Strictly Forbidden by Shayla Black Read Free Book Online

movement had a sensual air.
     He’d bet few women of the ton had ever really viewed themselves in the altogether before, and yet Kira seemed eminently
     comfortable with her nudity.
    She abandoned her breast and repeated the process with the other, pausing again to
     collect fresh water from the bowl. Entranced, Gavin watched her nipples tighten, darken,
     as the morning chill swept over her. Surely his heart could not take much more.
    Turn, damn it!
    Still, Miss Melbourne remained stubborn. She stroked the cloth in languid circles
     over her abdomen before moving lower.
    She parted her legs ever so slightly. Gavin closed his eyes and groaned. This manner
     of torture was above and beyond familial duty, surely.
    But he owed answers to Aunt Caroline, who had taken the place of the mother he could
     only remember for her pale , lilac-scented skin and sunny smiles. He owed answers to James. His aunt and cousin
     were nearly all the family he had left. How could he fail to produce the truth? He could see himself now, trying to explain that he’d been overcome by a stiff cock…
    Gavin heard another splash, followed by bare footsteps over the soft imported carpets.
     Kira had turned, but in the opposite direction. She treated him to a magnificent view
     of her backside, which made a perfect curve to her hips, tapered up to a pleasingly
     small waist, a sleek, narrow back , and elegant shoulders.
    Lord, now he was waxing poetic over her shoulders?
    Kira grabbed for something off to her left, in a drawer of the mahogany chest resting
     against the soft rose-painted walls. As she shook the garment out, Gavin identified
     it as a clean chemise.
    She tossed it over her head, turning slowly toward him, then thrust her arms through
     the appropriate openings. She shimmied slightly, and Gavin watched as the chemise
     slowly covered the magnificent profile of her breasts , then slid down her abdomen.
    Before the garment settled into place, she pivoted toward him just enough to see a
     reddish birthmark on her left hipbone.
    Heart-shaped—exactly as Lord Vance had described it.
    Gavin cursed beneath his breath. Disappointment and lust both raced through his veins
     as he slid the slat back into place and leaned against the dark tunnel’s wall, teeth
     clenched.
    Clearly, Brock’s information had been wrong. Vance wasn’t a sodomite , at least not completely. Perhaps he didn’t discriminate against anyone of any gender
     who provided bed sport.
    And once upon a time, that someone had been Kira Melbourne. How else could he know
     of her unique birthmark?
    Gavin stalked back to his room, hot candle wax dripping close to his fingers. What
     would he tell Aunt Caroline now? More to the point, what would he say to James?
    And why was a part of him unhappy to confirm that Kira Melbourne was a woman of easy
     virtue?
    * * * *
    “Gavin, you’ve returned from London!” James greeted from the breakfast room before
     he paused with a frown. “And in a fine mood, I see. Your face looks like a thundercloud.”
    He felt more like a tornado, tightly wound and ready for battle or sex , preferably the latter, but Gavin knew he wouldn’t get to choose today. Damn, he wasn’t
     returned from London three hours yet. Already he’d seen a most tempting naked woman—and
     now he would confront his cousin because if it.
    “James, I heard some very alarming gossip about your intended in London. Do you truly
     mean to marry this woman?”
    Apprehension clouded James’s pale face. “I implore you not to believe everything you
     hear about Miss Melbourne. The gossip is simply not true.”
    Gavin swore. James’s pleading expression would only make insisting he renounce Kira
     Melbourne more difficult. Couldn’t his cousin see that wedding a woman of her ilk
     would be tantamount to societal suicide for the whole family? That his new parish
     in Kent would hear of her scandals and shun them both? That she would likely betray
     and hurt him