“A brothel,” Lennox answers my unasked question when he sees where I am looking.
“I hadn’t realized there was one near here. I didn’t see it when I wandered around earlier.” I don’t confess that I was hoping to avoid any Houses on the island — I can’t bring myself to admit that might be one of my only options for work, should I need it.
“It’s secreted away. But don’t worry, the women who work there pay rent and keep all the coin they earn. It’s run more like a hotel with well-paid security. Marie makes sure none of the women are coerced into working, and that they are all of a suitable age. It’s not like back home,” he explains. “They’re respected for the service they provide and are protected here. If anyone should seek to harm one of them, they receive swift justice.”
I shiver at the memory of the justice I served to Crewes, and to the soldier in the tent outside my temple. It wasn’t swift.
Lennox wraps an arm around me as we continue our walk in silence, smelling of sea and smoke and wine. Despite the warm night, I find myself sinking into his comforting embrace. As we reach the boarding house he turns me toward him, studying my face in the light from a lamp hanging outside the entrance.
Delicate fingers brush a few loose strands of hair from my forehead as he carefully grazes his thumb over my brow. His touch travels down my face, tracing my cheekbones and my lip, then my neck and collarbone. Each caress sends heat coursing through me straight to my core as I stand still and allow him to survey me. I hold in a smile, comparing the anger I felt the first night he touched and inspected me in the office at the House of Starlight to how differently I feel now.
He rubs his thumb over my lower lip once more, leaning closer to whisper his question. “May I join you in your bed tonight, my pretty priestess?”
“Yes, Captain,” I respond, my voice ragged as I restrain myself from groping him on the streets.
We walk through the courtyard, Lennox stopping at the bar to retrieve another bottle of wine on the way, and up the stairs. Propriety is left downstairs as we enter my room together. Two goblets sit on the low table in the center of the room, and he pours sweet wine for each of us, passing me a glass as he sips his own. I drink deeply from the goblet, the warm red liquid soothing the fire in my soul from earlier.
Lennox moves to stand near the armoire where the gown and mask hang for tomorrow’s party, inspecting the embroidered trim as he sips his wine. “Do you like the gown? I hoped it wasn’t presumptuous to send it to you. I wasn’t sure you would accept the invitation to Marie’s, but I wanted you to have something just in case.”
“It’s perfect, thank you. I appreciate the offer to escort me.”
I brush past him and surreptitiously close the lid to my trunk where my new pieces from the seamstress are stashed. I don’t wish to discuss my uncertain plans for the future just yet, and I fear that looking at them will open the door to questions.
“It’s my honor to escort you.”
When he turns to face me, his deep green eyes are alight with wine and emotion. The space between us disappears as Lennox strides toward me, and I tremble with the anticipation of his touch. His warm hand wraps behind my head, placing the wine glass he holds in the other on my vanity before slanting his mouth against mine. I ache with desire as he presses my lower back, pushing our bodies flush together while he runs his tongue against mine.
I still comically cling to my wine, unsure what to do with the goblet, while my free hand grips the front of his shirt. I feel him smile against my mouth before looking at my hand. He takes the glass from me and drinks it down, placing the empty glass next to his, and returns to me. Before he can encircle me in his arms again, I slip free of his grasp, dancing delicately across the floor like a bird flitting from a cat, a smirk on my mouth at his look of confusion.
In the middle of the room, I freeze where I stand and meet his eyes before I slowly, teasingly, lower one shoulder of my robe off my arm. His eyes watch my hands, and he begins to prowl toward me, a sensual predator stalking his prey. The other shoulder drops and my robe slips down, exposing my peaked breasts and flat stomach. He reaches me as the garment falls to the floor, a puddle of moonbeams made cloth at my feet, standing on display for him in nothing but my jewelry and gold shimmer as he walks around me.
When he returns to face me, he gently rubs the pad of his thumb over my hard nipple, and I exhale sharply at the touch. Wetness pools between my thighs with the anticipation of his touch, and my legs feel loose beneath me. My fingers dig into the fabric of his waistband and slowly unbutton his pants, the tension between us luxuriously thick. Glancing up through my lashes, I watch as he bites his lower lip, eyes focused on my hands working on his buttons. When they’re freed, I pull his shirt over his head, then push his pants down. His eyes are hungry, taking in all of my nakedness in front of him as he steps from his boots and pants while I explore his firm chest and stomach with my hands and mouth.
Placing my palm flat on his chest, I push him gently to one of the chairs near the low table until he sits. His mouth closes over one of my nipples as I stand between his thighs, and a gasp of pleasure leaves me of its own volition. His mouth leaves my skin momentarily as he smiles up at me, rewarding the breathy sound by running his hand up my thigh, slipping a finger into the wetness he finds there, before capturing my moan with a fevered kiss.
Impatient, I crave the distraction his body offers me. Removing his hand from me, I step back, push his legs together, then sit astride his lap. With a shift of my hips, I raise up slightly before sliding over his hard length, gripping the back of the chair as I sink down fully.
“Oh, fuck,” he whispers huskily into my loose hair as I settle on him and begin to move, whimpering at the fullness of our joining.
My hips rock, the friction between us delicious, as I capture his mouth with mine. Our tongues brush against one another, the sweet wine still lingering on our mouths, sending heat pulsing through my core. Release tightens in my belly with every move while Lennox’s hands clutch my hips.
“Look at me,” he whispers, breaking our kiss, dark eyes searching my face.
Emotion overflows in his gaze, and my heart skips a beat while I wonder what truth is reflecting in my own. It only takes a few more moments before I reach the edge and tumble over, pleasure pulsing through me as I stifle my cry against his shoulder. With a satisfied growl, he grips my hips harder, grinding me against him before finishing soon after me.
Chests heaving in tandem, Lennox curls over me, his arms laced around my waist as he holds me to his bare chest, tenderly kissing my forehead. With a sigh, I pull back slightly so I can look at him, kissing his soft mouth gently before resting my forehead against his.
“To the Goddess,” I whisper.
Lennox smiles as he runs his hands down my hair and back a few times. “To the Goddess,” he replies softly before I pull away and stand.
As I walk toward the basin of clean water and the clean shift laid out on my vanity stool, I turn to glance at him over my shoulder.
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
His smile is sweet as he nods his agreement.
Chapter 34