Carnal Pleasures Read Online Free Page B

a heavy hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Ah, it won’t be so bad. It’s less demeaning than begging pin money from you. If the countess pays me well enough to hop into her bed for the rest of the Season, I’ll find a way to slip out of her clutches.”
    Griff picked up his battered portmanteau and gave his hat a rakish tilt on his blond head. He looked like a Greek Adonis, splendid in or out of uniform, even if he was a bit ragged around the edges.
    “Who knows, Rand? She may decide to keep me. Then it will be my turn to make a decision. If I convince her to marry me, I’ll be master of everything.” His sensuous lips twisted in a wry grin. “So you see, then I can pay you back for your kindness.” The grin turned into more like a grimace.
    “Well, I’m off, old chap.” Griff started through the doorway, leaving a warning over his shoulder as he said, “What ho! If you see me, it could be the wicked countess hanging on my arm at one fancy do or another. Cut me dead if you like, Rand. If I am denounced as her male whore, I’ll understand.”
    * * * *
    It was a short cab ride to Eberley House in Portman Square. It would have been enough time to change Griff’s mind and back out if he were so inclined.
    Returned to England from his disgrace on the Continent, Griff had made up his mind to seek out and court a rich wife, young or old, it didn’t make a difference. Of course, it would have been nice if he could wrap a naive, young chit with a good-sized dowry around his pinky. It had surprised the devil out of him when the hot-eyed countess made her salacious suggestion.
    Overnight he had considered several ideas. One of the problems he couldn’t quite solve was the countess herself. Would she lower herself to marry an untitled cicisbeo ? He didn’t think so, but he would work on the problem. If he played his cards well, he might be out of the suds—no longer plagued with monetary worries.
    The countess was waiting for him when he arrived that morning. He was ushered into a large, elaborate drawing room on the second storey of the town house. No hesitation or embarrassment crossed the woman’s expression when she gave orders to a footman to put Griff’s battered portmanteau in the bedchamber next to hers. Something shriveled inside him, shrinking the masculine core of his psyche although he was fully aware of what his sexual duties were to be during a foreseeable future.
    When the countess spoke, Griff hesitated inside the doorway.
    “Close the door behind you,” she said, a crisp, autocratic demand tightening her lips. The tone she used with him today was quite different from her coquettishness of last evening.
    Did she think I was bought and paid for already?
    Nevertheless, Griff did what she asked.
    Quite slowly, with complete assurance that he wouldn’t protest, the countess approached Griff, reached out a hand, slid her jeweled fingers beneath a lapel of his military tunic, and caressed the hard muscles of his chest and torso through layers of heavy fabric. She roved his physique as if he were a new, expensive toy. She continued, lowering her hands to the jacket’s edge, before tucking her fingertips under the snug waistband of his breeches.
    “Hmm,” she murmured, sounding pleased. Looking up, she met his gaze.
    Goddamn her.
    Reading her eyes, Griff already knew what she was thinking. He jerked, however, when she suddenly cupped his ballocks between his legs and squeezed them, not so gently. He sucked in a surprised breath but stood unmoving, rigid, not spreading his legs farther to give her better access to his privates.
    There was a sudden rush of blood to his penis, however, that he couldn’t deny. Smiling wickedly, she stroked her palm along his lengthing cock. “Good. I like a man who knows what is expected of him.”
    She let go and left him abruptly, seating herself on a cushioned settee. “Come here and sit beside me. I have questions that need answers.”
    She leaned back, quite