Jess Michaels Read online

  “If you refuse to see reason on your own accord, I can force you.”

  The blood slowly drained from Bianca’s face as she shook her father’s hand from her arm and rubbed the red mark where he had gripped her. A threat? So it had come to this.

  She drew in a calming breath and forced a smile. “You could force me, but you wouldn’t. You made that mistake in the past.”

  He shook his head and for the first time Bianca saw how tired he looked. How run down and sad. The expression on his normally strong face broke her heart.

  “You offer me no other choice.” He met her eyes and she saw he didn’t relish this. “I will not save you from your financial woes until you come home. No matter what troubles befall you.”

  She broke his gaze. Despite her losses, she had enough money to continue living comfortably in London. She just didn’t have many options outside of her current residence. Luckily, she felt no need to travel.

  “And what if I don’t require saving?” she asked.

  His sigh drew her attention back. She’d never heard such defeat in his voice before. “I could have you declared unfit. Not even your husband’s will could protect you if the courts determine you need the guardianship of your family.”

  Bianca stumbled back as the room around her shattered into pieces of color, sound and scent. She had never imagined her own father could make such a devastating threat, but he had. And he meant it. She’d never known him to make an empty promise.

  She stared at him in wordless shock and her expression seemed to hurt him as much as his threat had hurt her.

  “Don’t force me to do that to you, Bianca.” Without another glance for her, he walked away. “Don’t force me.”

  Chapter Two

  Bianca paced her bedroom. Her thin robe shimmied around her nude body as she pivoted on one heel and stalked back across to the open window to look down onto the street below.

  Anger bubbled in her chest, threatened to overflow in a tantrum of childish proportions. How could her father threaten her? Him of all people! He was the very person who had put her in her current state.

  Yes, she was aware of the guilt that drove him. He had arranged her marriage and insisted Oscar was the only man she accept. Only after the wedding had they all learned the truth about her husband’s appetites. By then, the marriage had been consummated many times over and it was too late for her father to demand her return.

  So he had watched as she transformed from an innocent maiden to a sultry woman. She had been forced to take the steps necessary to protect herself from the shocking sensuality that hit her from all sides in Oscar’s bed. She had taken control and even grown to enjoy the powerful feelings such erotic decadence awakened in her.

  But now Oscar was dead and her family believed she could simply return to the innocence of her life before. She could not. She would not return to a life where a man controlled her. Where he could disappoint her like her father had, as Oscar had.

  In her current state, she controlled her heart. She controlled her fate.

  At least she had until her father made his devastating threat. He was under the erroneous impression that having her declared unfit and dragging her back home would protect her from herself. With that as his motivation, he wouldn’t give her much time to consider his ultimatum and change her lifestyle. A month, perhaps six weeks at most. During that time, she had to find a way to stop him…or escape his reach.

  Only escaping was going to be difficult without her full inheritance to finance such a departure. As he had pointed out, a large portion of her inheritance was lining Hawk’s pockets thanks to her nights in the hells.

  Suppressing a sob, she placed her palm flat against the cool glass. All her dreams and hopes flashed before her eyes and died a terrible death. With Oscar, she had learned she wasn’t made for a life of croquet and needlepoint. Or for a ‘respectable’ husband who would expect her to bow to his will and answer to his rules. She’d developed too much of a taste for the pleasures of life.

  The door rattled behind her as Everett slipped into her room with a broad, proprietary smile. Bianca managed to return the expression with a weak version of her own. Though she did like Everett’s enthusiasm in bed and his utter devotion to her, at this moment she wasn’t in the mood for his touch or his games. She was too caught up in her own troubles. And truth be told, she was beginning to bore of him.

  Just as she had bored of every other lover she’d taken since she came out of mourning. No man seemed to satisfy her either physically or intellectually.

  “You are so beautiful, love,” Everett murmured as he nuzzled his mouth against her throat. “My God, you drove me mad tonight at the Langley party. I wanted nothing more than to take you to one of the bedrooms and have you right there.”

