winced. “But I--I still wanted that. I spent time with him. I was beginning to find some kind of twisted understanding of his frailties when he died.” “Because of my father, you believe.” She shook her head. He nodded vehemently. “Damn right because of your father.” For a long time, they sat in silence. Evelyn thought about Sin’s story, his past. The pain. And she realized something both shocking and exhilarating. “You know,” she sighed. “You and I are very much alike, Sin.” He looked at her with incredulity. “Are we?” “Yes. It may not seem so on the surface. You are… well, you deal solely in pleasure. You don’t care about consequence or the future. You live for the moment you are in. And I am not like that. I am always waiting for fate, watching over my shoulder for when it will arrive and destroy me. But…” Sin moved closer, watching her face. “But…?” “But we are who we are for the same reasons. I lost my mother young, as well. My father may not have abandoned me in body, as yours did, but he never cared for my sister and I as a father should. I know the feeling of despair. Of wishing for more. Of disappointment. And anger. In some ways, we are the same.” He reached out and trailed his fingertips along her cheek. “No, Evie, we are different in a very important way. You do not deserve any pain and would never cause it. And I have created it. For you. For others. Just to appease my anger.” Evelyn reached up and caught Sin’s fingers, drawing them to her lips where she brushed her mouth across them. He sucked in his breath. “But you have also brought pleasure, Sin.” She leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his. She gave him comfort, she offered hope and she prayed he might take it as he took her. Stop tormenting himself.

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Stop hating everything in his past. If not for her, where there was no future to be shared, than for himself. If he took the feelings behind the kiss, she didn’t know, but he devoured her mouth, pushing her back until she lay on the grass. His heavy body moved across her, pinning her down, filling her with heat that had nothing to do with the summer breeze. “Evie,” he groaned as he drove his tongue between her lips. She sucked it, drawing him in deep, giving everything in her soul despite knowing that it was foolish to do so. He inspired that. There was no denying the truth. When she was with him, she was willing to surrender everything. Because she loved him. She had for such a long time. She would always, no matter what lies he told or damage he did. That was why she couldn’t see him again after their affair ended. Tears stung her eyes even as she tugged at his jacket, scraping her nails along the front of his shirtwaist and arching against his heat. His mouth moved down her throat, along the edge of her gown’s swooping neckline. He sucked against the fabric covering her nipple and she sighed as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. He shrugged out of his shirt with one arm as he continued to kiss her until she thought she could die happily in this very position. Then he went to work at unlacing the front of her gown. When he had loosened it enough, he tugged down, baring her breasts. He kissed her again, flatting his bare chest against her own and stroking back and forth so that glorious friction was created against her hard nipples. She moaned, lifting her hips until she felt the hard thrust of his erection at the juncture of her thighs. Her body immediately gushed with hot wetness at the feel and the anticipation of what was to come. He got to his feet with a curse, kicking out of the remainder of his clothes as she yanked her skirt up above her waist. She opened her legs for him as he came down between them and positioned himself at the entrance to her body. He locked gazes with her as he slipped inside, inch by inch, until he was fully seated deep inside her clenching body. His full weight came down on her and he kissed her again before he rocked forward. She moaned against his neck as their pelvises ground against each other and caused a delightful shot of pleasure that weighted her entire body. He repeated the motion, over and over, always maintaining control over his cadence as he watched her face for the signs of pleasure. Evelyn was too wrapped up in 76

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sensation to try to hide them. She allowed herself every heated moan, every pant of breath. She showed him everything, perhaps even a piece of her heart, as she wrapped her legs around his bare backside and lifted her hips to meet each thrust. The brink was coming. She tried to hold it off as long as she could because she could see Sin was waiting for her release before he found her own. Once he had, the moment would end. And there was something different about this joining. There weren’t any secrets between them any longer. She understood him. But her body revolted against her mind’s desire. The coiling tightness between her legs began to unravel as her sheath quivered uncontrollably with release. She arched up hard, digging her nails into Sin’s back as she cried out with the force of her emotions and her passion. He growled against the base of her neck and swiveled his hips one last, earthshaking time before he pumped inside of her and collapsed against her on the grass. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Evelyn,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss against her throat. She blinked back more tears as she held him tightly and wondered what could come out of these days they’d shared beyond heartbreak and emptiness.

