Beauty and the Earl Page 5

  Chapter Five

  The sun was already high in the sky when Violet slipped back into the home Lord and Lady Rothcastle had let for her. She smiled at the servant who greeted her.

  “Thank you, Simms. Could you tell Rachel to begin preparations for a bath?”

  The butler sniffed dismissively, but nodded regardless of his obvious judgment of her. “Yes, miss. Right away.”

  Violet held back a sigh as she walked up the stairs toward her chamber. She had grown so accustomed to her own home in London, with her tolerant servants, that she found herself stung by the new man’s disregard. Though she recognized some of that sting was multiplied by her own hesitation about what she was doing.

  She sighed as she turned the knob at her chamber door. She hadn’t fully opened it when the chamber across the hall opened and revealed a bleary-eyed Olivia, still in her dressing gown.

  Violet forgot the snotty butler and laughed. “You were still abed?”

  “I am not a morning person.”

  “Lucky for you it is afternoon,” Violet teased.

  Olivia stuck out her tongue as she crossed the hall and gave her friend a squeeze before she followed her into her chamber. Violet sat down to toe off her slippers.

  “Considering you are just returning home, I assume things went well with the earl?” Olivia asked, motioning Violet to turn around so she could unbutton her, since Rachel was likely arranging water for the tub that was set in the corner of Violet’s chamber, behind a screen.

  To Violet’s surprise, her cheeks flamed with sudden heat at her friend’s observation. She lifted her hands to cover them and shook her head. She hadn’t blushed in years! She prayed the pinkness would fade before she was forced to look at Olivia again, for her friend would surely notice and crow endlessly.

  “He wants me to stay with him,” she said.

  Behind her, Olivia unfastened the last button and then grabbed her by the elbow to swing her around to face her. Her friend’s eyes were wide. “Really?”

  Violet shoved out of her gown and caught up the robe that was draped over the chair beside her fire. Before she could respond, Rachel opened the chamber door and smiled.

  “Good afternoon, miss. They’re bringing the water now.”

  Violet nodded, stepping back as footmen entered the room with steaming buckets of clean, hot water. She could feel Olivia bouncing with impatience as they filled her tub and Rachel fussed with scented oils to add to the water.

  For her part, Violet was just as happy not to have to respond to Olivia’s surprise right away. Although she had come here with the express purpose of getting closer to Liam, his invitation had surprised her. Especially when he kept repeating his mantra that he would not, could not keep her.

  She brushed aside any unwanted feelings his declaration might have foolishly caused in her and turned to Rachel as the other servants left her room.

  “Thank you,” she said to the girl. “Will you oversee the laundering of the gown?”

  She motioned to the discarded outfit, and the girl swept it up. “Of course, miss. Will you need anything else?”

  “I’ll help her,” Olivia volunteered.

  Rachel bobbed out a nod and once again Violet was grateful for a servant she knew well. Rachel had been with her long enough to be accustomed to the fact that she and Olivia often spent long hours gossiping and chatting, sometimes while requesting privacy. Rachel didn’t even find it odd anymore, nor did she intrude.

  And right now, Violet did not want intrusion.

  “Very good,” the girl said. “I will come back in an hour to help you dress and do your hair.”

  She slipped from the room without another word, shutting the door behind her.

  The moment they were alone, Olivia faced her. “You are trying to drive me mad! What did you say when Windbury asked you to stay with him?”

  Violet shrugged from her robe and stepped into the tub. Before she answered, she sunk under the scented waters with a sigh of pleasure. She ached from the sexual acrobatics of the previous night, though she would not take back a moment of pleasure.

  “Violet!” her friend said with a laugh as she dragged a chair up next to the tub.

  “I told him I would consider the request,” she finally replied.

  Olivia leaned back, eyes wide. “Consider it? I thought that was your whole purpose in coming here.”

  Violet grabbed the soap and scrubbed a thick lather onto her hands as she pondered the point. “It is,” she admitted. “But I need him to want me, to pursue me.”

