Authors: Kate Pearce
His quiet question brought her senses to the alert. “Do you think I prefer women?
Do you imagine that is why I’m doing all this?”
He smiled and slowly licked her cream from his lips. “It did occur to me.”
“I have never lusted after my own sex.”
Louise kissed her neck. “I’m sure I could change your mind, cherie, if we had time,
and you weren’t already involved with this particular man.” She slid her hand around
Antonia’s neck and kissed her openmouthed. Antonia found herself responding as
cream flooded her channel. Gideon licked it up with an approving murmur.
When Louise drew back, Antonia was panting and straining at the leather ties.
Gideon smiled at Louise.
“Would you like to taste her, cherie? She is very responsive.”
Gideon allowed Louise to kneel between his legs. With one hand he toyed with her
breast. The other he placed between Antonia’s thighs. He spread her labia with his long
fingers, displaying her to Louise.
Antonia stiffened as Louise delicately licked her clit. Another climax threatened as
Gideon added his fingers to the torment of Louise’s mouth. Antonia came hard in long,
pulsing waves, unable to stifle her screams. She vaguely heard Gideon’s next
instruction.
“Get back on the bed behind Antonia, and I will satisfy you both.”
81
Kate Pearce
He slid his palm between Antonia’s legs and kept going. The underside of his wrist
pressed hard against her sex as he slid his fingers deep inside Louise. Antonia closed
her eyes as he began to move his hand, listened to Louise’s soft moans and enjoyed the
friction he provided. Louise rocked her body into Antonia’s, her mound rubbing
against Antonia’s buttocks. Gideon thrust his fingers deeper. He fondled Antonia’s
breasts and drew her into a deep kiss as he worked them both. From under her lowered
lashes she could see his covered cock rubbing against the silk counterpane. Caught up
in a sensual web too exquisite to ignore, she and Louise came together with identical
screams.
After her heart slowed down to a less frantic rate, Louise untied her. She pressed a
kiss onto Antonia’s lips. “Thank you for sharing Gideon with me. He is an exceptional
lover.” She winked at them both. “And if you should decide you do prefer your own
sex, after all, come and see me again.”
Antonia collapsed facedown onto the bed and lay there. The mattress creaked as
Gideon joined her. She almost purred when he placed his hand in the small of her back.
Lying like this, her slender figure displayed in all its glory made Gideon want to plunge
his cock inside her until he ran out of come. He glanced at the clock. It was almost three.
He had less than an hour before he needed to see Antonia safely home.
She didn’t move as he carefully removed his coat and waistcoat. He took two
pillows from the top of the bed and wedged them under her stomach, raising her
buttocks. Without speaking, he retrieved the bottle of oil Louise had left on the
nightstand. With practiced ease, he began to massage oil onto her skin, concentrating on
the delicate swell of her buttocks and the soft skin between them.
“Oh, Gideon, that feels so nice.”
“Yes, cherie, and if you relax, it will soon feel even nicer.”
She stirred as he increased his strokes, opening her legs at his gentle pressure until
the whole of her sex lay exposed to him. He leaned over her, slid one hand beneath her
82
Antonia’s Bargain
breast to play with her nipple and set his teeth gently at the nape of her neck. With his
other hand, he carefully penetrated the bud of her anus, using the slick oil to ease his
way, adding fingers until she easily took them all.
He bit harder as she began to move against his thrusting fingers. With a muffled
cry, she dragged his other hand down to her sex and pressed it to her. With all the care
he could manage he slid two fingers in her sheath until they met the barrier of her
maidenhood. He increased the long, slow glide of his fingers until he felt her grip him
and convulse in a tight-fisted orgasm. He came too and felt the hot pump of his seed
soak into the satin of his breeches. Damnation, he hadn’t been this aroused since he was
at school.
His nostrils flared as he inhaled the potent mixture of their scents. Antonia
represented everything he ever wanted in a lover and had never expected to find in a
woman. Her courage, the sensual wildness within her that responded to the devil in
him made sexual boundaries disappear.
Peter was right. Antonia wasn’t the only one who needed to learn about love. He’d
never felt this urgent need to surround and protect a man. In the last few years of his
marriage, he’d simply used one part of his sexuality to suppress his desire for this. The
scent of a woman, the sense of completion, the true urge to mate with a female that he’d
denied himself for so long. He removed one hand from her pussy and stroked
Antonia’s hair with fingers that shook. Was he capable of breaking through the selfdefeating barriers which held his emotions in place? Would she even want him too?
For a long while, he continued to hold her, his fingers still firmly embedded inside
her. The urge to replace them with his cock was too strong to allow him to move away.
He kissed her throat as an unwilling laugh shook through him. In a few short meetings
she had changed his life. Bloody Hell. He was about to make his father a very happy
man.
83
Kate Pearce
Chapter Seven
“I’m warning you, Antonia. If you haven’t decided which man you prefer, I will.”
Charles stood behind his desk, his face flushed red as she continued to glare at him.
At ten in the morning his study smelled of stale brandy and burnt toast. The thick
brown curtains let in little of the gray morning light.
“You can’t force me to choose a husband. I have my own money now and I’m not a
child.”
He sat back down. “Actually, I can. Did you even bother to read the exact words of
our grandmother’s will?”
“How could I when you refused to show it to me?” Antonia took a step closer to the
desk, her gaze fixed on the pile of parchment beneath Charles’ hand.
“Grandmother knew you were wild. In her will she stipulates that you only inherit
if you marry well and at your family’s direction.”
Antonia rested her fingertips on the desk as panic threatened to overwhelm her. “I
don’t believe you. The money is mine. Why didn’t anyone mention this before?”
