The Duke's Temptation by Raven McAllan

Author:Raven McAllan [McAllan, Raven]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Erotic Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Published: 2017-10-30T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Dissatisfaction was a hard bedfellow. Gibb threw back the bedcovers in disgust, strode naked into his bathing chamber and thought about what he wanted to accomplish over the next few days. He had to vote in the House the following evening, check that Crowe and his sister had left the capital as he had demanded and also speak to Evangeline. The problem with the last part of his mental list was that he still wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her. Did he want to move their friendship forward? Did he want to risk spoiling what they had? At present they spoke freely to each other and neither seemed to have the need to temper what they said.

They embraced when they met and when they parted. He could tell by the way she stood, the way her body reacted, that she was as affected by him as he was her. His body hardened to the point of pain when he held her close.

But to take a step toward intimacy? Was it right? Was it fair? He knew there was no fail-safe method of avoiding an unwanted child other than abstinence, or playing, as he thought Evangeline might say.

Even then it could easily get out of hand. With a mistress, someone world-wise, precautions could be taken, and it could be a way of sating himself if nothing else. However, he was sure, by the way Evangeline had reacted to his erection the first time she’d felt it next to her, she was unspoiled and innocent and wasn’t someone prepared to be taken advantage of in such a way.

For the first time in years he felt uncomfortable at using a woman—any woman, not merely Evangeline—just to slake his desires, even if they knew and accepted it.

He had to decide if it was right to ask her to change that state of affairs. Especially when he had no promises he could give her about a future—except there was not one together.

No. I cannot do it.

So he suffered cold baths and frustration. Even though there were plenty of women prepared to help him out, in some indefinable way Gibb thought of that as cheating.

He flicked through the four-inch-high stack of invitations on his desk and wrinkled his nose at the perfume-scented ones, the coy ones and the downright blatant ones. By the time he’d sifted those out he was left with a handful of them he might perhaps be interested in.

A card game for the following evening, a request from his solicitor to visit at his earliest convenience, with regards to a house he wished to purchase that might be available at last, and a note from Lady Lisette Tonge, a friend of his late mother’s whom he kept in touch with, interested him most. He glanced at his secretary, who stood waiting for instructions.

“That lot can go in the bin.” He indicated the large pile. “Tell Dudley I will perhaps pop in, instruct my solicitor that he can set the purchase in motion and I will head to Lady Tonge’s after I’ve eaten.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.