  Bianca smiled as she reached up to stroke the crisp hair above his collar. Everett wasn’t going to be happy when she finally cut ties with him. A man so smitten rarely was, but she would find a way to make the split an amiable one. Her other lovers had accepted their inevitable dismissals and so would this one.

  He slipped his hands up to the tie of her robe and slid the knot loose. His fingers were momentarily cold against the smooth skin of her belly and Bianca let out a hiss of sensation. Her nipples puckered as heat from the fireplace brushed over them, then was replaced by the pressure of Everett’s thumbs.

  She tilted her head back and tried to focus on the feel of him touching her. Despite his other shortcomings, Everett was a skilled lover. He didn’t make her heart race, but he knew how to touch her and if she focused hard enough, she always came with his ministrations.

  Tonight she needed the sweet oblivion of release.

  “Take me to bed, Everett,” she sighed as she flicked her tongue out to tease his earlobe. He groaned as he guided her back toward her huge four-poster bed and laid her across the coverlet. “And tell me what you’re going to do to me.”

  His lips curled back. She’d discovered early on that he had a skill at dirty talk. It seemed like the only thing that kept her attention anymore.

  “First, I’m going to take this robe off,” he said as he yanked the silk down off her shoulders and tossed it into a heap on the floor behind him. “And then I’m going to lick every square inch of your skin. I want to taste you. I want to suck your nipples until you sob with need. I want to make your clit swell with my tongue until your cream overflows. And then…”

  She squirmed as he stripped his clothing off. Her body was beginning to ache and her pussy was damp with anticipation. “Then?” she whispered past dry lips.

  “I can’t wait,” he murmured as he traced a finger over the swell of her mound. His fingertip dipped inside and Bianca hissed out frustration. Not only was he teasing her with his touch, but she could also tell by the look in his eyes that his promise to lick her until she begged was an empty one. As had happened more often lately, Everett’s ardor overflowed before he could fulfill many of her expectations.

  “I want to be inside you Bianca.”

  He spread her legs wide and lifted her backside with both hands before he positioned his rock-hard cock against her wet slit and thrust forward. Everett let out a long sigh as his eyes fluttered shut.

  Bianca closed her own eyes while she slipped her hand down to the place where their bodies met. Spreading her slippery folds aside, she found the hard nub of her clit. As Everett began to grind into her with short, slow thrusts, she let her fingers play, but finding release wasn’t easy. She pressed down on the engorged nub, but couldn’t find the rhythm she needed to explode.

  Above her, Everett grunted as his strokes grew faster and harder. He was going to come soon and if she wanted to find her own pleasure, she would need to relax and focus on sensation, not her worries.

  Drawing in a deep breath, Bianca cleared her mind and tried to find a pleasant, erotic place of focus. Immediately, her thoughts turned to Hawk. She had been picturing him more and more while making love in the past few months. As always,
his image sent a gush of hot wetness to her pussy. Everett groaned at the increased lubrication and his strokes grew erratic and hard.

  Bianca thought of Hawk as he’d been at the party tonight. His scent had been the intoxicating combination of leather and sandalwood, whiskey and maleness. She could easily imagine that mixture wafting over her now in her bed. She pictured Hawk’s strong arms wrapped around her as he kissed her with those delectable lips that so often drew her attention when they were bantering during long hours of card play.

  Then he would lay her back on her bed and strip his clothing off. His cock would spring free of the confines of his trousers, proud as it jutted toward her in passion, in promise. Even though she’d never seen the thrust of his erection before, Bianca had heard tales of his prowess as a legendary lover.

  In her imagination, Hawk spread her legs and then it was him thrusting into her instead of Everett. Her fingers danced wildly over her clit as she lost herself in her fantasy. Her inner muscles spasmed and her legs trembled as the most amazing orgasm she’d had in a long time rolled over her in a wave. It crashed over and over until she gave one final, powerful shudder and flopped back exhausted on the covers with her arm over her eyes.