  Her friend laughed. “Ah, I see. A merry chase, even if it is only pretended on your part. You are cold.”

  Olivia only meant it as a teasing statement, but Violet stiffened. Yes, she was manipulating Liam, but was she truly cold? She didn’t do anything to hurt him, after all.

  Though she couldn’t imagine he would be happy if he knew the truth of why she had come to Bath and who had sent her.

  “Does he want to be your protector?” Olivia asked, interrupting her thoughts.

  Violet shook her head. “No. It is as has always been rumored about him. He doesn’t want a woman to keep.”

  “And yet he asks you to stay with him throughout the duration of your stay here.” Olivia arched a brow. “I have always heard a woman could only expect a night or two in his company.”

  Violet shrugged. “I suppose, as you say, I have manipulated him into wanting more.”

  That was certainly the only explanation she had for his desire for a longer affiliation.

  She looked at her friend. “I was going to tell him that I am in town with a friend and ask if you could join us at his estate.”

  Olivia’s eyebrows lifted. “Me?”

  “You can keep his guard or friend or whatever that man is busy.”

  “Malcolm?” Olivia asked, her tone very even, though Violet thought she saw something in her friend’s eyes.

  She leaned closer, but it was gone, so she nodded. “Malcolm. I didn’t see him last night or this morning, but I think if I stay there, he might take an interest in my intentions. That could prove difficult for me.”

  Once again, she was hit hard by the ulterior motives of her seduction, but she ignored the guilt that threatened to undermine her plans. There was a reason she was doing this. A reason far more important than Liam.

  It would all be worth it in the end.

  “Malcolm,” Olivia said with a dreamy smile, interrupting Violet’s thoughts. “He was awfully handsome. And quite a good kisser. I wouldn’t mind distracting him.”

  Violet silently thanked her friend for her teasing as she laughed and the mood lightened.

  “Then I shall write Lord Windbury this afternoon and tell him I will accept his offer, as long as you may accompany me. I’m certain he will say yes, since I will make it clear you won’t be any interference to our…connection.”

  “Excellent,” Olivia said, rising with a clap of her hands. “Then I will have my maid begin packing me right away. And so it begins!”

  Olivia squeezed her shoulder before she left. Once she was gone, Violet sank deeper beneath the water and stared up at the ceiling. So it began, indeed.

  She only wished there wasn’t anxiety…and utter excitement…gripping her heart at that prospect. She could afford neither.

  By the time two days had passed, the arrangements had all been made and Violet had arrived at the estate in Liam’s carriage, her things being moved in another, she had convinced herself that she felt nothing about the entire arrangement. This charade was something she had agreed to do—it was a duty, a job. If it brought Liam back to his family, it would not hurt him. Certainly it would go no deeper than that, on either side.

  And once it was over? Well, she would walk away from Bath, from Liam, and forget it, free to finally live the future she had always dreamed of.

  It was with those firm, clear thoughts that she stepped from the carriage onto Liam’s drive. Olivia followed her down and stared up at the es
tate with a low whistle.

  “Lor’,” she murmured, reverting back to a Cockney drawl she had worked years to overcome. It only came out when she was excited, or in this case, impressed.

  “Yes,” Violet whispered with a laugh. “And Liam behaves as if this is a snug little cottage.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Men with money are so often utterly ridiculous.”

  Of course, Liam wasn’t ridiculous. Violet might have said as much, but before she could answer, a tall, broad-shouldered man came around the house from the direction of the stables. Violet recognized him from the afternoon in the bathhouse. He was Liam’s right-hand man, Malcolm Graham.

  There was no doubt why Olivia was attracted to him. He was a head taller than the average man, with close-cropped dark hair and eyes that were almost black. He was thickly muscled from head to toe and walked with the air of a man who knew how to get things done. He wasn’t titled, but he had just as much confidence as someone who had been born to rule an empire. Probably more, in some cases.