Charles turned the page toward her and pointed at a paragraph halfway down.
Antonia leaned forward to read the cramped script, her heart raced as if she were
running for her life.
“No one mentioned it because it probably never occurred to anyone that you would
think yourself capable of handling the money yourself. You are far too impetuous, my
dear, to deal with such a responsibility. Obviously, you need a man to take care of such
things for you.”
84
Antonia’s Bargain
He smiled indulgently and folded his hands flat on the document. “Let me make it
even clearer for you. In order to gain control of your inheritance, you have to marry,
and I have to approve your choice.”
Antonia stared at him as her stomach threatened to revolt. How very like her
grandmother to offer her freedom and then snatch it back.
“If I marry, the money becomes my husband’s, doesn’t it? I will find another
lawyer. I will contest this.”
“And shame your family? Haven’t you had enough scandal in your life?”
Antonia swallowed hard, caught between a sudden desire to slap his face or run
back to Wales. She couldn’t face the humiliation and disgrace again, she just couldn’t.
Charles came around the desk and took her by the shoulders.
“If you can’t decide on a husband by the end of the month, I will offer your hand to
Douglas Markham. He is a good decent man who will treat you with the respect you
deserve.”
* * * * *
Antonia gathered the skirts of her pale blue gown and headed back to the ballroom.
She failed to hide a yawn as Lord Kinsale bowed to her and moved swiftly past him
even as he spluttered in indignation. After her late night with Gideon, she found it hard
to stay awake and maintain her interest in yet another boring party. She remembered
the press of Gideon’s fingers deep inside her, the slight bruise on her throat where his
teeth had grazed her skin.
How had she come to care for him so quickly? It wasn’t just that he allowed her to
experience physical pleasure, although that was incredible. It was that he made her feel
safe enough in his arms to try anything, to fight her demons and win. The gossip about
him, despite his family name, placed him firmly on the fringes of the
ton
. Not that he
seemed to care. But, as an outsider herself, she thought she understood him better than
85
Kate Pearce
most. It was obvious to her that his charm and handsome features concealed a
loneliness that matched her own.
Earlier that day, when Charles called her into his study and asked if she’d decided
on a husband yet, she found herself wishing for Gideon. If he wasn’t already married,
she suspected Charles would be considering marrying her himself. He’d droned on
about respecting her family and doing the right thing until she’d wanted to scream. Her
family hadn’t cared to intervene when she’d been left in the care of a distant father and
an old harridan of a grandmother. Only her inheritance had changed that and now even
that was in jeopardy.
She paused at the entrance to the ballroom. Would it be possible for her to refuse to
marry and give up the inheritance? She shuddered at the thought of being trapped at
the mercy of her family for a home and an allowance. If she had no money she would
end up as an unpaid servant or married off to one of Charles’ lesser friends in return for
some political favor.
Her desire to see Gideon increased. Surely he would help her forget the impending
snare of marriage? Or would he find it amusing? Part of her wanted to spill out the
whole embarrassing story and ask for his help. She stared at the glittering ballroom
without seeing it. Her life seemed to be measured in each shallow breath she managed
to drag into her lungs.
“Miss Maxwell?”
She glanced up as someone blocked her path. It took her a moment to realize that
the gentleman addressing her was none other than Gideon’s father.
“We sat next to each other at that dreary musicale this afternoon at the Oakham’s.
I’m Harcourt DeVere.”
Antonia sank into a curtsey. “I remember you, my lord; you made a dull event very
memorable.” The viscount had made loud and disparaging remarks about all the
amateur performers. He’d reduced one poor young lady to tears, before being
86
Antonia’s Bargain
persuaded to retire to the card room. She now knew where Gideon had acquired his
cutting wit.
“I hope you will forgive an old man, but I would like to introduce you to my son.
He’s in need of a wife and I hear you are looking for a husband.”
Antonia stifled a hysterical urge to laugh. Did everyone in the
ton
know that she
was expected to marry? The viscount obviously favored a blunt turn of speech, which
would have been refreshing had it not been about Gideon.
“It’s very sweet of you to think of me, but I’m sure your son is quite capable of
choosing his own wife.”
She thought the viscount snorted under his breath but he tucked her hand into the
curve of his arm and marched her back into the ballroom. Before she quite realized
what he meant to do, she found herself confronting the broad back of her would-be
seducer.
“Gideon, I’ve brought a young lady to meet you.”
He turned at the sound of his father’s voice. The irritation in his eyes faded as he
studied Antonia.
“Sir?”
“This is Miss Antonia Maxwell. She tells me she is on the lookout for a husband.”
“Surely she’s a bit young for you?”
Antonia pretended to titter and tapped her fan on the viscount’s arm. “Actually, I
told your father that you were probably quite capable of finding your own bride.”
Gideon swept a bow and gave her a devastating smile. He was dressed in flawless
black and white and a single diamond glinted in the folds of his cravat. “There’s
nothing wrong in receiving a little help now and then, is there?” He took her gloved
hand. As if on cue, the orchestra struck up a waltz. “Would you like to dance with me,
Miss Maxwell?”
87
Kate Pearce
She bit her lip as she noticed Douglas Markham striding toward her. His
proprietary expression was enough to send her into Gideon’s arms. “I would be
delighted, sir.”
His hand slid around her waist, he grasped her fingers lightly and drew her into the
dance. It was easy to relax into his arms as they slowly circled the ballroom.
“I apologize for my father.”
She glanced up at him. “At least he is direct.”
He grimaced. “That is true. Although I find it quite humiliating to be put on show
like this.”
“Then you should understand how I feel. Courted for what I have and not for
whom I am.”
He held her gaze, his blue eyes serious. “I know who you are.”