Read Online The Delicate Matter of Lady Blayne by Natasha Blackthorne - Free Book Online

whimpered, stunned into stillness for the moment.
    Still holding one wrist, he rolled her onto her back and flung a leg over hers, locking her into place.
    She tried to resist him again but she was growing tired, her struggling becoming more like flailing.
    And the maddening thing was, he simply watched her.
    Watched her fight, watched her grow weaker.
    Eventually, she went limp in his arms. Exhausted.
    “What the devil, Sunny?”
    “Let me go!”
    “You want to go?” he asked, as though she hadn’t just spoken clear English.
    “Yes, you-you-you… coxcomb!”
    He regarded her seriously. “I don’t think I should let you go. At least not quite yet.”
    She swallowed hard, trying to think of what to do or say.
    “What are you about here, Sunny?”
    He spoke in that same calm, serious tone he always did. Yet, now there was a hard edge beneath the calm.
    Her mouth went even drier and she swallowed once more, delaying her response. Her racing heart was slowing.
    Well, what the devil had just happened? Dizziness overcame her as she frowned, confused.
    She’d come here to do what?
    Seduce him.
    Right.
    She hadn’t expected his resistance. She certainly hadn’t expected his aggressive response. She had become frightened.
    No, she had become frightened of her feelings toward him.
    Just as when she’d been a girl. She ought not to have run away from him that night in the garden, so long ago. She ought to have allowed James to seduce her. They would have had to get married then, wouldn’t they? It wouldn’t have been her fault?
    No, Freddy needed me.
    And you let him down.
    She frowned. That was the past and the past was set in stone. All her sins and failures were set in stone.
    But the lesson is don’t be a ninny! Don’t run, seduce him!
    How did women tempt gentlemen? Surely gentlemen had more refined tastes than commoners did.
    Certainly kissing him and thrusting her hand down his trews and stroking his manly parts hadn’t worked. Yes, it had given him an erection—and what an erection! But it hadn’t placed her any closer to attaining her goal, either.
    What else should she do? How did one seduce a Gibraltar?
    “You’re drunk,” he said.
    “No, no, I am not.”
    “Just how much did you have to drink?”
    Again, she heard the incredulousness in his voice.
    She reached up with her free hand, intending to stroke the side of his face. To make an appeal.
    He seized her wrist. “There’ll be no more of that.”
    Hurt blossomed in her chest. Did he not trust her? “No, do no’ deny me. Take me. Make me yours.”
    And protect me. Protect me from all harm. Even that which I bring onto myself. Take that horrid Dr. Meeker’s place.
    He was giving her the oddest look. “I think you said you’d like me to take you?” His frown deepened. “Bed you?”
    She nodded avidly. “Yes, yes…oh, please, yes.”
    He stared at her. Oh, his expression! As though she’d suddenly sprouted horns. Did she repulse him that much?
    She wriggled against the coverlet, the contact making her aware of the lingering sting on her buttocks.
    He had actually spanked her!
    Why had he been so intent on detaining her if he hadn’t wanted what she had offered him?
    He laughed softly.
    “You think it is amusing?” she asked. Shame burnt into her.
    He brushed the hair off the side of her neck then and traced a fingertip along the cord down to her collarbone. “I didn’t think I needed to lock my door against you, Sunny.”
    How cruel and mocking he was! She had never known this cruel side to him.
    He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her neck. The soft-firm touch of his mouth sent shivers through her. Making her nipples tighten.
    Making her more confused than ever.
    “You don’t really want this,” he said.
    His assured tone puzzled her. Hadn’t she come here naked to his bed? What man would ask himself aught beyond that? “I do, I do ,” she said.
    “Much as I’d love to oblige you, my lady, you’re too foxed to know what