Absolute Pleasure Read Online Free Page B

his libidinous proclivities when, as a younger man, John had been a philandering bounder. Age and wisdom had calmed much of his carnal disposition, but Gabriel had grown up observing and learning from the master.
    Like father, like son.
    John had provided Gabriel with his first lover. His second. His third. John was the one who'd continually extolled the joys of women, the mysteries to be unraveled, the bliss to be had in their arms. Using his own paramours, father had initiated son in the benefits of erotic rapture and, being a dutiful child, Gabriel had toiled strenuously to acquire the skills his father had sought to teach. In the process, he'd developed an affinity for the fairer sex that matched—and perhaps surpassed—his father's.
    Following directly in John's footsteps, he loved women. AH types, styles, and kinds. He loved them tall or short, thin or rounded, comely or plain, rich or poor—although in his weaker moments, he could be forced to admit that he definitely preferred them beautiful and wealthy.
    Early on, he'd been smitten, mesmerized by their personalities, their quirks, their constitutions. Women were an enigma, a perpetual fascination. His infatuation nearly an obsession, he observed them, he sketched, he painted. Easily, he was charmed by an expanse of soft skin, or the waft of an enchanting perfume, the turn of a head, the lilt of a voice, the sway in a walk. He treasured the lure and the chase, the temptation and the capitulation, the catch and the final fall from grace.
    There was nothing quite so rewarding as stumbling upon an affluent, attractive, forlorn female who desperately needed a boost in her self-esteem, or an energizing shot to her flagging pride. Naught restored a woman's confidence and dignity more rapidly than a brief, profound amore from which she could walk away at the conclusion having felt valued and cherished.
    The women with whom he dallied were miserable, forsaken, badly used by their husbands or others. Victims of their arranged marriages and suffocating environments, they'd never understood or tapped into their base appetites, so they were effortlessly led astray. For years, they suffered silently, dutiful matrons, as their spouses trifled and played with one mistress after the next. They were disgruntled, confused, and discontented with life and their general place in it.
    Sadly, they were all seeking reciprocated ardor, tenderness and devotion, that was never received. In their bleak circumstances, they slowly deteriorated, pining away for some scant display of attention and approval, but also for validation that they were mature women with wants, needs, and unfulfilled desires.
    With great relish, Gabriel showered them with what they longed for and so much more. He bent over backward to make them feel special, revered, feminine, and rare, and his fondness was never feigned. He thrived on teaching them to trust their sensual inclinations, to revel in their repressed, wanton natures, to indulge their lustful impulses.
    In exchange, he gained ample gratification, and not just physically. The monetary rewards could be significant, the dividends of which he was explicitly reminded when John reached over and picked up the ring Gabriel had previously discarded.
    "What a gaudy eyesore," he submitted as his opinion. "Her parting gift?'
    "She insisted that I have something to remember her by." Magnanimously, sarcastically, he queried, "Who am I to deprive her when the gesture obviously conferred such immense joy?"
    " 'Joy,' indeed!" John huffed, clearly put out by Gabriel's attitude. He examined the ring by the light, much as Gabriel had done when he'd first arrived. "Superb quality," he grumbled. "It will fetch a pretty penny."
    "That it will."
    John pitched it to Gabriel, and he snared it and stuck it in his pocket, out of sight. Shortly, he'd peddle it, but not before having a duplicate created with an imitation stone and falso gold, so that if he ever crossed paths with the