Educating Elizabeth

Chapter 22

"How dare you!"

As Elizabeth advanced toward the duke's desk, Nicholas got swiftly out of the way. Gervase leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and stared up at her, his expression faintly inquiring.

"What is it, ma belle?"

"You..." Elizabeth threw the soft, velvet pouch at his unprotected head. His hand shot out and he caught it before it hit him. Denied the pleasure of assaulting him, Elizabeth was reduced to stamping her foot. "How dare you leave that on my pillow!"

The duke raised an eyebrow and waved Nicholas away. "I don't understand why you are so upset, my dear." He glanced down at the pouch and tossed it between his hands, releasing the soft chink of the coins within. "It is customary for a man to pay his mistress when he is pleased with her."

Elizabeth snorted and sat down with an unladylike thump. "You already pay me a wage, Your Grace. I don't need this." She gestured with disgust at the pile of gold coins the duke tipped out of the purse.

The duke began to stack the gold coins as he considered her. "Why does it offend you, Elizabeth? You obviously have a use for the money. You asked me recently for an advance on your wages."

Elizabeth gulped as she gazed at his cynical expression. "Is that why you think I went to bed with you--for money?"

"I'm not sure." He paused. "Did you?"

Her gaze dropped to the desk where the stack of coins leaned toward the duke's clenched fist. "I went to bed with you because I wanted you to be the first man who touched me." She winced at the flare of disbelief in his eyes. "I decided to take your advice and ask my next protector for money."

The duke's hand relaxed. "If I understand you correctly, you are saying that you chose to sleep with me for more, shall we say, sentimental reasons, before moving on to a new protector whom you would feel more comfortable taking money from."

Elizabeth cringed. Put like that, she sounded mercenary, but she couldn't dispute the bare bones of the truth. She nodded, and kept her eyes on his hands, not daring to look at him for fear of his contempt.

He leaned forward and suddenly knocked the tower of coins over with the back of his hand. He hit them with such force that two of them spiraled through the air and landed in her lap. He shot to his feet and strode over to the window, keeping his back to her.

"I did wonder, Elizabeth, if your timely surrender was an attempt to extort the money from me." He swung around to face her, his gray eyes hard, his voice soft. "I also wondered if you chose to tempt me beyond reason as a form of revenge."

She lifted her chin and stared back at him. "You are mistaken, Your Grace. I had no thoughts of greed or revenge when I came to your bed, only curiosity." She shrugged back the tears that crowded her throat and tried to smile as she got to her feet. "As I've achieved my ambition, I will make sure that my bags are packed and that I'm ready to leave at your convenience."

A sudden rush of tears blurred her retreat and she only realized Gervase had come up behind her when she was unable to open the door.

"I don't want you to go, Elizabeth. I want you in my bed."

She leaned her forehead against the door panel as he bent to kiss the nape of her neck. His harsh, quick breathing mirrored her own. "I fear that we are at cross purposes, ma belle." His lips traveled up to her ear. "What if I told you that I left you the money because I wanted to give you a reason to stay with me? Would you stay?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes as the temptation to give into his demands engulfed her. She sighed as he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. She raised an unsteady hand to caress his cheek and he captured her fingers and held them there.

"I will stay until the code is broken and the assassin is caught, Your Grace, but I don't want any more money, like this, from you. I will stay because it pleases me to stay, not for financial gain."

"It pleases me, Elizabeth. I will endeavor to prove worthy of you."

His mouth descended, claiming her in a deep, possessive kiss that left her clutching his shoulders and leaning weakly against him. She bit back a sigh when he raised his head and stepped away. He grimaced, ran a hand through his hair and glanced down at the bulge of his cock.

"I wish that I had the time to take you upstairs and show you how much I appreciate you, but I'm due at the Foreign Office in an hour."

Elizabeth drew in a shaky breath and smoothed down her gown. "I've work to do as well, Your Grace. The code is proving particularly difficult to break."

Gervase swept her a bow. "Well then, my dear, I suggest that you leave me to make myself presentable and go do battle with the code."

Gervase closed his book with a snap and glanced at the library clock. It was past midnight and yet a light still glowed in the shadows of Sir John's office. He rose to his feet, stretched the tiredness from his shoulders, and strolled through the concealed door toward Elizabeth's desk.

He leaned against the doorframe and studied the intense figure at the desk. Elizabeth had a frown between her brows and a quill pen poised over a piece of parchment. Unnoticed, Gervase moved closer and looked over her shoulder. From the amount of scribbling, he deduced her latest attempt to break Le Fleur's code was not progressing well.

Gervase laid his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and registered the tension in her muscles. He squeezed and relaxed his fingers and she tried to shake his hand off. Gervase stilled as the warmth of her scent drifted up to tantalize and revitalize his tired senses. "Elizabeth, it is time for bed."

She barely glanced at him, her attention all on the page in front of her. Gervase suppressed a smile. It occurred to him that he didn't like to be ignored and was not used to it from the woman who occupied his bed.

"Elizabeth." He made his tone commanding. "I want to go to bed, preferably with you."

This time she did look up. She gave him a rather perfunctory smile and pushed her spectacles higher up her nose. "You run along, Your Grace. I will join you shortly. I just need to finish this piece."

Without bothering to reply, Gervase picked up one of the long goose-feather quills from the desk and ran his fingertips along the taut edge of the feather. He moved closer to Elizabeth and touched the tip of the feather to her earlobe and down the nape of her neck. He followed the feather's path with the tip of his tongue.

