Read Online Between the Devil and Desire by Lorraine Heath - Free Book Online

else might she seekto tease a man? For she would tease—of that, Jack had no doubt.
    Unfolding his body, he stared down on her. He wondered how many nights she might have lain in this bed, replete and sated. Had the duke held her afterward? The women Jack had bedded didn’t require any special care, but he thought it would be different with a woman who wasn’t bought. She’d expect more when coins didn’t fill her palm. She’d require courtesies that filled her heart.
    He backed up a step. There was something very pleasing about the sight of a woman in bed, especially when it was now his bed. For all the women he’d pleasured and been pleasured by, he’d never watched one sleep. Even in slumber, a woman was seductive and alluring.
    He spun on his heel and headed for the door, refusing to be seduced, even by one as lovely as the Duchess of Lovingdon.
    Â 
    Jack strode into his gentlemen’s club and relished the sights, smells, and sounds. The well-dressed men at the gambling tables. The rich aroma of good whiskey and expensive cigars. The clack of dice and the click of wooden chips. Piano music wafted from another room, where his girls danced with the gents, sometimes ushering them off to a corner for an enticing kiss, sometimes leaving the room for something a bit more illicit. Jack paid the girls well for entertaining the gents with dance and conversation within that room. Anything they earned on the other side of those doors was theirs and theirs alone. He didn’t provide whores, but neitherdid he judge if a girl wanted more—as long as it was her choice. Everyone knew Jack Dodger didn’t look the other way if his employees were mistreated.
    He walked around the perimeter, studying the tables, the players, how the games seemed to be progressing. He noted the volume of noise. Rowdy men tended to spend more freely. He passed by one of the card tables where a game of brag was being played. A time existed when Luke spent a good deal of his evening there—not only because he was a partner but because he enjoyed a good game of cards. Since he was married, however, he was spending his nights with his wife. Not that Jack could blame him for that. She was quite a delectable piece.
    As Jack passed by the cage where chips were bought, the man inside gave him a nod and quick grin, which meant business was good. He neared the room where women offered solace to the gentlemen who’d not been so lucky at the tables—or perhaps a woman was their choice of sin for the night. Standing in the doorway, he gave his eyes a moment to adjust. The room was dimly lit on purpose, to offer the illusion of secrecy. But no true secrets resided there. If Jack was of a mind, he could blackmail every man within these walls—but his business acumen was sharper than that. He provided a safe haven for men to indulge their whims. He’d learned at an early age that a person would pay almost anything for a safe haven.
    A woman sitting on a gentleman’s lap caught his eye. Prudence had been with him the longest. Youth was beginning to fade from her features, but a good deal could be said for experience. She whispered to the man, thenunfurled her lithe body and sauntered enticingly over to Jack. She wore her blond hair loose and flowing down her back. Having always lacked modesty, she wore little more than silk draped over her body.
    â€œâ€™ello, love.” She greeted him saucily. “Lookin’ fer me?”
    Jack gave her a long look mixed with appreciation for what she offered physically as well as regret. It was always a good idea not to let a woman know that he didn’t desire her. Let her think it was something else that turned him away. “Not tonight, Pru.”
    She frowned. “It’s been a while, Jack. ’aven’t found someone else, ’ave ye?”
    â€œNo, just distracted. How are things going with the other girls?”
    Prudence oversaw the