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Chapter Ten

Sin swirled the drink in his hand in the darkness of his private office. The fire had burned down to almost nothing long ago, but he didn’t rise to increase the heat or light. He just stared at the dying embers, thinking how much they were like the coals of his hatred and pain. There, hot as ever, but close to death. Sharing his past with Evelyn had brought those feelings even closer to that inevitable end than ever before. That reaction wasn’t one he had expected. But then again, he hadn’t ever expected to share his past. He never had before. All his friends, all his lovers, all the people he’d been close to in his life…no one had ever known the truth about his childhood. No one had heard him pour out his pain. But he’d done it for Evelyn. It had seemed natural to share those things. Her empathy, despite her anger and hurt, had wrapped around him with warm, accepting arms. There had been safety in her eyes. A promise never to use what he’d told her against him. And in her arms, after he made love to her on the hill, he’d found a peace unlike any he’d ever experienced. But was there also forgiveness available in her soul? Was there a future? He jolted at that thought. A future? He never thought of the future. Evelyn had pointed that out and it was true. The future was a foggy thing that might bring pain. So he lived in the moment. Yet now he pictured that future he tried to avoid. And he could see Evelyn in it. In this home. In his arms. In his life. Forever. And those images didn’t seem wrong or out of place. Sin knew she harbored some feelings for him. Her anger revealed how entangled she’d become in his life, in his heart. But would she accept an offer to stay here after the time they’d allowed was over? There was only one way to find out. 78

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He got to his feet and stalked into the hall. She would be dressing for supper now, in that blasted chamber she’d demanded separate from his own. He climbed the stairs two by two, focused on the goal. On her. Outside her door, he hesitated. He’d never risked much in his life. Evelyn had pointed that out, too, when she said she never saw him as a gambling man. If he never put too much out, he wouldn’t lose anything. And now he had everything to lose. But he knocked on her door regardless. “Come in.” Her voice was muffled on the opposite side of the door and he girded up all his strength before he pushed the barrier open. She was standing in the sitting area of the chamber, her maid smoothing the last few wrinkles from her gown. She looked up at him in surprise and within her eyes he saw everything he ever wanted. And everything he had avoided to keep himself from being disappointed. To his surprise, he wanted to run. Turn tail and never look back. But Sin was not a coward, so he stepped forward instead. “I would like a moment of your time,” he said, shocked by how his voice cracked like a young man’s. She tilted her head in surprise, but nodded to the maid. “Thank you that will be all.” Sin stared at her wordlessly as the girl passed him, opened the door and closed it behind herself. When they were alone, Evelyn ran her hands over her waist reflexively. “What is it?” He shifted. How could he say this? He had no idea. He’d never been the kind of man to pour out any part of himself. He thought romantic drivel in books or poetry was nonsense. But now he wished he’d memorized something that he could say that would express everything that boiled inside him. “Sin?” she murmured, taking a step toward him. Her concern was plain on her face. “You are pale. What is it?” “I negotiated this deal with your father,” he burst out and immediately wished he could take the blurted words back. She stopped moving forward. “Yes.” “But I want to negotiate a new deal…with you.” He swallowed.

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Her face fell. “We did that, Sin. And you have me for the allotted time, so there is no need to remind me of why I’m here.” He shook his head. God, he was bumbling this. “No, no. Please, sit down.” She watched him with wary attention for a moment before she moved to one of the chairs beside the fire and sat. “I don’t understand, Sin.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Neither do I. Let me start over.” He sat down in the chair beside hers and took her hand. “Evelyn, I don’t want you to leave.” Her expression turned to one of utter shock and she drew away a fraction. He hurried to speak so she wouldn’t interrupt. “I know I lied to you, I know I planned for something unspeakable and you may never forgive me for that. But I don’t want you to be where I’m not. I don’t want to wake up without you beside me. Please stay with me.”

**** Evelyn felt tears gathering in her eyes and she did not fight them. She was too much in shock at what Sin had said to her. Joy filled her, threatening to overwhelm her with its power. But then the words began to sink in. And she realized what Sin said. And what he had not. He had not asked her to marry him. He hadn’t said he loved her. He needed her, he wanted her. Those were powerful things. But he wasn’t offering her the things she needed. “Wh--what would you have me stay here as?” she whispered. He seemed confused. “As?” “If I stayed with you…” His hands tightened on hers and her heart ached. “If I stayed, what would I be?” He nodded as if he understood. “I would have you as my mistress, Evelyn. No other.” Her aching heart now sank. It was as she feared. She quietly withdrew her hands from his. “I’m sorry, Sin. I cannot do what you desire. It’s simply not enough for me.” “Not enough?” he repeated, his tone filled with shock and harsh disappointment. “What do you mean? I would give you a lifetime of pleasure. I would give you anything you desire, whenever you desired it.” 80