  Everett rolled over beside her, his breath as short and harsh as her own. She realized she’d forgotten about him entirely, but he had obviously experienced his own release. Apparently he hadn’t even noticed when she slipped away from him while he fucked her. Thank God she hadn’t cried out Hawk’s name when she came, or there would be some explaining to do.

  She panted as her heart rate slowly dropped back to normal. Hawk was still on her mind. He had her money and she needed that if she wished to flee England and her father’s reach. How could she get it back from him?

  Everett propped himself up on one elbow and began to trace the lines of her body with a fingertip.

  “That was amazing,” Everett said softly. “You gripped me so hard. I love to pleasure you like that.”

  Bianca held back a laugh. Everett had had nothing to do with her pleasure. Hawk had given her that release and he hadn’t even needed to be in the room with her.

  “It was lovely,” she reassured him as she pushed off the bed and found her robe. She shoved her arms in and tied it loosely. Her mind still turned over ways to retrieve her money from Hawk without gambling with him. History had proven she couldn’t win against him at cards.

  Everett stood to wrap his arms around her waist. “Poor darling. You were so distracted by your blasted father tonight. I know he wants you to come back home.”

  Bianca stiffened and her mind returned from its plotting immediately. How did Everett know that? She hadn’t told him and her father and brothers despised him almost as much as they hated Hawk. Her family certainly wouldn’t turn to him with their fears and desires. Which meant he had been spying on her.

  Her lips thinned as she pulled away from his embrace, but Everett wouldn’t let her go so easily.

  “Yes,” she admitted past a clenched jaw. “He does want me to come home. You may tip your spies well, my dear.”

  Instead of having the decency to be ashamed, Everett laughed. “I had to know what was causing you such grief.” His tone grew serious again. “It is a difficult situation. But I could help you.”

  She turned to look at him. Everett had less money than she did and she doubted he would let her go if he knew she wished to leave the country. It would mean the end of their affair. “And how could you do that?”

  To her shock, he dropped, completely naked, to one knee in the middle of her bedroom. “Marry me, Bianca.”

  She drew back with a gasp. Her mind went mad with thoughts as she stared down at him. A marriage could solve all her problems. Her father would have no right to declare her unfit or remove her from her husband’s home.

  But she would be legally bound to Everett. Instead of being controlled by her misguided father, she would be under Everett’s thumb. That idea wasn’t pleasant. Even with no understanding between them, he pressured her to stay away from the hells. And his jealousy had flared more than once when it came to other men, especially her former lovers and Hawk. Even her late husband had been a subject of his never-ending inquisitions and comparisons.

  If she took his offer, she would be just as caged as she would be at home. Only she would be trapped with a man she didn’t love. And at times, didn’t even like.

  Given Everett’s obvious devotion, she would have to handle this situation delicately. With a gentle smile, she shook her head. “Everett, I do appreciate your offer. I know you’re trying to protect me. But I cannot marry you.”

  Everett stared at her for a long moment and she could see he had never considered she would refuse him. He rose to his feet with stunning quickness and advanced toward her. Even though he was naked and unarmed, Bianca felt a subtle threat in his posture and stepped back in instinctive defense.

  “What do you mean you cannot marry me?” he asked. His voice was hoarse and his eyes flashed.

  Bianca took another step away and gentled her tone even further. “I’m sorry. I know this hurts you.”

  “You needn’t hurt me,” he insisted as he grasped for her hand. His eyes glittered with intensity and a growing anger that concerned Bianca. She didn’t let him touch her. His voice went up again. “If you don’t wish to hurt me, marry me as I’ve asked. Why won’t you take this offer when it can bring us both so much?”

  “Everett, you’ve been a wonderful lover,” she said in an even tone she hoped would calm him. “And I have enjoyed my time with you immensely. But we didn’t come together with any thought of marriage. I certainly wouldn’t ask you to save me by proposing it.”