  He was just Olivia’s type, when she actually got to choose a man for looks and not assets. But Violet scarcely looked at him except to acknowledge his presence. She rather preferred Liam’s lean strength.

  Besides, she found herself a little intimidated by Malcolm. He hadn’t even noticed her thanks to Olivia’s flirtation at the bathhouse, but now he stared at her. She saw his questions and hesitations about her seduction in the bathhouse and her further intrusion in Liam’s life since.

  Malcolm could be a problem if Olivia couldn’t rein him in with her talents. Violet would definitely be relying on her best friend more than ever, it seemed.

  “Miss Milford,” he said, extending a hand as he reached the carriage. “I apologize, I would have been here to greet you the moment you arrived, but I was called to deal with an estate issue.”

  Violet smiled. He had a very firm handshake, and his appraising glance hadn’t changed even with welcoming words. He was judging her.

  But she’d been judged before. It was the nature of her profession. She refused to be unnerved by it…or at least she tried not to be. Sometimes it was impossible not to feel the sting.

  “You were here not a moment after our arrival,” she said with a wave of dismissal for his apology. “You must be Mr. Graham.”

  “I am.” He nodded and released her hand. “Your items follow behind, do they? You had no trouble with the move?”

  “No trouble at all,” she reassured him. “Thank you for arranging for the multiple vehicles to ferry both us and our items.”

  His lips thinned ever so slightly. “I was following Windbury’s directives.”

  So he didn’t approve, if his tone was any indication. Well, she would have to be careful. And use all the methods she had in her disposal to keep Malcolm off the scent of her deception.

  To that end, she turned and motioned toward Olivia. “I believe you have met my friend, Olivia Cranfield?”

  It was exactly the right thing to say, for Malcolm’s attention moved from her to Olivia, and his gaze, which had been so appraising, changed immediately to one of interest and unmistakable desire.

  “Mal,” her friend purred as she sidled up to him and took his hand.

  Violet drew back in surprise as the hulk of a suspicious man kissed her friend’s hand with as much delicacy as the biggest dandy in London might have exhibited.

  “Miss Olivia Cranfield. It’s been too long.”

  “It’s been less than a week,” Olivia laughed, swatting him playfully. “But I do agree.”

  The two of them began to talk, and Violet moved away a step, both to offer them privacy and also because she was distracted by the house that rose above her. She would stay here as Liam’s lover for as long as he would have her. She would lie. She would manipulate. She would betray any trust she managed to wheedle out of him.

  She had her reasons…but suddenly her firm belief that she was in the right in doing so faded.

  The front door to the house opened and she turned her attention to the entrance. Liam stepped from the darkness of the interior and out onto the front step.

  All her thoughts faded, for good or for bad, and she stared at him. Unlike two nights before, when he had greeted her with an unbuttoned shirt and casually tousled hair, today he was pulled together as an earl should be, perfectly coifed and pressed by a valet.

  How she longed to strip him of all the trappings of his rank and unleash the animal desire she knew bubbled just beneath his currently proper surface.

  She shifted with surprising desire as Liam came down the stairs to join their party in the drive.

  “Good afternoon,” he said, reaching for her hand.

  Unlike Malcolm had with Olivia, he didn’t kiss the top, but only squeezed it gently and then released her. Still, there was a friendly comfort in that gesture that made her doubt herself even more.

  She shoved those thoughts aside and instead turned to her companion.

  “Liam, may I present to you my dearest friend, Miss Olivia Cranfield. Olivia, the Earl of Windbury.”

  Olivia managed to extract her attention from Malcolm long enough to step forward, offering Liam a hand. “Good afternoon, my lord. I’m so pleased to meet you. Thank you so much for including me in your invitation to Violet. I would have been gutted had we not been able to spend our planned holiday together.”