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She smiled, though she felt anything but happiness. This conversation was like pulling her own heart out and stomping it into powder. “But would you love me, Sin?” she asked, standing up and backing away. Being so close to him made this all the more difficult. “And if things became difficult, if you grew bored, wouldn’t you set me aside in exchange for a more pliable woman? No, Sin. I need more than you can give to me by making me your mistress.” “I know you care for me,” he barked, getting to his feet quickly enough that the chair he’d been sitting on flipped over backward. “I see it in your eyes.” She dipped her head. “Yes, I do care for you. I have pictured being with you for as long as I’ve known you. In fact, those stories I wrote, the ones you enjoyed so much…do you know who I wrote them about?” He shrugged, frustration evident in every line of his body. “Your fantasies?” “You were my fantasy,” she whispered. “The stories were about you. And if you notice, many of them ended with the man telling the woman he loved her. Because she loved him.” He staggered away, the full realization of what she was saying washing over him in a moment that was so clear that it was painful to look at. “You love me?” he asked. She nodded. There was no escaping that fact now. Not if she ever wanted him to understand why she was leaving. Why she had to go. “I love you, Sin. Whether you understand that or not, whether you shun it or not, you deserve love. But there is one thing I’ve learned since I arrived here. And it isn’t about how to give and receive pleasure. It’s that I deserve love. And if you couldn’t give it to me, I would be as much a prisoner here as I ever was in my father’s home. So I can’t take your offer to be mistress.” She turned away. “And I think, for both our sakes, that I should go tomorrow instead of on the designated day of our departure.” *** Sin stared at Evelyn’s trembling back as despair threatened to bring him to his knees. This woman loved him, but she would rather give him up, give up the life he offered her, than be with him under the terms he had laid out for her. She would rather go back to her father than live with him as his mistress and nothing more.

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He’d never known anyone else like Evelyn Greville. She was maddening and frustrating and stubborn. But she was also principled and good and willing to risk her heart to admit she loved him. Loved him. Despite lies. Despite whatever dark things lived inside him. Despite the fact that he pushed her to her limits and beyond. Did he deserve her love? He didn’t think so, despite her assertion to the contrary. But he wanted to deserve it. Because he loved her. “Evelyn,” he breathed as that realization pushed him back. When had it happened? When had he begun to love her amidst all the desire and utter respect he had for the person she was. Was it while they were still in London? Was it the night she lifted her chin and took his offer of passion? Was it the first time she surrendered to his touch? Or perhaps it had been all those times. Perhaps her presence, her inner strength and light had slowly whittled away all his resistance to loving her. And piece by piece, he had surrendered his heart and soul. But now she would leave. Because he’d been too cowardly to face that emotion. “I won’t force you to stay, Evie,” he whispered, longing to touch her, though he knew that wouldn’t help his cause. He needed to show her she was more to him than an extension of his hedonistic life. To show her what she meant to him. This time without holding back because if there was even the smallest chance that she would stay at his side, it was worth the risk. “But I am begging you not to go.” She turned at those words, unlike any he’d ever said before. When she met his eyes, he went down on his knees. “I, Rafael Sinclair, who have never been on his knees before a woman except to pleasure her, am begging you not to go. Not because I want you, not because I need you, though those things are more true than you will ever realize, but because I love you.” She flinched. “Don’t mirror my words back to me in an effort to get what you want!” “I know that is what it sounds like. But I swear to you on my life that it isn’t. I have never declared any similar feeling to a woman. I have never loved anyone but you. What can I do to prove it to you?” She began to turn away. “Sin--”

