The Persuasion of Molly O'Flaherty by Sierra Simone Read Free Book Online Page B

and his tender blue eyes as he’d made love to me made me stronger. No, I wouldn’t open my mouth today. Maybe I wouldn’t fight back, but I wouldn’t give in. I would find another way.
    My refusal only seemed to arouse Cunningham further, as he moved his hand faster over his prick, and then with a soft—almost feminine—noise, cum dribbled out of his tip, dripping onto my dress. I finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes for a moment before glancing meaningfully down at his fast-softening cock.
    “If you’re finished, I’d like you to leave,” I said.
    He gazed down at me, his eyes cold. “I think I got the answer I needed.” He reached down and used my dress to scrub the remaining globules of cum off his flaccid cock, and it was only the vivid image of getting arrested for assault that stopped me from jumping up and ramming my fist into his teeth.
    “Oh, I love seeing you so angry,” he said as he let the ruined silk fall from his hand. “I am almost happy that you didn’t choose to become mine—this way it will be so much more fun to see your husband break you.”
    “Hugh would never,” I countered.
    “Maybe not, maybe not,” Mr. Cunningham conceded. “Regardless, I expect to hear your engagement announcement to the viscount very soon. The board is getting impatient.” He gave me one last look. “I prefer my women fresher anyhow. Untainted. Younger.”
    I didn’t bother seeing him out. Instead, I stood and tore at my dress until my lady’s maid scurried in to help—together we stripped it off and consigned it to the kitchen fire.

Seeing my solicitor and banker had taken all morning and all afternoon, and by the time I left, the day was already fading into a hot evening, accompanied by a listless breeze and the racket of carriage wheels on the road.
    I had wanted to spend the day otherwise. I told myself that I’d wanted to spend it meeting up with friends and acquaintances, but truthfully, I’d wanted to spend it with my face under Molly’s skirts. I’d left the Baron’s last night with a raging erection that refused to abate, despite the two times I’d stroked myself off. Last year—hell, even last week—I would have found a woman to take care of it. I would have charmed her into my bed and fucked her until we were both limp and sweaty.
    But for reasons I couldn’t quite articulate to myself, I abstained. I settled for my hand and then woke up as hard as an adolescent boy as a result (and was forced to settle for my hand again.)
    So I was already miserable this morning when I heard the rumors at a breakfast with Rhoda and Zona, rumors that infuriated me and frustrated me and made me even more miserable.
    Hugh and Molly. About to be engaged.
    Thus the trip to the solicitor’s. Contingency plans , my father used to tell Thomas and me as he managed the business of our estate. The secret to success is to always have a contingency plan.
    And so here I was. Contingency plan in place, although I desperately hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
    I didn’t feel satisfied, or even relieved, as I took a cab back to my townhouse, mostly because things were still so uncertain. There were only rumors , hearsay, the one thing that travels faster than the wind. And since this Mr. Cunningham I’d wanted to meet with had decided that our meeting should be put off until tomorrow, I would have no real answers until then.
    It wasn’t until we pulled onto my street that I realized there might be someone else who had real answers, someone close to me.
    Which was how I ended up in Mercy Atworth’s house, waiting for her in her front room, pacing the rug with long strides. I practically jumped on her the moment she entered, but I backed away when I noticed she was wrapped in a silk dressing gown and nothing else.
    My groin—already aching from last night’s neglect—filled with blood.
    “Silas, how unexpected. And wonderful. I’m sorry it took me a couple minutes, I needed to send word to a friend