  His face softened and he took her into his arms before she could dodge his ever-seeking grasp another time. “My darling, I knew I wanted to possess you in every way from the first moment I laid eyes on you. It wouldn’t be a sacrifice for me to take you as my wife. On the contrary, it would be a wonderful reward.”

  She struggled to break free of him, but he was surprisingly strong. Bianca sighed. She had tried to be kind, but her attempts to soften the blow only encouraged Everett even more. Now she realized honesty, not flattery, was the only way she would make him see reason.

  “Everett, I don’t love you,” she said firmly. “I could never care for you enough to be your wife. For those reasons, I will not marry you, as much as I appreciate your offer.”

  At that statement, he did release her so suddenly that Bianca stumbled to the floor. She scrambled to her feet and away from him. His face was dark red with anger. She’d never seen a man turn that color before.

  With a curse, he turned away and grabbed for his clothing. He began shoving them on with such violence she was surprised he didn’t tear them to shreds. Her heart ached. This was the only part of her affairs she didn’t like. Hurting her lover when she was tired of him.

  “Everett,” she said softly as she reached out to touch his arm in comfort. This time it was he who jerked out of her reach. He spun to face her.

  “You bitch,” he growled as he buttoned his shirt. “They told me you were nothing but a whore, but I didn’t listen.”

  Bianca drew in a sharp breath of disbelief. “What?”

  “You heard me,” he snarled. “You’re no better than any lightskirt I could pick up off the street, only far more expensive.”

  “How dare you?” she snapped as the color drained from her face. While she had experienced some loud rows at the end of relationships with other men, none had ever sunk so low as this.

  “How dare I?” he roared. “How dare you?”

  When he moved toward her, she skittered toward the door. If she screamed, her servants might think it was part of her erotic games. Before anyone realized she was in trouble, she could be seriously injured if Everett decided to act on his obviously growing rage.

  He grabbed his jacket. “I offered you a chance at respectability again. That is more than any other man will give you, yet you thr
ow it back in my face? As if you were better than I. Well, you’ll wish you’d said yes to me sooner than you think.”

  Bianca set her jaw and threw her door open. “Get out of my house and never come back,” she said in a voice that was surprisingly strong considering how angry and frightened she was.

  Everett’s eyes narrowed, but he did as she said and headed for the door. Before he moved into the hallway and let her close it behind him, he stopped. “You will be sorry, Bianca. I promise you that.”

  She slammed the door behind him and leaned back against it as her breath came in shallow, sharp bursts. She should have expected a man would one day have such a reaction to being rejected, but she’d never thought things could turn so ugly so fast. And never with Everett, who rarely showed an abundance of passion or emotion anywhere but in her bed.

  Not that she regretted her choice. Given his startling reaction, she couldn’t have born being his wife.

  Even if she could have, marriage wasn’t the answer to her current woes. Escape was. And only she could arrange for that.

  With Hawk’s help. She simply had to tap into the desires that already flowed between them. If she did, she could slake her need for him, win her money back and escape her father and Everett, all in one brilliant move.

  If only she could get past the wall Hawk always erected between them and reach the part of him that wanted her.

  Chapter Three

  Hawk strummed his fingers along the arm of a chair in Bianca’s sitting room as he tried to fight the swell of excitement that welled inside his chest and his cock. Since Oscar’s death two years ago, they had met in gaming hells and ballrooms, but she hadn’t invited him into the intimate sanctuary of her residence.

  Until today.

  His mind spun on the possibilities of what she could want from him. Idle gossip told him her affair with Everett Firth had ended a few days before and ended badly. Since that night, Firth had been holed up with a collection of cheap whores and strong liquor. Hawk hated the bastard, but he almost pitied him. He could only imagine experiencing the bliss of Bianca’s body, then losing it. It could drive a man mad, he was sure.