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He cut her off by grabbing her hand and pulling her back. “Should I give up everything I have? I’ll gladly do that for you. If you asked me to come to court and declare that I love you, I would. I’ll give you anything you ask for, anything you desire to prove this to you. And if I can’t do it now, I won’t break my vow never to see you ever again. I promised that to you and I’ll keep that promise. But I’ll write to you every day. I will keep asking you to allow me access to you.” She looked down at him. He could see how much she wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t. “Name what you need, Evie. I’ll do everything in my power to grant it.” She hesitated. “Would you give up sex for me, Sin?” He blinked. Never be inside her again, but be with her for always. “I would want you more than anything, but if you desired that, I’d do it.” He smiled faintly. “Though I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t try to convince you to change your mind.” Her cheeks twitched like she wanted to smile, but kept the expression at bay. She cupped his cheeks. “Would you give up your revenge on my father?” That made his smile fall. He’d been so angry for so long. And while he had no intentions of revealing this affair in public now, he hadn’t yet surrendered the notion of destroying Trevington in every way possible. He stared up into Evie’s eyes, so dark and filled with hope and fear and anticipation all at once. Her fingers fluttered against his face nervously. “I wouldn’t,” he said. Her face collapsed and a tear rolled down her cheek. She began to pull away, but he caught her wrists, holding her palms against his face. “He owes me a debt. And I will collect it still, Evelyn. But this is how I will count it fulfilled. I will demand your sister be set free from his influence. I will ensure he will never harm her again.” Her eyes lit up, but there was wariness there still. “You would do that only if I agree to stay with you?” A dark part of Sin briefly considered saying yes. He could see she would acquiesce to anything if it meant protecting Juliana. But instead, he shook his head. If he loved Evelyn, he had to be a woman worthy of her love in return. “Whether or not you agree to stay with me, I will do this. If you will not consent to be my wife, than I will demand your father free you, as well. I will make sure you and 83

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your sister have a place to live and money of your own, whether he provides it or I do. And I will never demand anything in return because this debt is between your father and me.” “Your wife?” Her eyes were wide. “Yes. I know I said I wanted you as my mistress. But that was a coward’s request. I don’t want a mistress, Evelyn. I have had those. What I feel for you is so much more than anything I’ve ever felt for anyone.” She looked at him in wonder. “But even if I said no, you would still help me escape my father’s influence and home?” Pain rushed through him, but he nodded jerkily. “Yes. I would rather you be happy, even if you weren’t with me. That would be the second best option to keeping you with me, having you love me and allowing me to love you. So I will ask you one last time, Evelyn, will you stay here with me? Will you marry me and let me love you?” Her throat worked as she swallowed and tears streamed down her face. Then she dropped to her own knees and leaned up to kiss him. “Yes, Sin. Yes. I will marry you. I will stay with you. And I will love you for the rest of my life.”

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Epilogue

Evelyn’s mouth dropped open. “So you were married all this time to Landon?” Her sister Juliana gave her another hard hug as they stood on the terrace of her new home and smiled. “Yes. I’m sorry I kept the truth from you. I’m sorry I tried to protect you by lying.” She shook her head in disbelief. Her sister had given up happiness for so many years to protect her… and then her father had betrayed them both anyway. But now they were free. She looked down over the railing to where Juliana’s husband and her own husband were walking together through the grounds. They were waiting for Landon’s brother, Hawk and his wife, Bianca, to arrive to celebrate the two new marriages. “And you,” Juliana said. “Are you certain you can be happy with this man?” She smiled as she watched Sin turn and raise a hand in greeting to the two women. “He is everything in world to me. I love him with all my heart and I know he loves me in return.” He’d certainly proven that since the night he dragged a groggy minister from his bed and the two were married because he wouldn’t wait another moment. Just a week ago today that had happened. “Isn’t it funny,” Juliana said as she looked at the two men who were now coming back toward the house. “Father’s bargains and lies and betrayals kept us at his mercy for so many years. But in a round about way, they brought us to our happiness, as well.” She nodded, thinking of her father for the first time without a glove of fear gripping her heart. Sin and Landon had worked it out so that she never had to see him again… and she realized she probably never would. Her family was here now. With the man below who looked at her with such love in his eyes. “Yes. We’ve earned that happiness after all this time. Both of us.” 85

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They turned as the door opened and a servant came outside with Landon’s brother Hawk and his wife. As Juliana introduced them, Sin and Landon came onto the terrace. The two brothers and their wives began to talk, but before Evelyn could join in, Sin caught her arm and led her to a quieter corner. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into an embrace. “Are you happy?” he whispered. She nodded as she held him closer. “So happy, Sin. And it’s all because of you.” He smiled against her hair. “I love you Evie.” “And I love you,” she whispered as she pulled his mouth down to her own.

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About the Author

Jess Michaels always flips through every romance she buys in search of 'the good stuff', so it makes perfect sense that she writes erotic romance where she gets to turn up the heat on that good stuff and let it boil. She loves alpha males, long haired cats (and short haired ones), the last breath right before a passionate kiss and the color purple (not the movie… though that's excellent, too, the actual color). She also firmly believes that Cadbury Cream Eggs should be available all year round and not count against any diet.

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