She shivered slightly but still refused to look up. With renewed intention, Gervase angled the feather to dip toward the front of her bodice. He sat sideways on the desk and used his finger and thumb to unhook the pearl buttons on the severely cut green velvet of her bodice. Her chemise and corset appeared and his breath shortened as he allowed the feather to caress the enticing swells and tips of her breasts. As he flicked the quill in an endless circling pattern over her exposed skin, he was gratified to see her nipples begin to tighten.

He breathed against her neck, an invitation and a command. "Let me touch you, ma belle, let me inside you."

She sighed and her quill pen dropped from her fingers. He gathered it up to double his sensual assault. Her head fell back against his waistcoat, allowing him to caress her throat and then her mouth with his kisses and soft touches. He slid further up the desk, taking her weight into his arms, loosening her stays and completely baring her breasts to his hungry mouth.

When her hands came up to clutch his shoulders and she began to kiss him back, he angled her to lie beneath him on the desk and pulled up her skirts. She made no further protest about her work as he opened his breeches, plunged inside of her and reminded her of her other obligations.

He waited until she had moaned her pleasure into his mouth before he realized he wanted more. "Elizabeth, hold on to me. We will finish this upstairs. I want you naked." He lifted her from the desk in one easy motion and smiled as she gasped when his shaft was forced even deeper inside her.

Elizabeth shut her eyes and clung to the duke as he mounted the stairs, each jolting step pooling low in her stomach, making her arch into him in a wordless plea. He began to breathe more harshly as they reached the top of the stairs but she didn't think it was because he was disturbed by her weight.

He stopped as she started to spasm around him again and his hand came up to cover her mouth. With a soft curse, he drew her into the shadows of the massive landing window and the concealment offered by the thick velvet curtains. Her back hit the paneled wall as he braced her against it and placed his hands on either side of her head. As her body, released from his hold, slid downwards, he surged upwards, concentrating her whole weight on where they were joined. She fought back a scream as his mouth covered hers, his tongue driving into her as his body drove into her.

With the last remnant of his sanity, he remembered that he had to withdraw and pulled out. His hands moved blindly to support her hips as he spilled himself into oblivion.

Down in the hallway below, the front door slammed and voices echoed in the silence. Elizabeth couldn't have moved if her life depended on it. She tried to quiet her breathing and sensed the duke doing the same.

"God, I'm glad to be home," Nicholas said. "I hate hanging around those gaming hells and watching the unsuspecting flats being lured into the traps of the card sharps."

"Unfortunately, Nicholas, there are many who are unable to resist the excitement of gaming." Sir John's prosy voice had Elizabeth stifling a smile against the duke's shoulder.

"You are not exactly immune to the excitement yourself, are you?" Nicholas replied. "You were badly dipped tonight. I saw you scrawling vouchers with the best of them."

"Only in the interests of catching the spies, young Nicholas." Sir John sniffed. "Naturally, I would never gamble my own pitiful fortune away."

Nicholas gave a short laugh. "But you consider it acceptable to gamble away the duke's, do you?"

"Of course, it is my duty. He is so disgustingly wealthy that he will scarcely notice the loss." Elizabeth felt the duke's muscles tighten around her like the coils of a snake. "I wonder why he doesn't bother to go out and gamble his own money anymore."

"Are you blind, Sir John? The duke is far too busy spending cozy evenings with Mrs. Waterstone to want to go out on the town."

"Mrs. Waterstone and the duke?" Sir John's voice held a mixture of surprise and revulsion that made Elizabeth feel ashamed. She fought to disengage herself from the duke's arms but he held her tightly as Nicholas's voice faded in the direction of the kitchens. Elizabeth was just about to protest when the duke placed his hand over her mouth.

"The clever little bitch," Sir John whispered. "Mr. Forester will be pleased." His words floated up the stairwell and settled sickeningly in Elizabeth's stomach. The front door banged and the house grew still.

The duke let her slide to the floor and she stumbled into her bedroom. When the duke shut the door she turned to face him, her breathing uneven.

"Gervase, if you think I made love with you to please my stepfather, you are mistaken."

An uncharacteristic mixture of emotions flickered on the duke's face. "Indeed?"

Elizabeth lifted her chin. "If he had asked me to seduce you in order to forgo his debt I would have refused. The money I requested was not for him."

The duke inclined his head. "I never thought that it was, and, having met your stepfather, I can understand your dislike of him."

Elizabeth managed to breathe as the duke came forward to take her hand. "Now," he murmured. "Where were we?"

His mouth closed over hers and the questions she had regarding Sir John's strange behavior flew from her head as she surrendered to the duke's questing hands and the lure of his muscular body.

Gervase left her to sleep and walked through the deserted house down to Sir John's study. After locking away the code and tidying up the disordered desk, he lit a single candle and settled into Elizabeth's chair. When Sir John had made his incautious remark, Gervase had braced himself to face Elizabeth's suspicions. To his surprise, her major concern had been to convince him she was not allied to her stepfather. He had assumed she would ask about Mr. Forester and Sir John's relationship with him.

He angled the chair back and put his booted feet up on the corner of the desk. He had been quite willing to distract her with his lovemaking. He smiled and ran his tongue over his lips where her sweetness still lingered. She was an outstanding pupil both in and out of bed. He just had to think of a way to stop her agile mind from inquiring too deeply into his plans.

His lovemaking usually worked to distract her. But he feared that even he didn't have the stamina to ravish her night and day for as long as it took to break the code and find out the extent of Mr. Forester's involvement.

He blew out the candle and made his way back up to his bed, wishing with some small part of himself that he could rejoin Elizabeth in hers and stay with her until dawn. But that would not be wise, not be wise at all...