Darker Than Love by Kristina Lloyd Read Free Book Online Page B

barge like a burnished throne, surrounded by purples and gold. No, he would paint her as herself. But it wouldn’t be a stiff smiling portrait for the drawing room. It would be a work utterly free of society’s trappings.
    There would be no pins in her hair or her gown. Herdark locks would tumble freely about her shoulders and she would be simply attired, in a length of gossamer-fine chiffon. He envisaged the wispy fabric draped about her reclining body, offering filmy glimpses of her nudity beneath. He would use pastels to capture the subtle nuances of shade, to hint at a shell-pink nipple and at the darkness cloaking her sex.
    A surge of arousal clutched at his loins and in his mind he stripped his model of her chiffon folds. He imagined running his hands over her smooth creamy flesh and kissing her full, rose lips. His cock lifted with a rushing pulse of blood and thickened to hardness. What colour were her eyes? he wondered. How would she look when ecstasy seized her?
    For several minutes he stood there, the sun warming his skin, lulling him into fantasies both lustful and romantic. Then a smart rap at the studio door broke violently into his thoughts.
    ‘Hell’s teeth,’ he spat, stalking angrily into the room. Hadn’t he told his staff often enough never, ever to interrupt him in such a manner? Not when he was working. Christ, that could have been a streak of cobalt across some peach-toned cheek.
    The door swung open and Lucy, smiling widely, breezed into the studio, pompadour heels clacking on the oakwood floor.
    ‘Good morning,’ she said buoyantly. ‘I trust I find you well. Delightful weather, is it not?’
    Gabriel’s exasperated valet appeared in the doorway, spilling profuse apologies and flashing angry looks at Lucy. Dismissing his servant with a flick of the hand, Gabriel rounded on her.
    ‘What the devil do you think you’re playing at?’ he exclaimed. ‘No one, but no one , interrupts me when I’m working.’
    ‘Oh, such charming hospitality,’ she rebuked gaily, peering into the chimney-piece mirror. ‘Such impeccable manners.’ She brushed an invisible speck from the tip ofher nose and adjusted her frivolous little hat. ‘Anyway, you weren’t working. You rarely are, Gabriel. And don’t even attempt to deny it. I saw you from the street. Besides, the reason for my visit is a matter of some urgency.’
    Gabriel exhaled sharply, his anger waning to mere irritation. For Lucy the slightest thing became a matter of some urgency if it so happened to be uppermost in her mind. She was either acting upon a whim, he thought, or she was scheming. The suspicion formed in his mind that it was more likely to be the latter.
    ‘I’m inviting you to dinner,’ she continued, turning to him brightly. ‘Along with the de Laceys, James Cargill, his two ravishing sisters, Captain Dennett and perhaps –’
    ‘Why, Lucy?’ he asked coolly. ‘You’ve never invited me to dine before. Would I be correct in assuming you intend me to neighbour someone at the table? Surely not yourself? No, a ridiculous notion. Perhaps then some whey-faced miss, new in town and in need of a guiding hand.’
    The flicker of annoyance on Lucy’s face suggested he was quite close to the mark. ‘How quick you are,’ she said, a note of petulance in her voice. ‘It’s actually a dear cousin of mine. She’s uncommonly handsome. Why, everyone says so, and very respectable too. It would make quite a change for you, Gabriel.’
    Gabriel laughed derisively. ‘Respectable? I take that to mean a simpering little virgin. Out of the question, I’m afraid. I work hard enough for my pleasures as it is.’ He gestured contemptuously towards his easel. ‘Do you really think I could be bothered to do the same in my leisure hours?’
    Lucy sidled over to him and ran the flat of a hand down his loose cambric shirt. She gazed beseechingly into his brown eyes as her fingers trailed further down his body.
    ‘Come to dinner,’ she