  Violet fought the urge to roll her eyes. Olivia was laying it on a bit thick, but she smiled so sweetly that it was hardly noticeable to anyone else.

  “We are happy to have you join us,” Liam said, casting a quick glance at Malcolm, who still stared at Olivia. “Some of us more than others.”

  As Olivia laughed and Malcolm scowled, Liam turned back to Violet. He looked straight at her and there was no doubt that he had missed seeing her in the two days they’d been apart as much as she had missed seeing him. He wanted her, which was exactly what she wanted and had planned for.

  What she hadn’t expected was how deeply and sincerely she wanted him in return. Her need to touch him and to be touched by him was a deep ache low in her belly. It was far harsher than any desire she had ever felt for any man who had shared her bed.

  “Mal, why don’t you have Miss Cranfield shown to her chamber?” Liam asked, his voice rough as he kept his gaze on Violet’s face.

  “With great pleasure,” Mal said behind her, but Violet didn’t turn. In fact, she hardly noticed as Olivia and Mal brushed past her to go up the stairs into the house together.

  She stood with Liam, sunshine against her back, hearing the carriage being taken away, the servants dispersing.

  “And what will we do?” she asked when they were alone, moving toward him without meaning to do so. She fell into his arms to stare up into his angular face.

  He didn’t answer, but let his lips take hers. The kiss was deep, probing, filled with heady passion, but not desperate passion. After all, she was his, at least until he tired of the game or decided to leave Bath. There was no rush anymore. No worry about being separated at dawn.

  “I am going to take you to my bed,” he murmured in response to her earlier question.

  She shivered at the low possessiveness of his tone. Reaching out, she took his hand and let him lead her into the house and up the stairs.

  “There is nowhere I would rather be,” she whispered.

  And to her utter terror, she realized how true a statement that was.

  Chapter Six

  This time when they entered Liam’s chamber, Violet took a moment to look around her. He stepped back to shut the door and watched as she took in her surroundings.

  “I noticed when I came here before that you don’t have any art in the room,” she said, turning to face him. “Or really any niceties. Just the barest of furnishings, despite the fact that it is a pretty room.”

  He shrugged, trying not to be put off by what was no more than a truthful observation.

  “I hardly stay here,” he said as explanation, though th
at wasn’t the real reason why the room was so sparse. Not that he had any intentions of defending himself on that score.

  She looked at him, and he saw her reading his face, dissecting him. If she came up with a decision about what he said or what it meant, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she moved toward him and smiled.

  “I’m happy you invited me,” she whispered.

  He stared at her. Her dark eyes were soft with emotion, with desire and as she leaned into him, her warmth seemed to surround and fill him as he hadn’t felt for a long time.

  “I am too,” he replied.

  He cupped her cheek with his good hand, rubbing his rough fingers against her satin skin. She leaned into his palm, her eyes fluttering shut on a sigh that hit him in the gut and made his cock ache with the need to bury himself in her.

  And now he could, as long as he wanted to do so. And though he had avoided any long-term entanglements for years, he found himself looking forward to the days and nights ahead.

  He leaned down and kissed her, reveling in the sweetness of her tongue as it swirled around his with wild abandon. She was an indulgence he didn’t care to give up, at least for now.

  He drew her back toward his bed, never stopping their kisses or breaking to look where they were going. But when his backside hit the mattress and he moved to turn her, she stepped away and shook her head.

  “Not this time, my lord,” she said, the corners of her mouth quirking into a wicked smile. “This time, I want to pleasure you.”

  He sucked in a breath, taken in by this battle of wits in which they kept engaging. Clearly, Violet had as dominant a personality as he did. And he wanted to break her and have her bending to his every pleasurable whim.

  “We talked about this,” he began.

  She shook her head. “I want to pleasure you, my lord. And you can tell me how, if that helps you. I will do whatever you wish.”

  His eyes widened. She would give, but he would dictate? His already hard cock twitched at the thought.

  He sat down on the bed and stared up at her.