Read Online Dark Blue: Study in Seduction, Book 1 by Natasha Bond - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Natasha Bond
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and got a waft of woody cologne as she walked past him into the room.
He touched his chin. “Sorry, I was just having a shave. I’m going out to dinner later.”
“Anywhere nice?” she asked, meaning any one nice. Scarlet, perhaps?
He grimaced. “Not really, but don’t tell anyone I said so. It’s a faculty dinner, and it will be excruciatingly political and boring.”
Once inside, her eyes adjusted to the gloom. The last rays of the evening sun just about penetrated the edges of the room, and the window was open to the street.
“I hope I haven’t spoiled your evening,” he said.
“No, we’re going see a film later; it doesn’t start until ten thirty.”
Alex winced. “Bit late for me. I don’t know about you, I’d probably nod off halfway through.”
After her late nights recently, this was very likely to happen, but she was stopped in her tracks.
He gestured to a chair. “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable and ready for the fray.”
The words “comfortable” and “fray” were not the most natural of bedfellows, and her hackles rose, along with the nerve endings in her nether regions. That cocktail of fear and lust that Alex aroused flowed through her veins again, so thick and bittersweet it was almost unbearable.
He hung the towel over the rail by the washbasin, and she spotted her essay on his desk. Shit. There was red pen all over it. She could see it from there. In fact, he’d left it in full view—almost as if he wanted her to see it. It was hard to read under the mass of underlining and question marks. My God, was that a WTF in the margin?
“Drink?” he asked.
“Yes, please.” He must know she needed one.
She sat in the leather armchair as he poured her a gin and tonic and added ice from his fridge. Instead of sitting behind his desk, he chose the tub chair opposite her, legs so wide apart she couldn’t fail to see his impressive tackle through the wool of his expensive trousers. She couldn’t say whether he was aroused, however, and wasn’t sure whether that made her relieved or disappointed. He reached for her essay and placed it across his lap. All her thoughts and assertions were now just the thickness of a piece of cloth from his cock.
Shit. His cock . What was she on? She gulped down her G&T, trying to suppress her fight-or-flight response.
“So. ‘How Darcy Lost His Virginity: Swiving and Whoring in Jane Austen’,”he said without even glancing down at the essay. “Interesting concept. You’ve certainly amazed me, Carla.”
“Have I?”
He looked at her from those deep-lidded, dark-lashed eyes, and the temperature in the room rose so that she was surrounded by her own microclimate.
“I was rather taken aback at first, I have to admit.”
“Oh shit.” Wow, that was articulate.
“Quite, but don’t panic just yet. I read on, and I’ve revised my initial opinion. This is impressive, Carla. It’s original and bold. I might even say daring.”
“It was…” She had been going to say it had been a joke. Now she was too high on the fact that Alex was impressed and thought she was daring to care. She barely had time to bask in the glow of his praise before her assertions and theories about how Mr. Darcy had lost his virginity were being probed and examined until her head spun.
He flipped through the sheets of paper. “You state here that because Darcy is an aristo and member of the ton , he could have lost his virginity to a poor-born whore from Harris’s List on a Regency lad’s weekend.”
Lad’s weekend —what was she on when she wrote that?
“ Harris’s List , of course, being widely known as The Harlot’s Handbook ,” he added.
“Yes… I did know it was called that.”
“It’s an interesting idea that Darcy would have gone to a well-known prostitute, though I think it’s more likely that he would have been more discreet and used a courtesan or maybe even a young, high-born widow who knew to expect gifts in exchange for
He touched his chin. “Sorry, I was just having a shave. I’m going out to dinner later.”
“Anywhere nice?” she asked, meaning any one nice. Scarlet, perhaps?
He grimaced. “Not really, but don’t tell anyone I said so. It’s a faculty dinner, and it will be excruciatingly political and boring.”
Once inside, her eyes adjusted to the gloom. The last rays of the evening sun just about penetrated the edges of the room, and the window was open to the street.
“I hope I haven’t spoiled your evening,” he said.
“No, we’re going see a film later; it doesn’t start until ten thirty.”
Alex winced. “Bit late for me. I don’t know about you, I’d probably nod off halfway through.”
After her late nights recently, this was very likely to happen, but she was stopped in her tracks.
He gestured to a chair. “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable and ready for the fray.”
The words “comfortable” and “fray” were not the most natural of bedfellows, and her hackles rose, along with the nerve endings in her nether regions. That cocktail of fear and lust that Alex aroused flowed through her veins again, so thick and bittersweet it was almost unbearable.
He hung the towel over the rail by the washbasin, and she spotted her essay on his desk. Shit. There was red pen all over it. She could see it from there. In fact, he’d left it in full view—almost as if he wanted her to see it. It was hard to read under the mass of underlining and question marks. My God, was that a WTF in the margin?
“Drink?” he asked.
“Yes, please.” He must know she needed one.
She sat in the leather armchair as he poured her a gin and tonic and added ice from his fridge. Instead of sitting behind his desk, he chose the tub chair opposite her, legs so wide apart she couldn’t fail to see his impressive tackle through the wool of his expensive trousers. She couldn’t say whether he was aroused, however, and wasn’t sure whether that made her relieved or disappointed. He reached for her essay and placed it across his lap. All her thoughts and assertions were now just the thickness of a piece of cloth from his cock.
Shit. His cock . What was she on? She gulped down her G&T, trying to suppress her fight-or-flight response.
“So. ‘How Darcy Lost His Virginity: Swiving and Whoring in Jane Austen’,”he said without even glancing down at the essay. “Interesting concept. You’ve certainly amazed me, Carla.”
“Have I?”
He looked at her from those deep-lidded, dark-lashed eyes, and the temperature in the room rose so that she was surrounded by her own microclimate.
“I was rather taken aback at first, I have to admit.”
“Oh shit.” Wow, that was articulate.
“Quite, but don’t panic just yet. I read on, and I’ve revised my initial opinion. This is impressive, Carla. It’s original and bold. I might even say daring.”
“It was…” She had been going to say it had been a joke. Now she was too high on the fact that Alex was impressed and thought she was daring to care. She barely had time to bask in the glow of his praise before her assertions and theories about how Mr. Darcy had lost his virginity were being probed and examined until her head spun.
He flipped through the sheets of paper. “You state here that because Darcy is an aristo and member of the ton , he could have lost his virginity to a poor-born whore from Harris’s List on a Regency lad’s weekend.”
Lad’s weekend —what was she on when she wrote that?
“ Harris’s List , of course, being widely known as The Harlot’s Handbook ,” he added.
“Yes… I did know it was called that.”
“It’s an interesting idea that Darcy would have gone to a well-known prostitute, though I think it’s more likely that he would have been more discreet and used a courtesan or maybe even a young, high-born widow who knew to expect gifts in exchange for
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