Eve felt her pulses quicken. The very blood in her veins began to warm and flow faster. She caught her breath as she picked up the die caster and experienced a delicious rush as she flung the ivory cubes onto the table. She rolled double five. Adam’s eyes never left her face. Almost negligently he rolled a five and a six, then reached over and selected the largest uncut emerald from her pile.
He saw her concentration increase, saw the intense look of triumph when this time it was Eve who rolled eleven. Adam leaned back indifferently and cast a double six onto the table. Very casually he took a diamond from her.
Her eyes became brilliant and she was short of breath as the game of chance took hold of her.
Adam’s visage in the glow of the lamps was dark and inscrutable as a black leopard’s, masking his thoughts and his intent, which were both blatantly sexual.
Eve’s desire for the jewels was written upon her face. Just so would he like her to look at him when he was naked. It was a hungry look that said, Imust have them or die.
Relentlessly he took back his jewels, one at a time. He knew Russell had let her have her own way about everything. He would teach her that if she was his woman she would have her own way about nothing, and he would teach her to like it.
As he took her last gem she stood up quickly clenching her fists and in a hurt, little-girl voice said, “I thought you were a gentleman. I thought you would let me win.”
“I never let anyone win against me in my life, and I’m not about to start.” He stalked around the games table like a raptor sure of its prey. His voice was like smooth, dark velvet as his hands cupped her shoulders. “Eve, you above all other women are acutely aware of the fact I am not a gentleman.”
She shuddered as he brought his mouth down upon hers to drain her of her will. But her body, was aroused by the high-stakes game, not by the presence of the virile man. When he touched her, she froze.
Savage had her gown undone and off her shoulders before she realized how bold he was. The gown and its petticoats fell to her feet and she stood before him clad in corset, drawers, and tall black boots.
Savage had undressed a thousand women in his lifetime. He was an expert at the game of seduction. At twenty when he left England he had considered himself highly experienced with women, having known servant girls, married ladies, and professional harlots, but once he arrived in India he realized he was almost untutored in the sensual arts and his education had begun in earnest. He had visited the secret temples erected to the goddesses of love and fertility, where even the statues were so sexually explicit, they could make a sailor flush with embarrassment. He had been entertained by rajas and nawabs whose nautch dancers knew tricks that would harden the cock of a corpse. He had seen and traded in priceless collections of Hindu and Oriental erotica that had broadened his mind, his taste, and his appreciation so that he explored and enjoyed to the full his own sensual nature without shame or false prudery inherent in Western civilization.
He thought she rejected his advances because he was a commoner. He tried to unthaw her by being deliberately suggestive. “I’m quite willing to wager that you’ve never allowed an untitled man access to your body,” he whispered. “You are used only to noblemen, but you are about to experience a noble savage.”
“Please, no, the servants will know … ohmigod, Adam, don’t take off your clothes!”
“Eve, the naked state is the natural state. You’ve suppressed yourself to the point where you worry about servants. You won’t allow yourself to become aroused and excited.” As he held her at arm’s length he imagined the enticing picture she would create naked. The cool English titled lady with alabaster skin and pale golden hair would look untouchable until he took into account the black leather riding boots.
“No, Adam,” she said. Her eyes were pressed closed in a pretense that he was forcing her to this abomination. Eve was afraid that if she saw his magnificent body, more lithe, more rampantly male, than any animal’s, she might lose control. She had never lost control in a sexual encounter in her life and it terrified her.
Savage thought better of removing his clothes. If he revealed his scars he would have to explain them. They would prompt too many questions about his unsavory past. He didn’t like people to know the eels that lurked in the water beneath the surface. He had a private side he allowed none to explore. He drew her close and cupped her breast.
“Eve, relax and let me love you.”
“Mmm, no, mmm, no,” she breathed, almost incoherent. She was filled with revulsion for herself because Adam Savage was beginning to bring her pleasure, and she fought against the sensations valiantly.
Eve had never allowed a man to bring her to climax. She couldn’t. Her body didn’t work that way. Unconsciously she had to stay in control. When she could not avoid the act she wanted it to be over with swiftly. Instinctively she knew Savage would revel in the slow, rhythmic dance of lovemaking, sustaining forever, never spending. He would be the kind of dominant man who would fuck her until she yielded herself to him. She stiffened, imagining the servants were outside the door listening. Suddenly she felt he was behaving like the animals they had seen. Savage was a bull who would wildly mate her. She pulled from his arms and snatched up her gown to cover her underclothes.
“You bastard, how could you make me feel so dirty?” she hissed.
Adam Savage realized Eve was frigid. If he ever hoped to unthaw her, he knew he would have to go about it in a different way. He gently took the gown away from her and dressed her. He pinned up her hair with the tortoiseshell combs, then gathered her in his arms. He told her how lovely she was, how beautiful, how exquisite. He began to kiss her face, trailing a fiery, sweet path from her temple to her eyelids, then on to her lips. He made her feel beautiful.
Suddenly he was giving her the kind of pleasure she liked. She loved to be told she was beautiful. Now that she was dressed she knew he would not spoil her delicious glow by wanting to have sex.
Savage hoped that if he left her slightly aroused, perhaps wanting more, she might fantasize about him when they were apart.
In that moment Eve knew she would be willing to marry him, if only he had a title. She stood on tiptoe to press a last kiss upon his devastating mouth. “You would make a savage Lord Savage, Adam.”
Chapter 5
When Bernard Lamb returned to the Hall the next evening he wanted to see what his victim looked like, but he knew his curiosity must be secondary to caution. Under no circumstances must he be seen by any member of the household. If and when an accident occurred, it must be considered exactly that, an accident. If foul play was even surmised in the removal of Lord Lamb, the next in line would automatically be Sùspect.
Bernard concealed himself in the shrubbery some distance from the Hall to observe its inhabitants through the candlelit windows. He had the patience of a spider hidden beneath the leaves, lurking in the shadows.
He had no trouble identifying the old strumpet. She was a small woman who moved about quickly and used her hands with exaggerated gestures when she spoke. Bernard had no trouble identifying the servants by their uniforms, but from this distance it was difficult to distinguish one cousin from the other.
Both were tall, dark, and slim, both walked with casual, unhurried steps. He had thought he was watching his cousin Anthony as he sat reading at a desk in what Bernard assumed must be the library, but when the figure arose and crossed directly in front of the window, he saw skirts and realized it must be Antonia. Though he saw no features, he knew he could never be attracted to a woman who was not overtly ultrafeminine.
He thought of his little actress, Angela Brown, all deliciously rounded curves, her glorious, silvery-gilt hair dressed high in the latest fashion, her ripe breasts swelling from the frills and laces of her satin gowns.