Beauty and the Earl by Jess Michaels Read Free Book Online Page B

that she had come to him simply for pleasure, had she approached him with the idea that he would keep her? He couldn’t blame her if she had, but he wouldn’t have his mind changed.
    “You do intrigue me,” she admitted as she rested back on the pillows and stared at him through a hooded gaze. “Let me think about your offer.”
    He pushed the tray aside and reached up to the edge of the sheet. Slowly, he pulled it down, uncovering her breasts inch by inch. She gasped at the fabric dragging across her skin.
    “Let me give you something to think about,” he whispered as he leaned up and braced his arm beside her head. She opened her legs and he took the unspoken invitation, driving hard into her body with a groan of pleasure that spiraled him away from reality, away from everything but the tight grip of her pussy around him.
    As he pounded into her, her body jerking beneath his as her pleasure built, he realized how much he wanted to be lost in what she offered. For a few weeks, he needed what she provided.
    After that? Well, he had his own plans. And they were ones which no one in his life could alter. Even the woman whose legs were wrapped around his hips, whose mouth dragged across his, whose folds clung to his cock as he fucked himself into blissful, pleasurable oblivion.

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