Kate Pearce - Educating Elizabeth

He turned his head a fraction but didn't alter his stance as his gaze swept over the silken transparency of her gown and her unbound hair.

"What do you want, Elizabeth?"

Her bare feet sank into the thick crimson carpet as she took two steps toward him. She resisted the impulse to ball her hands into fists, and drew in her breath. "I've made a decision. Before I search for another protector, I want you to make love to me, Gervase. I want you to be the first man who possesses me completely."

"You have made a decision? We made a bargain. I've kept my part of it." He brought the glass to his lips and swallowed the contents down in one. "Why should you wish to change it?"

She took the glass from his hand and placed it on the mantelpiece. "Maybe you have taught me too well. You are the only man I wish to lie with."

A muscle flickered in his cheek as she put her hands onto his shoulders and her silken clad breasts brushed against his shirtfront. "I know you will not want me forever, and I promise I will not hang on your sleeve. Please allow me to change my mind. Please allow me this one night."

His hands came up and covered hers in a hard painful grip. "Why should I? Nothing else has changed. I'm still the same bastard who attempted to rape you."

" I'm the one who has changed." Elizabeth said urgently. "I was a naïve frightened girl when I made that bargain."

"And now? You think you are a sophisticate?" The duke gave a harsh laugh. "You are still an innocent, my dear, and I intend to keep you one."

Holding his gaze, she stepped back and allowed her silken robe to fall to the floor. The soft lilac silk of her nightgown clung to her body and left little to the imagination. The duke hissed a curse but seemed unable to look away.

Elizabeth moved closer until her fingers caressed his unshaven cheek. She kept her voice steady although her heart bumped and looped around her chest like a mad thing. "Well, then. If you don't wish to seduce me, perhaps you would like to play cards and let the winner have the choice."

A flash of interest crossed the duke's hard face and disappeared into the cool gray shards of his eyes. "It depends on the stakes, my dear. Do you truly think you can beat me?" He gave a soft, dismissive laugh. "I'm almost tempted to let you find out the error of your ways."

"Then why not do so?" Elizabeth said sweetly. "Unless you are afraid."

"Of you?" He smiled. "Elizabeth, you terrify me in many ways, but I don't think you are a gambler."

The duke placed a small table between the chairs in front of the fire and rearranged the candelabra to throw more light onto the tabletop. He picked up a bottle of brandy and two glasses and placed them on the hearth. Elizabeth seated herself in the right hand chair and the duke offered her the packs of piquet cards.

"Do you wish to shuffle the pack, Your Grace, or do you trust me to do it?"

The duke gave her a negligent wave as he settled his large frame into the seat opposite her and crossed his legs. "Go ahead, my dear. I doubt you have concealed any cards in your scanty attire." He deliberately leered at her. "And I can always institute a search if I fear you are cheating."

Elizabeth fought back a smile as she began to shuffle the two decks together with a competence that drew the duke's attention. "I see that you are no novice at piquet, my dear, but I must warn you that I'm considered one of the best players in London."

Elizabeth dealt out the cards and gave the duke a rather anxious smile. "I've not played for a while, Your Grace." He frowned and she rephrased her answer. "I mean, Gervase. But I've been told that I play rather well for a lady." She bent her head over the cards to stifle a grin. In truth, her brother laughingly complained that she could have made her fortune at the gaming tables if she had only been a man.

As she reached for her cards, the duke covered her hand with his. "We have not discussed the stakes."

"May I suggest a shilling a point?"

"If you wish, although I'm used to playing for higher stakes." He leaned over the side of his chair and bent to pour them both a glass of brandy. "What do you suggest the winner receives?"

"If I win, Gervase, I would like to seduce you."

"You will not win, my dear."

Elizabeth stared right back at him. "And what will you claim as your prize if you win?"

"I will expect you to bathe me for a month and promise not to disagree with me about anything for a whole week. Do you think you could manage that?"

Elizabeth snorted, picked up her cards and fanned them out in front of her face. "You obviously take me for a flat. Are you ready to play now? Or are you too afraid to lose to a woman?"

His eyes narrowed and he picked up his cards. The first rubber passed quietly, the cards favoring neither player, as they each tested the others' skill. The duke won by a very small margin and Elizabeth watched him relax and begin to drink more freely from the bottle of brandy at his elbow. She hoped he believed her an overcautious player, an impression she worked hard to cultivate.

During the second rubber, she drew level with the duke's point tally and passed him by the time they began the third and decisive game. When the duke filled his brandy glass again and cursed a foolish discard he made, Elizabeth sat forward and allowed the thin lace strap of her chemise to fall down her arm.

To her surprise, she was enjoying herself. He was an extremely good player and had a disconcerting ability to sum up her hand with great accuracy, although she prided herself that her calculation of the odds made her the better player. Still, as she surreptitiously wiggled her shoulder to push the strap lower, she decided that she would use any tactic to distract the duke from the cards that she could.

Gervase almost choked on his brandy as Elizabeth's half-naked breast hovered in his vision just above the line of his cards. He cast her a suspicious glance, but, intent on her own hand, she seemed unaware of her dishabille. A lock of her brown hair spilled over her shoulder and lay like an inverted question mark against the barely concealed swell of her breast. Gervase forced his eyes back to his cards as she made a soft humming sound in her throat. He was hard in an instant and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

The game was too damned close to call. His next discard would probably decide the match. For the first time in his life, he hesitated.

"Are you not going to play, Gervase?"

Her soft voice recalled him from his deliberations and he made the mistake of looking up at her. His throat constricted as he registered that both straps of her bed gown had now slipped to her elbows and that the fine bodice of the thin silk and lace construction was held aloft only by the presence of her nipples.

Blindly, he threw out a card without even looking at it. Elizabeth gave a soft cry of annoyance and slid the straps back up her arms. "This wretched garment will have to be returned to Madame Isabelle's." She plucked at the straps. "These ribbons are far too long."

Gervase licked his dry lips. By the time he ripped the silken garment from her body and plunged himself inside her, he doubted the gown would be in any fit state to be returned. He shook the lustful thoughts from his head and looked down at the card he had discarded.

"A club." He groaned inwardly at his foolish choice and threw down the rest of his hand in disgust.

She smiled at him and revealed the last card she held to be the diamond he had anticipated before sheer lust had overtaken him. Had he wanted to lose? Had he wanted an excuse to have her in his bed after all?

"I've won, Gervase. Now you are honor bound to pay your debts."

He stared at her and his hand flexed amongst the scattered playing cards. He slowly stood up and made her an elegant bow. "I always pay my debts, Elizabeth. I'm yours to command."